Chapter 32
Blade paced the foyer of Jared’s luxurious townhouse, his patience stretched near to the breaking point. Out of respect, he’d agreed to let his brother go upstairs and rouse Candy from her bed. When she came downstairs, he would confront her and give her a choice—show him where Peabody was holding his fiancée, or he’d haul her to police headquarters.
Skilled interrogators would get her to confess how she’d delivered Stormy into Peabody’s ruthless hands. Then, she’d spend the rest of her life in a filthy cell.
“I've checked everywhere.” Jared appeared at the top of the grand mahogany staircase. He’d changed into all black clothes. “She’s not here.”
Blade pounded his thighs with fury as he stormed outside. Candy had lied to him again.
Jared caught up with him. “Where do you think she is?”
Willing his anger into steel, Blade rattled off what he knew for certain. “Peabody has Stormy. Candy is in league with Peabody. Peabody hauled bags into a rooming house by the old Lewiston factory.”
His brother’s fingers twitched as if he summed numbers in his head. “The contents of those bags could hold a clue,” he said soberly. “Think we can make the hausfrau talk?”
Blade withdrew the marshal’s star from his pocket. “If I flash this, and you back me up.”
“You got it.” His brother pulled a flat, black felt hat from under the seat of his carriage and tugged it low on his forehead. “I’m mad as hell and mean as a rattlesnake.”
They parked in the shade of the abandoned button factory and approached the rooming house with quick, policeman-like steps.
Blade led the way into a small, square entry hall and knocked on the door marked Office. He heard the turn of a lock. The door opened a few inches.
Hair caught up in a kerchief, the robed hausfrau peered out and cursed under her breath. A small, spotted dog yipped and hopped around her feet, its toenails clicking on the bare wood floor.
Blade wedged the toe of his boot into the opening and flashed his badge. “Police.”
“What you want?”
“We’re looking for a girl who’s being held against her will.”
“No one like that comes here. Everyone here is happy. Thank you to go now.”
He forced the door open. “We want a list of boarders and when they moved in.”
She scrunched up her face and sighed. “Ja. Okay. I make no trouble. Wait there.”
Upstairs, doors opened and shut. A toilet flushed.
Whispers, and then footfalls descended the steep staircase. A man’s legs appeared, followed by a torso in a familiar gray uniform shirt.
Sleepy-eyed, the security guard from the bank passed without a sideways glance and walked out the front door.
Blade’s curiosity grew as the young man sauntered toward the street. Did he live here? Or was he visiting someone?
The hausfrau returned with a brown ledger and handed it to Jared.
His brother turned the pages as he read the names of renters aloud. “Adair, Braun, Ditmore, Kurtis, Neimann.”
Blade held his breath. It was likely Peabody used a fake name. No matter what, he’d ask about the bags Peabody had carried in.
“Stripples, Tentler—”
Blade stiffened. When he first met Candy, she’d used the last name Stripples. He tapped the ledger. “Which room is Stripples?”
“Five, but she doesn’t like to be disturbed when she entertains.” The hausfrau followed him out into the hallway. “I’ll sue if you make damage.”
Leaving his brother to deal with the apprehensive woman, Blade took the stairs three at a time. Instinct told him Candy had just consummated her flirtation with the young bank guard. He was about to get answers about Stormy.
He found the room marked five and knocked.
“You wore me out.” Candy’s voice seeped through the gap at the bottom of the door. “Go home.”
Blade rapped again. His heart raced as he prepared for a showdown.
The knob turned. The door creaked open on tired hinges.
Candy stood before him, her shapely body wrapped in a rumpled bed sheet. Her scented blond curls hung in drowsy bunches around her shoulders. Surprise flashed in her eyes.
“I see you still prefer your men young,” he said.
“Not one has been as good as you.” Her smile returned. “You’ve missed me.”
“Get dressed, Candy,” he ordered. “We need to talk.”
Willful as ever, she walked back to the bed, let the sheet drop, and patted the mattress. “Let’s get reacquainted first.”
His stomach lurched. Jared was downstairs, no doubt thanking the hausfrau for her cooperation and promising not to break down doors. If he saw his wife like this—
Jared pushed past him. With obvious disgust, his brother surveyed the disheveled bedcovers, the clothes tossed helter-skelter on the floor, the handcuff dangling from one narrow bedpost.
“Jared?” Candy snatched up the sheet and covered her breasts. “This is not what it looks like.”
“It’s exactly what it looks like,” his brother snapped.
Blade stalked through the room and rummaged through the drawers of Candy’s dressing table. On the left side—Candy was left-handed—he found two sheets of blue paper that resembled the ransom note. He tucked one into his pocket.
“You’re wrong, Jared.” Candy stood and pulled a lacy pink day dress from her wardrobe. “I needed a place to think things through.”
“What things?”
“Petition for divorce.”
“On what grounds?”
“Cruelty.” She stepped into the dress and slipped her arms into the long sleeves. “Having to manage a household with two demanding children and maintain a grueling Society schedule to enhance your image as a successful businessman. You should pay me to be your promoter.”
“I don’t need you to endorse me.”
“Enough!” Blade said. “Candy, we know you’re involved in Stormy’s disappearance. Where is she?”
She crossed her hands on her chest and blinked like she was trying not to burst into tears. “How can you ask me that when I’m helping you look for her?”
He recognized the pose. She was lying. “I know you paid Peabody.”
“I hired him to find this room.” Sniffling, she stepped in front of the vanity mirror and fussed with the bodice of her dress. “That has nothing to do with your fiancée. I want her back as much as you do.”
“You tricked her into going to Fifi’s.” His voice grew rough as his patience wore thin. A vein throbbed in his forehead. “You left her alone so Peabody could take her.”
“Is that what you think?” She twisted to look at her husband. “Do you agree?”
His mouth set in a stern line, Jared nodded.
Candy turned back toward the mirror and pinned up her hair. After one, quick smile at her reflection, she pulled on her shoes and picked a sheer shawl off the floor. “Take me to police headquarters right now. I was a witness, not to the abduction, mind you, but I was there.”
She walked toward the door. “Maybe I know something that will help bring Stormy home, and I just don’t realize it.”
Blade hesitated. Was he wrong about Candy? Were his feelings about their past relationship clouding his judgment? Accusing her falsely could slow the search for Stormy.
“I’m waiting,” Candy said.
He shoved his fists into his pockets and forced himself to move. Maybe a seasoned detective could extract the truth.
Or, deduce where the hell Peabody was hiding Stormy.