“I’ll look into it tomorrow.”
I suspected tomorrow would be too late.
Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I spotted Heath lurking in the shadows by the artwork, motioning to me.
For a second, I felt a twinge of something. A pull toward him. He was wearing a tux and no mask. Rule breaker. Not that I was surprised.
But instead of doing his bidding—who was he to boss me around?—I turned my back and pretended not to see him. I’d gotten Parker here, which meant I’d lived up to my end of the bargain. Heath had yet to produce anything useful.
I turned my attention to the center of the room and saw Parker heading my direction with two glasses in his hands. His gaze was scanning the room, and it was obvious he was looking for someone…or something.
I wasn’t ready to deal with more Parker just yet, but I smiled when I saw Cyn and her date following him.
Maybe Cyn could help me wrangle Ella into action. Or maybe she and I could figure this out without Ella’s help.
Fat chance.
Parker sidled up and handed me the glass of white wine, pressing his hip against mine and wrapping his arm around my lower back.
I wanted to pull away, but Cyn waggled her eyebrows as she approached with her date. “Hello, ladies,” she said, shooting me a huge grin. “This is my date, Philip Hinkle. Philip, this is my best friend, Darcie Weatherby, and her cousin, Ella Hughes.”
We all shook hands while I introduced everyone to Parker.
“I hear you have big plans for Perry’s Fall,” I said to Philip.
“I’m working on it. My security firm’s about to release a life-changing product, and I’m hoping it will bless us all.”
“That’s great,” I said, noticing how happy Cyn looked. I sure hoped Philip Hinkle was a good man, because she deserved the best.
“Philip does triathlons,” Cyn said, gazing up at him in adoration. “He’s even convinced me to go to the gym to work out with him.”
I couldn’t hide my astonishment.
“I know. No one is more surprised than me,” she said, lifting a foot behind her. She’d insisted on buying strappy sandals with three-inch heels even though I’d warned her that her feet would hurt within fifteen minutes. I had on a pair of two-inch, wide-heeled pumps. If I needed to run at some point, I needed the most practical shoes I could manage, although it was questionable how practical they’d be for running. I’d likely end up kicking them off.
And coming back for them later. Heck, I hadn’t even made a payment on my credit card yet. Might as well get something out of all that debt.
“Ella,” Cyn said, “I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”
“Neither did I,” she said, her upper eyelids drooping, “but then Gertrude invited me to a private dinner with her and a few friends that included the mayor.”
“Really?” I asked in shock. “After last week’s dinner?”
Ella leaned her elbow on the table, then rested her cheek on her upturned palm and closed her eyes. “Damage control.”
“I think you should go home, Ella,” I said. “Let’s get you a ride.” As much as I wanted her help, she wasn’t going to help anyone tonight. Herself included.
Ella bolted upright, and her eyes flew extraordinarily wide. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” I said, lowering my voice. “You need to go home and sleep.”
“I can’t miss this opportunity,” she said, her eyelids starting to droop again. “I’m getting an exclusive with the mayor after her speech introducing the exhibit.”
“Where is the exhibit?” Cyn asked. “I’ve been dying to see it ever since I heard it was coming back from Birdsboro. What’s-His-Name Perry must have had a serious case of sour grapes to set up the schedule like that. Or maybe he just wanted the exhibit near him.” She gave me a knowing look. “He moved to Birdsboro, England, you know.”
Something was niggling in my brain, telling me again that my family’s tie to James Perry was important. I just didn’t know how. I really needed to find out.
I grabbed my phone out of my purse. “I need to make a call.”
“Now?” Cyn and Parker said at the same time.
“Yes. Now.” I grabbed Ella’s arm and tugged. She was leaning on her elbow and had clearly drifted off to sleep. My tug had her fluttering her eyes like Sleeping Beauty. “Come on. You have work to do.”
Her eyes went wide. “Is it time to interview the mayor?”
