Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries)

by Camilla Chafer

  Solomon stopped, bent down and smiled, making a little winding motion with his hand. I hit the button and waited while the electric window unwound the full length. I returned my hand to the wheel, gripping it hard.

  "Thank you so much," gushed Lily, leaning across me while Solomon’s eyes ran over me, assessing me for damage and finding none. "They tried to kill us!" She jabbed a finger at the hole, still smoking in the dashboard.

  "Open the hood," he said and Lily leaned down a bit further, giving Solomon a marvelous view of her cleavage while she found the lever. I switched the engine off and leaned back against the seat, closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths. We were safe. After rooting around under the hood for a moment, he slammed it shut, moving back to crouch next to my door. "You're in luck. The bullet didn't hit anything crucial so you're good to drive home. You okay to drive?" he asked me.

  "I... I think so." My hands were still gripping the wheel so tightly that I had no idea if they were shaking or not. I wiggled my toes. My legs felt okay. I could probably hit the gas and brakes. “Yes.”

  "I'll follow you back." He stood up and turned to move away.

  "Solomon?" He turned, placing one hand on the roof as he stooped to look right at me, with darkened eyes. "Thanks," I said feebly, "for helping us."

  He just nodded and strode off, the helmet sliding over his closely cropped hair as he swung astride the bike.

  "Yummy yum yum," Lily breathed.

  "Solomon is not yummy," I said. "Solomon transcends yum."

  “He’s eye candy-on-a-stick.”

  Privately, I agreed. Everything tasted better on a stick.

  "I'm glad you told me,” Lily continued. “I had no idea your life had turned into Scary Shitsville. Plus, that would have been scary even without all the other facts."

  "I'm glad I told you everything too. Shitsville was getting lonely."

  "If you disappear, or turn up dead, I promise I won't rest until your murderer is caught and convicted."

  "Um, thanks."

  "No problem."

  Maddox was waiting for us on the doorstep by the time I drove the beat-up Mini into Lily's parking space. Solomon pulled his motorcycle in behind us, kicking out the stand as he dismounted.

  Lily paused with her hand on the door handle. "I gotta say, Lexi, this was not my favorite way to end the day."

  "Sorry," I muttered, getting out. I slammed the door and the bumper fell off. “We still have Chinese though.”

  “Is it possible to panic eat egg rolls?” Lily asked, opening the bag.

  "Glad you're okay," said Adam, his face filled with concern as he approached us, ushering us inside. Lily dropped her bag inside the door of her apartment and followed us upstairs with the sack of food.

  "Did you get the guys? The people who rammed us, shot at us and tried to bump us off the road?" Well, I tried not to let my slightly resentful tone make its way through, but failed miserably. It was there, loaded and angry. Four murders were bad enough, but I didn't want someone to find Lily's and my bodies, boosting the corpse count to six. I imagined my parents' heartbroken faces again, my coffin covered in white lilies—my vision becoming more solid the longer I thought about it—and the anger mounting a bit more. I breathed in and out through my nose, trying to calm down.

  "No. They were gone by the time our team got to them," Maddox told us.

  "Were they really going to kill us?" I asked.

  "Yes, I think so." His spoke gently, despite the harsh reality of his words.

  "You warned me."

  "I did."

  "They're going to keep trying, aren't they?" I huffed an annoyed sound.

  "Probably."

  "We'd better find out what the connection is between the fraud, Tanya Henderson and the Finklesteins then," I said.

  Lily added, "She's your best hope of cracking this case."

  "Dear Lord," said Solomon, behind her. I hadn't realized he followed us in, but Maddox just smiled in his gentle way and escorted all of us into my apartment.

  Lily, who seemed to have recovered from our ordeal remarkably fast—though it could have had something to do with two handsome men in close proximity—fussed around us. She made drinks and raided my cookie jar while I sat down. Then I keeled forwards, my head in my hands, until I stopped feeling sick. My only other option was to curl up in fetal position and start bawling. Knowing how unproductive that would be, and the likelihood of Maddox drugging me again, I decided I might as well get to know my potential enemies better. I would freak out, privately, later.

