“They seem to be getting more popular,” Emily remarked. “I think the reputable ones might be safe, don’t you think?” She looked from Isabel to Camille.
“I don’t want to sound paranoid,” Isabel crossed her arms on the table, “but no site is totally safe from scam artists and perverts.”
“Any details, Camille?” Emily inquired.
“All I know is,” she leaned forward again, “his name is Lucas and he has money.”
“Is that what Maggie said?” Emily asked.
It was well known among these close friends that Maggie had always hoped to snag a man with money. She had grown up poor in Texas, escaping that life as a young single mother with a small son, making her way to Hollywood in hopes of becoming a movie star. When her ship never came in, she left her deadbeat husband and moved north to Idaho where her brother and his family lived.
Over the years, her son, Josh, grew up into a fine young man and joined the Navy two years earlier. Her brother, Clifford “Sully” Sullivan, co-owned and ran the local golf course and had been elected Mayor of Paradise Valley a couple of years before.
When Maggie had arrived in Paradise Valley, she’d brought little more than her young son, but she learned all she could about fitness training and she’d opened her own studio, which gave her a decent living. Still, she always said it was her dream to find herself a man of means who would love her and treat her like a queen. Maybe now her dreams were coming true.
“What does she know about this man?” Isabel asked.
“All she’s told me is that he lives in Colorado, his name is Lucas Wakefield, and he’s an investor,” Camille reported.
“Investor? What does he invest in?” Isabel questioned.
“You’ll have to ask Maggie if you want any more facts,” Camille said. “But, please, wait until she brings him up. Otherwise, she’ll know I told you.”
“Maybe I should run a background check on him,” Isabel suggested, tapping her finger on her chin.
“Oh, Isabel, I don’t think Maggie would like that,” Emily warned. Being a private investigator made Emily as skeptical as Isabel’s FBI training had made her, but Emily knew Maggie wouldn’t see it that way. “Why don’t you wait on that one?”
“All right—for now,” Isabel agreed. “But as soon as she tells us about this Lucas character and she starts talking like they’re getting serious, I’m doing a background check.”
“Enough talk about Maggie, what about you, Em?” Camille asked. “Have you found out anything more about Evan’s mysterious past?”
Emily’s late husband, Evan Parker, had been a private investigator in Paradise Valley. He’d been murdered while working late in his office one night about a year ago. Eventually, Emily was able to start putting her tragic loss behind her. Hoping to move on to a new relationship at her friends’ urging, she began to pack Evan’s things away.
While going through his closet, she had come upon a slender silver key that turned out to belong to a safe deposit box at a local bank. She had been shocked that he had kept secrets from her and angry that he had lied about his past.
Gaining access to the safe deposit box, she’d examined the contents and found three passports with different names—Michael Boerner, Sean McDonough, and Alexi Krishenko. She’d also discovered a large bundle of cash, some Euros, a mysterious brass key, a gun, and an old photo of Evan with a pretty, young, dark-haired woman. He had his arm intimately around her shoulders and they were smiling into the camera. Of all the things she’d found in the box, the photo had packed the biggest wallop. Emily had removed the key and the photo from the metal box and left the rest at the bank for safe keeping.
“I still haven’t been able to find out who the woman in the photo is or what the key unlocks,” Emily replied.
Months after Evan’s death, Emily had been pulled into one of his old cases and had taken over as the investigator. She’d worked the case, but it had dragged her deeper into her own puzzling mystery. The items in Evan’s safe deposit box clearly spoke of another life, a life he had kept from her, leaving her to wonder who he really was and if their marriage had been one big lie.
“You know, I did offer to help you with that.”
Isabel had suggested that on numerous occasions, but Emily always put her off, telling Isabel she didn’t want her