The Law of Attraction(53)

“You are going to tell Braden about the letter though, aren’t you?”

“Not yet. He’s just like my dad. He’ll get all worried and uber protective. He might get himself in trouble by going after one or even all three of the people who I suspect. He might even suspect Cam of being jealous or something and I don’t think it was him.” Suddenly it dawned on me. “That’s it! Cameron can help us.”

“But Marla knows him too. Maybe we should ask Mark.”

“Mark would tell Braden. He’ll be with you, who Marla doesn’t know, and she won’t be expecting to see him. Even if he did run into her though, big deal. He could just say he was on a date.”

“What makes you think he’ll agree to spend his weekends following Marla?”

“I think that he’s bored. That’s why criminal law sounds exciting to him. Did you get his number?” I asked.

“I did,” she said a little sheepishly. “Just in case something happened, you know?”

“What, like the courtroom burned down or something?” I teased.

“Something like that.” She fished her phone out of her purse.

“Call him and ask him if it’s too late to invite him to dinner with us. You can tell him we need to talk to him.”

When she hung up she said that although he sounded surprised, he would be happy to join us. He had a place in Society Hill, another Center City neighborhood which was very near here. I was surprised I hadn’t run into him somewhere sooner. We ordered from a local Chinese place and I ran out to pick it up. By the time I got back Cam had arrived and he and Jess were laughing and talking animatedly. I set the table and we sat down to eat.

“So, Jessica says that there’s something you want to talk to me about?”

“Yeah, I got this letter today,” I said, showing it to him.

“Who would send something like this?”

“I have a hunch that it was either Marla, Cole, or possibly Mrs. Mason.”

“Well, any of them would be capable of it, but couldn’t it be anybody?” I explained my reasoning to him and he saw my point. Next I outlined my plan.

“So you would want Jessica and me just to follow her?”

“I was thinking that maybe you could at least find out what places she tends to go to. Then maybe we could come up with a plan for getting the sample. This would be just sort of an information gathering phase. What do you think?”

“I think it sounds kind of interesting — sort of James Bond.” He laughed. “You’re going to tell Braden though, right?”

“Not right away. I’m afraid he’ll get worried and upset and have one or more of them investigated and that could have all kinds of ramifications. I’m not telling my dad either or we’ll have more alarms in this place than Fort Knox before you know it.”

“I don’t know if I feel good about doing anything behind Braden’s back,” Cam said significantly.

“I promise I’ll tell him. I’m just hoping to have a little something to go on first. I really don’t want to worry him and I honestly don’t feel like I’m in any danger. Public defenders and prosecutors get harassing letters sometimes. I think this is just like that.”

“Well, I guess it’s not like I’m sneaking around with you. More like I’m sneaking around with your roommate.” He smiled. “Okay team, I’m in!”

“Great! Okay, I have the address of Marla’s townhouse. I say that this Friday you two just see if you can figure out what kinds of places she goes to. Maybe it will give us an idea.”

“You’re going to see your parents?” Cam asked.

“Yeah, Braden and I will leave for New York by train on Friday after work, so you guys will be on your own, but call me anytime. If I don’t answer right away I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”

We finished dinner and Cam hung out for a while longer before heading back to his place. When he was gone Jess turned to me and I had a feeling I was about to be cross-examined.

“Okay, what’s the deal?”

“What’s the deal with what?”

“The whole story with you and Cameron and Braden. I get the feeling there’s more there than you’ve shared so far.” Jess was very observant. It was hard to get anything past her.

“Let’s go get comfortable,” I said, heading for the living room and sinking into my favorite armchair. “Cam and I were friends in college and I had a big crush on him. We wound up hooking up one night and I wanted it to be more but he didn’t.”

“Oh wow. You’re kidding.” I could that she genuinely sympathized.