“He’s at work,” Lisa said. “That still doesn’t change the way I feel. You both need to stop bothering me, or I’ll tell Frank that you’re harassing me.”
“You were eager enough to talk to us yesterday,” Grace said. “What’s changed?”
“We’re finished here,” Lisa said. Before she ducked back inside though, she looked quickly up and down the street. The look in her eyes could only be described as real fear.
“Lisa, has someone threatened you? If your husband is being abusive, you need to get out.”
“My husband loves me,” she said emphatically.
“Then who are you so afraid of?” I asked her.
She replied by slamming the door in my face.
“What was that all about?” Grace asked me as we walked back to my Jeep and got in.
“She’s clearly rattled about something. Do you think it’s possible that the killer got to her and threatened her to keep her mouth shut?”
“I can’t for the life of me figure out why else she’d have such an abrupt change in attitude. Yesterday she couldn’t stop herself from naming suspects in Jude’s murder, and today she acted as though she was afraid of something, or someone. How else can we read it?”
I nodded. “I know you’re right, but what good will it do us knowing that Lisa’s scared? We don’t have any idea who might know that she’d been talking to us.”
“Unless someone has been following us,” Grace said.
“You’re talking about Reggie Nance, aren’t you?”
“We have only his word that he was at Max’s place waiting for Max and Peter to show up. What if we got it all wrong and he’d been following us all along?”
I considered the possibility. “Wasn’t he already at Max’s when we got there, though?”
“Did you see his car when we first drove up?” Grace asked me.
I thought about it, and then I said, “I can’t be sure. I didn’t notice him until he started his car and took off.”
“So, he could have pulled in behind us and shut off his engine without us noticing him. We were pretty focused on Max’s place at the time.”
“It’s possible,” I said.
“Then we need to have a chat with Reggie,” Grace said.
“I already spoke with him today. He stormed off without his donuts.”
Grace nodded. “Then it’s a good thing you had extras this morning.”
“What do you expect me to do with those?” I asked her, even though I had a sneaking suspicion what her plan was for my leftovers.
“Why, you’re going to apologize, of course, and offer these as a peace offering,” she said with a smile.
I wanted to argue the strategy with her, but I knew that she was right. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do, and you’re going to be standing right beside me when he do.”
“There’s nowhere else that I’d rather be,” Grace said.
“Just one thing,” I said as I started the Jeep and drove toward Reggie’s office. “It’s a minor point, but it’s still something that we should probably clear up before we get to his business.”
“What’s that?”
“What exactly am I apologizing for?” I asked.
“I was hoping that you would be able to come up with something,” Grace said with a grin.
“I could say that I was being insensitive about Debbie, but I don’t believe that. She wouldn’t have approved of her father’s attitude. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.”
“Can you try to fake it?” Grace asked me. “If you can’t, I understand, but we need a reason to just show up at his office.”
“I am sorry if I hurt him,” I said. “I don’t have to pretend that I’m not.”
“There you go, then.”
We drove up to the form-supply business Reggie owned and parked in a visitor’s parking space. I grabbed the stuffed box of donuts, and then I turned to Grace. “You can sit this one out, if you’d like.”
“Are you kidding? This was my idea, remember? Lead on.”
“What are we going to say is your reason for being with me?” I asked as we walked up to the front door.
“We have plans this afternoon, so I’m just tagging along when you do this,” she said.
“Okay. Here goes.”
We walked in through the front door of the business. Three men and women sat at desks behind a counter, though there was room for half a dozen more. They were all on the phone and talking at the same time. I didn’t know how I’d be able to get any work done in that kind of environment, but then again, a lot of folks would have balked at the prospect of getting up in the middle of the night to mix batter and dough. To each their own.