Chapter Six #2
Sage got up slowly and then stretched out on the bed, curling herself carefully around Max so as not to disturb him. Talking about Alice made her sad, and she wanted the comfort of someone who loved and missed her too.
A heavy silence hung over the line until Jake cleared his throat. “How’s Max doing? Did he settle in okay?”
“Yeah, he’s good. Really good. He loves my place, especially my bed,” she whispered while tentatively stroking Max’s thick, silky coat. He lifted his head, let loose an offended yowl, and batted her hand away.
“Oh my gosh, okay, no petting,” she said, holding up her hands.
She realized she should have lowered her voice when Jake started laughing.
But before she could come up with a cover story, Max growled again, batting at her like a boxer.
She tried cajoling him into sharing the bed with her, but he didn’t let up until she was an inch from falling off the mattress.
She got off the bed—glaring at Max, who snuggled into the bedding with a smug yawn—grabbed a pillow, and said to the man who’d been laughing throughout her entire fight with the cat, “Good night, Jake.” She ignored the thought that Jake made a much better bedmate than Max.
“Would someone please tell me why I agreed to take on her case? It’s been two years. Two years, people, and she can’t stop dragging that poor man back into court,” Sage said as she strode into her office Tuesday afternoon.
It was the first time in her career that she wanted to offer her services to a client’s ex.
Of course it would be the one client she represented that the founding partners had wholeheartedly approved.
The woman’s parents came from old money and were only too happy to bankroll their daughter’s divorce, which was why Sage found herself in court with her every few months.
Sage’s assistant and her associate didn’t bother looking up or answering her.
They sat huddled behind her desk, smiling at something on the computer.
“Hello? What’s so interesting…” she began, rounding her desk.
She got a look at the familiar face on the screen and frowned. “What’s going on?” she asked Jake.
Brenda and Renata swiveled on the office chairs, fluttering their eyelashes. In case their reaction to the man on the screen wasn’t clear enough, Renata mouthed, He’s hot .
“You weren’t answering your phone, so I called your office,” Jake said, oblivious to the reaction of his fan club.
“You called once. I was in court. I would have called you back.” She should have called him back as soon as she’d left the courthouse, she realized, casting a furtive glance around the office for Max.
It was his second day coming to work with her, and he already had more friends at the firm than she did.
Except he was supposed to visit with them in her office.
The last thing she needed was Max wandering the halls of Forbes, Poole, and Russell and ticking off the founding partners. She managed to do that all by herself.
“He wanted to see Max, so we set up a Zoom call,” Renata informed her while sharing a conspirator’s grin with Jake. Brenda was doing the same until she noticed Sage eyeing her.
Her assistant shrugged. “You can’t blame him for wanting proof of life, Sage. You haven’t had fur kids before.”
“And we know why,” Renata said, rolling her eyes.
“Hey, I’m a good cat mom. I brought Max to work with me, didn’t I?” She put her hands on her hips. “And I sent you a picture of Max on Sunday.” Granted, it was a picture of Max’s tail. The cat had a thing about getting his photo taken. “He’s fine.”
She hoped. She still didn’t see any sign of him, and it wasn’t as if she could ask Renata or Brenda where he was with Jake looking on. “Now, if that’s all you wanted, I’d better get to work. Ladies.” She raised her eyebrows, indicating she’d like her desk back.
“Actually, I need to talk to you, Sage. It won’t take long,” he said, then offered Brenda and Renata one of his heart-stopping smiles as they got up from their chairs. “Nice meeting you both. Thanks for the update on Max and Sage.”
“Wait. You asked for an update on me?”
Brenda took Renata by the arm. “Maybe we should give Jake and Sage some privacy.”
“No. I think I should stay in case Jake needs corroborating evidence,” Renata said.
“What evidence are you corroborating?” Sage asked.
Renata held up a hand as if she was about to tick off the evidence against Sage, but Brenda intervened.
“Would you look at that? We’re going to miss our break if we don’t take it now, Renata.
