Upside Down Read online

  Maggie looked up to see her secretary, Emily Davis, rapping softly on the door. Emily was everything Maggie wished she was, drop-dead gorgeous without even trying. She was tall, as tall as Ted. She had an athletic body that still remained incredibly feminine. She dressed well, had a glorious head of rich, natural blond hair and Bambi brown eyes. In other words, a stunner. Plus, she was the most efficient secretary Maggie had ever come across. Somehow, she could anticipate Maggie’s every need. If there was such a thing as perfection, then perfection’s name was Emily Davis. Except for one little thing. Emily Davis had the hots for Ted Robinson.

  “What?” Maggie barked. “Don’t you have anything better to do than stand in my doorway?” God, how hateful that sounded. Well, she was feeling hateful.

  Emily didn’t take offense. “Actually, that’s why I’m standing here. Is there anything else you want me to do? If not, I’m going to lunch. If I hurry, I can catch up to the guys. It’s my turn to buy anyway.”

  That threw Maggie for a loop. Her turn to buy. That had to mean Emily had been going to lunch with the guys on a regular basis. Well, crap!

  “Go!” she barked again. Emily didn’t need to be told twice. Maggie could see her texting as she waited for the elevator. Well, crap again.

  Maggie’s head started to ache. She’d just dug herself into a hole, and, right now, right this minute, she didn’t know how to get out of it. Think!

  “I’m thinking! I’m thinking!” she muttered over and over to herself.

  She’d broken her own cardinal rule, and it was eating at her. She’d spied on her best friends. Friends as in plural but Ted in particular. Once they’d been lovers, engaged to be married, but that time was long gone. She’d married someone else and was now a widow. Her whole life had been turned upside down, especially during the last year, after her husband had left her to go back to war and been killed.

  God, why was she thinking like this? Because she’d broken the cardinal rule and had to live with it. It wouldn’t be so bad, she thought, but Ted knew what she’d done. Espinosa and Dennis knew, too. Probably the rest of those in her immediate circle knew, too. Ted’s circle as well. She’d be a pariah. The guys would hate her, and the girls . . . God, what would the girls think? Especially Myra and Annie. Tears burned her eyes at the thought she’d be alone in the world, friendless, and all because she had to spy on her best friends.

  If only she hadn’t sent that stupid banana tree. If only. And what did she even hope to gain or to learn? That a building in Georgetown called the BOLO Building was a meeting place for the guys. So what? For all she knew, the guys were gambling away their free hours in the privacy of the building. She’d staked out the Bagel Emporium and eaten at least a thousand bagels as she watched the building. A total bust. Because . . . no one, as in ever, entered the building by the front door. The back entrance was used for some reason, and there was no way she could stake out the back without being spotted. The owner of the bagel shop, Ding something or other, said he didn’t know anything about the building, just that it had new tenants.

  Well, she knew a thing or two about pricey real estate, and the BOLO Building was as pricey as it gets. Why did the boys need such a building to gamble if indeed that’s what they were doing? And there was no record that she could find for the ownership of that particular building. She’d need someone like Abner Tookus to find that out, but that was definitely out of the question.

  She’d called around to the girls and tried to ask sneaky questions, but she’d come up dry. Then the brilliant idea of sending the banana tree came to her. She’d sat at a small table at the bagel place and watched as it was being delivered. Then she’d almost exploded off her seat when she saw Ding deliver a bag of bagels. To the front door!

  Something was going on. Something no one wanted her or the girls to know about.

  “What?” she thundered to her empty office.

  Chapter 7

  Maggie leaned back and squeezed her eyes shut. Just because she was the editor in chief didn’t mean that her reporter instincts were dead. Once a reporter, always a reporter. Tack the word investigative onto that thought, and for sure she wasn’t dead in the water. All it meant to her was that she had to be a little more careful and not make any more dumb moves like sending banana trees to the opposition. The word sneaky came to mind, but she quickly rejected it. When it came to scooping the opposition, everything was fair, and Ted, Espinosa, and Dennis had suddenly become the opposition. At the moment, she couldn’t care less whether her assumption was true or false. The trio had broken the cardinal rule of being part of a team, so let the chips fall right on their feet for all she cared. If she was no longer a part of their team, then they were the opposition, whatever it was they were doing.

