“I wouldn’t be surprised if that George III card table had a false top that hid the house’s mission control,” said Wes.
“How do you know all that design stuff?” Nadine pulled on her car door, which, unlike his, opened smoothly.
There it was, the not unexpected dig at his job. “TheSpearhas an award-winning arts and design section under Lifestyle,” he said. “I don’t spend all my days writing about picnics.”
“I never said you did.”
“Well, if you had spent less time checking over her vases like you were casing the joint, we might have been able to get somewhere.”
“Ifyouhad finished with the small talk while I was getting the vase, we could have started right away.”
Nadine slammed the door after what she obviously viewed as a killing blow. He watched her drive away, filled with retorts that he wanted to yell down the driveway. Then the door to Dot’s house opened to reveal Maria. Wes got the hint and dragged his car door open.
Let Nadine try next time if she thought she could do it better.
***
“We need to skip the tea,” said Nadine, kicking at the ground and swearing as pebbles lodged in her shoe. They were outside Dot’s gate after their second meeting, which hadn’t gone any better than the first. Dot Voline was a stubborn woman who wouldn’t talk until she wanted to. This was especially annoying, as she had been the one to summon them.
At least she was with Wes. Despite his many faults and how much she hated to say it, he was a dream interviewer. Nadine wasn’t too proud to admit that Dot responded better to Wes. She still called him handsome, but something had shifted when Wes had noticed a small miniature dagger tucked in a cabinet of curiosities beside a brain coral. After asking if it was a Yoshi Morimoto, they’d embarked on a discussion ofthis Morimoto guy’s philosophy of miniaturization, which Wes had skillfully related to some of the themes inLamplight, her first short story collection. Dot had allowed Wes to pour her a second cup.
When Dot finished the tea and called it an hour, she’d been smiling and had told them to take off kindly instead of hollering it. Wes had been the one to make the connection that would hopefully get Dot talking, a fact he had pointed out to her before getting in his car and shutting the door in her face with what seemed liked extra smugness, if a door could be shut smugly. Nadine had refused to give him the satisfaction of addressing his comment when they’d met up outside the house to debrief a minute later. Dot didn’t like them lingering on her property, so they were standing on the edge of the street.
“The tea is necessary,” said Wes. It took Nadine a minute to remember why he was talking about tea, because although she’d mentally taken a journey to trust and relationships, she’d left Wes thinking about their approach. “She’s deflecting us.”
“I’d noticed,” said Nadine, miffed that he thought her so oblivious. “That has nothing to do with tea.”
Wes faced her, and she was surprised to see that in the sun, his eyes remained so dark they were almost black. It was strange how she’d been noticing more things about Wes lately. Knowing each other for years meant she had a mental template of Wes in her head she hadn’t bothered to update since J school. Perhaps it was time to do an edit.
“It’s comforting for her. Brent said there was a promise to keep.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out two of the strawberry candies Dot always had in a small crystal dish. She took the one he offered and unwrapped it.
“If she was eager to tell the story, she wouldn’t be doing this because of a promise,” she said slowly. “She’d tell us straight out or would have told it before. She’s worried.”
“I think so, yeah. We need to figure out why.”
Building up protective walls was familiar to Nadine. She bit into thecandy as she thought and saw Wes make a face.
“What?” she asked.
“Those are hard candies. Not for chewing.”
“Are you gatekeeping candies?” she asked in astonishment.
“It’s not gatekeeping. It’s a matter of principle. Gummies are for chewing. Hard candies are not.”
She looked him straight in the face and crunched again.
“Fine,” he said. “But don’t come to me when you want more.”
“No worries.” She pulled one of the candies she’d snuck from the dish herself out of her pocket and popped it in her mouth. “To get back to our discussion, Dot could be delaying for two reasons. One is whatever that scandal is. She doesn’t want to drag it up because it’s difficult to talk about. That hints at something personal.”
“Or she feels vulnerable about the truth,” Wes said.
Nadine thought. “There’s more.”
They paused as a black car drove by them, slowing threateningly as it passed. “Private security?” asked Wes.
“Screw them. This is public space.”
