tremor of age or an acknowledgment that I was right. Her smile was tinged with regret.
“I thought I did a pretty good job of keeping that information off people’s periscopes. Making out I was smarter ’n everyone else and keeping my hands in my pockets. That I wasn’t tempted by easy money. How’d you guess, Lucille? No, don’t tell me, I know. It’s that extrasensible perception you got going on.”
“I hope you didn’t lose much. I’m so sorry.”
“No one to blame but myself. It was like joining an exclusive club and I couldn’t wait to get in. I’d heard the whispering going around about this surefire opportunity to make steady money. Only an upside, no down. So I went to Harlan and asked him. He said he’d see what he could do because normally the minimum investment was a hundred thousand.” Her cackle echoed in the small store. “Good Lord. I had my mouth open wider ’n a big-mouth bass. He didn’t even have to work to reel me in. Told me he made an exception for me but said I had to be very circumcised about it. You know, keep quiet because it was all hush-hush.”
I had been about to take a sip of coffee. Instead I coughed. “He said that?”
“Yes, indeedy. He threatened to give back my money if I uttered one peep. Now I know he was just trying to keep me from talking to everybody else he made an ‘exception’ for.”
Amazingly, she’d kept her word.
“You weren’t the only one, Thelma. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“Oh, phooey. I was just as big and dumb as the rest of the sheep.”
“You have every right to be angry.”
“What good would that do me, on top of everything else?” She shrugged. “I still got some of my little nest egg put away, plus I own this place. So it’s not like I lost everything the way I suspect some folks did. I know a few of the Romeos who are just fumigating they’re so mad.”
“Well, Tommy Asher’s still saying he’s got everything under control.”
“They said that about the
“There’s still the dedication ceremony for the Asher Collection tomorrow at the Library of Congress. Maybe he’s trying to hold things together until then,” I said.
“He can do what he likes. It’s all over but the crying, anyway.” Thelma kept rocking. “You know, plenty of people made money from Harlan and Asher. They always paid with promptitude so you’d just keep on thinking the checks would come in. But lately the economy got so bad folks started needing some of their money to pay bills.” She shrugged. “That’s when Harlan started trolling for little fish like me. People who got in the end, ’cause they needed our cash. Now we’re the ones going to lose the most.”
“I know, I know. It’s horrible.”
“Especially considering one of ’em was Quinn. You must feel awful about that.”
I sat up straight. “Pardon?”
“Your winemaker, child. Rumors goin’ round he invested all that money he got from his mother’s estate with Harlan. Did it right before everything started to fall apart. It’d be a shame about him losing the cash he planned to use to buy his own place, wouldn’t it?”
“Are you sure about this?”
“You’d know better than I would.”
“I, uh …”
“Well, look at me shootin’ off my mouth. I just assumed you knew.” She stopped rocking. “Quinn didn’t tell you. Did he?”
My voice was faint. “I assumed he had investors who lost money because of Harlan and they backed out on him. It never occurred to me that it was his own money.”
“I’m sorry, Lucille. You know, I could be wrong.”
I nodded. She could be. But she wasn’t.
And it explained everything.
Chapter 22
For the rest of the day I avoided Quinn. Now I knew why he’d been so evasive about his financial situation. He’d risked all his money just as the ship was sinking.
Like Thelma and the Romeos, he’d been swept along with the tide. Everyone else was making money in Tommy Asher’s exclusive club, so why shouldn’t he? Asher promised modest gains and steady returns, not wild profits. A sensible way to build wealth. Then there was Sir Thomas himself: a title conferring aristocracy; a man who was urbane, intelligent, and generous, donating millions to charity and supporting worthwhile causes through his philanthropy.
What was not to trust? Who would question someone with his credentials and his long-term track record? His clients were wild about him—until they started losing money.
I ate a solitary dinner in the kitchen, though I brought
I studied the first:
Simon deWolfe was Sir Thomas’s half brother—but did that make him an equal, a peer? Was Rebecca implying Simon knew what was really going on inside Asher Investments? As for “a certain truth, which many buy too dear”—the “many” could be Asher’s clients who were now paying the price for what he’d done. Was Simon—my cousin’s new beau and the muscle for his brother—in on the whole Ponzi scheme, too?
If he was, how deeply was he involved? Enough to commit murder—like drowning a drunk Ian Philips in his hot tub? What about Rebecca? I’d always suspected Simon had been with her on the day she disappeared. Now I knew that he hunted with Mick, who was an excellent marksman. I’d bet money Simon was no slouch, either.
Dominique had seen only one side of Simon, the charming Englishman who’d swept her off her feet. Kit said David Wildman knew his dark, violent side from firsthand experience. How long before my cousin found out about it, too? I knew her well enough to know she’d laugh off my worries. She might even be annoyed or angry with me for saying anything negative about the man she was in love with—enough to go to Simon and tell him what her cousin said so that he could deny it and put her mind at rest.
Then what? For the time being I needed to keep my mouth shut and find what Rebecca had left for Ian. Then maybe I could talk to Dominique.
I went back to the poem and reread the second passage Rebecca had marked.
A park? Somewhere with trees and paths. Manicured trees and statues, a defunct fountain, and a summerhouse “that knows no shade.” A formal garden in someone’s home? It had to be in Washington because she’d meant Ian to find it; I was her backup.
Tomorrow I’d show this passage to David Wildman and Kit. Maybe among us, we could figure it out— hopefully soon.
Somehow it felt like I was running out of time.
Even though Antonio told me a couple of men would patrol the property as usual, I still slept poorly. Quinn and Rebecca haunted my dreams. When I woke on Saturday morning, the sun was already streaming through my bedroom window.