  Then I'd get a gun.

  ~

  For the second night in a row, I had a car parked outside my door, and again, Maddox picked me up in the morning. To avoid gossip, I decided to walk in ahead of Maddox, saying my hellos to my colleagues as I made my way towards my desk.

  When Maddox arrived five minutes later, he gathered us all together.

  "You may have noticed that Martin hasn't been at his desk this week," he began, his eyes scanning the small assembly. "I'm sure this will come as a shock to all of you, as it did to me, and there's no easy way to say this. Martin was found dead at his home over the weekend. I'm afraid I don't have anymore details, but I will keep you informed. For now, let's just keep working."

  "Probably a heart attack," said Anne, next to me. "He wasn't exactly a healthy eater."

  "Mmm," I said, noncommittally.

  "Mind you, my first husband was as fit as you like and he had a heart attack too."

  "It could happen to any of us," I replied. Last night, for example, I could have died in a car crash, but I decided not to mention that. On the way in, Maddox told me the SUV was reported stolen and found clean of prints. As the driver left the scene, he was alive, although possibly injured, and definitely pissed off.

  Anne nodded. "Certainly could. I wonder what happens to Green Hand now? Maybe we'll get a new boss, and you know how new bosses are, they always want to shake things up. I'm three years away from retirement. No one will hire me now," she finished, gloomily.

  "Sure they will," I said, trying not to think how many years away from retirement I was and whether that whole time would be filled temping. Perhaps it was time to get my résumé in order.

  "Maybe. I don't think the company was doing that well." Anne turned to walk away and I followed her to her desk. She didn't seem to mind.

  "Why do you think that?" I asked.

  "I think Green Hand were paying out on more policies than they anticipated. I heard Dominic mention to Martin and Vincent that it was unusual." Anne had worked here almost as long as Dean, so they had been on first name terms. I still didn't know what Anne did, and it seemed impolite to ask, especially when she made an effort to look busy, and I’d been here a while and really should have known by now.

  "What was so unusual about that?"

  "Just a lot of the policies that hadn't been open long and were already paying out, especially when it came to damage. The ratio between theft and damage usually stays the same, but over the last quarter, the ratio was skewed."

  "Odd," I said.

  "I know. It's probably just one of those things."

  "Probably," I agreed, returning to my desk. I opened a file, ruffled some papers over my desk and went internet surfing.

  At lunch, Lily stopped by and we walked over to the café where I’d had lunch with Maddox. We bought sandwiches and grabbed a couple of tall stools by the window.

  "Insurance will cover the Mini's damage," she told me. "It got picked up at nine. And I filed a police report this morning. They want your statement too."

  It struck me that I was spending far too much time at or with the Montgomery Police Department lately. "Sure. When do they want me in?"

  "Anytime in the next couple of days," she said. "Are you sure it's okay to use your car? I wouldn't ask, but I have so much stuff to do today, and I'm on the door at eight."

  "Yeah. Just replace whatever gas you use. Maddox is giving me a ride home."

 
; "Is he staying for dinner?" Lily winked.

  "I don't know. Maybe." I shrugged, taking a bite of my chicken sandwich. "He told everyone Dean was dead."

  "No way. Anyone wig out?"

  "No, but Anne mentioned something odd. She said the ratio between theft and damage was skewed."

  "I don't follow."

  "I don't so much either, but Dominic, Dean's assistant, apparently thought it was odd that there were more claims for damage than usual and the policies hadn't been open long."

  "What kind of damage?"

  "I don't know. This office handles the policies for all kinds of stuff. Not cars though, that's the Boston office."

  Lily sipped her coffee and looked thoughtful. "I guess theft has to have a police report, and damage doesn't."

  I nodded. "It would be easier to file a fake damage claim." Something niggled at me, something was missing, but I couldn't squeeze the thought into fruition.

