California Schemin' - Kate George [34]
I knew it had to be about the death of the woman. I knew they probably were privy to the details. I hoped they hadn’t done it. It was obvious that Hammie could have done it. He seemed to have some very specialized skills. Trained in special services? I thought it was likely. I didn’t want them to know who killed Lily Carver Wallace, but I couldn’t get around the fact that they probably did.
“You look like you smelled something rotten,” Moose said to me. “What’s up?”
“What’s up? Don’t pretend innocence with me, Moose. I’m in California listening to a jazz concert with a Senator Wallace, who I’ve never even heard of before, instead of at home in Vermont taking care of my farm.”
“When you put it like that.” Moose shrugged. “It does sound a little fishy. Powerful men like the Senator are used to getting what they want and don’t worry too much how they make it happen. He pulled a lot of strings to get Hambecker on his payroll just so he can make things happen.”
“So Hammie has a price. That’s not surprising; everyone has a price.” But I was surprised and disappointed. Somehow I thought he wouldn’t be motivated by money. Naive, I told myself. Swayed by a pretty face.
“Wallace isn’t paying Richard,” Moose turned toward me. “He’s got something on Richard’s dad. I don’t know the details, but I think he paid someone to blackmail him, and Richard ended up on Wallace’s payroll as part of the deal.”
“Hammie’s dad is being blackmailed? Who is he?”
“Do you remember the State Trooper who was approaching you when I removed you from the lobby?”
“Removed me from the lobby. That’s an interesting way of putting it. He was a handsome, older man. Had a dress uniform on.”
“That’s Richard’s dad.”
“That’s Richard’s dad,” I repeated. The implications weren’t lost on me. I could see the red-coated blonde and his father, both descending on Hammie, expecting explanations about the strange woman he’d been with.
“That dress looks exceptionally good on you,” Moose said. “Richard did a nice job picking that out. I wonder what Paris would say if she knew he picked it out for you.”
“Paris? The blonde red coat?”
Moose laughed.
“That’s good,” he said, “but she probably thinks he’s the red coat, sitting with another woman at the concert.”
“If she knows the Senator, then she knows he had no choice.”
“That won’t stop her from holding it against him. Paris is used to getting what Paris wants.” Moose glanced out of the window, got his body in motion and was out of the car in an instant.
I glanced out to see Wallace, flanked on one side by Hammie and the other by the red coat. Paris’s face was stony, Hammie looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, but Senator Wallace was smiling and talking animatedly. Hammie slid in beside me as the Senator skillfully guided Paris to another car.
Chapter Five
Hammie normally sat in the front with Moose unless we were handcuffed. His presence beside me left me wondering if Wallace had requested it or if Hambecker felt the senator would have expected it. Hammie sat back and closed his eyes. He looked relaxed, but a twitch at the outer corner of his eye made me think the stress was getting to him.
“Your girlfriend doesn’t look happy,” I said, and Moose snorted in the front seat.
Hammie opened his eyes and scowled at Moose.
“It’s going to take some time to convince her that this wasn’t my idea,” he said. “Meanwhile, my ass is grass.” He shrugged. “I’ve lived through worse.”
“Too bad she’s not more understanding.” I wondered if he would notice that I was pumping for information.
“Paris? She’s all right. She doesn’t want some other woman holding hands with her guy. I kind of appreciate that in a woman. It would make me nervous if she was okay with it.”
We drove back into the parking lot under the hotel, and the men escorted me up to my room. Moose tossed me an oversized T-shirt with “Sacramento” emblazoned across the front, and I went into the bathroom to change out of the swishy dress and feet-numbing shoes. Moose had picked up a toothbrush and toothpaste