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  “What would you like me to do exactly?” Callie asked. She’d learned a long time ago it was best to be specific with her mother.

  “Come to the next practice. Meet with the cast and crew. See what you can find out.” Margaret tried using her most appealing voice.

  Callie wasn’t ready to give in yet. “He may have just had something come up. It’s possible that he’s already been in touch and will be at the next practice. That he isn’t really missing at all.”

  She removed the syrup from the stove and poured it into a mason jar to cool while she boiled the water to use with the tea bags.

  “Please, Callie? Do this for me. We don’t have practice tonight. Come tomorrow night and see what you can learn. Everyone will be in one place. It won’t be difficult for you to just mingle with them and ask a few questions.” Margaret composed her face carefully.

  Callie saw the look. “Okay. If you hear anything about the leading man in the meantime though, you need to let me know.” Callie watched her mother relax and realized how important this was to her.

  “You’ve really been enjoying the play?”

  Margaret smiled. “They’re really very nice people. And, I have to say, it’s been nice to get out and do something different.”

  “What about tonight?” Callie asked, feeling guilty that she didn’t spend more time with her mother.

  “It’s bingo night at the clubhouse. You could come if you don’t have anything else to do,” Margaret suggested.

  Callie decided she wasn’t feeling that guilty.

  “I was thinking I should make a grocery store run tonight. I’ll pick some things up for you too and drop them off.”

  “That would be lovely, thank you.” Margaret watched as Callie mixed the simple syrup and tea together and grabbed her purse to leave.

  “Don’t forget to put that in the fridge when it cools,” Callie said.

  “You’ll remember to stop at the theater tomorrow night, right?”

  “Yes, Mom. Love you. I need to go now.”

  “Love you too, dear.”

  Margaret was counting on Callie to keep her word. It was the only way her plan would work.

  Chapter Nine

  Callie drove away from the Turpin home feeling satisfied for a job well done. The parents were happy that their daughter would no longer be involved with the modeling agency. Kym appeared to have accepted the documentation that Callie had provided showing that the agency had fabricated many of their claims of businesses hiring their models among other things. There were also the pending legal cases against the owners from their defunct modeling agencies further supporting the validity of the parents’ concerns.

  She parked her car in front of her sister’s place and crossed the street to the entrance. Sumner Curtains and Blinds was in a small modular home. Gemma opened the business shortly after she and her husband, Max Sumner, were married around fifteen years before. They now had two children, Josie and Cassidy, who were currently in school. Callie found her sister at her cutting board.

  Gemma looked up from her work. “You look happy.”

  “I am, actually. I just completed a case.” Callie went to the small refrigerator and took out a bottle of water.

  “Are we talking about a paying case?” Gemma marked the fabric in front of her.

  “We are indeed. And this one wasn’t funded by Elliot.” Callie twisted the cap of her water bottle off and took a long drink.

  “Impressive. What was it about?”

  Callie explained the Turpins’ concerns about the modeling agency.

  “How did you figure out they were bogus?” Gemma asked.

  “For one thing, the comments they had on their web site were all fake. They listed company names, but those companies don’t exist.”

  “Those would be the companies that supposedly hire the models?” Gemma asked.

  “Exactly. There are also several lawsuits against them for modeling agencies they owned under different names before they came here.”

  “Did Kym sign a contract?”

  “Yes, she did. Her father got her out of it by hiring a lawyer who threatened another lawsuit. Apparently, the Fieldings aren’t yet ready to give up their current agency so they agreed to tear up the contract if the Turpins don’t take action.” Callie frowned.

  Gemma looked up when her sister stopped speaking. “What?”

  “I don’t feel right about just walking away. Kym is safe, but what about others like her who are taken in?”

  “You can’t fix the whole world. Especially not if you aren’t getting paid to do it,” Gemma pointed out.

  “I know that. I just don’t like the idea that they’re still in business.”

  “I hope my girls don’t get caught up in anything like that.” Gemma added it to her long list of things to worry about.

  “They aren’t showing any interest in modeling, are they?” Callie leaned against a counter as she watched her sister work.

  “No, but they’re only eleven and eight right now. Don’t you remember what we were like? I’m pretty sure you wanted to be a marine biologist,” Gemma reminded her.

  Callie tried to remember back that far. She was pretty sure she also wanted to be a musician, a veterinarian, and a chef at different times as well.

  “What are Josie and Cassidy saying they want to be?”

  “It changes every five minutes, just like it did for us. The last time they said anything, Josie was talking about computers.”

  Callie thought of her office mates. “That’s actually not bad.”

  “Cassidy either wants to be an actress or an astronaut that goes to Mars.”

  “Well, she’s young yet. And, she’s only on the first letter of the alphabet with actress and astronaut. She still has a lot of other potential occupations to consider.”

  Gemma picked up her shears. “I hope so.” She cut the fabric with sure movements. After a few moments, she realized Callie was still quiet.

  “Are you okay?” Gemma focused on Callie.

  “How close are you with Ariana?” Callie asked.