  Eyes wide open now, Maggie bounced upright in her chair as she peered through the glass wall that allowed her to see Emily Davis’s desk. She felt like she should rush out and put a nameplate on her secretary’s desk that said TRAITOR.

  Maggie took a moment or two to wonder if she was jealous. No. Yes. Well, maybe a tad, but not really. She had no strings on Ted. They’d talked their relationship to death so many times that she’d lost count. Finally, they had agreed to be friends and partners but not romantic partners, which in turn meant they could each see other people if they chose to do so. Nothing was said one way or the other about a booty call if the opportunity presented itself at some point along the way. Obviously, Ted had chosen to see Emily Davis. Or, at least, he was on the verge of taking that particular new friendship to another level.

  It was amazing how she hadn’t noticed anything during this past year. And a hell of a year it had been. In her mind, things started going south after Myra’s Thanksgiving dinner last year, when Charles left for parts unknown. There wasn’t any one thing in particular that she could put her finger on or point to, but things hadn’t been the same since his departure.

  Maggie knew it wasn’t her imagination that no one seemed to have time for anyone else. Isabelle was in England and hadn’t crossed the pond since she’d left. Abner had made the journey back and forth a few times, but if what Ted said was true, Abner hadn’t been to England since July, five months ago. Since Abner was a very wealthy man, money was not an issue. So she couldn’t help but wonder if there was trouble brewing in their marriage.

  Then there were Espinosa and Alexis, who had chosen her career over a relationship with the man who was now her ex-fiancé. He’d been in such a funk over her rejection that Ted had hauled him off to a shrink to talk it out. He was better now but not whole, in Maggie’s opinion. As far as she knew, Espinosa wasn’t seeing anyone and sat around hoping that Alexis would call him.

  Then there were Jack and Nikki. She knew there was trouble there because she only lived a few doors away and couldn’t help but notice the crazy hours each of them kept. That, plus Jack’s sudden neighborliness, stopping over almost every day just to talk and have coffee. Nikki’s obscene hours were driving him nuts.

  Tears sprang to Maggie’s eyes at how, in just a single year, their tight-knit little group was disintegrating. Not only the group as a whole, but the individual relationships among the various partnerships were being turned upside down. She couldn’t help but wonder if it all had something to do with Charles’s abrupt departure last Thanksgiving. Was Charles the glue that held them all together? Actually, when she thought about it, she always considered that it was Myra, Annie, and Charles who kept them together. A trio. A trifecta. Take away one, and everything started to unravel.

  Maybe she was the one who could get them all back on the same page.

  Without stopping to think, Maggie pulled out her phone and hit the number that would reach Yoko. “Hey, I want to put my order in for my Christmas tree and ask if you’re free for lunch tomorrow.”

  Yoko laughed and asked if she could bring a friend. That wasn’t exactly what Maggie had in mind, so she said, “What friend?”

  “Kathryn. She’s delivering my bales of balsam an
d my Christmas trees. You get the first pick. I’m sure she’ll be free for lunch, but she’s heading up to Delaware to drop off another load of Christmas trees, all fresh from Oregon, before she heads back to Vegas. Does that work for you, Maggie? You sound . . . strange. Is anything wrong?”

  “I don’t know, Yoko. We can talk tomorrow. How about if I call the girls to see if they can join us. It’s been so long since we all got together.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll put Harry on alert, so he can pick up Lily from play school. Tomorrow is only half a day.”

  “Where shall we meet up?” Maggie asked.

  “Well, you like the Squire’s Pub, so let’s go there, or that trendy little café right there on Dupont Circle. I think it’s called Betty Lou’s. Betty Lou’s would be my choice since Squire’s Pub is really a guy spot.” Maggie agreed. “Twelve-thirty would be perfect for me. Do you want me to call anyone?” Yoko asked.

