I started toward the house with my hand on Sebastian’s elbow. He played along very nicely, only giving me “the look” after we’d turned away from Nick.
“Thanks for checking on me, Nick. Sebastian will be here with me tonight, so no worries.”
Nick stepped onto the curb. “Can I have just one more minute with you?”
I looked at Sebastian, and he nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
Sebastian waited on the porch as I walked back to the curb. He never even acknowledged Nick.
“What the hell is this?” Nick spat.
“What?” I loved playing dumb.
“Him.” Nick was so rude as to actually point at Sebastian.
“What about him? He has nothing to do with your murder investigation.” Oh, I was good. Or at least that’s what I told myself.
“I can’t believe it. You’re dating a guy half your age. You must be really desperate.” Nick walked away.
His words stung, but I wasn’t going to let him see just how much. “Oh, believe me, he can service me better than any old fart my age can. Desperation has nothing to do with it.” I laughed, but it even sounded fake to me.
He got in his car and sped away.
I stood there looking at his taillights, not even realizing that Sebastian had come up behind me. He put his strong hands on my shoulders. “Are you okay?”
I turned and buried my face in his chest. Crying, I said, “No, I’m not okay.”
He held me, and kissed the top of my head. And I think at that moment, I realized that he was truly a nice guy.
“Come on, let’s go in the house, and you can tell me what’s going on.” He walked me to the house.
But when we got to the porch, I realized I couldn’t talk to him about anything. The twins were in the house. I wiped my tears, and put on my game face.
“Before we go in, I think you should know, the twins are staying with me tonight.”
His face was blank for a moment, before he said, “I’d love to meet the twins. How old are they?”
I didn’t have to answer the question. Corey opened the door and yelled, “I can’t get it to work.”
I turned. “Get what to work?”
“My game. Your TV is way different from ours. And you promised.”
I looked at Sebastian. “Meet Corey.”
“Cool tats, man.”
“Thanks.” Sebastian looked at me and smiled, then back to Corey. “Let me see if I can help with your game.”
Catey sat on the couch, texting on her phone. I walked over and took it from her.
“Hey!” She reached out to grab it back.
“This is my house, my rules. No texting when you can enjoy conversing with the people right here in the room.” I tucked her phone in my pocket.
“Mimi!” Catey whined like a pro.
Sebastian said, “Your kids call you by your first name?”
Everyone looked at him wide-eyed, and the room went silent.
I laughed. “They aren’t mine.”
Corey and Catey said, in stereo, “Yuck, she’s not our mom.”
Now it was my turn to whine. “Yuck? Really, yuck?”
Corey spoke up, while Catey went back to moping. “You wouldn’t be so cool as a mom. Kids need structure, you know.”
Sebastian laughed. And that was that. Corey and Sebastian played the shooting game, and yelled at the screen. He even got Catey involved, teaching her how to shoot, and how the game worked. Catey was good.
When Sebastian invited me to play, I held up my glass of Argentinean Malbec. “I’m good.”
“Oh, I’ll take one of those.” Sebastian let Catey take over his spot in the game and sat next to me on the couch. I just happened to have a second glass on the coffee table, so I poured.
He took the glass and held it up a bit, swirling and sniffing it. I nearly spit my wine out trying to keep from laughing. Then he took a sip.
“Intense fruity aroma. I’m going to say, raspberry, plum and maybe even a hint of blackberry on first sniff. Very nice for a light-bodied Malbec.”
Now I really was laughing. Aloud. Uncontrollably.
“What?” Sebastian sat his glass on the table.
“I’m sorry. I just never would have imagined those words coming from your mouth.” I’d regained my composure.
“How soon we forget. I thought I told you, Henry, Eugene and I love wine.”
Ah, that’s right. One of the pieces of evidence in Esme Bailey’s murder investigation was a bottle of wine that had been drugged.
I looked up at the twins, who were oblivious to us as they terrorized each other while playing their game.