I know how important it is for you to have time communing with nature.
We’ll join Bill and Max on the rooftop garden. ”
Bill from security had gotten a glimpse of Max yesterday morning when Sage had unsuccessfully tried sneaking him onto the elevator at seven o’clock in the morning.
Max hadn’t appreciated her carrying him.
Luckily for Sage, Bill was a big cat lover, and Max seemed to like him much better than he did her.
Bill had gotten him on the elevator and into her office with no problems whatsoever.
“If you need daily progress reports, I’m your person, Jake. Just email me. Anytime,” Renata said, placing a finger under each eye and then pointing them at Sage, in the universal sign for I’m watching you .
Brenda hustled Renata out of the office before Sage got to say anything, at least anything to her associate.
Sage sat in her chair, pushing her hair back from her face. “I don’t believe you, Jake. You’re asking for progress reports about Max and me?”
“No, and before you get upset with Renata, she has your best interests at heart. Yours and Max’s.” His lips twitched.
“Max is fine, and I’m growing on him. He only growled at me once today.”
“You still sleeping on the couch?”
She sighed. “Yes, but only because I have a very comfortable couch.” She leaned over to put her purse in the drawer. “So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“My guy came through.” His gaze roamed her face. “You were the last person Alice called, Sage.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I checked. I checked the day she went missing.” She’d checked obsessively, even after learning Alice had died.
“It was an audio message. She didn’t get a chance to send it.”
“She was dictating it when she went off the road, wasn’t she? It’s the reason she got distracted.”
“We don’t know that.”
Sage pushed the words past the emotion tightening her throat. “What did she say?”
“I’ll send you the audio file if you’d like, but she said Sage, call me as soon as , and then it cut off. I think she wanted you to call her about some guy she was talking to at the Smoke Shack just before she headed for the farm.”
The Smoke Shack was known for having the best BBQ brisket on Cape Cod.
The food truck had been a fixture in Sunshine Bay for the past thirty years.
They had a patio and an outdoor bar with live music on the weekends and a great location on the beach.
Alice loved it. She used to take Sage and Jake there at least a few times every summer.
Usually when they had something to celebrate.
“A guy? What guy?” Sage asked.
“From what I could piece together, there was a guy asking about your family. They said Alice overheard him and approached him. The conversation got heated on Alice’s end, according to the staff. They said she seemed upset.”
“And they didn’t think this is something the police should know?”
“They’d taken a couple of days off to go camping and just got back today. They had no idea Alice had died until they went to work this morning. They were pretty cut up about it.”
“Do you think this guy could have something to do with Alice’s death?”
“Other than upsetting her? No. It was an accident, Sage. Plus he spent the night at the Smoke Shack. Closed the place down, according to the staff. I talked to SBPD an hour ago. They mentioned that your mom, aunt, and grandmother have had issues with obsessive fans in the past. So it’s possible Alice was being protective of your family.
The police have his description. They’ll keep an eye out.
Might be a good idea for your family to do the same. ”
“Okay, I’ll let them know. What did he look like?”
“In his fifties, good shape, about six feet tall, well dressed, and he wore Tex Aviator sunglasses. They didn’t get a hair color. He wore a black ball cap. They also didn’t see what he was driving or which way he went when he left. They were anxious to close down for the night.”
“Did your guy find anything else? A reason why Alice would have gone to the farm instead of going home?”
“No. Nothing. The phone was damaged, and he couldn’t retrieve everything. He’ll keep trying, but he doesn’t hold out much hope.”
“So we’ll never know why she was heading to the farm that night.”
There was a knock on her office door, and one of the mailroom staff entered. “Urgent memo from the founding partners,” he said, rolling his eyes. No one understood why they insisted on sending hard copies instead of sending an email.
“Thanks,” she said, accepting the memo. She scanned it. There’d been a cat sighting at the firm, and Forbes, Poole, and Russell were not happy. “Uh, Jake, I have to go.”