A Fair to Die For by Radine Trees Nehring Page B

didn’t drive away, she used her cell phone to call the motel, saying she had an emergency and needed to cancel her reservation. They allowed that, and even sounded relieved, she thought, so that made her certain the men had been asking about her and they were glad to avoid potential trouble. Pretty soon someone came out of the motel lobby and went to the car to talk with the men. After that they drove off.
    “Edie went to another motel and registered under a similar, but false name, paying cash. She figured, probably correctly, that the men had the ability to check motel registrations. When the desk clerk asked for identification, she flashed her driver’s license, and they glanced at her photo, but didn’t catch the different name. After I told her two men from the FBI had been here asking for her, she agreed the best thing, at least for tonight, was for her to stay here.”
    “Why didn’t she let us know she’d had to change motels?”
    “Not sure of our loyalties. Came here this evening as a last resort.”
    “Oh, for gosh sake. And what if those men come back? Are we now hiding her?”
    “I hope we don’t have to deal with that before tomorrow morning, if at all.”
    “None of us will be here tomorrow.”
    “Exactly. I thought Edie could go to the shop with me, if nothing else works out.”
    “Go where?” Edie said, as she walked into the room.
    After Henry explained, Carrie asked, “How do you know Milton Sales?”
    “Ah.”
    “I suggest you bring us fully into the picture right now,” Henry said. “We are sheltering you, and have a right to know what’s really behind your visit here.”
    Since she hadn’t told him about the afternoon’s events, and he hadn’t yet heard the name Milton Sales, Carrie was surprised and pleased when Henry picked up on her train of thought immediately. His manner remained friendly, but there was steel behind the request for information. She wondered if Edie understood that steel. Henry, when he took on his cop manner, could be intimidating. He wasn’t quite there yet, but might be very quickly.
    Did anything intimidate Cousin Edie? Carrie hoped so, because this whole situation was unsettling, if not scary, and Edie had involved them more deeply the minute she returned to their home this evening.
    Probably all this evening’s friendly behavior from Henry was by intent, getting Edie to let her guard down. Is she frightened of those two men? Of Milton Sales? Of something or someone else?
    Carrie settled comfortably against Henry’s side and awaited Edie’s response.
     

Chapter Seven LEARNING MORE
     
    Edie sat in Henry’s favorite chair and, head down, she was silent for a long minute before she said, “Milton Sales was a much younger colleague of my father’s.”
    When she said no more, Carrie prodded. “So you knew him years ago?”
    “No. I didn’t know him. But, back when Daddy disappeared and Mother and I were asking a lot of questions at his office about what might have happened, a woman there mentioned the name, and said she thought he had been working with Daddy at the time he disappeared. The three of us were alone when she said that, and after someone walked in the room, she quit talking. No one else acknowledged knowing anything about Daddy’s colleagues, and we never located Milton Sales. But I didn’t forget his name.”
    Henry asked, “Where did your father work?”
    “It was called ‘Torrance Export-Import,’ but I have always thought the name was a cover for something else.”
    “What made you think that?”
    “Doesn’t export-import indicate the business is dealing with products; something coming and going? Toys, art, antiques, machine parts, whatever? Surely there would be some evidence of things to be sold. The office had a warehouse attached, and the warehouse had boxes. I managed to trip over one once, and I’m sure it was empty. Daddy never, ever, mentioned any kind of merchandise, and never brought samples home. He had no