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Here’s what I think—you were hired by Mrs. Lipe to follow her husband and figure out who he was sleeping with and maybe things got out of hand on the cruise.”
“Look, I’m telling you that she didn’t hire me before today. Why would I lie about that?”
McNearny smiled. A huge grin, one that was intended to ridicule me. “You don’t know. Do you?”
“What? What am I suppose to know?”
“Not so smart after all.”
What was I missing? What did he know that I didn’t know?
“Why are you so hostile to me? I’m the one who helped you solve—”
His face turned beet red. “You think you helped solve that? We had that case blown open.”
McNearny and I stared each other down.
He was dead wrong but challenging him wasn’t going to get me closer to solving this case.
I swallowed my pride. “Sorry if I stepped on your toes.”
He stood straighter. “Glad we understand each other.”
I understood all right.
He pointed at me. “You don’t have a license and I don’t want you poking around in this case. If she hired you to follow her husband, to find out who he’s sleeping with, that’s one thing, but absolutely no nosing around in this case. You understand?”
I nodded.
He grunted.
Any doubts I’d had about taking the case had just been wiped from my head. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I was committed to solving this case before McNearny. He didn’t care about the victims, only his reputation with the department.
“So you’re okay if I follow the husband, right?” I tested.
McNearny shrugged. “Sure, let me know what you find out.”
I do the footwork, he takes the glory.
No problem. I didn’t have my ego riding on it. I only wanted the facts.
    CHAPTER NINE

    Playing Catch-Up

    To Do:

1. Baby development? Check out L’s milestones.
2. Drop off dry cleaning.
3. Shop for shoes.
4. Thanksgiving?
5. What does McNearny know?
6. Call/e-mail Paula.
The first thing I did when McNearny left was jump online. I browsed the library collection and found The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating .
Perfect.
I put it on reserve.
Hoping to find out more about Alan, I googled him. I didn’t find much, just that his office was on Sacramento Street. There certainly wasn’t a headline on Google results about any affair. I wanted to speak with him, but how could I do that without tipping him off about Margaret’s suspicions or my investigation?
Maybe The Complete Idiot’s Guideto Private Investigating could clue me in.
I called Alan’s practice and asked for an appointment. The receptionist scheduled me a month out and told me his latest appointment hour was 4:30 P.M.
Bingo.
While online, I sent my best friend Paula an e-mail. I knew she was coming home soon but didn’t exactly know when. I would have loved to talk to her, but by my calculations it was already past midnight in Paris.
Then I dialed both Sara and Evelyn and left messages, hoping that they might have some answers about Alan. As soon as I hung up, Laurie began to cry. I picked her up off the playmat and found her soaked through.
Poor little monkey! What was going on with the leaky diapers?
Was it time for the next size already?
I made my way to the nursery to change her but the ringing phone interrupted my route. Turning from the nursery, I walked back to the living room and picked up the cordless.
“Kate! Where have you been?” Mother shouted on the line.
“I took Laurie to coffee.”
“She’s not old enough to have coffee!” Mother shrieked.
“Not her. Me. She just came along for the company.”
“Oh!” Mom yelled.
“Why are you yelling?”
“I’m not yelling!” Mom shouted.
“Yes, you are,” I said, elevating my tone to match hers. This caused Laurie to squirm in my arms.
“Am I? I just want to be sure you can hear me.”
Laurie started to whimper.
“Why wouldn’t I be able to hear you?”
“I’m on my new cell phone!” Mom said.
“You got a cell? For what?”
I’d been telling my mother for years to get a mobile phone, but her reply was always the same—she didn’t need one.
She