Designer Detective (A Fiona Marlowe Mystery) by Marjorie Thelen Page B

I’m terribly sorry things turned out
as they did.”
    I stretched to receive the envelope he offered
and opened it. The check was for $10,000, more than I would have billed.
    “Thank you, Hudson. This is very generous. Are
you all right? Are you sure you should go back? Maybe you should continue on to
the airport and board a flight to England.”
    His having chased us down the highway to hand
me a check well over the amount I would have asked, suggested that here was an
honest, well meaning man. I was concerned for his safety.
    “I’m all right, Miss Marlowe, but I can’t leave
quite yet.”
      I
hesitated to ask, but did. “Is Cody okay?”
    “Cody?”
    “Yes, he, uh, had an accident with hot coffee.
I hope he’s all right.”
    “Yes, he told me you had left. He looked a bit
red-faced, I recall. I hurried to try to catch you. I certainly wish you well,
Miss Marlowe.” He leaned lower to see Jake. “And you, too, Mr. Manyhorses.”
    Jake nodded but said not a word.
    “I must be getting back. Good day, then,” Hudson
said.
    We watched him back around and ease into the
line of traffic.
    I pulled out the check again. “Jake, this check
is for $10,000. But wait.” There was something else in the envelope. “There’s
another check made out to you. It’s for $10,000, too.” I handed the check to
Jake.
    He studied the check. “Silence money, I’d say,
wouldn’t you?”
    We sat in grim reflection, gazing at the
overgrown tangle of trees and shrubs to the back of the parking lot.
    “Jake, why would they give us
$20,000 when the estate is in such a financial mess?”
    “To buy our silence.”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Fiona, don’t go waffling on me. This family is
into unimaginable intrigue.”
    “Are you going to tell me what you know?”
    He sighed. “I suspected something illicit but
didn’t know it was weapons. I found entries in a ledger book in Albert’s room.
It was an account that Hudson didn’t know about, which is why I think Hudson
isn’t part of whatever Cody and Albert were doing. The entries were large sums
of money. Like $800,000 was the smallest amount I remember.”
    I watched his profile as he spoke. The sun
popped in and out of puffy clouds. Yellow and gold leaves fell in hops and
skips from the trees. All was well with nature. It was humanity that was in bad
shape.
    “He was dealing arms then,” I said.
    “He apparently was. I saw the large sums of
cash that wouldn’t be associated with any think tank job.”
    “Do you have any idea why Albert did this?”
    He shrugged, still staring at the trees in
front of us. “Financial problems. I found a lot of
unpaid bills in the desk in Albert’s room. Big bills. For furniture, appliances, cars, bank loans, credit cards. I don’t know who all
that stuff was for since Olivia wasn’t around racking up bills. I don’t know
how he laundered the money.”
    “Where did he get the contacts?”
    “Africa, most likely. He spent a lot of time there. Lot of lawlessness, big need
for guns.”
    “And the customers?”
    “You name it.”
    “Jake, the man could have been supplying terrorists
and other wacko groups. I think we should go to the proper authorities.”
    Jake pursed his lips and said a funny thing. “I
think the authorities are probably on to him, and they need evidence. They could
have gotten a search warrant, if they’d wanted but they held back. I don’t know
why, and I don’t want to know.”
    “You might not, but I do.”
    He shook his head. “No, you don’t. This whole
thing smells like an old bull carcass been out in the sun too long.”
    “Why do you think the authorities already
know?”
    “Just a feeling which is why
I don’t want to be hanging around that house any longer. I like your
idea of Australia.”   He held up his
check. “We have the money. Let’s go straight to the airport.”
    I looked at him in alarm. “Good grief. I have
to pack, don’t you?”
    He shrugged. “All I got is back at the