Page 56 of In the Line of Ire

Chapter Thirteen

Before Igot to the parking lot where Solomon was waiting for me, Lilycalled. I debated not answering it, going home, running a bath,soaking my aching my feet, and then falling into bed. But Lily wasmy best friend and ignoring her went against The Rules. Instead, Idisengaged my microphone and answered it.

"I havea lead," she said immediately.

"And adog?" I asked, frowning.

"Not that kind of lead, Lexi. Alead. A real one!"

Ifrowned, baffled. "Regarding?"

"Yourpurses."

Now Ipaid attention. "What kind of lead?"

"Twowomen came into the bar earlier and one of them was carrying apurse. A really pretty one. So I asked her about it and she told meshe went to a party last week where purses were being sold at ahuge discount. Then her friend came in and she had a great pursetoo, only when I looked at it more closely, I realized it was afake!"

"Did sheknow she had a fake?"

"Ibrought the question around to counterfeit purses and they bothswore they would never carry a fake and seemed sincere. I don'tthink the second woman knew at all. I think she was duped just likeSolomon and Serena!"

The ideaof another outlet in town for moving fake purses was interesting.Were the counterfeiters expanding their operations? Or just tryingto get rid of all their stock before they got caught?

"Did youask who the seller was?" I asked.

"I didand I know her! Or, at least, I did back when we were kids. Hername is Charlaine Beck. They made a call and she invited us to jointhem tomorrow night for the next purse party! I have the address inBedford Hills. Pretty upscale for a knockoff."

"Iagree. Well done, Lily!"

"Aw,shucks, thanks," said Lily. "I feel like part of the gang again. Ican't wait to investigate."

"You'realways part of the gang," I told her.

"Thatmakes me happy. I'm even going to send you the photos I snapped ofthe purses. I got them when the ladies went to the restroom andasked me to watch their things. I thought you could use them forevidence or something in your case."

"Greatthinking!" I praised her.

"How'sthe undercover work going so far?"

I movedto the side of the mall and checked to be sure no one was withinearshot. "There's a lot of standing around, being barked at by mysupervisor, and getting irritated by the rude shoppers. I haven'tmade any significant headway into who could have murdered thatwoman, or how she's connected to the counterfeiters, much less whothe counterfeiters are. I did find a fake purse though so we'redefinitely looking in the right place."

"Youcan’t investigate everything in a couple of days."

"On TVthey can wrap it up in forty-three minutes."

"Thisisn't TV. This is life," Lily reminded me. "Which is never thateasy. And your other case?"

"Apossible stalking. The family are staying somewhere safe butSolomon and I are heading back there soon to install a camera andsee if we can catch the culprit in the act of breaking in. Itsounds terrible to say but I'm almost certain the creep must have akey to the house."

"Soundsreally scary. That poor family."

"Yeah, I can't imagine how horrible it must feel knowingsomeone is in your house when you're not there, poking around yourstuff, sleeping in your bed—"

"Ugh!That's awful," squealed Lily.

"I don'tthink they'll want to go back there regardless of what I discover.And if I don't find anything, they definitely shouldn't return,just in case it starts up again. Relocation is not how I prefer toend this case but the client isn't a rich woman and she's currentlyrelying purely on the kindness of her boss who’s letting them stayrent-free in his guesthouse."

"That'sreally sad, but nice to hear she has someone to help in her time ofneed."

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