Talk Nerdy to Me (Nerds, #5)(32)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

No matter how fiercely Charlie argued against it, Rick was determined to follow through with his plan. He was sure that if he put the moves on both female suspects, separately, of course, he’d coax the truth out of each of them during a hot, unguarded moment. As Rick and Charlie polished off large pieces of apple pie a la mode, Charlie tried to convince his cousin that the idea was not only sleazy, it was doomed to failure.

"For one thing," Charlie said, "these two women will be in proximity to each other. You can’t seduce one without the other knowing."

"Sure I can." Rick cracked his knuckles. "You’re going over there this afternoon to work on the hovercraft, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then I’ll tag along and meet Denise, see how far I can get before Eunice comes home from the office."

Charlie was beginning to regret his impulse to fill Rick in on the situation. "Don’t you have location scouting to do?"

Rick waved away that objection. "Kyle and Manny are handling that. Well, Kyle is. Manny’s spending all his time down at the Pastry Parlor. The guy seems to love bakery work. Who knew?"

"But isn’t Manny on your payroll?"

"Ah, it doesn’t matter. Mom and Aunt Rose can use the extra help. I can spare Manny, considering that I didn’t anticipate spending much time on the scouting end of the trip. It was mostly a good excuse to see the family."

Charlie had been looking for an opening like this. The closer he got to leaving town, the more he’d begun to think it would be great if Rick would relocate to the East Coast, just so one of them was closer to the two widows. As successful as Rick was, it wouldn’t be that tough for him to establish a New York office.

"Speaking of family," he said, "Aunt Myrtle isn’t getting any younger."

"I don’t know about that. She seems a lot more cheerful than she did when my dad was alive."

"Well, sure, she’s cheerful, but she’s getting on in years."

"Are you kidding? She’ll outlive us all. If she could survive my dad, she’ll survive anything. I’m not worried about her."

Charlie took off his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. He would go to Nevada in any case, but lately he’d been thinking that it might be good to have Rick around to keep an eye on things. "Have you ever thought about moving your operation to New York? I’m going to be living in Nevada soon, and—"

"Now I get your point. Listen, they don’t need me around. They’re making it fine. Look at the way they’ve built this business."

"I just think it would be nice for one of us to be reasonably close."

"You know what? I’ve been back here for a few days, now, and I think they could get along just fine if neither of us happened to be here. Sure, they’d miss you as a person and they’d miss the ever-available handyman you’ve been for them. But they’d be okay. In fact…" Rick tapped his finger against his empty coffee mug. "They might be better off, in the long run."

"Better off? How?"

‘Think about it. There are a few retired widowers living in Middlesex. I’ll bet some of them know how to fix things. But with you always around, there was no reason to call those guys, was there?"

Charlie groaned. "Are you accusing me of standing between my mother and romance?"

"I’m just trying to get you to look at things from a different angle." Rick consulted his watch. "Hey, if I’m going to make any progress at all with Denise, we need to get going."

"Rick, she is so not your type."

"Every woman on the planet is my type." Rick pushed back his chair and stood. "Prepare to watch a master at work."

"Okay, let’s go." Charlie had come to the conclusion that it might be fun to see how Rick dealt with someone like Denise. But even better than that was the distraction Rick could create. Charlie and Eve actually might have some time alone. That was something to get excited about.

"But first I have to take another leak."

"But you just—-"

"I know, I know, I have a bladder the size of a thimble, dude."

Chapter Twenty-three

Somehow Eve was able to drag Denise away from the Pastry Parlor and Manny, When it looked as if Denise would never leave, Eve hit her with a double-barreled assault on her sense of responsibility—the washing machine repair she’d scheduled and the navy slacks that were in desperate need of washing.

They ate Cock Rings and Booby Buns on the way home, and Denise was so busy talking about Manny and his assets, both monetary and physical, that she didn’t complain about ingesting all those sugary carbs. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying every bite.

"Talk about hot buns!" Denise said as she polished off a Cock Ring. "If those women really wanted to make money, they’d hire Manny, wearing those tight jeans of his, to walk around the shop offering samples on a tray."

