by Lisa Olsen
There, beside an old fashioned, silver safety razor sat a whole box of double edged razor blades. Nick took a picture of that as well. Not that it was damning evidence to own a box of razors, but what were the odds that their chief suspect had a whole box of the murder weapons in a society of disposable razors?
Flushing to maintain the charade, Nick ran the water while he packed everything back up the way he’d found it in the first place. The chatter continued as he exited the bathroom and he wondered if he could risk a deeper look into the bedroom itself. The bed was still made, a navy blue duffel bag tossed on top, the zipper open but the contents out of sight.
Cautiously, he stepped closer to the bed, his eyes on the line of sight to the doorway leading to the living room space. Annaliese slid into view before he got a yard away from the bed, and Jax’s knee was visible, dangerously close to hers in the next foot. Ruby crossed the room, pulling Veronica with her to take a picture in front of the fireplace, attention focused on her phone, but still within sight. Inching forward, Nick decided it wasn’t worth the risk. If anyone happened to turn in his direction they’d see what he was up to.
Conjuring a placid smile, he stepped back out into the living room as Veronica took another picture, Ruby’s theatrical kiss leaving a bright red lipstick smear on her cheek. The pair giggled over the result once it was taken and then Ruby tottered over to the couch on her ridiculous heels and slumped in the corner. Annaliese and Jax sat with their heads together on the couch, taking a photo of their own.
“Looks like I missed picture time,” Nick commented, taking his seat again and Veronica hurried over to perch on the arm of the chair.
“Look at all the pics I got, Dad,” she chattered excitedly. There was one taken with Jax, with her gazing up at him adoringly, him grinning at the camera. Three others were of her and Ruby, two normal ones with the girls flashing a rock on symbol and one with the singer’s arm wrapped around V’s neck, a crazy look on her face.
“That’s nice, honey,” he said, patting her leg as she grinned over them.
Ruby burst into song without warning, her voice throbbingly rich and full of soul. Eyes closed, her head lolled back, chest heaving as she belted out a mournful rendition of A Natural Woman. Nick never would’ve guessed she could sound like that from some of the techno crap they played. Annaliese and Veronica stopped and stared at her impromptu performance, but Jax seemed largely unimpressed, maybe even annoyed that his conversation with Anna had been interrupted.
“Wow, that was fantastic,” Veronica breathed when Ruby stopped singing mid sentence and didn’t continue.
“It was bullshit, it’s all bullshit,” Ruby slurred her way through the words, eyes still shut.
Jax leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Maybe you should switch to coffee instead of tea?” he growled, even as Ruby’s lip curled in scorn.
“Maybe you should mind your own fucking business.”
“You are my fucking business.”
“Maybe we should go?” Veronica squeaked, and Nick laid a comforting hand on her back.
“It is getting kind of late.” Hauling himself up to his feet, he wrapped an arm around his daughter’s shoulder, drawing her close.
“Oh come on, you don’t have to go yet, do you?” Jax looked to Annaliese, who’d risen as well.
“Nick’s right, it is late for us working stiffs.”
“Aren’t you the boss?” Jax offered a pleading smile, catching up one of her hands as if he might keep her there. Ruby remained on the couch; maybe she was asleep, she hadn’t moved a hair since her last outburst.
“Yes, I am.” Anna gave a half hearted attempt to pull her hand free. “Which is why I need to be there to open the store tomorrow morning. But we’ll see each other tomorrow night for dinner, right?”
“Okay, but I don’t know how I’m going to get to sleep at night without something to tide me over until then.” Jax tugged her closer and Nick popped his head between them, not about to stand around while the guy tried to make time with his lady.
“How about you try that Ambien in your bathroom?” he offered in a chipper tone.
Jax fixed him with an unfriendly stare. “He’s not going to be there for dinner tomorrow night, is he?”
“Ah… that’s something we can talk about later.” Now Annaliese pulled her hand free, stepping around the couch to the door. “It was really nice seeing you, I’ll be in touch about tomorrow and you know my address.”
“I do,” Jax nodded. “I hope you’ll wear something pink for me.” Annaliese blushed and his smile widened. “There’s those apples,” he grinned.
“Truly nice to meet you,” Nick said with forced jocularity, offering his hand, which Jax reluctantly took. “One more thing before we go. I couldn’t help but notice that fancy old razor you’ve got in there.”
“What about it?”
“Nothing, I guess. You just look like the kind of guy who uses one of those electric trimmer things that leaves you an eight o’clock shadow on purpose. You know, anything to maintain the illusion of cool.”
May’s eyes narrowed. “I hate to break it to you, pal, but this is me not shaving for a couple of days. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go through my shit.” His grip tightened, but Nick gave no sign that it stung. “If you took anything, now’s the time to come clean. If my razor or my hairbrush turns up on Ebay, I’ll sue the fuck out of you.”
Nick’s smile was easy. “No, I’m not the criminal type. I leave that to others,” he said, matching the pressure of his handshake. “Thanks for your time, Mr. May. It was very illuminating getting a peek into how you live.” The men let go of each other at the same time, Jax’s hand curling into a tight fist. “Shall we go home now, Annie? I could sure use that cup of coffee now.”
