She wrote another note, then asked, “Where were you last night?”
“Home all night.”
Looking up, she asked, “Anyone see you?”
Wes kept his answers bland, ignoring his impatience. Holly must have told her. “Holly saw me until she left around ten. I read for a while and went to bed.”
“Let’s go back to Mr. Vail, the victim. Did you have problems with him?”
He thought about how to frame his answer. “Cullen was starting to cause tension in our book club by dating and dropping several of the women. However, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. Otherwise, I didn’t know the man well enough to have problems with him.” That should cover anything that the book club members said. And it was the truth.
Rodgers zeroed her gaze in on him. “Did he date the same women you were interested in?”
Finally, his patience snapped and he looked down his nose at the small woman. “I’m a thirty-two-year-old man, Detective, and this isn’t high school. I let a woman decide if she wants to date me, I don’t compete with other men.”
She didn’t flinch or otherwise recognize his cold tone. “Good for you, Brockman. Now lose the attitude. I’m conducting a murder investigation and offending you is not my biggest worry.”
He almost liked her. Lifting both hands with his palms up, he went for charm. “I’m trying to be helpful, Detective…” He trailed off when he spotted Holly heading toward the door. He brushed by Rodgers. “Holly, wait.”
Holly stopped in the doorway.
“Brockman,” Rodgers said, “we’re not done.”
Wes looked back at the Detective. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Rodgers strode toward him, her short legs eating up the floor. “It’s procedure to—”
Wes ignored her, took hold of Holly’s arm, and they both walked outside. When Rodgers started to follow, he glared at her. “Detective, I have several lawyers on retainer. Up till now I haven’t seen any reason to call them since you’re just doing your job and I want this murderer caught. But if you start infringing on my rights, I will call all of them.”
She stopped, her intelligent brown eyes reflective as she thought it over. Then she said, “Five minutes. And if you take off, I’ll find you and drag you to the station in handcuffs.”
“Threats,” he sighed. “And not very original threats, either.” He turned his back on her and looked at Holly.
Her light blue eyes were icy, her back was rigid, and she rocked slightly on the balls of her feet with edginess. “Let go of my arm and talk fast.”
He dropped her arm, reading her impatience in her tight posture. She wasn’t classically beautiful; she was attractive in an active, powerful way. It was her strong face, sexy body, and get-out-of-my-way attitude that he liked and admired. But right now, he had to concentrate on finding out what was going on. He decided to go on the offensive. “You’re the one who used me, what are you all bent out of shape for?”
She stood still and raised her eyebrows. “What did I use you for?”
“Information on Cullen.” He leaned casually against the side of the building. “And sex. You came to my store this morning hoping for a date to score with me tonight.”
Her blue eyes thawed slightly. “You must feel so cheap. I was gonna buy you a pizza dinner first.”
God, she made him want to laugh. She had used him—not that he cared. She’d been doing her job, and he was willing to sign up for her to use him sexually anytime she wanted to. But he needed to use her, as well. “Too late for that, but I have another proposal that will make an honest woman out of you.”
Holly’s mouth twitched. “You want to marry me?”
That slammed his brain with a case of shock and horror. “Hell, no!”
“No? Gosh, book boy, you really know how to make a girl feel special.”
He thunked the back of his head against the wall. She was yanking his chain and he, like a total dumb shit, fell for it. “I want to hire you to find out who murdered Cullen, but I need to be in on the investigation. Sort of like partners.”
The cloudy blue color in her eyes iced over. “No. I don’t work with a partner.” She reached into her purse.
Wes pushed off the wall and frowned, wondering what she was looking for in her purse. “You aren’t going to shoot me, are you?”
Holly pulled her hand out, holding her car keys. “Don’t be stupid, Wes. I’d never shoot you with all these cops around.”
