Page 29 of First Date: Divorce (Wyoming Marriage Association #1)

Lunch was the first time they talked with any Marriage-Save couples other than Izzy and Orion.

Two couples were on the same program as them. One for a week. And the other two only for the weekend. Still more couples were on a slightly different schedule that would have them lunching later.

Orion and Izzy chatted with each other across their table with obvious comfort and pleasure.

The other five tables were ponds of misery, with the only conversations coming in stilted, staccato bursts.

Eric pushed aside his plate and leaned forward to talk softly to her. “Cameras all over out here.”

She gave a short nod. “I had a few words with Albert on my way to the massage. Turns out he’s working the whole weekend and feeling abused about it. I enlisted his sympathy by indicating I might be worried you’d beat me.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“That’s why the cameras — at least the public area cameras — are here.

Insurance insists. He assured me they’ve never been needed, because the counselors are so good.

But he also muttered something about the cameras not stopping everything.

Probably meant the loss of those papers he referred to last night. ”

Eric nodded. “The office door of the business manager is kept locked. No camera real close to it. Tonight—”

“Not until I know more about cameras in the bedroom. Anyway, I’d go alone.”

“No way.”

She grimaced, exaggerating her not inconsiderable irritation. “It’s my job.”

He met her eyes. “I got into this first.”

He held the stare for a long moment.

She stared back, and saw the moment he relented.

In an easier tone, he said, “I don’t know about you, but I was warned that resisting a … a partnership could be detrimental to the goal.”

He had to be talking about Cully’s lecture. About their job.

Slowly, she said, “That makes sense.”

“Yeah, it does.”

He said it with so much reluctance, she almost smiled. Almost.

He drew in a deep breath and added, “Look, we both want the same thing, don’t we?”

Tense for reasons she couldn’t pinpoint, she nevertheless said, “Yes.” And she meant it.

“Okay. Then we work together. A team. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

His eyes flickered away from her and she became aware of Lily’s voice behind her, greeting a couple at a nearby table.

She’d skipped their table — because of the intensity of their conversation?

How close had she been? Close enough to overhear them? And if so, what?

“Ready for this afternoon’s counseling?” Eric’s neutral question filled the silence.

“Ready or not, it’s coming,” she said dryly.

“That’s the spirit.” His gaze flickered again and she knew Lily had moved farther away when he leaned forward again and said, “Think we disposed of Gigi and frigidity? Any more surprises I should know about?” Before she could answer, he added, “You know, I meant it, K.D.”

“About?”

“About not wanting kids in my image. Though no man would mind some in yours.”

*

Their lists were so safe and boring that even Melody’s good cheer dipped.

She didn’t bring up Gigi or frigidity, but touched more broadly on the topic of trust, maintaining that betrayal stemmed from thoughts by the partner that she/he could do better than her/his partner.

“You build or you tear down in the many small moments,” she said. “Seeing the good in your partner, feeling fortunate in your choice builds loyalty. Seeing through your partner’s eyes and doing what you can to make what they see pleasing to them builds commitment.

“Do you turn away or turn toward the other?” Melody asked them.

At the moment, it was definitely turn away. They came nowhere near looking at each other.

“Turning away, deciding in that instant to not invest in the relationship begins a slide that cascades throughout it.”

In the face of their silence, she added with emphasis, “Turning away amplifies negative. Turning toward amplifies positive.”

K.D. said, “He turned toward, all right. Toward Gigi.”

“That’s—”

“No,” Melody told Eric. “We’ll put that aside for now. What we’re talking about is what happened before that. What happened in your relationship — the two of you.”

*

K.D. almost felt sorry for Melody by the time she sent Eric out for an “activity” of his choice, while talking one-on-one with K.D.

It was heavy going for the counselor getting them to talk. She supposed both of them were being careful. She also was eager to get out of the sessions and get to her real work.

Their real work, she supposed, since she’d agreed to teamwork.

Possibly because of Melody’s struggles in the combo session, K.D. gradually shifted the trend from Melody asking questions, to the counselor answering them. She’d learned one of her best skills in questioning witnesses or suspects was being a good listener.

She eased into comments about how satisfying it must be to help couples … and how disappointing when the counseling didn’t succeed.

Melody sighed. “It’s hard when you think you’ve made a difference, that a couple has a good chance, if they keep working. Then they leave, and it seems like nothing they’d achieved sticks. They go back to the old habits — or worse.” She shook her head. “It’s sad.”

“Especially if kids are involved,” K.D. said to keep her talking.

“That’s one bright spot. Our couples with kids have done much better statistically.” She perked up. “I hadn’t made that connection before. Perhaps the children strengthen the bond that— Oh, not that couples without children can’t make it. I’m not saying that at all.”

“It’s okay. I have no illusions about our future.”

“They don’t have to be illusions,” Melody said earnestly.

The timer on their session discreetly sounded, and K.D. felt a rush of relief.

It was all relief, wasn’t it?

*

After Eric’s one-on-one session, they were sent for another walk. This time, with enough time that they were not limited to the grounds.

They struck out for the old railway bed and Jessa’s store.

“How did you use your free time?” he asked. “Did you get a massage? Sit in the hot tub?”

“Used it the same way you probably used yours. Nosing around. You first.”

“I went to the business office. Hoped it would be empty, but it turns out Harvey, the business manager, likes to work Saturdays because it’s quiet in the office.”

“Bad luck.”

“Not entirely. Pauline set it up so I had a questionable charge on my credit card, so we discussed that. When he pulled up my records, I saw how they set up their system, what sort of information they have. It appears they keep the financials and counseling records separate, but I’d sure like to look more closely. ”

“Why are you grinning?”