Eve smiled. "Cute Idea. They should name the bakery Hot Buns."

Denise turned to her, her eyes wide. "Exactly! That’s exactly what they should call it. Brilliant idea, Eve! I’ll tell Manny about it. He and I agreed that the bakery should franchise, and he said he’d like a piece of the action." Denise fanned herself. "When he said that, I almost had an orgasm."

Eve was still savoring the fact that Denise had called her brilliant. "So aren’t you glad we made the trip?"

"You know it, girl. Manny and I, we, umm, are getting together for dinner tonight. To talk about his investment strategy."

"Really?" Eve saw all kinds of advantages to that program. If Denise left, then she and Charlie could be alone.

Denise glanced sideways at Eve. "Unless that’s a problem."

"No! No problem at all. I’m sure Manny is eager to make use of your… expertise."

"Oh, God, Eve, he’s such & stud. I don’t know if I can handle him."

Eve was shocked that Denise would admit that she was feeling vulnerable about anything. "You’ll be fine."

"I don’t have anything to wear."

Eve thought quickly. "I can fix you up. I have a soft red sweater with a low-cut V-neck. It would go with those slacks you have on. And you can borrow a pair of my hooker shoes and some jewelry. We can make this work."

"Thank you." Denise licked powdered sugar from her fingers. "You know about these things. I never paid attention to clothes."

"Leave it to me. You’ll look really hot." Eve was delighted with the personality change in Denise. She decided not to mention that Manny would be leaving for California next week. Maybe a fling was exactly what Denise needed to feel better about herself.

And maybe then, she’d forget about sabotaging the hovercraft. Eve didn’t want to believe Denise would do such a thing, but if she was the guilty party, a hot romance might be just the thing to sidetrack her efforts.

They made it back minutes ahead of the repairman, whose name turned out to be Gus. Denise shooed Eve away. "Go design a bumper for that hovermobile," she said. "This is what I do best."

"Hovercraft." Eve wasn’t about to go away. She’d prepared her response to the inevitable reaction when Gus opened the washing machine. So she pretended that she was going into the garage, but instead she lingered in the kitchen.

Right on schedule, Denise shrieked in horror. "Eve! Come quickl Someone’s vandalized your washing machine!"

Eve hurried down the hall to her bathroom. "My washing machine?" she said, making sure to inject the right amount of surprise and concern. "Why would someone vandalize a washing machine?"

Gus looked up his Bassett-hound face telegraphing bad news. "In my line of work I see all kinds, but whoever did this is really sick. Personally, I’d say they belong in an Institution."

"Brace yourself," Denise said. "It’s unbelievably disgusting."

Eve approached and leaned over to look into the washer. The smell of wet newsprint and mildew mingled with the overly sweet smell of cheap chocolate mixed with the soap she’d poured in. The contents of the washer were no longer easily identifiable, and the chocolate had melted and mixed with the water until the entire mess was the color of grayish mud.

Eve made herself gasp in disbelief. "My God! This is the work of a maniac!"

Denise sighed. "I have to agree. I can’t imagine what kind of person would dream up something this diabolical." She glanced at Gus. "Can this washer be saved?"

"Hard to say." Gus shook his head. "No telling if this stuff has any corrosive properties. It could have started eating through the basket. By now it could be in the motor. I won’t know until I get in there." He squared his shoulders as if preparing for battle. "I should probably call in the HazMat team."

Eve couldn’t have that. She was on the verge of telling him what was in the washer.

"But I won’t." A gleam of anticipation shone in his eyes. "I’m going to handle this myself, ladies. Stand back. I need to get more equipment from my truck."

Eve and Denise moved aside to let him walk out of the bathroom.

At the doorway, he tamed back. "I’d advise both of you to clear the area. You might want to vacate the house."

"I’m willing to risk staying," Eve said. "I have work to do." As if on cue, her kitchen phone rang. She’d been expecting Charlie to call, and she needed to clue him in so he wouldn’t reveal his part in the washing machine mess. "Denise, do you feel okay about keeping an eye on the washer?"