That’s why he wanted Holly on this. She was smart, determined, and no one pushed her around. She’d proven to him the lengths she’d go to get information—infiltrating his book club and dating him. But he needed to accompany her as she investigated because she didn’t know the truth. He did. And damn it, he’d been forced to run last time to keep his sister safe.
This time, he was going after the problem and resolving it. Wes wanted his life back—wanted his sister back. But he had to make sure it was safe before he approached Michelle. And he needed Holly to help him do that. Of course, he wasn’t going to tell her anything about Michelle or his past, unless he had to. Distrust of cops was too ingrained in him. Instead, he used a more reliable method to get her cooperation. “I’ll pay you double your rate.”
She had started to walk away. Now she turned back. “Why? Rodgers is a damn good cop. There’s a good chance she’ll solve this case and you won’t have to pay anything.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Holly, what was Cullen doing in my bookstore? How did he and the murderer get inside? It was locked. You saw me lock the door last night and unlock it this morning. Your detective buddy is going to look for the easy answer, and that’s me since it’s my store.” He took a breath and added a little raw honesty. “I want to know. I have to know. Is that so hard to understand?”
She dropped her arm to her side with her car keys hanging from her fingertips. “You want to know bad enough to pay me double rates? Why not just hire another PI?”
He took a step closer. “I want you to investigate.” He touched her face. “I know which women Cullen dated from the book club. Since he was murdered in the meeting room, it could be linked to that.” He had no idea if that was true but it sounded good. “And they’re more likely to talk to you if I’m there. Plus I know”—he paused as he tripped up on the tense—“or knew Cullen, so I might spot something you don’t.” Then he smiled at her. “And I like you.”
Her face hardened. “This is business. I’ll take the job with the terms that I decide how involved you will be.”
Wes nodded, figuring that was the best he would get from her at the moment.
Holly reached back into her purse and pulled out a business card. “Call my cell when you’re done here and we’ll arrange a time to meet. Right now, I have to go see a client.” She handed him the card.
Wes snagged her wrist, tugging her toward him. “This is about more than business.” Then he let her go and turned back to his bookstore.
He heard Holly huff and stomp off. She really didn’t like not having the last word.
Holly’s eyes burned from doing computer searches on Cullen Vail. It turned out that Cullen had a record—he’d done some fast-talking swindling of women for a get-rich-quick pyramid scheme that caved pretty early into the game. That little escapade earned him probation and restitution.
Holly leaned back in her chair, tapping her pencil on her desk while looking at her poster from the old Moonlighting TV show. She’d loved those shows when she’d been growing up. PIs got the job done that the cops couldn’t.
And they didn’t follow the rules.
Holly wasn’t big on rules either. Neither, apparently, had been Cullen. So what had he been doing in that book club? Trolling for women? Maybe. A guy like him would probably buy into the stereotype that a bookish woman didn’t get many dates, therefore she was an easy lay.
She couldn’t think of any other reason he’d be there. He didn’t seem the book-loving type.
So
she could assume he was there to pick up women. And it was a fact that he had a record as a swindler. What if, Holly thought, she put those two things together, and someone from the book club was one of Cullen’s past victims? That woman waited for the opportunity and killed him in revenge.
She liked it. That was a place to start. With the murder occurring not just in the bookstore, but the meeting room of the book club, on the very night of the last book club meeting, it was a logical leap that someone from the book club could be the murderer.
So was Holly really going to take the case? Hell yes. Double the money was a damn good offer, and she needed the money since losing one of her big clients. Her PI business was in the black, and she meant to keep it that way. If she didn’t succeed as a PI, that left her nothing. She’d be the failure her mother believed her to be.
But Holly wasn’t a failure. She was good at her job and this case was the perfect opportunity to prove it. It wasn’t every day that a murder in a locked bookstore came her way. It was the kind of case that would require all her skills. It caught her interest.
As did Wes Brockman. He looked like a rich playboy who had a bookstore as a hobby. But she didn’t think that was the full truth. So what was his story?