“Not yet,” I said, dragging her to the entrance. “I have something else for you to do, but I need you to sober up first.”
“I am not drunk,” she said as she stumbled.
“No, but you are stoned.” I knew coffee wouldn’t sober up a drunk, but could it bring back a woman drugged on antihistamines?
People were staring, so I dropped my hold on her to wrap my arm around her lower back, steering her toward the entrance. “Did you bring your laptop?”
“In my purse,” she mumbled, but I noticed she didn’t have it with her.
“Where is your purse?”
She stopped and looked around as though she’d find it somewhere near her.
“We need to get you coffee. Pronto.” But first I had to figure out where to get some.
I saw my mother on the other side of the room, so I pulled Ella into the shadows of the cantilevered second floor to stay out of her view. Something told me Mother wouldn’t be thrilled to see us together.
Ella jerked against my hold.
“Ella,” I whisper-hissed. “I really need you tonight. I need you to do some research, and you can’t do that if you’re doped up on antihistamines.”
“Sorry for stopping myself from going into anaphylactic shock,” she mumbled.
I groaned. She had a point. “I’m sorry.”
“Not as sorry as me,” she said, leaning against a marble support column and closing her eyes. “Gertrude knows I’m allergic to shellfish, yet she invited me anyway and didn’t give me any warning.”
My breath caught as I turned to my cousin. Had my mother purposely set her up to have an allergic reaction? Or had she simply forgotten? Other than Dad’s funeral, how many years had it been since Ella and my mother had seen each other?
Ella seemed a little more lucid, so I asked again, “Ella, where’s your purse and laptop?”
She blinked, then narrowed her eyes as though focusing on my face. “Coat check.”
The coat check was as good a place to go as any. I figured I could also ask the staff about acquiring coffee for Ella.
Given that it was a cold January night and most of the women were wearing sleeveless dresses, we were swimming upstream to retrieve something.
“We need a claim ticket,” the young woman said when I finally got to the front of the line and asked her for Ella’s purse.
“Do you have a claim ticket?” I asked my cousin as I stuck my phone into my clutch.
Any previous coherency was gone. She dug around in her skirt, getting frustrated when she couldn’t find a pocket.
Brushing her hands away, I started looking for the side seam of the dress in search of the missing pockets.
“Hey,” she said in irritation, trying to bat my hands away.
“Looks like you’re having fun,” Heath said next to me.
“I’m busy,” I said curtly. I didn’t feel like discussing Parker and his primary purpose for being here. That was Heath’s job.
“I can see that. Can I help? I have experience patting people down.”
“I’m not patting her down. I’m looking for pockets.”
“I see,” he said, drawing the words out in a lazy drawl. “It’s obvious you don’t have pockets of your own.”
I paused and turned my attention to him, shocked to see his gaze taking in my dress then landing on my face and hair. The look of appreciation wasn’t lost on me.
“What do you want, Heath?” I asked, dragging Ella away from the coat check. If s
he had a pocket, it was hidden, and I wasn’t about to strip-search her to find it. At least not in public. Besides, we didn’t really need her laptop. We only needed a phone.
“Why didn’t you come when I beckoned you?” he asked, annoyance creeping into his voice.
I propped a hand on my hip. “Did you just hear yourself? Beckoned?”
He cringed. “Sorry. Wrong word choice.”
Shaking my head, I said, “Whatever. I need you to look something up for me.”
“What?” he asked, suddenly suspicious.
“I need you to look up the founding of this art museum. Wait. No,” I said, shaking my head again. “I need to know if my family has a connection to James Perry. I think he might have had something to do with the curse.”
Confusion filled his eyes, quickly followed by annoyance. “I don’t have time for that. I’m working.”
I’d had enough. “Look. I did what you asked me to do—I got Parker here. The rest is on you, since you refuse to tell me what’s going on. Besides, you have failed to live up to your end of the bargain, which means any agreement between us is null and void.”
