Free NAILED by Elaine Macko Page A

truth is I think he was projecting some of his anger with Vic onto Moshi.”
    “Did Michael ever confront Victor and tell him to knock it off?”
    “Not that I know of. I convinced him to give the whole family time to mourn, get back on their feet, and then we would sit down with Victor and tell him to knock off the inappropriate behavior with me, and help Moshi work through her anger issues over losing her mother.”
    “So what are you going to do about Michael? Do you still want me to find out what he’s up to?” I wasn’t sure if John had mentioned that Michael was now in his sights and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell Sam.
    “Hmmm. I don’t know. If you hear something, then sure, let me know, but you don’t have to go out of your way. I’d rather you find out who killed Victor, and find out if Victor killed Jenna. Michael’s clearly up to something, but he’ll tell me in his own good time. Or I’ll hire someone to follow him and break his legs.”
    Sam laughed and so did I. I had Shirley doing exactly that, but I had no plans to share that information with my sister. Best to wait until I had some good news to give her. Besides, she obviously felt better about Michael than she had on Wednesday, so I thought I’d leave her be for now.
    “Well, I’m glad you’re not going to jail, although orange is the new black, and you have always looked lovely in that color.”
    “It does suit my skin tone, doesn’t it?”
    I left my sister to get back to work. I had a few things of my own to take care of, and then I wanted to check in with Shirley, because I really wanted to find out what my brother-in-law was up to before the police issued a manhunt.

 
     
     
Chapter 21
     
     
    About eight-thirty Millie came in to tell me that Mrs. Cumberland had made an appointment and was very anxious to start working with Always Prepared .
    “Well, that’s very nice, but who is Mrs. Cumberland?” It wasn’t like Millie to come into my office and announce every new potential candidate that came through the door, or in this case, called on the phone.
    “She said she knows you. You told her to call. You had tea with her yesterday. Any of this ringing a bell for you, Alex?” Millie said with a smirk.
    “Oh, right! Suzette!”
    “That’s the one.”
    “She seems like a nice lady. Lots of experience. Put her through everything we have. I think she might be a real asset for executive assistant positions.”
    “You got it.” Millie turned and left.
    So Suzette had already called. She must really want out of Connecticut Custom Homes, or maybe her husband just wanted her to be home more often.
    I took a couple of hours to finish up some work and then called Shirley. She said she had just been about to call me, so we agreed to meet up at Oceanic again for an early lunch. My piece of toast for breakfast was eaten hours ago and I was hungry. I hung up the phone slowly. Was I just imagining it or did Shirley sound somber? Maybe she was just having a bad day.
    I poked my head into my sister’s office and told her I was headed out, and would see her tomorrow when I went by to pick up the kids. With any luck, Shirley would have some good news about Michael’s whereabouts that I could share with my sister.
    I expected Oceanic to be a lot more crowded, but maybe it being a Friday and summer, people were at the beach or off to more exotic locales.
    Once again, I arrived before Shirley, but she was coming from Westport. I found a table and looked through the small lunch menu. Oceanic was basically a café, but had a few sandwiches, salads, and a soup of the day to bring in the lunch crowd. I had just decided on tortilla soup and half of an avocado-and-bacon sandwich when Shirley came in.
    “Gosh it feels good in here. My air conditioner needs some coolant added or whatever it is that makes the thing colder. So, what looks good?”
    I told Shirley what I was getting and we went to the counter to place our orders.
    “We’ll