Chapter 23
“Make sure Liz is gone,” Gloria said.
Lucy ran to the end of the driveway. She jogged back to where her friends stood waiting outside the gun safety training classroom. “She’s outta here. That is one stressed out woman.”
“For good reason.” Gloria blew air through thinned lips. “It’s time to do a little more digging around.”
“Floyd,” Ruth said. “You want to take a closer look at Floyd’s background?”
“Are you sure we haven’t already done this?” Dot asked. “Back when they started dating?”
“You mean a full background check?” Lucy shook her head. “I don’t remember.”
“Neither do I,” Gloria said. “Besides, things change. There could be updates.”
All eyes turned to Ruth.
“What?”
“Do you have access to a super-duper, high-level website to run a check on Floyd?”
“Of course.” Ruth rubbed her thumb and index fingers together. “There’s a fee.”
Gloria wrinkled her nose.
“It won’t cost you an arm and a leg.”
“It’s not the cost. I’m having second thoughts.”
“Why?” Lucy asked. “Because Floyd’s family now?”
“Sort of.”
“Let’s vote,” Dot said. “I say we take a pass and only run a background check as a last resort.”
“I’m with Dot,” Rose said. “These kinda things can come back to bite you.”
“Although I agree to a degree with Dot and Rose, I say we need to eliminate Floyd as a suspect,” Lucy said. “For that reason, my vote is yes.”
“What about you, Ruth?” Gloria asked.
Ruth held up two fingers. “Floyd had motive and opportunity. What kind of sleuthing team would we be if we didn’t take a closer look at every possible suspect?”
Gloria motioned to Margaret. “What about you?”
“I’m all for it. Floyd’s family has a troubled past…not only troubled, but deeply troubled. We need to rule him out.”
“All things considered, I have to agree.” Gloria reached into her purse and grabbed her wallet. “Liz and Floyd are family. It’s my responsibility to pay for the search, even if it ends up backfiring on me.”
“How much do you want to know and how far back do you want to go?” Ruth cracked her knuckles, rattling off the different levels of background research available.
“Whoa.” Gloria held up a hand. “All I want to do is eliminate Floyd from the list of suspects. I don’t want to know who he dated when he was in high school.”
“Fair enough.” Ruth ran to the spymobile and returned with her backpack in hand. She removed her laptop and settled in at one of Lucy’s classroom desks. “You’re up, Gloria. Have a seat and fill in the blanks.”
Gloria pulled her credit card from her wallet and stared at the screen. An inkling of guilt over spying on her sister’s husband crept in, and she began having second thoughts again.
Lucy placed a light hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I feel guilty about spying on Floyd.”
“You don’t have to do the search,” Ruth said. “We can put it off and pursue all other avenues first.”
“Or eliminate him like we would any other potential suspect,” Margaret said.
“Look at it this way. If Floyd is responsible, if he has some sort of deep dark hidden past, wouldn’t you want to know?” Lucy asked.
“True.” Gloria sucked in a breath and filled in the credit card information. After finishing, she slid out of the chair. “It’s all yours.”
The others gathered around, watching as Ruth’s fingers flew over the keys. She pulled up a site and then pulled up a second one. Switching back and forth from one to the other, Ruth copied and pasted several sections, moving so rapidly Gloria struggled to keep up.
She wasn’t the only one. “Good gravy,” Rose gasped. “You’re moving so fast through those screens you’re making me dizzy.”
“Obviously, she’s done this a time or two,” Lucy joked.
“More than a time or two.” Ruth grew quiet again, copying and pasting.
“I thought I saw something,” Margaret leaned in, her eyes squinting as she struggled to read the sentence.
Ruth swapped screens again.
“Hey! I was trying to read that.”
“Let me finish filling in the blanks. I only have one more site to check before wrapping up the search.”
Dot pulled Gloria off to the side. “At the risk of stating the obvious, what will you do if Ruth finds something out about Floyd that throws up a bunch of red flags?”
Gloria’s eyes filled with doubt. How would she feel if she were in Liz’s shoes? Would she want to know if there was something in Paul’s past? What if Floyd had done something but also paid his dues?
Everyone made mistakes, including Gloria, who was in no position to point fingers. “It depends on what it might be.”
“Here’s my advice…” Dot hesitated.
“What?”
“It’s not my place to become involved.”
“Yes, it is. I trust your judgment.” Out of Gloria’s friends, Dot was the most thoughtful, the most compassionate. Her genuine love for others, commitment to helping feed the homeless and those living on the streets was done selflessly, at times to the point of affecting her own health and well-being.
Dot never had an unkind word to say about anyone. She was as close to being faultless as anyone Gloria had ever known. “What do you think?”
“Liz has a computer,” Dot said.
“More than one, I’m sure.”
“She has access to the internet.”
“Of course.”
“And even has one of those fancy phones where she could get on the web almost anywhere in the world.”
“She does. In fact, I think she just upgraded to the latest model,” Gloria said.
“So, if Liz wanted to dig into her husband’s background, she has all the tools available to do so.”
“Correct.”
“Then…” Dot arched a brow.
“You’re saying if Liz wanted to delve into her husband’s past, she could and would.”
“Bingo.”
Gloria pressed a hand to her chest. “You’re right. No matter what we find, short of Floyd being convicted of murder, I’m going to keep it to myself.”
“You and the rest of us.” Dot placed an arm around her shoulders.
“Dot to the rescue.” Gloria gave her a quick hug. “You’re the best, Dot Jenkins.”
“You’re not so bad yourself,” Dot laughed. “I want you in my corner any day of the week.”
“Stop with the love fest.” Ruth motioned to them. “I have the information.”
The friends gathered around the computer.
Rose blew air through thinned lips. “There’s a whole book on Floyd.”
“Not a book, but some interesting information,” Ruth said.
“Which is?” Gloria held her breath.
“I have some good news and some bad news.”