“You had an agreement with him?” Ella asked, her words slurred and her eyes barely visible through the slits between her eyelids.
It occurred to me that she had no idea who he was. Not that it mattered. She was trashed. No coffee was going to fix this, and I’d been fooling myself to think otherwise. “Don’t you worry about it. We need to find a place for you to sleep this off.”
“I need to interview the mayor.” She tried to push away from me but stumbled on her heel and her ankle twisted to the side. “Oww,” she said with a perplexed look.
“Ella, you’re not in shape to interview anyone, and at this point, I doubt anything but sleep will help. Maybe you can take a quick catnap and be coherent enough for your interview.” I gave Heath an expectant look. “If you’re here on a stakeout, then I’m supposing you know the lay of the land. Where can she sleep this off?”
“First of all,” Heath said with a scowl, “I never promised to find your missing person, just to investigate. And if you’d come to talk to me earlier, I would have told you—I found out some information about the perp who tried to grab Harriet.”
“What?” I asked, almost dropping Ella. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
He rolled his eyes. “Like I said, you didn’t come when I waved at you. He was hired for the job. Cash. The old lady who hired him matches the description of your Vee, but we’re no closer to finding her. She showed up at his place of work, and they were never in contact over the phone or email. The van was his. Look, I’m sorry, but I have more important things to do than help you find a cot for your drunk friend.”
My heart sunk. This meant Heath’s hunch had been accurate, but it wouldn’t get us anywhere. I’d been so hopeful the arrest would lead to something. “Ella’s not drunk. She’s allergic to shellfish and was inadvertently served it for dinner. She’s high on antihistamines.”
His hard jaw unclenched slightly. “There’s a first aid station. It’s not much, but the room does have a cot. She can sleep it off in there, although I suspect she’d be better off going home.”
“Well, since she and her husband aren’t getting along, I’m not sure he’ll come get her, and I don’t have a car to take her. So the nurse’s office it is. You’re going to help me get her there.”
“What?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yep,” I said. “Let’s get going.”
“Darcie,” he groaned.
“The quicker we get her there, the sooner we get back so I can do whatever it is you want me to do.” I gave him a pointed look. “Because I’m not stupid enough to think we’re done. But be forewarned that I’m not giving you something for nothing this time,” I said as he started leading us back to the other end of the foyer. “You’re going to find my answers first, then I’ll do your favor.”
“That’s right,” Ella slurred, her feet dragging. “Men always want…”
“Good God,” Heath said, giving her a side-glance full of disgust. “How many pills did you take?”
“I took mmm…” Her words broke down into incoherent mumbling.
“Maybe I should get her to the hospital,” I said, starting to worry.
“Let’s look her over once we get her to the first aid station, then decide.”
“Okay.”
“As for your favor, Darcie,” he said in a gruff tone as we crossed the foyer. “That’s not the way it works.” He opened a door with a small frosted window embedded in it, then propped it open with his shoulder as I helped Ella into the short corridor beyond it.
“Sorry, Mr. FBI man,” I said as we headed down the dim hall. “That’s how it’s going to work this time.”
“Shh!” he said, looking around to see if anyone had been listening, but it was just the three of us in the six-foot hallway. “Someone could hear you!”
“Who’s going to hear me?” I asked, then opened a door with a sign that read, First Aid Station.
Ella’s head jerked upright. “FBI?”
Heath scowled. “Go back to sleep.”
I groped around on the wall until I found the light switch and flipped it on. It was a small space, with a built-in desk and chair on the side with the light switch, a cabinet opposite it, and a cot with a fitted sheet and a flat pillow to my left.
“Ella,” I said, “we’re going to help you lie down.”
“I can’t lie down,” she said as I maneuvered her over to the bed. “I have to interview Mayor Heartless.”
“You mean Harless,” I said. I set my purse on the desk and then tugged her arm to get her to sit down.
