36. No Logical Sequence

36

NO LOGICAL SEQUENCE

“ T his isn’t the house you lived in, right?”

“No,” Regan said the next day when he pulled his SUV into the driveway of an older colonial brick home. It looked somewhat stately and...boring.

His parents had a big and impressive house that he grew up in, but he would never say it looked boring.

“Does your mother still live in the house you had back then?”

She laughed and it wasn’t a funny sound. “Actually, she does. With her new husband, Kyle. I don’t even remember how long they’ve been married. Maybe twelve years. My father remarried first. A year before my mother. Don’t laugh, but Kyle and Lori, my father’s new wife, have the same group of friends.”

“They knew each other before?” he asked. “Like friends?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I never asked. It wasn’t the same group of friends my parents were in. But when my mother started to date Kyle she’d said that she met him through mutual friends. I later learned those mutual friends were friends with my father and Lori. My mind couldn’t process it. I told you it’s like they married clones of each other. You’ll see at some point, I’m sure.”

“Meaning you’re going to let me meet your mother next?” he asked.

“Kellen is coming and once my mother finds out she’ll want us all together. I’m not saying a word, but I guarantee my mother will be reaching out to me in two days or less and know that I was here.”

“Through those mutual friends of your stepparents?” he asked.

She frowned. “Damn. I never thought of that. I bet you’re right. I bet Lori tells her friends and those friends tell Kyle. Why didn’t I think of that?”

He laughed. “Because you didn’t want to.”

“You’re probably right. I can’t understand them and never will. I gave up on it.” They walked to the front door and rang the bell. “This is Lori’s old house. She lived here with her first husband and her two daughters.”

“Oh,” he said.

“Yep, I know.” The door opened. “Hi, Dad.”

“Regan,” her father said. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Me too,” she said. “I brought wine. Or rather Zander brought wine. Zander, this is my father, Dennis Philes, and his wife, Lori.”

Dennis moved back from the open door and then Zander noticed Lori not far behind. He didn’t see a lot of resemblance between father and daughter.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, putting his hand out.

“You too,” Dennis said. “I have to admit I don’t know a lot about you other than you’ve been dating Regan for a few months and own a private investigation firm next to her office.”

He wasn’t aware that Regan had filled her father in that much. She’d told her mother, which probably meant Dennis got the information that way.

“Not much more to say,” he said. “I used to be a police officer with the Durham PD, but it wasn’t a good fit for me.”

“Why is that?” Lori asked. She had a polite smile on her face. “Please come in. May I offer you a beverage?”

Zander tried to keep the grin off his face over the way that question was phrased. “Zander likes beer, whiskey, and scotch if you’ve got any,” Regan said. “I’ll take a glass of that wine.”

“I could use a glass of whiskey,” Dennis said.

“I didn’t know you drank whiskey,” Regan said. “Is that something new?”

“My ex left a few bottles here and one night your father decided to give it a try. I was going to put it in cookies or some other recipe. I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, but when I asked if Scott wanted it back, he said no.”

Most people would have dumped it on their ex and not asked if they wanted it back.

“Dad can’t throw things out,” Regan said. “That would be wasteful.”

“I can’t either,” Lori said. “I believe I might have bought one of those bottles for Scott’s birthday. But Dennis has a fondness for it now. It’s like nothing ever changed on my end for gifts.”

Lori hadn’t even said that as a joke, but rather a fact.

Just plain odd.

“Ice or straight up?” Dennis asked.

He looked at the bottle that was pulled out. “Straight up is good.”

Once their glasses were poured, they moved to the back of the house away from the formal sitting room that held the liquor cabinet.

“I’ll get our wine,” Lori said. “It’s a little early for me to have wine, but it’s nice to let loose some.”

It was three in the afternoon. He wasn’t sure why she thought that was early, but he didn’t say anything. He barely held his snort in when Regan turned her head and crossed her eyes at him.

Once Regan had her wine in her hand, she took a healthy sip. “You said you were going away for the holidays. Any place warm or exciting?”