  “That works for me. You call Nikki and Alexis, and I’ll call Myra and Annie. We’ll be short one because Isabelle is in England.”

  “No, she isn’t! Didn’t you hear? She came back over the weekend, and she and Abner had a huge fight, and she moved out. Harry didn’t tell me this—I heard him talking to Abner on the phone—and, of course, I eavesdropped. You call her, Maggie.”

  “Well, damn! That doesn’t sound good. I guess you don’t know where she went, do you? I hope she still has the same cell-phone number. I’ll give it my best shot.”

  “It would not surprise me in the least to find out that Isabelle went out to the farm. Isn’t that where we all go when things go awry in our lives?”

  “You’re right about that,” Maggie said when she remembered how she’d hightailed it to the farm after her husband died to fall into Myra’s and Annie’s waiting arms. “Thanks for reminding me. I’ll call when I hang up. You okay?”

  Yoko laughed. “It’s the start of the Christmas season, so that means things will go nuclear real soon. I’m looking forward to seeing Kathryn. I haven’t seen her since last Thanksgiving. Isabelle, too, now that I think of it. I don’t suppose there has been any word on Charles, has there?”

  “Not that I’ve heard. Okay, see you tomorrow. Give Lily a hug from her Aunt Maggie. By the way, what does she want for Christmas?”

  Yoko laughed again. “Everything in the world, so you can’t go wrong no matter what you choose. Don’t go overboard. She loves storybooks. Hey, they’re paging me for something. Gotta go, see you tomorrow. Thanks for calling, Maggie, I do need a break.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Maggie sighed as she broke the connection.

  She drummed her stubby fingers on her desk, her eyes on the bank of clocks on the wall that gave the time all over the world. She was going to stay right here until everyone got back from lunch. And she wanted to see how long the foursome would take. Her eyes narrowed into slits. Everything was her business now.

  Maybe what she should do was drive out to Pinewood. Myra always said not to bother calling, her door was always open. Still, what if she wasn’t home, and she made the trip for nothing. She finally talked herself into the trip as she recalled Yoko’s words that Isabelle was probably there. And that’s what she would do the moment the foursome returned from lunch.

  For the next thirty minutes Maggie was a whirling dervish as she tidied up loose ends, delegated duties, and signed off on a dozen different papers shoved under her nose. Thank God it was a slow news day.

  Maggie’s eyes strayed to the clock again. Ninety-minute lunch hours were taboo unless approved. She knew in her gut that Ted was pushing her buttons. Lunch hours were one hour. Sixty minutes. Emily knew better, and this was the first time she had abused the rule. Let it go or make an issue of it? She opted to let it go, but she made sure the foursome saw her looking at the clock, then making a note on her desk pad when they returned.

  With her afternoon cleared, Maggie gathered up her coat and purse. She made a production of locking her office door, something she rarely, if ever, did. She looked at the foursome again and left for the elevator. Let them all wonder where she was going. Two could play the secrecy game.

  Emily Davis waited until her boss stepped into the elevator before she got up from her desk and walked into the newsroom. “What was that all about? Was it taking too long at lunch? In the two years since I’ve been here, this is the first time I’ve ever been late coming back from lunch. I’ve always prided myself on obeying the rules. Maggie looked . . . she looked . . .”

  “Pissed to the teeth are the words you’re looking for. She was that all right. But you did notice, she didn’t make a big issue of it,” Ted said airily. “Wonder where she was going.”

  “Why don’t you call her and ask her,” Espinosa said snidely. “You started this ball rolling, so see it through.”

  “I did not! She’s the one who sent the damn banana tree.”

  “What banana tree?” Emily asked.

  It was as though Ted and Espinosa forgot that Emily Davis was in the room as they ranted back and forth.

  “Yeah, well, she’s been following me. Us. That’s as in you and me, Espinosa. Doesn’t that damn well creep you out just a little? Oh, crap, I forgot, you’re so wrapped up in Alexis’s dumping you that you can’t see the forest for the trees. You need to look alive here, Joseph!”

