I shoved the door closed and sighed. Nothing to see here.
I stood quickly. If Lacey showed up and saw me sitting in Moira’s chair, it wouldn’t look good. I stretched my arms over my head and walked out from behind the desk.
Something on top of Moira’s file cabinet caught my eye. A pink handkerchief. Did anyone use handkerchiefs anymore? I could easily see Moira using one. She was an older woman, a mother. Seemed like the handkerchief type. I picked it up and smoothed my fingers over the soft cotton.
Then my eyes popped.
The handkerchief was monogrammed.
LW.
Those weren’t Moira’s initials.
“Knock, knock.” Lacey’s voice slid through my thoughts. “Hey, Zee. What do you have there?”
I held out the hanky for her to see.
Her forehead wrinkled. “Is that…” She grabbed it out of my hand. “That’s one of my monogrammed handkerchiefs. Where did you find it?”
“On top of the file cabinet.” I gestured.
“Seriously?” Lacey fled quickly to the file cabinet. “Right here? On top? Out in the open?”
“Yeah.”
“Where did Moira get it?”
“I don’t know. She was already gone when I found it.”
“Strange. I didn’t even know it was missing.” She bit her lower lip. “This isn’t good.”
“I’m sure Moira just found it somewhere and was keeping it for you.”
“Probably. Except I haven’t used these in ages. The set of four was a gift from my godmother years ago. They’re lovely, but handkerchiefs are kind of old-fashioned.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that someone took this from my place.”
“You don’t think Moira—”
“No, but someone did, and it ended up here.” She wrinkled her forehead. “Someone wanted me to think Moira took it. I need to talk to Rock.”
“But I—”
“I’ll see you get back to Reid’s, Zee. Don’t worry. But we need to make a detour to my husband’s office.”
I sat, quiet, in Rock’s office, the door closed and locked, as Lacey told him about the hanky.
“Where do you keep them?” Rock asked.
“In the bottom of my top dresser drawer,” Lacey said. “I haven’t packed that drawer yet. I don’t keep anything in there that I need, so I figured, until the penthouse was ready—”
“I don’t like this. Not one fucking bit.” Rock glanced at me. “Sorry, Zee.”
“About what?”
“The profanity.”
I burst into a sarcastic laugh. “Please. I’ve heard more of that than anyone in the showgirl business. It doesn’t bother me.”
“All right. Good, I guess.” He turned back to Lacey. “Have you noticed anything else missing? Lately? Or before now?”
“No, not really.”
“What about that business card in the rose garden?”
I had no idea what they were talking about, but I listened closely anyway.
“I threw out all my old business cards.”
“How many did you have?”
“Well, honestly, quite a few. I’d just ordered a new batch right before…” Her face went white.
“Right before what, Lace?”
“Right before Derek’s murder.”
“Fuck.” Rock swept his fingers through his hair. “We need to go to your apartment. Now.”
“Excuse me…” I began.
“Right,” Lacey said. “I have to get Zee to Reid’s.”
“We’ll take her with us. She’s trustworthy. Right, Zee?”
“Of course. The only reason I’m here is to help all of you. But I—”
“Surely we have time to take her to Reid’s,” Lacey said.
“We don’t, Lace. We need to get to your apartment and take inventory. I don’t want to waste one second.”
“Can I please finish my sentence!” I hadn’t meant to yell, but I was frustrated. Scared, and freaked, and frustrated.
“I’m sorry,” Lacey said. “I’m anxious about all this. What do you need?”
“I don’t need anything.” I drew in a breath. “Moira has some of your old business cards too.”
“What?” Lacey’s eyebrows nearly flew off her forehead.
I nodded. “In her top desk drawer. I didn’t mean to look. I just… She left, and I was waiting for you, and…”
“It’s okay, Zee. Thank you for telling us. I’ll take care of that right now.” Rock raced out of his office.
Lacey slumped into a chair.
“Moira seems so nice,” I said.
“She is.” Lacey shook her head, rubbing her forehead. “And she’s also not stupid. If she were trying to frame me, she wouldn’t leave a handkerchief out in plain sight.”
“And the business cards?”
“If they were in her top drawer, that’s pretty close to plain sight.”
“So Moira’s not involved.”
“No, I doubt it. But someone wants us to think she is.”
A half hour later the three of us arrived, via Rock’s limo, at Lacey’s apartment.
“Nice to see you, Lacey,” the doorman said. “We’ve missed you around here.”
Lacey nodded without responding, and we hurried into the building and up to Lacey’s door. She unlocked it quickly and raced inside.
It was a lovely place, better than anything I’d lived in, but very modest compared to Reid’s apartment.
“Have a seat,” Rock said to me.
“I’d like to help if I can,” I said.
“All right.” Lacey rummaged through a kitchen drawer and handed me a pad of paper and a pen. “Write down what I tell you.”
I nodded and followed her and Rock into the bedroom. She opened her top dresser drawer harshly, nearly landing it on the floor. She pulled out scarves and garments, throwing them to the floor. “Here they are.” She pulled out a handkerchief identical to the one from Moira’s office. “Only three. In a set of four.”
Rock riffled his fingers through his hair. “Someone was here.”
Lacey nodded. “We need to get a PI in here to dust for fingerprints.”
“We can,” Rock said, “but I’d bet whoever did this was a pro and knew better than to leave fingerprints. What else is missing? Anything?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to have to go through this place with a fine-toothed comb.”
“No time like the present. One pink hanky from a set of four. Write that down, Zee.”
I nodded and complied.
“When was the last time you used the hankies?” Rock asked his wife.
“Like I said, I really don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever used them.”
“Not at the memorial?”
“Especially not at the memorial. I wasn’t crying. Were you?”
“True enough,” Rock said. “Write down never used, Zee.”
Again, I obeyed.
Lacey continued to open