  “Our sister?” Gemma shrugged. “Not much. I mean, I feel guilty about it, but I’m old enough to be her mother and I have two children of my own.”

  Callie knew that Gemma was right. At thirty eight, Gemma was twenty years older than Ariana.

  “Why do you ask?” Gemma picked up the fabric she had just cut and set it aside.

  “Leslie asked me to talk with her.”

  Gemma looked at Callie again. “What about?”

  “She’s worried about her. I guess Ariana is being secretive and won’t talk about college.”

  Gemma added more things to worry about to her list. “If my girls refuse to talk about college, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  “I seem to recall us going through a similar phase at that age. At least the part about being secretive.” Callie crossed her arms.

  “You promised you would never mention my youth in front of my kids,” Gemma reminded her. “Besides, we weren’t bad kids. We were just teenagers. I’m sure that’s all it is with Ariana. It’s just her turn.”

  “Maybe. Either way, Leslie asked me to speak with Ariana, so I will. Are you going to be at the birthday party?”

  Gemma finished another cut. “Of course. Max will be home by then too.”

  “Where is he this time?” Callie enjoyed hearing about her brother-in-law’s work.

  “Quantico. He’s got a training class.”

  Callie understood that to mean that Max was the instructor. Max was with the FBI even before Gemma had met him. He was often tapped for his experience.

  “What other cases are you working on?” Gemma asked as she picked up the fabric cuts she had made and carried them to a table near her sewing machine.

  “Trudy’s new grandpuppy is missing.”

  “Seriously? You’re looking for a missing dog?” Gemma gave her sister a look. “Are you hanging posters on telephone poles?”

  C
allie laughed. “No. I get the feeling this puppy didn’t just wander off.”

  “You think it had help? Who would do that? More, to the point, why would anyone do that?” Gemma unrolled another bolt of fabric onto her cutting board.

  “I guess some breeds are worth a lot of money.”

  “I wouldn’t think Jackee could afford one of those.”

  Callie explained that Jackee had used her life savings to buy a specific breed she hoped would have a return on her investment.

  “That does make it serious. Do you have any leads?”

  “I’m pretty sure the boyfriend is involved somehow.” Callie had spoken to several of Frank’s girlfriends and their parents. He appeared to have a knack for finding troubled young girls and stealing from them and their parents.

  “Have you tried looking at some of those online listings where people sell things?” Gemma asked.

  “That was my next step. Based on what I’ve learned about Frank so far, it seems like the easiest way for him to earn money. He doesn’t seem the type to put a lot of effort into anything.”

  Callie checked the time on her phone. “Speaking of work, I should get back to it. I also have another case that really has me puzzled.” She explained the situation with Anilese.

  “That is odd, but not the part where she’s ducking you now. Maybe she’s just trying to get out of paying you. It’s one of the bad parts of owning your own business. You’ll need to track her down and submit your bill for the time you have into the case.” Gemma was also a small business owner. She knew all the ins and outs of invoices.

  Callie made a noise of agreement and tossed her empty water bottle into the trash.

  “Before you go, I have a favor to ask. I need someone to watch the girls.” Gemma stopped what she was doing and gave Callie her full attention.

  “For how long?” Callie didn’t mind short stints, but she didn’t think she could keep them entertained for days on end. She leaned back against Gemma’s cutting table.

  “Just an afternoon. I have a job I need to do and no one to watch them.”

  “I can probably handle that,” Callie agreed. Now she just had to figure out what to do with them for an afternoon.

  Chapter Ten

  At the end of a fairly normal work day, Callie pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. She grabbed a cart at the front of the store and began working her way through the produce section. She ran through the mental list she had written for both her and her mom. She stopped to pick out some things for a salad. As she reached for some lettuce, a cart bumped her from behind. It wasn’t a hard bump. It was mostly just enough to get her attention.

  “Oh, my bad.”

  Callie turned to respond. The man who had bumped her with his cart was about four inches taller than her five seven. She assumed he was around her age. His blue eyes seemed to be laughing at her. She wondered what she’d done that was so funny.

  Callie offered an impersonal smile and turned back to the vegetables. It wasn’t the first time a man had tried to get her attention in a grocery store. She wondered again what kind of man spent their time prowling around grocery stores all day waiting to hit on a woman. She had to admit, this one was better looking than most of the others who had tried.

  “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  He hadn’t left. Callie turned to him again.

  “No, not really.” She offered another impersonal smile, then returned to her vegetables. She heard him clear his throat. Dropping the vegetables into her cart, she turned around completely to face him. He still looked ready to laugh.

  “I was just wondering,” the man said. “Not that it’s any of my business, of course.”

  Callie raised her eyebrows as she placed her hands on the cart, ready to leave him in the produce section.

  “Did you know about your…?” he motioned behind himself.

  Callie was confused at first. Then it came to her. She’d leaned against Gemma’s cutting table earlier in the afternoon. She twisted around to look at her back. The seat of her pants was covered in threads of all lengths and colors. She closed her eyes for just a moment. There was nothing she could do about the fact that she had been walking around like that since she’d left Gemma’s. She certainly wasn’t going to try to brush them all off in the produce section and leave a mess on the floor for someone else to clean.