"Sure, but if anything crawls out of there, I’m leaving." "Right." Eve ran for the phone and caught it before the answering machine clicked on. "Hello?" "It’s me."

"Hi, me." Her heart started thumping rapidly. "Where are you?"

"I’m at the Rack and Bails. Rick and I just finished having lunch. He’s in the bathroom, so I grabbed a chance to call and warn you."

"I have to warn you, too. Let me have the’ first round of warning, okay?"

Charlie laughed. "Go."

"Denise is convinced some maniac put all that stuff in the washer. I didn’t deny it."

"That’s funny."

"Oh, and she has the hots for Manny. We just got back from the bakery and Manny was there. She thinks he’s yummy."

"Huh. Very interesting. Okay, here’s my warning. I told Rick that Eunice might be trying to steal your design. And I… also told him Denise might be sabotaging you."

"Charlie, I wish you hadn’t said that."

"I think we have to consider the possibility."

"I just can’t." At least not out loud. The suspicion lurked in the back of her mind and she couldn’t completely ignore it. "And besides, even if she is the one, I’m betting she’s about to abandon her plan."

"How come?"

"She and Manny are getting together tonight, supposedly to talk about investments, but Denise is hoping for more than that. I’m going to help her with clothes and jewelry so she looks good. I mean, she always looks good, but tonight she wants to look sexy."

"Are you sure you want Manny dating your sister?"

Eve knew what he meant. Manny had been high on her list of suspects. "I’ve changed my mind about him. He’s too nice a guy to break into somebody’s house and steal things. He’s spending all his free time helping frost cookies for your mom and aunt. That’s endearing."

"Eve, you don’t want to suspect anybody. I admire that, but logically the culprit is someone you know, someone who’s found out about the hovercraft and either wants to sabotage it or steal the idea."

Eve sighed. "I suppose."

"Rick will be out of the bathroom any minute. Before he gets here I need to tell you his bonehead solution is to get friendly with your sister so she’ll confess. I tried to talk him out of it, but he—"

"No way," Eve didn’t know whether to laugh or to be outraged. Fortunately she couldn’t imagine Rick would succeed with Denise. She’d see right through him.

"I know it won’t work," Charlie said. "But then I thought of one advantage. If he keeps her occupied this afternoon, you and I could be alone to … um … work on the hovercraft."

"Oh." Eve started getting very warm. She could almost feel his lips on hers. "That would be great. I want to get started. And I have some new thoughts I want to run past you."

"Such as?"

She’d meant to tell him about the bumper, but somewhere along the way her mind had jumped the track and was now focused on sex. "Lubrication."

"Mm." His voice grew deeper. "Very important for any moving … part."

"Crucial." She figured they had the whole afternoon. They could still work after they’d taken the edge off then-sexual urges. "The lubrication needs to be just right. Too much and there’s excess slippage. Too little and the resulting friction can cause problems."

Charlie cleared his throat. "I think we need to design a few more experiments for the purposes of quality control."

"Definitely." Heat shot through her veins. "We have to work diligently until we get it right. How soon can you be here?"

"I’m on my way."

Parking was becoming an issue at Eve’s house. Denise’s Volvo was sitting next to Eve’s Civic. Behind Eve’s car was a white van with GALLOPING GUS, YOUR CHEERFUL APPLIANCE REPAIRMAN lettered on the side. Charlie parked his bike beside the van and Rick was forced to put the Subaru at the curb in front of the house.

Rick had wanted to drive over because his plan was to invite Denise out for a cup of coffee. Charlie liked the idea of getting Denise out of the house, but it wouldn’t do much good if Galloping Gus spent the afternoon working on the washing machine. Charlie knew the guy—he came into the Rack and Balls once in a while.

Now that Charlie knew who was working on the washer, he was glad Eve hadn’t told Gus who had helped make the mess. That could ruin Charlie’s rep as Mr. Magna Cum Laude, SAT whiz, and all-around bright guy. He might not like having his mother brag about him to bakery customers, but he didn’t want to become the town joke, either.