  “Why would the boss follow you guys? Did you do something? What banana tree?” Emily asked for the second time.

  Ted and Espinosa continued to ignore Emily and her words.

  “Alexis didn’t dump me. We came to a mutual understanding that wasn’t, isn’t, to my liking. And I am not in any damn forest. How do you explain, Ted, that you didn’t notice a tail? You’re the investigative reporter here. She’s out for blood now. Yours!” Espinosa said ominously.

  “Why would the boss be out for your blood? You’re both talking in riddles, and I still don’t understand about the banana tree. I do know they’re hard to grow, though,” Emily said.

  “Don’t you have somewhere else you’re supposed to be and doing something to earn your paycheck?” Espinosa snarled at the beautiful young woman.

  Emily Davis scurried back to her desk, her thoughts whirling and twirling in all directions. What was going on? She made a note in her day planner to pick up some flowers in the morning and a bag of Maggie’s favorite pastries to make up for being late from lunch. She not only liked this job, she needed it. If there was one thing she didn’t need, it was to have her boss upset with her. The bottom line was she shouldn’t have listened to Ted when he said he was always late at lunchtime and Maggie didn’t care. She made a mental note not to take Ted’s advice on anything even though she was starting to have some strange, kind of nice feelings about the lanky reporter.

  Emily tilted her head so she could see out the plate-glass half wall that separated her small office from the newsroom. Ted and Espinosa were still going at it. Whatever it was. Well, it was none of her business, so she might as well get down to the small mountain of work Maggie had left for her. She wasn’t sure, but from the looks of things, it appeared to be a punishment. She sighed. She so hated game playing.

  Chapter 8

  Maggie turned on her turn signal, made a right turn, and drove down the long, winding road that led to Myra’s private driveway. She pulled to the side and looked out the window. Was it a mistake to come out here? Was the decision to make the trip just a knee-jerk reaction to the situation? Guilt?

  Whatever it was, she was here. But she could turn around now and head back to the city. She could do that. But did she want to do that? What would Myra and Annie think when she told them why she had made the trip? Whose side would they be on? Then there was Isabelle. How was that going to play out?

  Maggie rolled the window halfway down and took in deep breaths of the cold, fresh air. She hated this time of year with a passion. It was always gray and gloomy, with snow flurries in the air. Then came the snow. It was bearable, she supposed, until the Christmas season was over. Right now, though, it suc
ked.

  Go forward?

  Turn around and go home?

  Damn it, she was a reporter, and she lived by her instincts. It didn’t matter if she was the editor in chief or not; at the end of the day, she was still a reporter, and she would be a reporter to her dying day.

  Maggie clenched her teeth, moved the gearshift from PARK to DRIVE, and hit the gas pedal.

  Arriving at the electronic gate, Maggie pressed in the code, gave a soft tap to the horn, and zipped through the opening. She parked next to a black Mustang, a car she didn’t recognize. Probably Isabelle’s.

  As she ran across the courtyard, Maggie could hear the dogs barking. The kitchen door opened just as she hit the steps. In an instant, she was surrounded by Lady and her four pups. Suddenly, everyone was laughing, and then Isabelle was wrapping her arms around her and squeezing her so hard her eyes started to water.

  “Oh, Maggie, I am sooooo glad to see you! You look great. It’s been a year! Well, almost a year since we were together. What brings you all the way out here?” Isabelle gushed.

  “A couple of things. I . . . I need to talk to someone. It’s good to see you, Isabelle, really good. Yoko told me you were back. I didn’t know.”

  “How did Yoko know?”

  Maggie shrugged. “She heard Harry and Abner talking. She eavesdropped. You know how it goes, Isabelle, you gather your information however you can.”

  “Coffee?” Myra asked.

  “Tea?” Annie offered.

  “How about a cold Coke?”

  Ten minutes later, the women were seated at the table, Isabelle with tea, Myra and Annie with coffee, and Maggie with her Coke.

  “Give it up, dear,” Myra said. “We need a diversion here.”