“It’s a nice night. Let’s take this bottle and go outside.”
Lola was still in the yard. She sat on the grass in the far corner, next to her dog house. Her Doberman ears were on high alert, even though she looked ridiculous with the stuffed bear in her mouth. I gave the bear about two days before she buried it, which was longer than most of Lola’s toys last before she killed them.
Sebastian squatted down. “What’s her name?”
“Lola, but you don’t want to engage her. She’s not much for strangers.”
He called her over anyway, and she trotted straight to him. He petted her between the ears, and she promptly dropped the bear at his feet. I was delighted. Lola never shared her toys with anyone but me. Maybe Sebastian was really a good guy, and I had good judgment for a change. But then again, she seemed to like Nick, too.
We sat on the wooden swing, still holding our glasses of wine. It was quiet as Sebastian threw Lola’s bear across the yard, and she took off after it. There was no retrieving, as Lola knew that game, and never brought the toy back.
“Do you mind if I ask what’s going on with you and Nick?” He wasn’t looking at me when he asked. He stared off into the darkness.
“Nothing is going on with us.” I looked over my shoulder to be sure the twins were out of earshot. “He stopped by to explain that he has my best friend locked up in his jail cell because it’s his job.”
“Ouch. What happened?” He looked at me now.
“It’s a long story.” I sighed.
“I have all night.” He actually shifted his body to face me.
So I told him. About the cell phone, William (but I didn’t say his name), the murder, the weapon, and Nick arresting Jackie. He listened, not once interrupting me. It felt good to talk it out.
“Wow, what a day. Are you okay?” He touched my leg.
My body reacted more violently than I’d planned. I wanted more. So I scooted a bit closer, turned my back, and leaned into him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
And I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I’d turned my head and kissed him full on the lips. He kissed me back. I kissed him again.
He pulled me back away to arm’s length and asked, “So that’s what the hug was all about? Nothing more?”
Still lost in his dreamy kiss, I said, “What?”
“Nick was holding you pretty tight when I arrived. It was just a friendly hug?”
I sat back. “That’s all it was.”
“So then why did you act like you were expecting me?”
I thought for a minute. Lie? No, I didn’t want to lie. “I wanted Nick to leave. And when you showed up out of nowhere, I thought if I acted like I was expecting you, Nick would feel unwelcome and leave. And he did.”
“You never even asked me why I’m here.” He took a long sip from his wine glass.
“I guess after I saw how great you are with the twins, I didn’t care why you’re here.” I truly did forget that he’d arrived uninvited.
“I actually stopped by to apologize for bothering you at work. I should never have come by to discuss a private matter in your place of business.” He took yet another long sip of wine.
I grabbed the bottle and started to refill his glass.
“No, I want to be sober when I tell you this. I want you to know I’m completely
sincere.”
Now I took a long sip of wine. I didn’t want to be sober when I heard what he had to say.
“I won’t bother you anymore. I just needed to get it off my chest that I can’t stop thinking about you. The weird thing is that this isn’t like me. I’ve never had any trouble getting a girl out of my head. But, seriously, I masturbate thinking of you.”
Okay, then. “Sebastian--”
“Okay, that came out more crude than I’d planned. I’m not perfect. But what I’m really trying to say is that the next move is yours. I told you how I feel, I invaded your house tonight, and I just embarrassed you by being crude, so now I’m done.” He started to stand.
I stopped him. “Sit.” Then I said, “This is my next move.” I kissed him again, and it felt as good as it had the first time.
Between kisses, Sebastian said, “Oh, Mimi, I want you so much.”
And then I heard, “When are we ordering pizza?”
35
Damn, damn, damn. I should never have polished off that bottle of wine with the pizza. I’m not twenty-five anymore, and even the extra water and ibuprofen before going to bed didn’t help much. Everything sounded magnified, and I had teen twins in the back seat of my car. I was only too happy that they were ignoring me and had shoved their ear buds in their ears as soon as they buckled up.
