“What about your years with Kit?”
“That was a fluke and Kit was there overseeing it all. I’m good with numbers. My degree is in business.”
“Isn’t that what you ran away from to go with Kit? But your degree will help you organize that mess Uncle Frank has in his office. He hires secretaries but they quit because he won’t tell them anything and because he’s an all-round pain to work for.” She held out the sandwich with the bottom half wrapped in a paper towel, and a can of lemon-lime soda. “No beer on the job.” She was smiling happily.
Nate hesitated.
“You meet your deputies yet? Nice boys, aren’t they? Uncle Frank could never stand anyone challenging him so he tends to hire boys with no spirit. Don’t yell at them or they’ll cry.” She shoved the sandwich and drink into his hands, then got behind him and pushed him toward the door. “Go help Rowan and hire a secretary who does some work. Uncle Frank tended to hire them by how good they look in a bikini.”
Nate stopped by his car, opened the door and started to get in. Terri was smiling at him in a way that said she was quite pleased by it all. “Actually, I did hire a secretary,” he said.
“If it’s some beach bunny, I’ll fire her.”
“No, she’s a friend of yours.” He got into the car and smiled back at her. “I hired Della Kissel.” When Terri’s face changed to shock, Nate closed the door and backed out of the driveway.
The first thing Nate did when he was out of sight of the house was call Jamie and ask how Frank was doing.
“I have no idea. The hospital said he woke up about 2:00 a.m., put his clothes on and left. Brody said Frank probably went to his fishing cabin. I left you two messages asking if you knew where he went. Where have you been all morning?”
Nate gave a deep sigh. “Talking to someone who appears to be smarter than I am.”
“That would be Terri. My dad said that if we men keep marrying women who are smarter than we are, how come the next generation of males isn’t any brighter?”
Nate wanted to laugh but the way he was feeling, it seemed to be a valid question. Sheriff? He did not want to be a sheriff! “If you hear from Frank, tell him to get his butt back to Summer Hill.”
“I will, but the rumor around town is that his cabin is in Wyoming. Rowan said he’s driving and he left his phone behind.”
“I owe Terri twenty-five grand.” Nate’s voice was heavy.
“Should I ask what that means?”
“No. Definitely not. Talk to you later.” He clicked off.
Nate hadn’t actually hired Della. He’d just entrusted her with one simple task. She was to work with Brody’s secretary, Anna, to try to find out who rented cabin twenty-six in the year Leslie Rayburn disappeared. He didn’t have any belief that the two women would be able to do it since the records kept at the lake didn’t go back that far. But maybe they could find out enough that Rowan could use the US government files to fill in the rest.
Anna wasn’t in the office, but Brody’s door was half-open. Nate pushed it wide. Inside, the room was in chaos. File drawers had been opened and emptied, with all the contents on the floor. Hundreds of papers were taped to the walls. Sitting on a rug in the middle of the mess, her usually tidy hair tangled, her clothes rumpled, was Della.
Nate’s first reaction was to yell. But his years with the foreign service had taught him to stamp the anger down and think before letting go.
As he calmed himself and looked about, he saw order in the chaos. Each of the many piles of folders had a piece of paper on top and a character description. Troublemakers. Suspiciously Nice. Sneaks. Adulterers. Flirts. Teenage Misfits. Hiding secrets. Former Big Shots. Spies. Good People.
There were about twenty piles, each with multiple files under them. He noted that the Good People stack contained only three folders.
Della looked up at Nate standing in the doorway. “Brody may be as beautiful as a Greek god, but he can’t organize anything.”
Nate sat down on a wooden chair, one of the few empty surfaces in the room. “I think most people put files in order by numbers. Dates or account numbers, something like that.”
“What use is that?”
Nate could see that she was genuinely asking a question. He wanted to answer it but damned if he could think of an answer. “Did you find the man?”
“Oh sure. I found him two hours after you asked me to. Six phone calls, a computer search with a bit of a hack, three more calls, and I got him. He—” She looked around her, searching for s
omething, then gave a little smile and pulled a piece of pink paper out of the inside of her bra and handed it to him. She batted her lashes at Nate. “I do so love a man with a badge.”
Nate took the paper and looked at the name and phone number on it. “If you’re this good at research, maybe Frank should deputize you,” he joked. “Did you call this number?” When she didn’t answer, he looked at her.
Della’s eyes were wide, as though she’d just seen something alarming.