34
Vivian
The Home Front
“Is everything all right?” asked Nadine as Vivian came back into the lounge.
Vivian looked into Nadine’s watering eyes and felt horrible.
Nadine had been awake all night praying for a miracle.
She didn’t need Vivian to come in and throw a tantrum because Rowan had woken up extra bossy and over protective.
Nadine needed someone to tell her everything would be all right.
And Rowan was the one who kept the investigation moving forward while the police had been practically useless.
Looking down into Nadine’s face Vivian knew she couldn’t help Howard or Nadine in any practical immediate way, but she swore she would at least catch Chucky.
“Um, Rowan and I are working on finding the people responsible for the shooting.”
“You are? But the police came and talked to me. They said it was a drive-by shooting.”
“That was the one with the mustache, right?”
“Yes,” admitted Nadine, glancing at her daughter. Nadine was still wearing her gala gown and a Yale sweatshirt that Vivian thought Alison had brought her.
“I told you he was an idiot,” muttered Alison. Alison was thirty-four and wore her hair in a sleek bob that Vivian always envied. She had her father’s practical streak and her mother’s cheekbones.
“Rowan and I think it was related to something Howard and I have been doing at work. Um… With the Tates. Did Howard ever mention them?”
Nadine made a face. “Howard likes Charles. I find him… acceptable in a crowd, but hardly someone I want to spend additional time with. His current wife, Stacy, I think—It’s in my phone.
I’ll look it up. Anyhow, she’s nice enough, but rather over-botoxed.
The daughter is in college? I try not to think about Chucky. ”
Alison gave a quiet snort of laughter. “You call Junior, Chucky?”
“It’s what your father calls him,” said Nadine with a sniff.
“Sorry, that’s my fault,” said Vivian.
“But,” said Alison making a face, “it’s just so right.”
Vivian felt tears welling up.
“Oh, no, don’t you start!” exclaimed Alison, wrapping an arm around her.
“Sorry. But Howard said the same thing.”
Alison gave a watery chuckle.
“I don’t understand,” said Nadine. “What do the Tates have to do with anything? Howard just saw Charles on Friday for golf.”
“Yes,” said Vivian, carefully. “Did he by any chance bring anything home with him?”
“Yes. He brought Charles’ will home. He was ecstatic to finally get it signed.”
“OK, but what did he do with it once he got it home?”
“He took it into the library. Where he has his computer and things.”
“So, it’s still at the house?” asked Vivian.
“As far as I know,” said Nadine with a shrug. “Why?”
“Charles Senior died on Saturday. We think this is about the will.”
“Chucky,” snarled Alison.
Nadine looked between Alison and Vivian. “No. I mean… Chucky’s not very pleasant. But we know him. He’s been to our house.”
“So, he knows where you live?” asked Vivian feeling sick to her stomach.
What if Chucky was at the house right now getting the will? Vivian didn’t want to say that out loud.
“One sec,” said Vivian and went back to the door.
She looked around and spotted Delacroix who she only knew because he’d been cleaning guns while she’d been cleaning out the other poker players.
“Hey,” she hissed. “How long until other people get here?”
“Rowan said an hour,” said Delacroix.
“Yeah,” said Vivian. “That’s how long he thought he’d be too. Thanks.”
She was about to go back in when Alison came out.
“We’re going to get some coffee. You’ll stay with Mom?” she asked Delacroix and he nodded.
Alison grabbed Vivian’s arm and pulled her toward the break room across the hall.
“You think Chucky did this, don’t you?” whispered Alison and Vivian nodded. “You think he’s after that will?”
“Yeah, I do. And I’m more than a little bit worried that he’s had all night to find it. Someone searched the office last night. How long do you think it will take for them to go look at the house.”
“OK,” said Alison. “I’ve got keys to the house. I’ll just tell Mom that I’m going to go get her some clothes and I’ll go look for the will. I was going go before you got here, so it won’t seem weird.”
“No, give me the keys,” said Vivian.
Rowan would be so pissed, but considering that half their relationship was arguing, then she was pretty sure she could smooth it over. He had to see that she couldn’t allow Alison to risk herself. She couldn’t let Chucky get his mitts on the will. And above all, she couldn’t wait an entire hour.
“No!” exclaimed Alison.
“Yes! Your mom will freak out if you go and she realizes what’s going on.”
“She’s only going to freak out a fraction less when you go!”
Alison poured herself a cup of coffee, probably to keep her hands busy because she stared blankly at it after she was done.
There was a soft knock on the door and Delacroix leaned in. “The doc is here for another update.”
Alison stared at Vivian with a panicked look in her eyes.
“It’s going to be good news,” Vivian promised.
“He looked me in the eye,” said Delacroix. “Usually if it’s bad news they avoid eye contact.”
“Fingers crossed,” said Alison. “Tell Mom, I’ll be right there.”
Delacroix left and Alison pulled keys out of her pocket. “I’m in the P-1 parking lot, second level. Stall 282. Black beamer.”
“I’ll be as quick as I can,” promised Vivian. “Tell Delacroix I’m staying in here to make a phone call.”
Vivian waited until Alison had distracted Delacroix and then slipped quickly down the hallway and into the stairs.