She looked at the clock in her office. It was just after seven. Wes still hadn’t called. He could be tied up or he could have changed his mind. But she had enough to get started on the case if he did call.
It had been a long day. After finding Cullen’s body and giving her statement, she had finished up her report on Tanya Shaker and met her client, Phil, at his lawyer’s office. Since Cullen Vail was dead, she gave them what she had on Tanya and Cullen. The lawyers decided it was enough to invoke the clause in the prenuptial.
Once she had closed Phil’s case, she’d written a report for another client, then she started her research on Cullen. It was time to go home.
After shutting down her computer, Holly gathered her purse and started locking up her office. She was starving, so she ran into the kitchen and grabbed a Milky Way bar from her stash in the small refrigerator. She kept them in an old orange Tupperware container that her brothers wouldn’t bother to look in. She tore off half the wrapper, tossed it in the trash, and turned off the light.
Outside, she held the candy bar between her teeth, the scent and taste of chocolate and caramel tormenting her as she pulled the door closed behind her and locked it. Then she grabbed the wrapped end of the bar, took a bite, and turned to walk to her car.
Someone screamed and launched themselves at her. They slammed into her face and chest, shoving Holly back against the wall, where she landed on her butt. What the hell? Throwing down the chocolate bar and her purse, she shoved the person off her and jumped to her feet.
“You bitch! You ruined my life!”
This time Holly was ready as the woman sprang at her, trying to grab her hair. Holly turned, caught her arm, and threw her to the ground, wrenching her arm up behind her back. She knew who it was now.
Tanya Shaker.
“Let go of me! I hate you! You had no right to spy on me and Cullen! He loved me!”
The back of Holly’s head hurt. She felt warm blood running down her left arm and her Milky Way was smashed on the sidewalk. Damn, she’d really wanted that candy bar. Tugging Tanya’s arm up a tad higher, she said, “Shut up and listen, bimbo. You just had your free pass. You get up and stay the hell away from me or I’ll have you arrested. You’ve got five seconds to make up your mind.”
Tanya started to cry.
Holly let go and straightened up. “For the love of God, have some dignity.”
Tanya rolled over, rubbing her shoulder where her arm had been pulled back. “My husband wants a divorce!”
Why were they always surprised? “You were sleeping around on him, honey. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” Holly looked sadly at her mashed Milky Way. Should she go back in the office and get another one? Or go home before this day got any worse?
“It wasn’t like that! Cullen loved me! And now he’s dead!”
“Cut the shit, drama queen.” Seriously, how stupid could she be? “Your knight in shining condoms had a record. He was after you for sex, or maybe money. But it wasn’t love.”
Tanya stared up at her with black mascara running down her face. “You’re mean.”
“You think?” Holly was fighting an urge to laugh when a male voice startled the crap out of her.
“I would say she’s cutting you a break, Tanya. Most people would call the cops and press assault charges.”
She turned around. “Wes.” He wore jeans, a surfing T-shirt, and an intense look in his green eyes that seemed to sink inside of her. What was he doing here? She told him to call, not show up right after she had a minor brawl.
He reached out and took hold of her arm, turning it slightly so he could see the elbow. “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah, but the real tragedy is my candy bar. I don’t think I can save it.” She glanced down to see the crime of mushed chocolate and caramel.
“Hey! What about me!” Tanya got to her feet.
Holly looked back at her. “Go stay with a friend. Get drunk, then get up tomorrow and stop screwing up your life.”
“You’re a big help,” Tanya said. “I don’t even have a job.”
It was the candy bar that made her feel pity, not Tanya. That annoying pity softened the words in her mouth to, “Are you going to look for a job?”
Tanya made some weird faces as she struggled to unglue the drying mascara on her eyelashes. Finally she blinked. “Guess I’ll have to.”
Clearly, chocolate deprivation was making her hypoglycemic. “I’ll ask around to see if anyone I know is hiring. Call my office tomorrow.” Now why had she said that? Why was she helping this bimbo?
