by Cynthia Eden
He watched her. Considered possibilities.
“Not like a ghost walked through walls,” she said. “Our perp is real. Flesh and blood. A secret passage makes sense.”
His eyes raked the area. If there was a secret passage, they weren’t going to find it easily. “We need to talk to experts.”
“What experts? Who?”
“Charles.” He knew the lodge inside and out. And… “Roman.”
She spun back toward him.
He took her hand. Curled his fingers around hers. “Come on. We can push on the wood for hours and still turn up jack. Let’s talk to them. I’ll also get Antony to dig up everything he can find on the lodge.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Her steps kept perfect time with his. “He’s good at finding secrets, isn’t he?”
Most days, yes.
They hurried down the stairs—
“Lacey!”
Sonofabitch. It was not Dex’s day.
Just as they reached the end of the steps, Tim Wraith scurried across the marble floor. His arms were up as he ran straight for Lacey. The man’s obvious intent was to hug her.
I am not in the mood for this shit.
At the last minute, Dex moved into Tim’s path. The drummer barreled into him. The jerk’s arms even wrapped around Dex’s shoulders.
Dex sighed. “I do not know you well enough for this.” He shoved Tim back. “And I don’t want to, jackass.”
Tim blinked. Recovered. His face mottled even as he told Lacey, “I was so worried! I heard about the woman’s body…even heard some people saying your…ah, fiancé here, thought it was you at first!” He shook his head. “My Lacey, I was scared. I was—”
“Not your Lacey,” Dex snapped. He was beyond not in the mood for this crap. He needed to have a come-to-Jesus-meeting with this fool ASAP. “Back off, Tom.”
“Tim. My name is Tim.”
“Do I look like I care?” When he’d moved into Tim’s path, Dex had let go of Lacey’s hand. Now he reached for it again. Twined his fingers with hers. Lifted her delicate hand just enough for the diamond ring to sparkle.
The flash of fury on Tim’s face was easy to see. Too easy.
“Why are you here?” Dex wanted to know. But he knew the reason. The SOB had tracked Lacey to the lodge. “There’s no boy band convention so—”
Tim took a swing at him. It was the attack Dex had been hoping to provoke. He even let the other man’s fist hit his face as Dex released Lacey’s hand. Such a weak-ass blow.
Lacey gasped behind him. “Tim! What are you doing?”
Exactly what I wanted him to do.
Tim stood there, fists clenched at his sides, breath heaving. “I’m not in a boy band. I am the drummer for Implosion Night! I am a fucking rock star, which means I’m a million times better than some lame-ass prick like you. And if you don’t believe me, why don’t you just ask Lace? She can tell you exactly how good I am.”
Dex smiled at him. “Know what you are, Timmy?”
“It’s Tim!”
“You’re out of your league.” He’d just caught sight of Antony hurrying toward them. Dex motioned toward Lacey. “Antony, would you be a buddy and keep my fiancée company for a moment? She has a theory she needs to run by you, and…well, I have a swing that I’m due. It’s my turn to punch the rock star.”
Antony stopped. Behind the lenses of his glasses, his eyes widened.
Lacey grabbed Dex’s arm. “What are you doing?”
He turned his face toward her. “He hit me. You saw that. He took the first swing. Don’t I have the right to hit back? I believe I do. I think that’s a thing.”
“That is not a thing.” Her voice was low. “You know it’s not. You also know he has no shot against you.”
He did know that. But it was nice of her to notice.
“You telling him how good I am, Lace?” Tim demanded, voice all aggressive. “Telling him to hit the road because you want to be back with a real man?”
What the hell was that BS line supposed to mean? That Dex was a pretend man? Such. A. Dumbass.
Lacey didn’t even look at Tim. “We have work to do.”
Yes, they did. And even though it looked like he was just about to have fun by punching Tim, Dex was also doing his job. Knocking out two birds at once and all that. “I don’t believe in coincidences.” They’d already talked once about Tim’s arrival being way too convenient. “I want to make sure no one is pulling his strings.”