“I’ve got a business trip to go to in Wisconsin,” Dennis said. “Lori and I decided to extend the stay for a few more days.”

“My father loves cheese,” Regan said, turning to look at him.

Might explain why someone would want to stay in Wisconsin in the winter without knowing anyone.

“I do love it,” Dennis said. “We’ve got a few tours lined up at plants to see how it’s made and aged.”

“You’ve always talked about that, Dad,” she said.

“That was my Christmas gift to your father,” Lori said. “Three tours for the three days we are there. Both of my girls are going to their in-laws for the holidays this year too so it was perfect.”

“Are you going to spend Christmas with your mother?” Dennis asked Regan. “Since you didn’t see her for Thanksgiving either?”

“She ended up going out of town for Thanksgiving,” she said. “And you know Mom is more about Christmas Eve. I’m sure I’ll hear from her soon.”

“I hope your brother will come to town to see us,” Dennis said.

“You just said you won’t be here,” she said.

“If he at least visits with your mother,” Lori said. “Then it’s almost the same thing. Dennis will feel better knowing that someone has seen him.”

“I talk to Kellen weekly. I told you he’s fine.”

Zander put his hand out on Regan’s shoulder. For someone who always remained in control, he could see she wanted to lose it when it came to her brother or even talking to her parents about her brother.

“We know,” Dennis said. “But it’s not the same thing. Maybe someday if you have children you’ll understand.”

“Do you want to have children?” Lori asked Zander.

He’d had the glass of liquor to his lips and all but coughed when the question was asked of him.

Two months of dating seemed a little early to be asking a question that he and Regan hadn’t even discussed.

“That’s a premature conversation,” she said. “You know we haven’t dated long.”

“I know,” Lori said. “But it’s important to be on the same page with those things so that there are no letdowns.”

“Letdowns?” she asked. “Did you have that with Scott? And did you with Mom?”

Zander was surprised she put it out there like that to them.

He wasn’t sure he’d have the balls to do that to his parents.

Then he had to remind himself that not only was this Regan’s professional training but that she was also much stronger than he’d given her credit for.

The ache in his back this morning was testimony of that too.

“Scott and I had the same ten-year plan and goals,” Lori said. “But it was after that that things changed.”

He was lucky he could plan out groceries each week. “I don’t think it makes a difference what Lori and Scott’s differences were,” Dennis said.

“You’re right,” Regan said. “How about you and Mom? Did your ten-year plans not work out? Oh wait, had to be twenty-year plans. You made it past the fifteen-year mark.”

“What is this about?” Dennis asked. “Your mother and I did the best we could and decided it was time to move on. We were there for you and Kellen the whole time. I believe we handled the situation better than most families do.”

“You’re right,” she said. “You handled it so well that other than you leaving after dinner a few nights a week, for a while we had no idea you were splitting.”

This was news to him.

“Maybe talking about this wasn’t the best thing or timing,” Lori said. “Why don’t you tell us how work is going, Regan? I know you can’t give specifics, but how is the new office? I hope you didn’t lose any clients.”

Regan drained her glass. “The office is great. I didn’t lose any clients and have picked up fifty percent more. Mainly from being in the building alone.”

“That’s wonderful,” Lori said. “I hope you don’t burn out. You’re too young for that. There has to be a balance between work and your personal life.”

Zander couldn’t believe this conversation. Nothing like this ever happened in his family.

Their talks could be explosive, but everyone normally got the answers to their questions and then moved on.

It’s no wonder Regan was confused as a child. He was confused as an adult listening to this.

“We’ve got it all figured out,” she said. “Zander works just as much or more than me, but we find time to talk daily, even if it’s lunch together.”

“Sometimes too much contact in the beginning isn’t great either,” Dennis said.

Zander downed his whiskey. He wasn’t sure what to say to this. There was no logical sequence to the questions.