  "You have any idea which claims were fake and which weren't?"

  "No. And if Maddox does, he hasn't told me." As far as I knew, they were no closer to breaking the case.

  "Maybe you could have a look in the files? See if anything raises a red flag?"

  "I guess. Did I mention Anne said a lot of the newer policies had paid out too? Some policies can run for years without a payout."

  "Sounds like a place to start."

  No one was in the office when I got back, except Vincent, who gave me a cheery wave and offered me a donut. His lips were covered in confectioner’s sugar. I declined and he shrugged as he went back to work. I switched my monitor on and clicked through to the shared server, calling up some of the recent payouts files.

  Using a pen, I scribbled the names, dates, addresses, account numbers and length of policy on the payouts. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I was interested to see if a pattern emerged. I continued until my hand cramped and made a possibilities list of one hundred policies, all of which had paid out in less than six months of their opening date. I exited the files and called up an internet browser, typing a few of the local addresses into Google Maps, just out of curiosity. Most of the addresses were average family homes or apartment buildings, nothing out of the ordinary.

  I went down the list, ticking off the ones on my way home, and came up with twelve and the crazy idea that I was onto something.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Picking up my cell phone, I checked to see if anyone was nearby, but the desks were empty, my colleagues still out to lunch. Only Vincent was there, wearing his headphones. I called Lily. She was in my car when she answered. "Hey, I got the weirdest idea. Are you doing anything right now?"

  "I was going to go to the gym. I want to punch the crap out of something," she replied.

  I knew what she meant. "Can you check on something for me instead? You'll need a pen." I heard shuffling noises, then Lily said, "Shoot."

  I reeled off the twelve addresses while she jotted them down. "Can you just drive by these places and tell me if anything stands out?" I said.

  "Sure. What am I looking for?"

  "I really don’t know. It was just a hunch."

  "I feel like a private detective. Should I go home and get a disguise?" Hopefulness was hanging in her voice.

  "No. Just drive by. Call me if you see anything odd."

  I hung up and slipped my notepad and cell phone into my purse, before closing the browser. I jumped when I felt a presence suddenly behind me.

  "Only guilty people jump," said Vincent, hitching one cheek onto my desk with utter disregard for any of the papers I had strewn about. The papers didn't mean anything; I just wanted to look busy, but that wasn't the point.

  "I didn't hear you sneak up on me."

  "I wasn't sneaking. I have light feet. How would you feel about dinner tonight? You. Me. A little wine."

  "That sounds like a date to me."

  "Call it how you see it, babe." Vincent winked at me and my stomach churned. The niceness would have to stop, clearly.

  "I don't think we're allowed to date colleagues," I said as gently as I could.

  "The boss is dead. Who cares? Let's live a little."

  Wow. Cold. I backtracked, scrambling for an excuse that Vincent could actually take without wanting to screw up my timecards. "I mean temps. We're not allowed to date people we work with. It gives us a bad reputation."

  "I don't think you can get a bad reputation dating an accountant."

  He was probably right and it would also make my mother very happy. Unfortunately, the Vincent-shaped package didn't strike a chord with me. "Vincent, you're a great guy..."

  "I feel a 'but' coming on."

  I nodded. "But we can't date while we're colleagues."

  "So you would date me if we weren't colleagues?"

  "Absolutely," I lied.

  "Maybe I should have you fired."

  My mouth dropped open as my gentle let-down backfired. "No! Don't do that! I need this job," I replied, flashing indignant eyes at him.

  "If we were dating, you wouldn't need to work. I would support you. You could be a lady who lunches, goes shopping, gets her nails done."

  My mother would be planning the wedding at this point, but still, Vincent was just not appealing. He was a lowly cheeseburger, and twice this past week, I'd been tempted by filet mignon. "I like working. Besides, I'm very expensive." And there it was; I sounded like a prostitute.

  "We're all going to be out of a job soon anyway, so maybe you should think about my offer," Vincent said solemnly.

