Set Up by Cheryl B. Dale Page B

looked around. “How about that green dress over there? Think she'd like that?”
    “With pink paisleys all over it? I don’t think so.” Johanna took a deep breath, holding her temper in check. “Ignore him, Melissa. He's brain-impaired. Back to my wedding. Jane'll be there early Sunday, right?”
    “Yes, eight-thirty or nine. We'll call the day before to finalize and get directions.”
    “I think Claire will like that green dress,” Cal said.
    Johanna threw up her hands. “No, she'll hate it. That burnt orange gauze is more her style.”
    “Orange gauze it is, then. Wrap it up.”
    “I’m sure we have Claire's measurements on file,” Melissa said. “Do you want to wait for it to be altered?”
    “No.” He wanted to take Johanna home and get his investigator started looking at Jane’s employees and models.
    “Let Jane bring it when she comes down for the wedding.” Johanna looked at her watch. “She won't mind, will she?”
    “Of course not,” Melissa said.
    Cal herded Johanna toward the door. He had a lot to do.
     

Chapter Six
     
    Cal dropped Johanna off at Fair Meadows, but Claire had taken her twin boys on an overnight trip to Atlanta for a school project. He couldn’t relay his discovery to her.
    He did talk to Tip, who recommended a private investigator in Atlanta. “He’ll be faster than the one in Texas. And he keeps his mouth shut.”
    Pleading urgency, Cal got an appointment that afternoon. As he got into his car to drive into the city, his brother-in-law called.
    The connection from Virginia was tenuous but Robert’s annoyance was plain. “Claire doesn’t answer her phone.”
    “She's at that junior whatever thing with the boys. I'm sure they want cells turned off. Leave a message.”
    “I did, but I want to make sure she gets it. I had to drive five miles to pick up a signal. Tell her we've hit a snag with the zoning so I can’t leave here till Saturday. I'll have to go straight from the airport to the rehearsal dinner. Tell her she needs to schedule me a ride from the airport to the restaurant. And tell her to bring my dinner clothes.”
    Cal wanted to tell Robert a thing or two. “Why can't your secretary handle it?”
    “She's off for a couple of days. Claire can call. It won’t take a minute. Four-thirty is when I get in. Remind her I hate waiting.”
    Don't we all . “I'll tell her.”
    Robert wasn't through complaining. “I don't know why I can't depend on my wife to be home when I need her.”
    Cal bit his tongue, but Robert went on. “If she insists on working, I wish to God she'd do her job.”
    Okay. One barb too many. “As I understand it,” Cal drawled into his cell, “you won't assign her any specific duties. She can't do her job if she doesn't know what it is, can she?”
    Silence.
    Robert spoke first. “If you hear from her, have her call me tonight when I'm back at the hotel.” He broke the connection.
    Cal pocketed the cell. Christ, the man can be such an asshole .
    * * * *
    “None of them can possibly be the woman.”
    The Atlanta investigator recommended by Tip had been worth every cent. After less than twenty-four hours, Cal sat in the shabby offices looking at several photographs of Jane's employees, including models.
    “You sure?” Hilliard, with his seamed mahogany face, looked like a balding workman with few smarts, but Tip had vouched for his integrity. “These are all the seamstresses, the salespeople, and the models they use.”
    “None of them is the woman I'm looking for.” Cal lounged wearily back in the beat-up visitor's chair. Another dead end.
    “Okay.” A larger picture slid across the desk. “Amanda Jane doesn't have any close female friends, but she has a sister. How about her?”
    Cal bolted straight up. “I recognize her.”
    “Awright.” White teeth grinned.
    “She isn't the one I want though.” Cal picked up a wooden pencil and tapped the picture. The blonde simpering from the color photo had a pretty face partly