Once at the school, I thought for sure they’d want me to park a block or two down, so no one saw their crazy “Aunt Mimi” dropping them off, but they let me drive right up to the front of the school.
Catey yelled before she was even out of the car, “Hey, Anna, wait up.” I thought my head would explode.
I looked across the schoolyard to see Anna stop and look up at Catey. I asked, “Hey, Catey, who is that with Anna?”
“Her mom, why?” Catey hesitated just long enough to answer. But she was out the door before I could tell her why.
Anna’s mom. I wondered just how much she knew. Then I saw a little girl run up to Anna’s mom, wearing a Hello Kitty backpack.
“Later, Mimi. Thanks for the sleepover and the pizza.” Corey slipped out a bit more quietly than Catey did.
I just wished it was Sebastian saying thanks. He made a hasty exit when the pizza arrived last night. I’m not sure why I kept drinking the wine after he left. Was it to rid myself of wanting him to stay? Or was I trying to forget kissing him? All I knew was the whole thing made me nauseous this morning.
Lola leaned across from the passenger seat and licked me in the face, which brought me out of my trance, and I drove to the agency.
* * *
Charles sat at the kitchen table when I walked in. He was bent over, adjusting his argyle socks. The socks just happened to bear the same shade of lavender as his polo shirt, and the navy of his slacks. I reached out and mussed his hair, just to piss him off.
“Not going to happen.” Charles fingered his blonde locks back into place.
“What’s not going to happen?” I reached for a coffee cup from the cupboard.
“You aren’t going to rile me this morning. I don’t have time for it.” He stood, straightened his slacks and left the room.
This was not my normal Charles. I abandoned the coffee and caught up to him. “What’s going on?”
“Maybe I should ask you that question,” Charles grinned from ear to ear.
“Oh, no, what’s going on?” Suddenly I felt a dread far worse than a hangover.
“Nick stopped by last night.”
“He stopped by your place?” So his visit wasn’t exclusive to me. My heart flipped a bit. I thought he was worried about me.
“He wanted to let me know that he’s still looking for the killer, and that he doesn’t think Jackie is the guilty party. But at the same time, she’s looking like their best suspect right now.”
“Yeah, he stopped by my house last night, too, and said the same thing.” I still didn’t understand why he felt the need to talk to Charles personally, too.
Charles started to walk away again, and then turned, “Oh, and he wanted to know how long you and Sebastian had been dating.”
Yes! was what I was thinking, but I said, “Really? That’s weird, don’t you think? What would make him ask that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Mimi, maybe it was the way you were flaunting him in front of Nick?” Charles winked.
“I wasn’t flaunting him. Poor Sebastian, I was actually using him. I wanted to make Nick jealous, but it didn’t seem to work.” I headed back into the kitchen, because I really needed that coffee.
Something good must have gone down, because Charles followed me. “Oh, it worked. He tried hard not to show it, but he didn’t like you being with Vampire Boy.”
“I wasn’t exactly with him.”
“Bullshit, you were too with him. So? What was he like?”
Now I was crimson. “I wasn’t with him. But we did kiss. And it was…” I patted my chest with my hand.
“That good?”
I just nodded and finished fixing my coffee.
“Now that we have that drama out of the way, you ready to visit with Jackie this morning?”
I sipped my coffee, and I swear just that one sip eased my hangover a bit. “Dude, she’s in jail.”
“Dude? Dude? Did you really just call me that? If dating a younger guy is going to have you speaking like an idiot teen, I’ll have to nip this one fast.”
“Whatever.” I took another sip of coffee and walked to my office.
Charles failed to mention I’d received a package already this morning.
I walked over to my desk to find a ceramic bowl wrapped in clear cellophane. Inside, I found an assortment of imported coffees, several different sizes and shapes of chocolate bars (all Peruvian chocolate), and a bottle of wine. I pulled back the cellophane to read the wine label more closely.