  "Seriously?" My squeaked question seemed to cover both his points nicely.

  "Yes. Be my girlfriend and I'll make sure you have anything you want."

  I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth and pulled an apologetic face. "Thanks, but no."

  "I have a lot of money."

  "How come?"

  "What?"

  "How come you have a lot of money?" I knew the concert tickets cost a lot, because the only ones left were the ones Lily and I couldn't afford. (I was seriously reconsidering accepting the ticket.) The car Vincent had set his heart on was easily a six-figure model. You didn't grow up with three motor-minded brothers and not know that. And the offer of being a kept woman? Priceless.

  Vincent shifted so he was fully perched on my desk, his feet not quite making contact with the carpeted floor. "I made some good investments this year and they're about to pay off," he said, his nostrils flaring slightly.

  "Oh, well, good for you. Hey, there's our current boss. I don't want to get in trouble chatting when I'm supposed to be working."

  I could see the words, “it's never stopped you before” forming in Vincent's mind, but he seemed to think better of it. Instead, he said, very matter-of-a-factly, "Maddox will look a lot less appealing when he's unemployed." And with that, he stalked off, leaving me frozen at his menacing tone. I saw Maddox glance at me, then at Vincent as he stomped away with his shoulders set backwards. I swear Vincent had developed a swagger.

  Maddox looked back at me and raised his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes and shrugged, returning to the pile of filing that was dumped on my desk while I was at lunch. I locked my purse in the desk drawer, remembering to take my cell phone with me, in case Lily called, and lugged the foot-high pile to the filing room. Forty sheets of paper later, and my phone rang.

  "Hey, Jord."

  "Hi, sis. I heard you and Lily had some car trouble last night." Clearly, he knew. At least, he knew enough to know that we hadn’t blown a tire.

  "Some asshole tried to run us off the road. I'm fine, thanks for calling."

  "When we get him, I'll break his knees anyway."

  "You're the perfect big brother. Tell me you're not using a phone at the station."

  "No, I'm at home. No witnesses. How's Lily? She okay?"

  "She's fine."

  "Not injured?"

  His casual tone didn’t fool me one bit. "You could have called her, you know."

  "Oh, I don't know about..."


  "Chicken," I interrupted and made clucking noises.

  "Maybe I'll call her just to see if she's okay."

  "She might need help with the insurance forms. You'd be doing her a favor. And then she wouldn't have to call the desk sergeant who gave her his number this morning."

  "Who the fu..." Jord spluttered and I held back a giggle. Teasing him was fun. "What's his name?" he asked calmly.

  "I don't know, but I'd call her soon."

  "Maybe I'll call her up, take her to dinner, take her home and make very loud love to her all night," threatened Jord. He knew my bedroom was right over hers; but I also knew what jealous sounded like.

  "Do it," I said. "Lily will probably pay me to stay at a hotel. I'll get room service."

  "I gotta go."

  "Need to take a cold shower?"

  "Need to glue a desk sergeant to his chair. Not that I care," Jord added quickly. "Lily can date whomever she likes."

  "Sure. Whatever. Thanks for checking that I'm alive." Just as I slid my phone back into my pocket, it rang again, Lily's picture flashing onto the screen. "Hey," I said. "Jord just called."

  "Did he ask about me?" was the first thing she wanted to know.

  "Yeah. I told him you got the desk sergeant's phone number and he got all pissy."

  "I didn't get his number!"

  "Jord doesn't know that. He said he'll call you later. Ask him to help you on your insurance forms. He likes being needed."

  "Awesome. So, I drove past those addresses and I did see something odd."

  "What?"

  "Seven of the addresses are just average houses, but they were all in foreclosure. On the others, three were rentals and two were empty."

  "I knew it!"

  "You want me to check anything else out?"

  "No, that's it. Thanks."

  I clicked off and rested against the filing cabinet for a moment, wondering if it was a very good idea to let Lily use my car. On the other hand, there was no way she could be mistaken for me. I mused over our conversation as I began filing.