Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I raise my eyebrows. “Why would he care so much about his car?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe he felt you deserved something nice after what you did. You probably won’t believe me when I tell you this, Maddox, but a part of your father was very proud of you for standing up to him. For walking down your own path.”
I frown. It’s not adding up. If he was so damned proud of me for choosing the haberdashery, why the hell didn’t he leave me his riches? I could have opened ten haberdasheries with the kind of money he had lying around.
I never understood exactly why he left me a car. I was happy to take it—the old clunker I’d been driving around since my eighteenth birthday was years past its expiration date.
But now that I know he had a reason for leaving me the membership to Aces…
Maybe there’s a reason he left me the car, too.
22
ALISSA
Maddox jumps to his feet. “Mother, it’s been a charming visit as always. Let’s do it again in another ten years.”
Marty scowls and takes another drink from her bottle of wine. “Hopefully I’ll be dead by then.”
“Always looking on the bright side.” He turns to me. “Ready?”
I stand up slowly, turn to Maddox’s mother. “It was lovely to meet you, Marty.”
She rolls her eyes. “No need to lie on my account, honey. I know you can’t wait to leave.”
I’m not sure how to respond to that, so I just turn toward the door.
Maddox rushes ahead and—of course—opens it for me. We step out into the cloudy day.
“Where to next?” I ask him. “You told me to take the whole day off from work.”
“We need to figure out where our friends from the symphony live.” He glances at my purse. “You said you found their Facebook profiles?”
“I did.” I grab my phone out of my bag and pull up the app. “I found his wife’s. I don’t know if Mr. Gimble has one.”
“Google them. If they’re registered voters, you should be able to figure out their home address.”
I pull up my search app and type in Wade Gimble, Illinois voter registration.
A people-finding website pulls up. I click on a few links. I have to close out a few popups, but then I get a home address.
I show it to Maddox. “Looks like he and his wife live in Winnetka.”
He rolls his eyes. “Of fucking course they do.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“Winnetka is a ritzy suburb,” Maddox explains. “You’ve seen the movie Home Alone, right?”
I nod.
“The house the film takes place in? That’s in Winnetka. A lot of the homes in the area are like that.”
“I’d think he’d live in a mansion if he’s a member of Aces, not to mention a high-ranking donor to the symphony.”
He looks at my phone and enters the address into his GPS app. “Looks like we have about a twenty-minute drive ahead of us.” He holds the door to the Rolls-Royce open. “After you.”
We pull out of Maddox’s mom’s neighborhood and merge onto I-94. Maddox starts the radio. A soothing piece featuring strings and woodwinds is playing.
“You know this one?” Maddox asks.
“I think so.” I close my eyes. “It’s Debussy. His Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Basically the beginning of Impressionist music.”
“Meaning?”
“Music took a turn toward the end of the nineteenth century. The composers of France especially started writing more ethereal music in that era.”
“Got it.” Maddox keeps his eyes on the road. “Debussy… Debussy… He wrote Clair de lune, right?”
“He did.” I smile at Maddox. “Where did you learn about that piece?”
“Give me a little credit.” He chuckles. “I’d heard a few classical pieces before you walked into my shop.”
“Of course. I was just worried…” I purse my lips.
“Worried about what?”
I look down. “It’s silly.”
“What?”
“Well, I was going to say I was worried that your only exposure to Clair de lune was from watching the Twilight movie, but I realized that sounded frightfully judgmental.”
He bursts out laughing. “It might shock you to hear this, but I’ve never seen the Twilight films.”
“Then my original sentiment stands.”
Maddox eyes my phone. “Do we have anything more on the Gimbles? Were you able to pull up any information from the wife’s Facebook profile?”
I pull up the Facebook app. “I requested her as a friend, but I figured she’d reject it anyway.” I open my notifications. “Actually, she did accept my friend request. That’s strange.”
“She’s probably one of those old people who just lets anyone add her,” Maddox says. “Lots of people of her generation don’t quite understand how social media works.”
I sigh. “I’d pay good money to be completely ignorant of social media.”
“Fair enough. Anything on her profile?”
I click on her profile and scroll. “Looks like she’s been married to Wade for thirty-five years… Oh! Here’s a photo of the two of them from the symphony gala last fall. Looks like they have at least two kids and…” I widen my eyes.