Her brow furrowed. “You think Tim could be involved?” A whisper.
Dex thought he didn’t trust the jerk. And it was time for answers. “Stay with Antony.” Antony was a damn lethal agent. So is Lacey. “I just need five minutes alone with the drummer. Just five.”
Five minutes was all he’d need to break the bastard. Five—
“No,” Lacey said clearly.
“What?”
“You don’t want me to see what you’ll do to him. You think I can’t handle it when you go dark?”
It wasn’t even going to be a whole lot of darkness involved. He was just gonna flex a little. Dex was counting on the fact that guys like Tim always crumpled quickly. All arrogance. No substance.
“I can fight my own battles, Dex, and it seems like he is stalking me. Not you. You won’t shut me out. Deal with it.” A brisk nod. Then she took a step back. Focused on Antony. “We want to know if there are any secret passages on the Whisper Floor.”
“Secret what?” He squinted.
“I know you heard me,” Lacey retorted. “See if you can dig up any proof of a passageway on the Whisper Floor. One there and a way that someone could have accessed the suite Dex and I have without going past the guards who were stationed outside our door.”
“Yes, ma’am. Secret passage.” Antony turned away. “Always liked Velma the best.”
Lacey’s gaze darted around the lobby. Landed on a small room to the right. “What’s in there?”
“It’s a privacy room,” Dex told her. “The concierge team will often meet with guests when they have—”
“Tim, I want to talk to you in there, now.”
Tim smirked at Dex. “Damn straight you do. Told you, asshole…” He followed Lacey into the room. “Once you have a rock star, you never settle for second—”
Dex strode inside, too, then closed the door. Only he, Lacey, and Tim were in the privacy room.
“Are you stalking me, Tim?” Lacey asked.
“You want me. You want me back. I know you do. Why are you playing these games?” He grabbed for her hand. Held on tight. “Why are you dicking around with him? You told me to come for you. You told me that you missed me. You told me that you loved me.”
“No, I didn’t. Now let go.”
If anything, he moved closer. Held her tighter.
Yeah, enough of this shit.
Dex lunged forward, grabbed the bastard, and shoved him against the nearest wall. Then Dex took the SOB’s right hand and clenched his fingers around it. “Do you think you’ll still be a badass drummer with a broken hand?” He squeezed.
“What are you doing?” Alarm—fear—flashed in Tim’s eyes. “Let go!”
“Actually, you know what? Why stop with one? Let’s make it two broken hands.”
Tim tried to get away. Fucking useless. Dex effortlessly held him in place.
“Stop it! Let me go!”
“I don’t think I’ll just settle for a few breaks. I’ll make sure the damage is severe and long term. With the right therapy, maybe you’ll be able to play again. Maybe not. That rock star life of yours might be over.”
“Don’t! Oh, fucking hell, please, don’t! I am begging you! Let me—”
“Dex, stop playing with him,” Lacey ordered with a sigh.
Dex stared into Tim’s eyes. He wanted this message received. “I’m not playing.”
Tim whimpered. “My hands, man, my hands!”
“When it comes to my fiancée, I don’t play. Ever.”
Fran
tic nods. “I-I get it! I’ll stay away, I swear! I wouldn’t have even come here if she hadn’t contacted me and said—”
“I most certainly did not contact you!” Lacey words whipped out. “Are you crazy? Why would you say that? I broke up with you. And when I saw you a few weeks ago on another case, and you asked me out, I told you yet again that we were done.”
“But…but then you sent me that text…”
Dex released the fellow. Stepped back. “You believe what you’re saying.”
Tim reached into his pocket.
Dex immediately tensed.
“I am not going for a weapon! Calm down.” He fumbled and his shaking fingers pulled out a phone. His finger slid over the screen and then he turned the phone toward Dex. “Look! Look! See, she texted me! Lacey is lying to you. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at her.” He sniffed. “I’m mad at you, Lace. You hooked up with this psycho, and he was gonna break my hands for you! That shit is not cool! What did you want, for him to be jealous? For me to be jealous? Are you playing some kind of game with us—”
“Dumbass, Lacey doesn’t play jealousy games.” Dex scrolled back through the messages that had come from “Lacey” on Tim’s phone.