“Because I noticed what Harvey typed in as his password. Do you have any idea how many people use 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8?”

“Their business manager is that stupid?”

“Oh, no. Harvey uses 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. So tonight’s escape should be more fruitful than last night’s.”

She shook her head. “I used my free time for further conversation with our friend Albert. In addition to having to work the whole weekend, he’s feeling quite ill-used after being unjustly accused of misplacing or outright stealing counseling records that went astray last week.

He let it slip the records were for the Murchisons. ”

She saw Eric’s instant recognition of the name. “The dramatic exit couple Izzy and Orion talked about.”

“Exactly. Melody counseled them. She had notes on them in a break area Thursday evening — apparently strictly against the rules, but they’re down a counselor and they’re all fitting in paperwork as they can.

She said she left no more than ten minutes and when she came back, the papers were gone. She immediately raised the alarm.

“Suspicion focused on Albert and things got rather heated, drawing in another counselor and your friend Harvey. Ms. Smiley — Lily — came on the scene and calmed it down, sticking up for Albert heroically, according to him. She got them all back into the break room to search. And there were the papers, slid down between the fridge and a cabinet. Melody swore up and down they were never near there, but backed off Albert and that’s all he cared about. ”

“Someone could have taken them, maybe copied them,” he said.

“Yup, including Albert. Or Melody could have made the whole thing up to throw off anyone suspicious of her.”

“That’s good, K.D. Cully can follow up on Melody and the Murchisons, see if one of them ends up as a Gail Bledsoe client.”

“There’s more from Albert. A little sympathy, and he told me about the cameras — not specifically if there were any in the bedrooms, but generally.”

One side of his mouth lifted. “He just told you?”

“Not exactly. He rattled off the specs, clearly expecting it to be gibberish to me.”

“But it wasn’t.”

“Nope. The audio is crap, so that’s good news. And no night vision. But they are movement- and light-activated.”

“Damn.”

“Exactly. And the tapes are reviewed each morning by staff, with a report to the counselors. So our poking around needs to be when other people are roaming, too.”

He held back a branch as they left the neat path of the one-time railroad bed for a winding trail, and grinned wickedly. “That does leave more time in bed.”

Knowing he was teasing, she repeated dryly, “Motion-activated. Reviewed by staff.”

“That’s only if there are cameras in the rooms.”

“Want to take that chance?”

“Double damn.”

*

The path opened to the end of an alley. In a few hundred feet they walked in the back of Jessa’s store. She shifted cartons in a loft space.

“Cully and Ellyn are in the office,” she said from the ladder.

“How did they know we were coming?” K.D. asked.

“They didn’t. Ellyn brought leftovers from a reunion last night and Cully showed up like a homing pigeon.”

Cully’s muffled voice invited them to come in when Eric knocked on the office door. They found him sitting behind the desk, digging into a plate of food.

“There’s plenty for you two if you want.” Ellyn pointed to two covered plates.

“No there’s not,” Cully objected. “I plan on those for a snack later.”

“We’ve eaten, anyway,” K.D. said.

“I might eat another meal to spite him,” Eric said.

To avoid a food fight, K.D. filled in Cully and Ellyn on their reception at Marriage-Save while Eric went through his real phone and responded to clients, friends, and family.

“Not a whole lot of definitive progress,” she concluded, “but knowing the professional staff came along from Oregon might help. Certainly keeps them in the mix as possible suspects. And those new lines to check — the Murchisons and Albert. He was Melody’s prime suspect.

Though that could be her diverting attention. ”

“On it,” Cully said. “Albert’s a local. Not somebody I’d use on security. The good news is he frequents one of the county’s establishments where I’ve got ears. Though the best time to pursue that would be when he’s off duty, so info might be sparse until then.”

K.D. acknowledged that with a nod. “Also, check on couples who’ve gone from Marriage-Save to Gail Bledsoe, and see if any have kids.”

Ellyn’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t believe any of the couples I’ve heard about have children. I’ll double check and let you know, Cully.”

K.D. responded to a couple routine texts on her phone and replied “hi-all’s-well” to her mom while they took turns adding details of what they’d learned about the counseling program, the counseling and financial records being kept separate, rumors about cameras from Izzy and Orion, Albert’s contributions, and the resulting restrictions on their movements at night.

Cully seemed about to say something, but Ellyn gave a kind of hum, and he didn’t. “We’ll check the kids thread, but why would it be significant?”

“Because it could tell us something about whoever is selecting which couples Bledsoe goes after. It has to be someone who not only knows their financial circumstances, but also that they have no children. It might be fairly easy for certain office and billing people to share financial information. But if what we’ve found out so far holds up, they also need access to counseling records to know who doesn’t have kids, along with which couples are more likely to split. ”

“Or it’s organization-wide,” Cully said.

Eric nodded. “Possible. If it is an individual working with Bledsoe, that narrows the possibilities. If we could get in to see who’s accessing both systems—”

“Be careful,” Cully said. “We don’t want this informal look-around to make it impossible for us to follow the legal route with Marriage-Save if it comes to that.”

“The schedule’s tight and with us essentially locked in the room at night, we’re going to have a hard time knowing who at Marriage-Save is involved.”

“It might already be enough to prevent the lease extension. Problem is, if the whole outfit isn’t rotten and it’s one person, the county’s lost a good business that’s putting a historic building to good use.”

“Plus, Marriage-Save could move, and the mole could set up shop somewhere else with another corrupt lawyer,” Eric said.

“Then somewhere else would deal with it,” Cully said. “We’d all like to stop them for good. But first priority is protecting the people of Shakespeare County.”

K.D. glanced at Eric and knew that didn’t satisfy him any more than it did her.