“Same difference.” She shook her head so hard that she lost her balance and toppled onto the bed.
“That’s one way to manage it,” Heath said.
“You were super helpful,” I said dryly.
“Hey,” he said, raising his hands, palm out, “I found the room with a cot.”
I gave him a forced smile. “How about you extend your usefulness and get her a cup of coffee?”
“No way. We’ve already spent too much time on this as it is. I need to get back out there, and so do you.”
“To do the thing you need me to do,” I said as I grabbed a blanket from the end of the bed and spread it over my now-prone cousin.
“Yes,” he said in a tight voice. “The thing I need you to do.”
“You stay here,” I told Ella. “I’ll be back to check on you soon.”
She didn’t answer, not that I’d expected her to since she was now snoring like a boss.
“Can we go now?” Heath asked.
I had my own business to take care of, so I pushed him through the open door and into the hallway, closing the door behind me.
“What is it that you want me to do?” I asked, looking up at him.
He stared down at me, his gaze sweeping over my face.
My breath caught, and I was suddenly very aware of how close he was standing.
“You look beautiful tonight,” he said. I was surprised it wasn’t a reluctant admission.
“You clean up pretty well yourself,” I said, suddenly nervous. The energy between us had shifted, becoming more electric, and while I’d recognized from the beginning that he was an attractive man, tonight my body’s reaction to him caught me by surprise. From the look in his eyes, it had caught him unawares too.
I took a step backward, hitting the wall.
“I…” He stopped and started again. “I neglected to ask you how you’re feeling. Yesterday you still had a headache. Should you even be here tonight?”
“Do you want the truth?” I asked barely above a whisper, and a jolt of energy shot through me when I realized his gaze was focused on my lips.
His eyes slowly lifted to mine, the blue still shining even in the light shadows. “Yes, Darcie. I always want the truth from you.”
“I healed myself tonight.”
“Yo
u figured out how?” he asked in surprise.
“Yeah. My tears. When I grabbed your hands, mine were wet with tears.”
The corners of his mouth tilted down slightly. “You were crying tonight.”
His hand lifted to my previously bruised cheek, his thumb lightly brushing my cheekbone as though he was worried he might hurt me.
A wave of heat washed through me, and I struggled to keep my breathing steady.
“I’m worried about you, Darcie,” he said softly, his hand still cupping my face.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you? Your hair’s nearly completely blond. I suspect that immense detail on the tattoo wings on your back are fairly fresh.”
I couldn’t hide my amusement. “You’re worried because you think I’ve had tattoo work done.”
He frowned. “You think? That’s an odd way to put it.”
I didn’t say anything, mostly because my brain wasn’t working right. Special Agent Heath Stone was leaning over, about to kiss me. To my surprise, I wanted him to.
“Uh…” I told myself to move away, yet I couldn’t find the gumption. “I thought you had a project for me.”
“You said I had to do your research first,” he said, his hand sliding to the back of my head and tilting it up. “I’m enjoying the work so far.”
I grinned. “This wasn’t what I had in mind.”
“I’m going to kiss you, Darcie Weatherby. If you don’t want that to happen, I’m giving you three seconds to walk out the door.”
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. I hadn’t kissed another man in over twenty years. Had I forgotten how? Would it be strange? Heath could be frustrating and arrogant, and I was sure he was using me, but at the moment, I wanted to use him too. I wanted him to be my first kiss as a single woman.
“One,” I whispered, placing my hands on his chest. “Two.”
He studied my face, his eyes lighting up with amusement.
“Three.”
His lips lowered to mine, the kiss a gentle exploration.
I stood on the balls of my feet, pressing my chest to his, and kissed him back.
His tongue grew bolder, and I parted my lips, suddenly needing to taste more of him. Digging his fingers into my hair, he held my head in place as his tongue danced with mine, the pressure pushing me into the wall. His free hand cupped my butt.
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