Free Hidden Vices by C.J. Carpenter Page A

nobody said what they hauled out of the water.”
    â€œYou’re in the Mack house—you probably had a good view of what was going on down there.”
    And the martinis have kicked in.
    â€œJo.” Leigh tossed a look her way.
    â€œOh, sorry,” Jo offered.
    â€œI’ve been busy with a dog I found last night, who’s temporarily staying with me,” Megan said with a forced smile. She didn’t want Leigh or Jo to feel badly. “Didn’t see much.”
    Jo was nodding. “Leigh told me about the humping of Lady Sadie.”
    They laughed and talked about the dogs for several minutes. The conversation, of course, returned to the lake activity.
    Jo sipped on her third martini. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it was that prick Judge Campbell. What a son of a bitch that man is—hopefully was .”
    â€œI’m sure everyone is thinking that, but who knows?” Leigh offered.
    Megan noted again that whoever this judge was, he was not well liked at all. “I read about it in the paper the other morning. Him being missing, that is, but it didn’t really say much. It read more like his resume.” She sat back with her drink, knowing she was about to hear mostly the truth with a small amount of innuendo. When someone is hated that much by a large number of people, there is usually a good reason.
    Leigh and Jo looked at one another with raised eyebrows. Jo took the lead. “Well. Judge Montague Campbell. Where to start?” She paused to take another sip before blurting, “He is a prick.”
    Megan laughed. “Jo, seriously, don’t hold back. Tell me what you really think.”
    Leigh added, “Can you tell I go for the shy type of woman?”
    Jo smiled. “Well, he is!”
    â€œGo ahead, Jo, tell her more about the … prick,” Leigh prodded, though you could tell by her pause, she wasn’t as comfortable with the expression as Jo was.
    â€œMonty Campbell is one of Morris County’s most prominent citizens,” she said, adopting a mock reverential tone.
    â€œHe comes from old New Jersey money and is a very powerful man in this state,” Leigh said.
    â€œSo, it’s not just because he’s a judge that the papers have it splashed all over.” Megan folded her arms. “What do they think happened to him?”
    â€œNo idea so far,” Leigh answered.
    Jo topped Megan’s glass off. “Apparently, he’d scheduled a trip to go up to his cabin in Vermont, so he put a hold on his mail, his cleaning service …” She waved her hand in the air. “All that kind of stuff. Well, ten days later when he was expected at a gala—”
    â€œHe was being honored for all the”—Leigh made quotation marks in the air—“ work he’s done for a children’s hospital.”
    â€œ Work my English bum, it was just a nod for all the money he’d given over the years.” Jo rolled her eyes. “All of his cohorts were to give speeches to rub the prick’s ego, if you’ll forgive the pun. But he didn’t show up.”
    â€œAt first the police thought he’d been kidnapped, but no ransom call ever came in.”
    â€œHe lives on the lake. Actually, you can see his house from your place.”
    â€œThat huge white mansion, at the tip of the cove?”
    â€œIt’s easy to miss, isn’t it?” Jo added sarcastically. “Turn the clock back to a few months ago when Mrs. Campbell died—” She pointed to Leigh. “Tell her what everyone in this town was thinking.”
    â€œBasically, it was fairly common knowledge the judge and his wife didn’t have a real marriage, not for a very long time. At least since Vivian was born.” Leigh stopped, turning to Jo. “Megan met Vivian at Krogh’s.”
    Jo nodded. “Sweet girl. People in the town keep an eye out for her since her mother’s death. A plus to