She tried to jog down to the parking lot, but her bruises protested.
Getting thrown on the rocks and then having Mark land on top of her was more of a thing than she thought it had been originally.
Not that she would admit that to Rowan—Mr. Walks Through Bullets himself—that, but she would need more Motrin at some point.
She found Alison’s car and got out of the maze of the Harborview campus as quickly as possible. Vivian thought if she moved quickly enough there was half a chance she could even be back at the hospital before Rowan knew she was gone.
Nine minutes later, which was faster than Google’s estimate she pulled up to the house.
Howard and Nadine lived in a French-Normandy three-story home in Denny-Blaine.
The neighborhood was one of the richest in Seattle and Vivian felt a creeping case of classism, a need to keep up with the Joneses, and possibly an impending eating disorder just by visiting.
She didn’t understand how Howard and his family managed to be as normal as they were.
She fumbled through the key ring as she approached the front door.
It took her a few tries to find the correct key, but then she was in.
Vivian gently shut the door behind her, and paused in the entryway, flipping the keys around in her hand.
She hadn’t visited the house that many times—it took her a moment to remember the layout.
After a moment’s hesitation, she turned left and went down the hall through a rounded archway.
The walls were a crisp cream and the wood floors were a dark walnut.
She knew that Nadine had used an interior designer, someone flamboyant named Eduardo who split his time between Seattle and Miami.
She remembered his visits to the office.
And yet, none of the designer’s personal color was apparent in the house.
She wondered if it had killed his soul a little bit to create such a tastefully vanilla home.
Vivian stood in the doorway to the library that served as Howard’s home office.
Like the arches, it was also rounded at the top, which meant the door was custom.
The furnishings were lovely, but having listened to Rowan making decisions for his house, she realized it was the door that impressed her.
She also realized how much better she liked Rowan’s eclectic taste and tendency toward color and luxe textures.
The quiet-luxury look would never do for him.
Vivian frowned at the room. There wasn’t a filing cabinet or any loose piles of papers for the will to get lost in.
A wall of books and cabinetry wrapped around a pair of chairs and everything looked cozy rather than functional.
The table next to the armchair had a small decorative stone plinth.
It looked like the blandly tasteful but meaningless decorative object that got put in showcase houses.
She wondered if Howard actually liked that kind of thing, if he even thought about it, or if he just liked that Nadine was happy.
She crossed the room and opened the middle cabinets to reveal a computer and printer-scanner combo.
She reached under the edge of the counter and pulled.
It telescoped out into a small, but efficient desk.
She nudged the mouse and it popped up with the identical log-in as the work computers.
That meant that he’d been accessing work files.
Her phone rang and she saw Rowan’s face. Taking a deep breath, she picked up. She had known it would be a fight when she left the hospital, but he had to see that this was important.
“Vivian,” he said promptly and Vivian tried to stop the delicious shiver that ran down her spine. How did he always do that?
“Hi,” she said.
“Delacroix is freaking out because you left him.” Rowan had the uber calm tone that told her he was on the far side of the water from tranquil and happy.
“He said it was going to be an hour before anyone else showed up,” said Vivian. “I didn’t have time.”
“Do you have something against being safe?” said Rowan. He sounded exasperated.
“The police are moving too slowly. Chucky isn’t going to wait for them. I need to do this for Howard.”
“You couldn’t wait twenty minutes for an escort?”
Vivian got a sinking feeling.
“It wasn’t going to be twenty minutes. Both you and Delacroix said it would be an hour.”
“It was an hour under the original plan. We could have changed the plan. I respect your right to make your own decisions, and I also want to find the will. But that was not safe and I wish you would have called me. We could have come up with alternatives together that didn’t involve you putting yourself in a risky situation. ”
She was used to arguing with Rowan, but this wasn’t an argument.
It was him disagreeing and having valid points about how to accomplish shared goals.
He was literally an expert at what he did and she had run off because she felt bossed around.
It was entirely possible that she really did have a tiny problem with authority.
“I… Well, shit.”
“What?” he demanded his voice intensifying.
“I’m going to have to apologize to you because I was wrong and I really dislike that.”
There was an odd clunk out in the hallway and Vivian felt her heartrate pick up.
Rowan let out an annoyed laugh. “I suggest you bring chocolate. It seems to help. Meanwhile, I take it you’ve made it to Howard’s?”
“Yes,” she said, looking around the room. Howard didn’t have any closets to jump into. What was she supposed to do now?
Chucky walked in, a gun in his hand, and Vivian realized she really was going to have to apologize to Rowan. If she lived through this.
“Hang up,” Chucky said softly. He looked even puffier than usual and for some reason he chosen to wear plaid golf pants while committing felonies.
“Well, Courtney, thanks for calling. I’ll gather up Howard’s things and bring them back to the office on Monday.”
“Viv?” Rowan’s voice was sharp. “Is he there?”
“Yeah, I hear you, but I need to hang up so I can look at this mess Howard’s got going on.”
Chucky gestured impatiently with the gun.
“I’m almost there,” said Rowan. “Do whatever you have to do. Do not let him take you off the property.”
“OK, see you on Monday,” said Vivian.
“I love you.”
Vivian hung up the phone.