Wes stood up. “Hi, Tanya, can I get you some coffee?”
She looked at Wes. She appeared a little confused.
Holly said, “I’m doing some work for Wes. That’s one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about. Do you mind if he’s here?” She should have made Wes go home. Tanya wasn’t the only one he confused. She amended that—she wasn’t confused. It was the attraction between them blurring the lines.
Tanya answered. “No, I don’t mind.” She looked at Wes. “Can I have coffee with sugar?”
“Sure.”
“Sit down,” Holly said, and went around her desk. She gave Tanya a moment to get settled then got down to business. “So what kind of work experience do you have?”
“Not a lot. I’ve been a waitress and a sales associate for retail stores.” Tanya looked up when Wes handed her the coffee. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Wes went to the couch against the wall and sat down.
Holly went on. “Okay, what about office work?”
“Uh, not really. I can use a computer at home.”
“Okay.” She made a note on her pad. “Any other skills?”
Tanya sat forward. “I learn fast and I’m willing to work hard.” She looked around the office.
Holly wasn’t sure what she was looking for. Her desk took up about a quarter of the space. The couch and filing cabinets brought that up to half the space. The kitchen was in a small alcove, and there was a bathroom and storage area behind that. She picked up her coffee, letting Tanya finish her inspection.
“I could work for you. Answer phones, type stuff, handle your schedule, maybe”—her voice thinned—“like, you know, do little things like, um, help you investigate.”
Holly choked. Her nose burned and her eyes watered as the hot coffee spread in the back of her throat, then finally went down. She stared at Tanya.
“I know! You found me cheating on my husband. And I did sort of attack you. But I could be your secretary or assistant. I—”
Holly shook her head, struggling to find her voice. After a few seconds, she said, “I don’t have an assistant. I’m a one-woman operation.” That was the way Holly liked it, both at work and in her personal life.
Tanya’s shoulders seemed to deflate beneath her pink T-shirt. “Maybe I could try out? For free? See if you like having an assistant?”
This was what being soft brought. She should never have offered to help Tanya. She should have kicked her ass as soon as Tanya jumped her. She should have—
“You could put her on my payroll. Just while you’re working on my case.” Wes stood up from the couch and walked over to stand at the end of the desk to look at Tanya. “It’d be temporary while Holly’s working for me.”
She was getting a headache. “That won’t work.”
Tanya ignored her. “Oh! Thank you! You’ll see, Holly, I’ll be really good. I can organize your files, handle your phone calls, um, clean the office…”
“Just don’t touch my Milky Way bars.” God, how did she get into these things? And why wouldn’t Wes just shut up?
“Tanya,” he said, “you can get started by helping us figure out who killed Cullen.”
Her bottom lip slid out like a three-year-old kid’s did, and her big blue eyes pooled.
That was it. Holly slapped both hands onto her desk and snapped, “Stop that right now. In this office, we don’t cry over dumb-ass men! You can throw something, call him names, or just be damned glad the bloodsucker is out of your life, but we don’t cry.”
Tanya’s eyes rounded. The she sniffed once and said, “Okay.”
Holly nodded, purposely refraining from looking at Wes, who was standing by her desk. He might not like her methods, but she didn’t care. To Tanya, she said, “Good. Now get it through your head that Cullen used you. He didn’t take one look at you across the table at the book club and fall in love. That is not the real world.”
“But—”
She glared at her. “No buts!”
Tanya sat back in her chair. “Stop yelling at me. I get it.” She looked down at her lap. “Last night was the first and only time I slept with him. He spent a week making me feel like I mattered to him.”
Holly rolled her eyes and sighed.
Tanya looked up and said, “I know he seduced me for sex and nothing more.”
That was better. “Good. Now tell us about Cullen. Did he have any plans after you left him last night?”
Tanya picked up her coffee then sat back. “No, I assumed he would go back to his boat. I thought I wore him out.”
Ugh. Holly took a drink of her coffee to try to burn that image out of her brain.
Wes jumped in. “Can you think of any reason he would be in my bookstore that late at night?”
She shook her head. “He never said a word about your bookstore or meeting anyone.”
Holly cut in, “I saw Tanya leave and followed her. I think we have to assume that Cullen must have gone into the bookstore right after dropping Tanya at her car. He was right there.”
Tanya went a little pale. “You followed me home? Isn’t that kind of creepy?”
What did the chick think investigating was? “Creepy or not, I’m the one who told the detective that I watched you go into the house, turn out all the lights, and stayed for another twenty minutes to make sure you didn’t leave again.”
“Oh.” Tanya looked sheepish. “My alarm system for the house records when it’s disabled. It showed that once I came home, it wasn’t turned off until the morning. But thanks. I wouldn’t want to be a suspect.” She shuddered.
Wes got her focused again when he asked, “Any idea if Cullen might have gotten a key to my bookstore? Did he have a key you didn’t recognize with him when he dropped you off? Anything like that?”
Tanya shook her head. “He had keys on his key ring, but I didn’t know what they were all for. Sorry.”
Holly decided to try another tactic. “What did Cullen talk about that night?”