“Yes, I think we’ve definitely stayed past our welcome,” she replied, giving him the oddest look. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” Anna promised, leaning up to kiss Jax’s cheek. “Come on, Veronica, I think we’d better put the old man to bed.”
Chapter Five
Veronica didn’t say one word to him the entire ride home and Annaliese only gave one syllable responses to his efforts at conversation as well. He could guess why, neither of them looked too happy over his parting words with Jackson May. Nick let it go, well used to the silences of women, instead turning the radio up when Don Henley came on to sing along for the rest of the ride home.
“Thanks for tonight, Anna,” Veronica said, proving she wasn’t mute after all. She embraced her with a quick hug before scooping up her bag, and went up to her room without another word.
“You’re welcome, V,” she called back, already digging in her pockets for her keys as he slid the garage door shut.
“Hey, you’re not going to leave me to eat this tiramisu all by my lonesome, are you? ’Cause I’ll do it,” Nick threatened, waiting for her smile which didn’t put in an appearance.
“I’m not exactly in a dessert kind of mood.”
Nick laid a hand to her forehead, pretending to take her temperature. “Wait… you don’t feel sick. Do you have any other symptoms? Dizziness? Nausea? An uncontrollable urge to eat chalk instead?”
Without wanting to, her lips turned up into a smile before she chased it away. “I’m serious, Nick. I think I should head for home. It’s been a long night.”
“That’s true. It’s not every day a girl meets her childhood sweetheart again.”
“He wasn’t my childhood sweetheart, we just dated in high school.”
“For nine months, though it felt like longer,” he recalled aloud. “How come it never came up before that your ex is a famous rock star?”
“I haven’t heard you talking about your high school girlfriends either.”
“Touché, but none of my exes are on TV.”
“Except that one girl in the movie about the piranha-snake thing.”
“Oh right, Piranhaconda. I almost forgot about Tanya. It happens when you live in L.A.,” he shrugged.
“Hey, is it just me or are you not Ruby’s favorite person?”
“Oh, so now you’re going to question me?”
The level of indignation didn’t seem to jibe with what he’d asked and Nick stared at her blankly. “Ah… is that a trick question? I did ask one.”
“You’ve been asking more than your share all night.”
“I wasn’t aware there was a quota.”
“It almost sounded like you were interrogating him.”
It was closer to the truth than he wanted to admit to, but to him he’d let Jax off easy. “I can’t help it, I’m a cop.”
“You don’t have to be all the time.” There was disappointment there, and Nick felt a stab of guilt for crapping on her reunion.
“I’m not all the time.” He leaned in for a kiss, relieved when she flowed into his arms. Even though she hadn’t required him to grovel for forgiveness, or maybe because of it, he offered an apology. “I’m sorry, I’ll try to go easier on the next old friend of yours who may or may not be the first guy you slept with, I promise.”
She pulled back to get a better look at him. “Is that what this is about? You’re jealous of Jackson?”
He considered telling her it was more than petty jealousy behind all those questions, but decided to let the green eyed monster take all the credit. “What can I say? No guy likes to see his girl smiling in the arms of a blast from the past when that blast pulls in a cool mil for a night’s work as a sexy rock god.”
“I happen to think you’re sexy,” she smiled, leaning up to buss her lips against his.
“Yeah? ’Cause I could pick up some eyeliner…”
Her smile dimpled wider. “Only if you want me to keel over with laughter.”
“Whatever gets you to stay the night.” Capturing her lips with his, he deepened the kiss, loving the way she opened to him. Lost in the feel of her in his arms, her silky hair brushing against the tops of his hands at her waist, he forgot about murders and suspects, his thoughts turning to other important matters.
Not for the first time he wondered where they were headed, if she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. They’d never felt the need to define it before, but with this guy in town wanting to pick up where they left off… Nick decided to do a little probing.
Without letting her go, he brought the kiss to a close, resting his cheek against hers. “You know, if you want to see Jax again, I mean without me, I would understand.”
“Who said I wanted to see him again without you?”
“It’s pretty obvious he’s no fan of mine.”
“Whose fault is that?”
He probably deserved that. “Granted, I did go a tad overboard on the questions, but it’s clear he wants to rekindle something with you.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter what he wants. I never said I wanted to rekindle anything. It was just fun to catch up on old times and let Veronica meet them.”
Nick wished he could see her face, but he kept her close. “I’m just saying I’d understand is all. We’ve never really talked about being exclusive before. If you wanted to see other guys…”
“Are you saying you want to see other women?”
“No…” His arms tightened around her reflexively. “I’m saying we’ve never actually talked about what this is, you and me.”
“I dislike labels, you know that.”
How was he supposed to take that? What if he said the L-word and she squeezed his hand and said that was nice? What if she didn’t want to define it because she wasn’t sure how she felt about him? What if he ended up pushing her away by holding on so tightly? As the last thought popped into his mind, he loosened his hold on her, finally pulling back to look into her eyes.
“Seriously though, do you think I should get some leather pants?” he quipped, and Annaliese took pity on his fragile ego.
