Beckett's Cinderella by Dixie Browning Read Free Book Online Page B

and me, babe. Camshaw and Camshaw, Private Investigations at Bargain Rates. How’s that grab ya?”
    Patty Ann capped the bottle and wiggled her toes. “What if it’s a bust? She sold off all her stuff—pictures and jewelry and some old furniture. Even her designer gowns. I was there when the lawyer showed up and she gave him the money so he could pay back what her husband stole. That don’t strike me as being so bad.”
    â€œHey, we’re not going to do anything to hurt her, but you said yourself she was a smart lady. The way I see it, a smart lady would stash enough away until the stink blew over, then move to a brand-new location and start over, right? So she had a bunch of stuff and sold some of it—that was for show.”
    â€œYou don’t know that.”
    â€œTrust me, honey, in my business, you get to know how far people will go to survive. Now, I’m not saying she’s done anything wrong, I’m just saying she’s got plenty stashed away, waiting for things to cooldown. You don’t think folks might like to know where their money is?”
    â€œThey weren’t even living together when he got caught. He was staying at a hotel, and she’d just rented this cheesy apartment—I helped her move, even after she told me she wouldn’t be able to afford me no more.”
    â€œI still say she was in on it. Maybe not all the way, but she had to know something. Way I see it, she copped a plea, and they let her off easy.”
    â€œThat’s not what the papers said.”
    â€œDon’t trust everything you read in the papers. They can be bought off just like everybody else. Look, she’s living it up out there on the beach, right?”
    â€œIt didn’t look like a beach on the map.”
    â€œClose enough. We’ve got her spooked now, so once we turn up she’ll break and then we can get us a story and sell it to the highest bidder. I’m thinking National Enquirer , but I’ll settle for the Star .”
    â€œI guess,” Patty Ann said doubtfully. “I’m startin’ to wish I hadn’t stole her address book. It makes me feel kind of…I don’t know. Bad, I guess.”
    â€œI know, babe. But look at it this way—she had her big chance. She blew it. That’s tough, but hey, that’s the breaks. Now it’s our turn. Once we get the goods on her, we write our own story. If she’s dirty, we go to the cops. If she’s really innocent like you say, we go to the papers with a story about how this society woman is repenting her sins, living in the sticks and all. Papers pay big money for human-interest stuff, and the good part is, either way, we get our name out there. First thing you know we’ll be going on all the talk shows, telling about how we tracked her down using no more than an address book, a few phone calls and a first-class stamp. That’s real brainpower. Best kind of publicity in the world. Hey, we might even write a book.”
    â€œHa! Now I know you’re crazy.”
    â€œLook, all I’m asking is, trust me on this. Either way it turns out, we get enough publicity to launch our business, and like they say in the movies, the rest is history.”
    Patty Ann Garrett, currently employed by an old cow who called her Betty Jean half the time, idly scratched the back of her ankle with a freshly polished toenail. It was one thing to be in love with a brilliant, ambitious man. It was another thing to try and keep up with the way his mind worked. What if he thought she was too dumb and started looking around for another partner? She loved him, she really did. She’d loved him ever since they were in high school together.
    â€œI guess it won’t hurt to show up, like we just happened to be in the neighborhood and all.”
    â€œI promise, we’ll just show up accidental-like and talk to her.”
    â€œWon’t she wonder how we knew where