Tanya thinned her lips and said, “He talked about himself. Well, first he talked about me, how beautiful and special I was.” She dropped her eyes to the cup in her hand. “But once we were done with sex, he was fiddling with his laptop and talking about making it big as a radio personality. Like a Howard Stern kind of shock jock.”
This time Holly did look at Wes. “Did you know this?”
He shook his head. “First I’ve heard of it.”
Holly wrote down notes and asked, “How was Cullen going to do that?”
She compressed her lips in thought, then said, “He didn’t really say. Just that he had big plans.”
Wes asked, “What did he say specifically?”
“Just what I told you, and he kept paying more attention to his laptop than me.”
She tried to make sense of it. “What was he doing on his laptop?”
“Don’t know. I asked him, but he just laughed, looked at his watch, and said it was time to get me back to my car. He shut down his laptop and we got dressed and left.”
That struck her. “Time? Like he was meeting someone?” she said thoughtfully, not expecting an answer. She added that to her notes, and included questions about what was on the laptop, and how Cullen had planned to become a radio shock jock. Then she looked up. “What about friends? Do you know who Cullen’s friends were?”
“No.”
“Family?”
“No. Wait, I remember he said something about his family being in Oregon. And maybe something about a cousin in Southern California, or used to be in Southern California…something about a cousin, I think.” Tanya shifted in her seat and set her cup on the desk. “I really was stupid thinking it was love. If we’d been in love, I would have known these things.”
Holly met her gaze. “You’re not the first. What do you know about the other women he dated in the book club?”
“Bridget, Maggie, Nora, and Helene.” Tanya’s blue eyes sparked in anger. “He made a point of telling me they had all w
anted him. But that he wanted me. Shit.” She turned away.
Cullen had told Tanya what she wanted to hear, Holly thought. He’d used her to get sex. It was an old story that got repeated way too often, because it worked.
“So do I start today?”
Holly blinked. Hell. “Don’t you have to find a place to stay? Maybe pick up some clothes from your house? Get a divorce lawyer?”
“Yeah, I guess I do.” Tanya got up. “Will you call me later and let me know when to start?”
Holly nodded. “Thanks for your help.” She walked Tanya to the door and held it for her while she left.
Then she turned back to deal with Wes. He sat on the end of her desk watching her. He looked good wearing a pair of jeans and a brown and green shirt. But that didn’t change her annoyance. She stalked up until she was toe-to-toe with him. “What do you think you’re doing hiring her for my office? I don’t want help!”
He reached out, took hold of her shoulders, and tugged her toward him. “You’re welcome.”
Holly brought both her hands up, using her forearms to push his arms away and break his hold on her. “Knock it off.” She was not going to be pushed around. Just his touch lit the barely banked sexual fire. Holly could handle that. But somehow Wes made her feel outgunned, as if she didn’t have the defenses to handle him. “We don’t have time for sex, Brockman.” She paced off the distance between her desk and the kitchenette. “We have a murder victim who appears to be a jerk, and he pissed off a group of women. Where’s the murder weapon?” She went around her desk and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She found the name in her address book and hit send. “Seth, any word on the murder weapon?” She’d asked Seth to charm information from Detective Rodgers.
He answered, “No murder weapon, but I do have something interesting. Vail’s boat was broken into. The only thing that appears to be missing is a computer or laptop. There is equipment that goes with the computer, some kind of broadcasting shit, printer and scanner unit, that kind of stuff, but no computer. It’s not in his car either.”
“When was the boat broken into?”
“Tuesday night, or that’s the theory anyway. I assume Rodgers has a reason to back up the theory. She doesn’t believe in coincidence.”
Holly wasn’t much on coincidence either. That meant the killer wanted something. Something on the computer? “Any suspects for the break-in or the murder?”
“Rodgers wouldn’t say who she thought looked good for either. I couldn’t get a read on her about Brockman either. Watch yourself, AP Gotta run.”
“Thanks, Seth.” She hung up.
“What?” Wes asked.
“Cullen’s boat was broken into, and the police can’t find a laptop or computer. Tanya said he had a laptop. So what was on that laptop? Was it worth killing for?”
Frowning, Wes said, “You think someone killed Cullen in the bookstore then went to the boat and got his computer?”
Holly didn’t know. She played the different scenarios in her brain. “Could be the killer saw Cullen leave with Tanya. He or she knows that it’s going to take a little time to do the kiss-and-grope good-bye. They break in, grab his computer, then drive to the bookstore and kill Cullen.”
His gaze grew troubled. “Why not just kill Cullen at the boat when he gets back? Why do it in my store?”
“Excellent question.” She walked to her desk, reached past Wes and got her tablet. “There’s Cullen, the killer, your bookstore, and the laptop. We’re pretty certain those are involved.” Holly looked at the four items, trying to see a connection.
Wes pulled her down so that she sat next to him on the edge of the desk. Looking over her list, he said, “Tanya said Cullen wanted to be on radio, a Howard Stern type.”
Holly looked over at him. “How does becoming a radio shock jock connect to a laptop?”
“Research? Maybe sending out resumes?”
She thought about that. “Applying to radio stations. Hmm, wouldn’t he have to have some kind of experience? A portfolio of some type?”