“Regan and I have a great relationship. An open one where we talk about everything important to us. Yes, it’s only been a few months and conversations like children haven’t come up, yet. When they do, we’ll figure it out. For now, we are in a great place and it’s working.”

“Sounds like it’s all going well,” Dennis said. “Tell us about some of your hobbies.”

“I’ll get you some more whiskey,” Regan said. “I need more wine while I’m at it.”

He handed over his glass while she walked out of the room and he got comfortable on the couch trying to come up with any way he could to pass the time and get the hell out of there.

“I don’t think even if you warned me I could have been prepared for that,” he said two hours later when they were driving back to her place. “But the roast beef was good.”

“Lori is a good cook,” Regan said. She started to laugh in his SUV. “My mother is too. I told you they are clones of each other. Even down to the meals my father likes and the way it’s cooked.”

“How is that?”

“My father likes his roast beef a step above pink in the middle. Lori nailed it. He has to have mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots and cornbread as sides.”

He grinned. “Every single time?”

“Every single time,” she said. “If I knew we were eating roast beef, I would have been able to tell you what else would be served. The lemon cake and cool whip topping too. Which my father says my mother tried one day on their third date and he loved it and wanted it all the time.”

He laughed. “And he has his new wife making it?”

“Just like Lori is now buying the same whiskey for my father as she did for her first husband.”

“One might say they are both compromising.”

“And another would say it’s creepy .”

When they got back to her place, she flopped on the couch. “What can I do to take your mind off of things?” he asked.

“Tell me what you found out about Sophia’s case,” she said. “I forgot to ask you yesterday and even today. You mentioned you had news.”

He sighed. “I wanted to not talk about work this weekend. We rarely have time away from it.”

“It’s almost six. By now we are both looking at our computers and figuring out what is going on for work tomorrow if not for the week. You know it. I just want to forget about today. I met my obligation.”

“Fine,” he said. He walked over to the counter and got his laptop out and opened it, then sat on the couch and she moved next to him.

He pulled up some documents. “Those look like bank statements,” Regan said.

“Those numbers that Sophia gave me are bank accounts. Don’t ask and I won’t tell you. But it seems like there are accounts in the Caymans and that this money is flowing in and out of it with a percentage staying there. Then at the end of the month, that percentage is moved to another account in another country. I haven’t figured that out yet.”

He had contacts that could get him information and he’d never reveal it.

“Do you think they are laundering money and that is their percentage to do it?” she asked.

“I don’t want to guess on anything, but that is a possibility,” he said. “I’m not sure how much you want to tell Sophia, but she was right in her paranoid suspicions. Even if she loves her job, if she is worried this could get back to her, she might want to leave now. I’d advise that of you if you were in her situation and I had this information.”

“You wouldn’t tell me to go to the police?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “There isn’t enough information for that and you’d be putting a target on your back. As it is, I don’t like even doing this and having you be my client. I don’t know who they could be cleaning the money for, if that is the case. It could be a drug cartel. The mob. Terrorists. It could be another business where they are scamming people. I’m not looking into it either. Not with you being tied to this. What I’m telling you is, something shady is going on and I want you to be done with it.”

“And if I’m not, then what?”

“I can stop doing the work,” he said. “The choice will be yours to go to someone else if that is what you want. The question is, is it that important for you to do that for a client?”

“No,” she said. “It’s not. And I wouldn’t risk it either. You’re right. I think I’ll tell Sophia what I know and that this is all I care to find out. She has to make a decision based on those facts.”

“Good,” he said. “How about we see if we can find something interesting on TV now?”

“I know you want to watch football. Sunday is your day to chill out and do that and you were stuck listening to my father and Lori all afternoon. I can go put together a plate of meats and cheese and crackers and grab you that beer.”

“Chips too?” he asked.

She stood up and laughed. “You can have chips too. I think you deserve them.”

He slapped her ass when she turned. “What a good woman you are. I didn’t even need to ask you about your one-year plan for you to know what I liked.”

“God,” she said. “You’re too good for me. Just the laugh I needed.”