Change of Life. Leigh Riker

No,” she answered her own question, “you had to call Geneva, and when you learned I would see her today, you ‘dropped by’ a few minutes earlier. Of all the nerve. If I were you I’d make some polite excuse and leave.” She indicated Geneva, who was opening and closing the doors to the immense pantry only a few feet away. “You can put in your bid another day.”

      “Another day and you’ll have contractors all over this place.”

      “Just tell Geneva—”

      “What? That I’m the better designer? Most of the Florida Panhandle already knows that.”

      Nora felt her blood pressure surge. After her recent near brush with a cardiovascular event, she needed to keep calm. No more of those unanticipated…flushes.

      She would maintain control if it killed her. Of her temper. And her body.

      “You’re not going to rile me, Mulligan. Don’t even try.”

      Nora whirled around, intent upon charming her soon-to-be client and nailing down the deal. Her mind spinning with ideas, she started toward Geneva.

      Starr charged after her.

      When she jerked Nora around, pulling her arm almost out of its socket, Nora had no choice but to freeze in place. Starr glared at her.

      “I want this job. I intend to have it. One way or another.”

      For a few seconds, Nora stared her down. Then with a cool look of dismissal, she pulled her arm free and continued on into the kitchen. She didn’t care whether Geneva heard her or not.

      “Someone will die first,” Nora muttered.

      CHAPTER 3

       D etective Calvin Raji Caine had a hangover.

      On this hot September morning, it pounded behind his eyes and through his fogged brain. Last night’s six-pack roiled in his belly, which he fully deserved, but if anyone spoke too loud in the next few hours, he wouldn’t pull his punches.

      Caine wasn’t proud of what he called his therapeutic drinking, which had started after his wife, Annie’s, death, but occasions like that three years ago, and at the moment this one, tended to throw off his good intentions. Right now, his job wasn’t helping him to reform.

      “Guess I picked the wrong line of work,” he said, but it was all he knew.

      Caine wound his way up the long, paved drive to the Whitehouse address.

      Good Lord.

      Did people really live this way? He knew they did. In his job Caine saw all kinds of homes: grand estates, middle-class brick ranch houses, single-and double-wide trailers. The small bungalow he’d shared with Annie popped into his mind as well. Neat and tidy, it had smelled of good food and furniture polish and most of all, love, when she was still alive. He hated going home now.

      Solitary confinement, Caine called his place, which echoed with a sense of emptiness now that she was gone. He’d never planned on living there alone, or being a bachelor again. Well, alone except for Annie’s cat. Caine was the orange tabby’s sole companion now, just as the tomcat was his. He guessed they suited each other, one of them as irascible as the other. Once, he supposed, they’d both been normal guys.

      What the hell. He might as well question Geneva Whitehouse about some petty burglary she’d reported earlier that morning or he’d start to feel tempted to go find a little hair of the dog and call a beer or two his lunch—not that Caine had ever done any drinking on the job. He didn’t expect the interview to amount to anything. Probably the Whitehouse maid had lifted an item or two, giving herself a nice five-finger bonus.

      He rang the bell and heard discreet chimes from within.

      The woman who answered would have sucked the breath from an ordinary man, one who still had red blood flowing through his veins. Reed-slim but full-breasted, Geneva Whitehouse wasn’t tall, yet she carried herself like a supermodel. An ash blonde with wide blue eyes, she wore a gold wedding ring on her hand next to a flashy diamond set in platinum that must weigh four carats.

      “Ms. Whitehouse. Calvin Caine.” He flashed his badge. “I’m the investigator assigned to your case. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

      With the introduction he handed her his card. As she studied it, the striking blue of her eyes went flat, like an unpolished stone, and the sparkle disappeared except from her ring.

      “Please come in.”

      Caine felt the back of his neck crawl. Right away his head began to throb again and he felt lost. The house was huge, in all ways. Big entry hall, big rooms, big ceilings, big air-conditioning system if the chill was anything to judge by. He thought of his own decrepit bedroom unit, cranking out stale air all night, not helping him to sleep. He kept meaning to replace it. Too bad he didn’t have the inclination to change the AC, his clothes, whatever.

      In the living room she studied him. “Would you like a drink? Soda, coffee, something stronger?”

      He must look as if he needed one. The temptation he’d suppressed rocked him back on his heels. “No, thanks. I’m on duty. I won’t take much of your time.”

      Geneva Whitehouse perched on the arm of a very expensive-looking sofa. She invited him to sit down, but Caine stayed on his feet. He took out his notebook and clicked open his pen.

      “The missing vase,” he said, prompting her to begin.

      “Yes, of course. I noticed it was gone this morning when I got up,” she said. “It’s quite valuable, although not of museum quality.” She named a figure that widened Caine’s eyes anyway. “My husband had it custom-made for me from his own design.” She blinked. “As you might guess, it has even greater sentimental value.” She worried her bottom lip. “Do you think you can get it back?”

      “We’ll try.” He scribbled on his pad. “When did you last see this vase?”

      With a longing look toward the hall, she indicated the now-empty space in the curio cabinet, a look that reminded Caine of himself at home in his empty house. “Yesterday afternoon, I think, just before five,” she said.

      Caine asked the usual questions about anyone who had access to the house or grounds, anyone who might know the layout and her daily routine. In his experience, most people followed the same schedule, in the same order, each day without any significant deviation. She mentioned the gardener, her cleaning service, the pool boy. “But they haven’t been here as recently as—” Her gaze popped open even more. “Oh, goodness. I’ve been so upset, I almost forgot. I’ve been interviewing interior designers. We’re going to have some work done on the house—” needlessly, Caine thought, but it was her money, or her husband’s “—and two women were here yesterday. One of them admired that particular vase. It does stand out,” she added.

      Caine needed specifics.

      “Nora Pride,” she murmured, sounding reluctant to say the name. “Her firm is Nine Lives, Inc. in Destin.”

      Sounded more like a pet store to Caine. She gave him the other woman’s name, Starr Mulligan of Superior Interiors, and Caine rolled his eyes. Geneva Whitehouse didn’t see him because she had glanced away, but when her gaze met his again, his cop instincts began to hum. Caine saw doubt in her eyes. She didn’t know whether to tell him something.

      “Anything you can give me, Ms. Whitehouse, will be a help. Sometimes the smallest detail can sound a bell.”

      She fidgeted with her ring. “Something else does bother me, Detective Caine. I’d be less than a good citizen—and not very helpful to you—if I didn’t tell you that when they were here, Starr and Nora argued.”

      Geneva Whitehouse gnawed on her lip again. It was a great lip, full and plump and ripe, but Caine reminded himself that he didn’t have much interest in women these days. His work had become his life. And besides, she was married. Caine liked to think he was a principled