Sure enough, some of them seemed legit. They probably were, going by the dates. There were several texts from Lacey saying…
“It’s over.”
“No, I don’t want to meet you for dinner.”
“Don’t call me again.”
“I wish you luck in your life, but it’s not working. Stop contacting me.”
“Tommy, you need to get a fucking clue,” Dex growled.
“It’s…Tim.”
The most recent texts from Lacey, though, were different…
“I miss you. Didn’t realize how much you mattered until you were gone.”
“No one can take your place. Other men can’t compare.”
“Come find me. I need you.”
The last text had been sent the same day that Lacey and Dex arrived at the lodge. The text even included the lodge’s name, saying that she was close by, just a small distance away from Tim’s winter home in Aspen.
“Be mad at her,” Tim urged him. “Not me. She screwed us both.”
A snarl built in Dex’s throat.
“Oh, fuck, that was the wrong thing to say, wasn’t it?” Tim’s voice rose. “Don’t break my hands, don’t—”
“Lacey didn’t send those texts. You were set up. Someone wanted you here, probably so that you could distract us from what was really happening. Or maybe someone wanted you to be the fall guy. Don’t really know what the end game is where you are concerned.”
Tim gaped at him. “Say what?”
“Lacey isn’t interested in you,” he enunciated slowly. “She didn’t send those texts.”
“But, they came from her number—”
“Someone set you up.” He glanced over at a silent Lacey. “Someone set her up, too.”
A rough laugh tumbled from Tim. “Man, why would you say that? It’s clear to see the number is hers. All of those texts are from her, even the break-up ones. Look, I get it, you don’t want to believe that she was double-timing you and—”
“I trust her,” Dex said simply. “Even if I didn’t trust Lacey, I’d still know how ridiculously easy it is for the right people to clone numbers and send false texts. You wouldn’t know that, though, and since you wanted Lacey back so desperately, you were more than ready to believe anything.”
“She texted me—”
“No,” Lacey said, voice quiet. “I didn’t. Someone pulled you into a very dangerous situation. You should leave the lodge. Take your blonde friend with you and go.”
“Hey, don’t be jealous, Lace! She just—you know, she was with me in Aspen, and so I brought her along because it would have been rude to leave her, but I swear, I was going to ditch her as soon as I saw how things with you and me—”
“Take your friend with you,” Lacey repeated. “And get the hell out before more bullets start flying.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Bullets?”
“I’m keeping your phone.” Dex pocketed the device. “I’ll get a buddy to see if he can track down the real sender of the texts.”
“But…” Tim’s lips pulled down. “Lace, you don’t want me back?”
Her fingers curled around Dex’s shoulder. “I have a fiancé. He’s the only man I want.”
If only she meant those words. Dex’s heart surged hard into his chest.
Tim slowly nodded.
“Lacey…” Dex murmured her name carefully. “Will you please give me one moment alone with Tim?” He angled his head toward her. “Just one?”
Suspicion had her eyes narrowing. “What are you going to do?”
“Don’t break my hands!” Tim pleaded.
He glanced heavenward. Deliver me from dumbasses. Then he looked at Lacey. “I’m going to give him a quick word of advice. I think it will have more meaning if we can talk privately.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Do not kill him.”
Tim whimpered. “Who is this guy, Lace? Why do you even have to tell him shit like that? You know that’s not normal, don’t you?”
“Do not hurt him,” Lacey continued.
“OhmyGod. Are you involved with like…a mobster or some shit?”
Without answering Tim, she strode for the door.
“Lacey!” Dex called out.
She paused.
“Stay close,” he urged her. I want her where I can keep an eye on her. “Sixty seconds is all I need.”
A nod. Then she slipped out.
Sixty, fifty-nine…
“She texted me,” Tim insisted.
“Thompson, you were used.”