  “Thanks.” Callie left her cart where it was and walked out of the store. She brushed her backside as much as possible. She doubted that she got it all, but it was better than nothing. Then she returned back to the produce section. Her cart was where she’d left it, but the man with the laughing blue eyes was gone.

  ***

  Margaret leaned over and looked at Trudy’s board. When playing bingo, they each tried to help the other keep up with the numbers.

  “You have sixteen,” Margaret said.

  Trudy turned from speaking with Sally on her other side. “What’s that you say?”

  Paula leaned across the table and pointed at Trudy’s board. “You have sixteen.”

  “Oh, thank you.” Trudy adjusted her glasses and looked at Paula’s board. “You’re doing well with this one.” Trudy wasn’t surprised that Paula would do well with anything related to numbers. Before retiring, Paula had been some sort of financials person. Trudy wasn’t sure what that all entailed. Numbers weren’t her favorite thing.

  Paula quickly placed a colored chip on her board when the next number was called.

  “Bingo!” Paula yelled.

  “She won again,” Sally marveled before the caller announced the end of another bingo night over the microphone.

  Margaret leaned back in her chair. “Do you want to get something to eat?”

  Any gathering at the clubhouse was an occasion for food. Some of the players would bring snacks, sweets, or drinks to share so they could mingle at the end.

  “I wouldn’t mind something,” Trudy said hopefully. Cooking had never been her strongpoint. She appreciated it when others were kind enough to share their expertise.

  The four friends pushed themselves out of their chairs.

  “How is the play practice coming along?” Paula asked as she removed her reading glasses. They hung from her neck on a braided nylon cord.

  “You all are coming to the play, aren’t you?” Margaret asked.

  “Of, course,” Trudy said.

  “We wouldn’t miss it,” Sally added. She reached the table of food first and handed each of the other women a paper plate.

  “Wait till you see the lead actor. I’m telling you girls, he’s beautiful.”

  “I thought the lead is missing?” Sally said as she looked at the food options.

  Margaret nodded as she added a cookie to her plate. “He is. I mean the understudy.”

  Paula handed her a napkin. “What about Elliot?”

  Margaret was momentarily confused. “What about Elliot?”

  The others followed Margaret back to their table and set down their plates of food before taking their seats.

  “I can’t imagine he’d agree to share,” Paula pointed out.

  Margaret laughed. “Oh, I didn’t mean it that way. He’s young.”

  Sally grasped her meaning first. “I thought you promised Callie you wouldn’t try to hook her up anymore?”

  “This one is different,” Margaret said confidently before biting into her cookie.

  “I don’t know,” Trudy said hesitantly as she brushed crumbs from her bingo card. “You said that about the last one.”

  “Didn’t he turn out to be a murderer?” Paula asked.

  “No, that was the one before,” Trudy said loudly across the table. Everyone else in the room was also talking. “The last one was a womanizer.”

  “I don’t think so,” Sally raised her voice. “I think it was murderer, then thief, then the married man.”

  “He wasn’t a murderer,” Callie said as she walked up behind them. Not technically, anyway. “Besides, you know I didn
’t actually date him, right?”

  Callie wondered what had brought the subject up but decided she didn’t want to know. She turned to Trudy.

  “I found Layla.”

  “You did?” Trudy looked expectantly behind Callie. “Where is she?”

  “I have an appointment to pick her up in an hour. I’ll need you to have Jackee ready to take possession.”

  “She’s at work. Can you bring her back to me?” Trudy asked. She really had missed the little thing.

  “How did you find her?” Sally asked.

  Callie explained what she’d learned.

  “You’re going to buy her from Frank?” Margaret asked incredulously. It wasn’t a matter of the money. She knew Elliot would refund any money that passed hands. It was the principle of the thing. The man stole the dog. He shouldn’t get money from it.

  “No, I don’t plan to do that. I’ll tell you the rest when I see you later. I put your groceries away for you,” Callie said as she turned to leave.

  An hour later, she was standing in front of a house that she had stopped at before. She had trailed Frank here and knew that one of his girlfriends lived here. It made sense that he would stash the dog with one of them until he managed to sell it at the exorbitant price he had listed.

  When she’d stopped here to speak with this girlfriend as she had the others, no one had answered the door. Callie was grateful for that now. She would have given herself away if the girl knew what she was up to and certainly the girlfriend would have told Frank that someone had been around asking about him.

  Callie knocked at the door and was relieved to hear the whining of a young dog inside. There were voices on the other side of the door, but she couldn’t make the words out. Finally, the door opened and Frank stood there. Callie could see a young girl behind him. She was holding Layla.

  “Are you here about the dog?” Frank asked. He had a smug smile on his face.

  “I am, yes.” Callie glanced at the dog again. “Mind if I hold it for a minute?”

  She watched Frank hesitate.

  Callie offered her widest smile. She needed him to believe her. “I just want to make sure we’re compatible. It’s a lot of money, right?”