“Would it make you feel better if I screamed your name and threw my panties at you?”
“I’m thinking the screaming my name would be after the panties come off, but you do what feels natural.” Nick edged her away from the door in the direction of the stairs. “Wanna sleep over? You can bunk in my room.”
“What about Veronica?”
“I don’t think she’ll fit. Besides, father daughter snuggles are not what I had in mind for tonight.”
“What did you have in mind, Detective?” she asked archly, stepping up on the stair which brought her chest to his eye level.
Nick’s eyes dipped before returning to her luscious mouth, the curve of her lips beckoning to him sweetly. “That’s Sergeant to you, missy, and don’t you forget it.”
“Whatever,” she breathed, before his mouth closed over hers again.
Chapter Six
Nick strolled into Peet’s Coffee with a spring in his step and a song in his heart. Whatever lingering resentments there had been between Annaliese and him had vanished by the time they fell asleep in each other’s arms. Even Veronica seemed to have forgiven him his treatment of Jax May after the flurry of comments she had on the somewhat blurry pictures she’d posted on Facebook.
“You look like the cat that ate the canary,” Natalie commented once he joined her, mocha in hand.
“You’d be smiling too if you had a night like I did,” he bragged. She looked like she’d slept far less comfortably than he had. Though the pretty agent was still put together with polished style, there was no disguising the dark circles under her eyes and the tightness around her mouth that spoke of too much stress.
“Yeah?” She arched a single brow. “Care to share? I can use a bit of a thrill even if it’s vicariously done. I can’t remember the last good night I had.”
“What a crime,” he murmured before returning to his opportunity to gloat. “You’ll never guess who I ran into last night.”
“Someone with double D’s and a low I.Q. from the grin on your face.”
“No on both counts, although that could be fun,” he quipped, unable to help himself. “No, instead I found myself rubbing elbows with none other than Jackson May himself.”
“Funny.”
“I’m completely serious.”
“What did you do, flash your badge on a pretext? That only works once.”
“Nope, he doesn’t even know I’m a cop. It turns out my girlfriend used to be his girlfriend back in high school. How’s that for a crazy coincidence?”
“You have a girlfriend?” she blinked.
“I think you’re missing the bigger picture here,” Nick frowned, disappointed in her lack of praise for his ta-da moment.
“Um, no, I…” she paused, flustered. “You seriously got in to see Jax last night?”
“I did. I even got a peek into his private bathroom. You’ll never guess what I found there.” Only when he was sure he had Natalie’s undivided attention did he launch into an account of the visit, including Ruby’s drugged out behavior and the pictures of his finds from the bathroom. She was paging through the pics on his phone as he finished talking, his blood starting to simmer again as he remembered his parting exchange with May.
“Do you know what this means?” Natalie’s grin was a mile wide as she slid his phone back across the table.
“It means I’d better keep a tight hold on my girl or she’ll end up as band candy,” he frowned.
“I’m serious, Nick. This means we finally have an in. After all these weeks I finally caught a break! I knew contacting you was the right thing to do.” She reached for his hand, giving it a fervent squeeze.
“Whoa, I wouldn’t get so excited,” Nick hedged, his hand going still in hers. “We didn’t exactly hit it off. I don’t know how much of an in I can provide. I’m pretty sure the guy hates my guts.”
“You’re closer than I am right now. And maybe we can use the jealous boyfriend bit to our advantage at the big party tomorrow night.”
“What big party?” Annaliese hadn’t said anything about a party that morning before they’d parted ways.
“Some loca
l friend of theirs is throwing a big bash at her estate down by the waterside. If your girl’s in as tight as you say she is, maybe you could tag along?”
“What friend?”
“Ah… Rose something, I think it starts with an S.”
“Rose Spencer?”
“Yes, why? Do you know her?”
There went their chances of rubbing elbows with the band anytime soon. “She’s not my biggest fan, but we do know each other. She’s my girlfriend’s bestie.” Rose had thawed toward him somewhat since he’d saved their lives, but they’d never be BFFs.
Natalie took it as another bout of good news. “I totally hit the jackpot when I came to see you, didn’t I? Do you think you could get me into the party?”
“Ah… maybe. Rose doesn’t always include me in her social circle.” Or ever unless it was Annaliese doing the planning. “I should probably see if I’m invited first. How do you even know about this shindig?” The last he’d heard, Ruby had to ask for Rose’s number and now Rose was planning a big bash for them?
“Give me some credit, will you?” she said with a sour smile. “I didn’t get where I am today because of my hot rack.”
His eyes dropped to her chest reflexively, but Nick liked to think he recovered swiftly enough. “Right, I forgot. The Bureau knows everything.”
“You’d better believe it,” she grinned. “So get it set up and I’ll meet you at your place and we can go over together.” Without waiting for a response, Natalie rose and tossed her empty coffee cup into the nearest trash can.
“I’ll try,” Nick hedged, picking up his own nearly full cup to take to the office with him. “I’ll give Annie a call and see what I can do. I’ll text you later with the address and all the details.”
Natalie’s smile stretched wider. “It’s a date.”