I thought about her previous fights with the disease and how they’d been all over the papers. The first time it was shown in a sympathetic light, as she and Joe Stratton battled the disease together while he was a senator and then presidential candidate. The second time was just after their divorce, and it was used to vilify my philandering father.
Rightfully so. But I could see how she’d want this to be out of the public for as long as possible.
“Restoring the cars is real, and Iamworking on them, but they won’t take much. Her old man kept them in pretty good shape, actually.”
“But it’s your cover for being there.” It wasn’t a question.
He nodded. We reached campus, and he drove toward the student parking lot.
“And the wedding? Were you already working for her then?”
“No. That was my…audition, I’d guess you’d call it. How I could deal with that kind of group. Would I, I don’t know, pull my junk out and piss all over the bride, or something?”
I laughed. “They wanted to see the animal in an unnatural habitat and see how he did?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
I totally got that. That was kind of what everyone was waiting for me to do—show my true, low-class, daughter-of-a-home-wrecking-whore colors.
“And that kiss you laid on me on the dance floor?”
He smiled. “You know what? I kind of think that sealed the deal for Caro.”
“Does she have lots of visitors? Was that why it was important to make sure you could fit in?”
“That was the thought, but turns out she really doesn’t have all that many visitors. I’m not sure if she’s turning down offers because she’s afraid word will get out, or…”
“If she’s not getting any offers.”
“Exactly.”
“And Dotty? I’m assuming she knows?” I spoke the name like I knew Caroline’s long-time housekeeper. I’d never met her, though she’d been at the wedding, crying the whole time over “Miss Betsy” being so beautiful.
But I remembered many a time my mother would scream into the phone at my father that she needed help. And it would almost always end with, “I need my own Dotty!”
He’d hired cleaning ladies for my mom, who came twice a week, but none of them ever lasted very long.
“Anybody else helping out? Home nursing of any kind?”
“Too risky that they’d tell the press. Iamthe home nursing. At least for as long as I can maintain. If it gets too bad, we’ll call someone in. She won’t be…in pain, if I can help it.”
“You like her,” I said, studying him.
He shrugged. “She’s okay.” The tone of his voice, though, assured me I was right.
“Who’s to sayyouwon’t go to the press? Bet there’d be a lot of money for that story. The first picture of an emaciated Caroline Stratton would fetch top dollar.”
“First of all, thanks for thinking that I’d be that low. Christ.”
“Can you blame me? You are—were—a thief.”
“That’s different.” I lifted a brow at that, but just motioned for him to go on. “Second, it seems Spaulding recorded a conversation I had with him about Lucas’s arrest, where, shall we say, Ialludeto my possible involvement.”
“He blackmailed you into doing this?” It didn’t surprise me at all, except that it was a big risk for Grayson to take. Stick was a wild card, and I wasn’t at all sure that he would respond well to coercion.
“No. I’d already agreed to do it before he told me about the recording. That’s just insurance to him.Iknew I would never do something that sleazy. Now he feels safe too.”
“Why are you doing this at all? No matter what they’re paying you, surely you would have made more stealing cars.”