“Holy shit,” I gasped.
Charles leaned against the doorway to my office. “Oh, and you got a package this morning.”
I turned to Charles with the bottle in my hand. “Charles, this is a 2005 Chateau Rieussec Sauternes.” I shoved the bottle at him.
He took the dessert wine from me, and turned the bottle around, examining it as if he didn’t believe me. “Mimi, this cost like a hundred dollars. It’s French.”
“I know. That’s why I covet it, but I’ve never bought it.” I took the bottle back, afraid Charles would sneak it away.
“Who’s the package from?” Charles didn’t wait for me. He moved past me to the bowl and pulled the card.
He opened the envelope and read to himself. “Oh, barf.”
I grabbed for it, but Charles pulled it away. “Give it to me.”
He looked at the card again and read aloud. “I wanted you to remember how sweet we were together last night. S.”
I snatched the card. I admit it was a bit sappy, but sappy with such good taste. “Barf would be in order if he’d sent a crunch bar and a Riesling, but this,” I lifted up a Peruvian chocolate bar, “is very romantic.”
“Who would’ve guessed that inked up boy would have such refined taste?” Charles helped himself to one of the chocolate bars. “Mmmmm.”
I slapped his hand as he grabbed for another bar. “Hey, you didn’t make out with him last night, I did.” I rearranged the chocolate bars as I put the bottle of wine back inside the cellophane.
With chocolate still melting in his mouth, Charles said, “Before we go visit with Jackie, I want you to take a look at something.”
“Something good?”
“Nick dropped off a flash drive from William’s work computer. They went by his office last night, and the general manager let them make a copy of William’s hard drive.”
Interesting.
I grabbed the chocolate from Charles and took a bite as we headed to his office. Just as I sat in the chair next to him at the desk, Gemma poked her head in.
“Good morning.” She looked around. “Where’s Jackie?”
Charles and I looked at each other.
I said, “Oh, this isn’t a meeting. Charles and I are working on a new case.”
Gemma’s mood dimmed. “Oh, so no meeting again today?”
Charles looked over his shoulder at Gemma. “Nope, we had it already. You’re late.”
I smacked Charles on the shoulder. “No, Gemma, you’re not late. Something came up with Jackie, so she’s not coming in today.”
“Oh.” Gemma stepped back as if to leave, then stopped. “So what’s this new case?”
Charles ignored the question. I thought about doing the same, but I didn’t want her to walk in and look over our shoulders. “It’s not really a new case. Well, it is, but it’s sort of for our eyes only.”
Gemma turned on her heel and left without saying anything. I heard a murmur as she stomped down the hall. “None of your business Gemma, as usual.”
“Great, now I’ve pissed her off.” I started to get up.
Charles grabbed my arm and pulled me back to my seat.
“She’ll get over it.” He pulled up a social networking page. Suddenly, Gemma was an afterthought.
My stomach did flips as I watched Charles scroll through pages and pages of this predator’s networking profile. He claimed to be a high school senior, varsity football player, varsity lacrosse player, and vice-president of his class. He had the pictures and awards to back it up. William had an elaborate plan to suck these girls in. The private messages he’d been sending were flirtatious, boarding on pornographic. I’d stopped reading after the first few, because my coffee was threatening to come back out the way it went in.
“This is sick.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Charles logged out of this account, then logged back in with another email address. “This is even creepier.”
I watched as a picture of a girl, who looked to be about seventeen appeared in the profile at the top of the page. “No freaking way, he’s preying on boys, too?”
“I don’t think so, but he’s using this profile to lure others in.” Charles prowled around the site some, and stopped on a comment from a younger boy.
I sat back and stopped looking at the computer screen. “But this is all Internet stuff. Couldn’t he get in trouble for being on this site at work?”
Gotcha Detective Agency Mystery Box Set Page 28