“No idea.”
“I’ll find out. Damn, I wish we had some way to access that computer.” Holly made a note about radio stations, then said, “But now we have more questions for the women. And your clerks.” She looked at Wes, sitting next to her. “No word from them yet?”
He shook his head and looked at his watch. “I’d like you to wait until I can go with you to talk to the other women.”
That caught her off guard. “What do you mean wait? What are you doing now?”
“I need to go let the cleaners into my store. They’re going to be there at one. Then I need to check on Monty and do a few other things. How about we meet around six?”
Once again, she was struck by how little she knew about Wes. She didn’t like the feeling that he was keeping something from her, especially when she was busting her butt to help him—for the doubled fee, of course. “What other things do you have to do? You have something more important than finding the murderer?”
He grinned. “Monty. He’s important.”
Uh-huh. And he was trying to distract her. “After you check on the dog—which, by the way, is why I don’t have a dog—what are you doing then?”
“Don’t get all huffy on me, I’m not seeing another woman.” Wes stood up. “So we’ll meet at six. My place?”
Holly stood up and faced him. “Did I say anything about another woman? Rein in your ego, book boy. You can sleep with all the women you want, what I want to know is what you’re trying to keep a secret.” It was all she could do not to poke him in the chest. Okay, so his “other woman” comment had pissed her off.
His green eyes got serious. “It’s just a promise I made to some people. Nothing to do with the case, I swear.”
What was she going to do, hook him up to a lie detector? He was paying her the money whether he screwed up the case or not. She waved her hand. “Whatever, I have some work to do anyway. Go.”
Wes reached out and put his hands on her shoulders. “Nope, I can’t feel it.” He looked into her eyes. “But I know I heard that chip on your shoulder snarking at me.”
“Haha, you are so funny.” He was kind of funny but she wasn’t going to feed his ego by admitting it.
He ran his hands down her arms. “What I am is done being interrupted when I get you alone. Tonight we’ll track down every clue we can, then we’re going back to my house. Your brothers won’t find us there.”
She could feel the heat coming off him. Or was that her? It felt like she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. “Pretty sure of yourself there, Brockman.”
His smile was wolfish. “You want me almost as much as I want you, Hillbaby.”
“Don’t—”
He cut her off by molding his mouth to hers. Then he stood up. “Six P.M., Holly. Don’t be late.” He headed toward the door.
The fog of lust cleared enough for her to remember an important detail. “Hey, Wes.”
He turned at the door. “Miss me already?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Haven’t you forgotten something?”
Confusion creased his forehead.
Holly laughed. She wasn’t the only one baffled by this raging lust between them. She grabbed her purse and said, “Your car is at my house.”
Realization dawned on him. “Damn.”
A little bit later, Holly dropped him at his car. She watched him get into his black Range Rover. Her cell phone rang just as he started his car. Getting the phone out of her purse, she answered with, “Hillbay.”
“Nice touch to send your brother to charm me, Hillbay.”
“Rodgers.” Holly repressed a grin. As she watched Wes pull away, she said, “I can’t help it if you fall for a pretty face.” She tried not to gag at calling her brother that.
“Yeah? Seth tells me you and Brockman looked pretty cozy last night.”
“He’s a client.” The memory of him pulling her against his chest, putting his fingers inside of her,
heated up the car. What was it about him?
There was a beat of silence.
Holly’s heart stuttered. Rodgers wasn’t calling to harass her over siccing Seth on her. What did she want?
“Wes Brockman only existed until three years ago. Then nothing. Nada.”
Her heart picked up speed and slammed against her chest. “You sure?”
“Yes.”
“He’s not the killer.” Shit. She wanted to thunk her head on the steering wheel for saying that. It was some kind of reflex she didn’t entirely understand.
“As it happens, I don’t think so either. No gunshot residue on him, or the clothes we analyzed. We looked through his house yesterday with his permission. Nothing. Either he’s innocent or he hired a hit.”
Tightening her fingers around the cell phone, a heavy weight settled in Holly’s chest. Who was Wes Brockman and what did he have to do with the murder?
Chapter 7
Wes pulled up to the park and saw George waiting for him. He had spent the last few hours in the store doing some work while the cleaners did what they could to remove the blood and gore of murder from his meeting room. He spent much of that time declining comments to the media over the phone and keeping them out of his store. But seeing George with the team baseball cap pulled down low on his head, expensive shaded glasses, and overall I’m-a-badass demeanor cracked his gloomy mood. He grinned as he got out of the car. “Good, my assistant coach is here.”
A bark brought George’s head up. “What the hell is that?”
Wes pocketed his keys, then leaned back in and scooped up the puppy. “This is Monty.”
George stared at him. “A dog? You brought a dog to practice?”
“Yes.” Wes headed to the back of the Range Rover to start unloading equipment. A baseball rolled out and Monty fell all over himself trying to chase it. Laughing, Wes turned and fished out a tennis ball. “Monty!”
The dog turned and looked at him.
Wes lobbed the ball at him. Monty tried to catch it but missed. The tennis ball bounced and Monty barked happily and chased down the ball.
The Sex On Beach Book Club Page 8