Maybe because she recognized a woman so desperate for attention she wanted to believe that Cullen loved her?
Tanya stood up straight. “Really? Okay! I’ll call you tomorrow. And, uh, I’m sorry for attacking you. Sort of.”
“Next time, wait until I’ve eaten my candy bar.”
Tanya nodded very seriously then wandered off. Holly sighed and said to Wes, “Do you think she’s okay to drive? I suppose I could give her a ride home or wherever she’s going.”
He still had a hold on her arm. “She’ll be fine. She really attacked you?”
Her brain finally engaged. “Get over it, Brockman.” She yanked her arm from his hold. “You know I’m a PI. It’s not always a pretty business.” Or dainty, feminine, or classy.
He dropped his arm to his side, but kept his gaze tuned to her. “Amazing.”
She hated feeling defensive. Holly liked who she was and she didn’t have to explain it to the rich book boy. “What?” Why did she even ask?
“You still have the chip on your shoulder. Takes more than a body slam to knock that off, huh?”
She’d have smacked him but his grin was just too damn sexy. “It’s my Milky Way. I really wanted that Milky Way.”
Wes glanced down at the sidewalk. “Lost cause, Hillbay.”
She had to agree. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to call me, assuming you still wanted to hire me.”
He stepped closer. “Consider yourself hired.”
Chapter 5
Holly led Wes through the garage door to her kitchen and set her purse and keys down on the counter. Her galley kitchen wasn’t very big, but Wes’s presence made it seem smaller. Having him in her condo reminded her that she’d gone to his bookstore this morning to invite him over this evening for a night of pizza and sex.
Instead, they were going to work on a murder case. Better for her career, but Holly had a sneaking suspicion that her libido was pouting. Stupid, slutty hormones.
She went to the refrigerator. “Want a beer? Maybe a sandwich?” They were here to work, so why was she trying to feed him? She had suggested they go to her house so she could change her shirt after her scuffle with Tanya, and then they c
ould get to work.
He moved up behind her. “Still not over the Milky Way, are you?”
His warm breath skittered down her bare neck since she had her hair clipped up on her head. “No. I’m starving.”
He looked over her shoulder. “Not much in here from the look of things. Yogurt, apples, bread, chocolate milk, beer, eggs.” He reached past her and pulled open the meat drawer. “Cheese and ham. I can work with that.” He closed the drawer then put his chin on the curve of her neck and shoulder. “Go take a shower, or whatever women do after they’ve finished wrestling, and I’ll make something to eat.”
She twisted away from him, ready to insist she was fine the way she was. Then it hit her—damn, he was right about the chip on her shoulder. Between this morning when he’d been shocked, maybe appalled, to find out she was an ex-cop, and then him catching her taking down Tanya made her feel defensive. It was stupid. Forcing a smile, she said, “Thanks. I’ll just be ten minutes. Make yourself at home.” She slid past him, went out of the kitchen and down to her bedroom.
Automatically, Holly turned on the TV mounted on the wall opposite her king-sized bed to a movie channel. Her bedroom was painted a pale green that didn’t clash with the hunter green bedspread. That was pretty much the extent of her ability to decorate. Otherwise she had a serviceable dresser and nightstands made out of oak. On the dresser was a twenty-year-old picture of her family. It had been the last family picture taken before her mom left them. She opened a drawer to get out a pair of panties and wondered why she kept the picture.
To remind her that she had never been the daughter her mom wanted?
Holly grabbed the panties and slammed the drawer shut. She gathered up a spaghetti-strap T-shirt and a pair of shorts then headed to the bathroom.
Getting under the warm shower spray, she washed off the blood and her long day as quickly as possible. Leaving her hair wet, she pulled on her clothes and brushed her teeth. After dragging a comb through her hair, she left it down and hurried back out to the kitchen.
The Sex On Beach Book Club Page 5