“The new captain is very hands-on,” Eve said.
“Feet-on, too. Hopefully, it will only be with this case, the one that got his predecessor booted, or your life is going to be a living hell when I’m gone.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” she said. “I don’t want him looking over my shoulder all the time.”
“You don’t even like me doing it,” Duncan said. “And I’m adorable.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The fountains in the center of the road leading to Oakdale reminded Eve of champagne being poured over stacked glasses. Past the fountain was a guardhouse so tiny that it appeared that the heavy uniformed Hispanic woman inside was wearing the guardhouse like a large stucco overcoat.
Duncan and Eve waited in the guest lane behind two other cars that were lined up to get their passes from the guard and be allowed through the gate.
“The afternoon guard is Ruthie Ortega,” Duncan said. “She’s been here for twenty-five years.”
“I can’t imagine spending two decades in that little shack,” Eve said as one car went up the hill and the car in front of them moved forward to the guardhouse. “Aren’t there rules against that kind of confinement in the Geneva Conventions?”
“She loves it. She treats this place like she’s the guard to the Emerald City. I call her the Oracle. Nothing goes on behind those gates that she doesn’t know about. Bring her donuts once in a while when I’m gone and chat her up. It’ll pay off for you.”
The car in front of them departed. Duncan pulled up to the guardhouse and rolled down his window. “Afternoon, Ruthie.”
She sat at her desk and smiled at him through her half-open window. “Hello, Duncan. I heard about your adventure yesterday. I see it was a close shave.”
“When did you become a comedienne?”
“I’ve always been renowned for my wit. Ellen DeGeneres is lucky I chose the security profession or I’d have her show.” Ruthie looked past Duncan to Eve. “And you owe me your life, Deathfist.”
Well, Eve thought, at least there was no need for introductions. “How do you figure that?”
“I trained Grayson,” she said proudly. “I taught him everything he knows.”
“You taught him how to shoot?” Duncan asked.
“Except for that. More importantly, I instilled in him the values, integrity, and courage behind the Big Valley Security badge.” She tapped her badge for emphasis. “That’s why everybody who works in Calabasas for Big Valley Security trains with me first. He was in here with me for three months.” Eve had a hard time imagining how the two of them could fit inside the guardhouse. “Now he floats among the different guard gates, mostly substituting for sick or vacationing guards, when he isn’t working down at the Commons.” Ruthie narrowed her eyes at Duncan. “I suppose you’re here about sweet Mrs. McCaig and her baby.”
“Yes, we are,” he said. “What can you tell us about Anna McCaig?”
Ruthie leaned toward her open window and lowered her voice, though there was nobody around who could possibly hear them.
“It’s so sad. She and Jeff McCaig have been trying to have a child ever since they got married. I think this is her third miscarriage.”
“How long have they been married?”
“Three years. Anna is his second wife, fifteen years younger than he is, from Romania. He told me that he was attracted by her energy, youth, and great birthing hips.”
“What a compliment,” Eve said.
Duncan gestured to the gate and the steep hill of homes in front of them. “Is he home?”
“Oh no, he’s on a business trip in Europe somewhere, selling movies internationally for one of the studios. That’s how he met Anna. In Berlin, during a film market. She was a hostess at his hotel. He had an affair with her for months while he was still married to the first Mrs. McCaig.”
Eve leaned forward so Ruthie could see her. “How do you know all of that?”
“The first Mrs. McCaig told me when she moved out. She said they tried forever to have kids, and when she couldn’t, he dropped her for a fertile Romanian slut.”
“What does the second Mrs. McCaig do?”
“She’s overseeing the remodel of their house,” Ruthie said. “I suppose to make the place her own and so she has something to do when he’s away. They’re doing the kitchen now.”
“How far along was her pregnancy?” Eve asked.