“Tim. Name’s Tim, and you know that. I’ve corrected you like fifty—”
“Lacey didn’t text you. Someone else did. Someone threw you into my path probably because that person didn’t care if I kicked your ass or simply made you vanish from the face of the planet.”
Another whimper. The dude whimpered a lot. “Can you…do that?”
“You don’t want to find out.” He held Tim’s gaze. “Take this message and let it burn into your brain. Lacey isn’t interested. She’s marrying me. You come near her again, and you will not be living that rock star life you love so much, I can guarantee that.”
“Y-you’ll break my hands…”
“Think bigger. You see, I can break your entire world. I can take away every contract you’ve got. I can make your money vanish. I can have your fame crumble around you. All it will take are a few well-placed words from me, and you’re done.”
“Nah. Nah, you don’t have that kind of power—”
“That is exactly the kind of power I possess.” He didn’t even blink. “Lacey is mine. I protect what’s mine. Understand?”
Chapter Ninteen
I didn’t send the text.
No way would she have texted Tim. But someone had sure wanted it to look as if she had.
“I trust Lacey completely.” Dex had sounded as if he meant those words.
Her back pressed to the closed door. She couldn’t hear anything from inside that little space, but she knew Dex was probably scaring the ever-living-hell out of Tim. She should go back in there. She needed to—
“Lacey!” Elizabeth darted toward her.
Lacey pushed away from the door.
“Thank God!” Tears streamed down Elizabeth’s cheeks. “You can help me. Please, please…” She grabbed Lacey’s hand and held on tight. “You’ll help me, won’t you?”
What in the world?
“Come with me,” Elizabeth begged. “You can help me to find him. I know you can! You work for Wilde. You can do anything!”
Hardly anything. “Elizabeth, slow down. Tell me what’s happening.”
“Everyone is leaving this place. People are dying,” Elizabeth whispered. “And…Jonathan was supposed to meet me, but he never showed up and it’s getting later
and later…help me.” She pulled on Lacey’s arms.
The door opened behind Lacey.
Tim hurried past her. “I’ll be gone in the hour.”
Elizabeth frowned at him. “Is that…isn’t he in Implosion Night?”
Dex’s arm brushed against Lacey. “Darling, we have that appointment that we must keep,” he said smoothly. “You know we have those last few questions that need answering and—”
“Jonathan is missing,” Elizabeth blurted. “I can’t find him, and I need Lacey’s help.” Tears dripped down her cheeks. “It’s not like him to vanish. He’s the one who planned this whole trip, and it was supposed to be so special, but he’s missing.”
Lacey focused on Dex. “You go handle those last questions. I need to talk with Elizabeth.”
“I am sure her husband will turn up,” Dex muttered. Then, louder, “Elizabeth, did he perhaps go out skiing? Maybe he was delayed on the slopes.”
“He—I don’t know. He just isn’t answering his phone and with that poor woman dying…I have to find him.” She still held onto Lacey. “You’re my friend. You’re the only person here that I can trust. Please, please help me.”
“We kind of have some situations of our own here, Elizabeth,” Dex retorted. “So I’ll get lodge security to help you, but—”
“I’ll help, too,” Lacey said. “Excuse us for a moment first, will you, Elizabeth?”
A slightly confused nod was Elizabeth’s response as she finally let go of Lacey.
“You.” Lacey pointed to the luggage guy who was working undercover for Dex. She’d only recently learned about him. “Keep her safe until I come out.” Lacey put her hand on Dex’s chest and shoved him back into that little privacy room. The door closed behind them.
Dex glanced at her hand, then up at her face. “Sweetheart, what in the hell are you doing? I told you, I wanted you close. I want to—”
“You want to protect me. Yes, I get that. Here’s the thing, though. I want to protect my friends, too.” Her heart was about to jump out of her chest. “You and Roman were both at the lodge during the same time—I’m assuming that was deliberate. But Tim was lured here. How do we know that Elizabeth and Jonathan weren’t somehow lured to this location, too? I worked with them before. They are my friends. I was so surprised to see them when we crossed paths in the ballroom, and now, if Jonathan is missing—”