Hunter appeared in the doorway. “You. Out here. Now.”
I wasn’t happy about being so peremptorily summoned, but I told Tina to finish packing and joined Hunter. He closed the door and led me to the far side of the room. Putting his hands to his waist, he pushed back his coat jacket, giving me a glimpse of the black revolver in his shoulder holster. “Okay, what’d you get?”
His expectation pleased me, until I realized I didn’t have that much to say. “Um, well … she … she told me that Chris had both girlfriends and boyfriends.”
“Christ. Keep up, Angel. I told you that.”
“Yes. Okay … that’s true.”
“Names. Did you get names? You were supposed to get names.”
“I … um—”
“You didn’t get anything, did you?”
“I wouldn’t say I didn’t get anything, just not much.”
He shook his head. “This is what I get for giving you a break, for letting you in.”
“Letting me in? You call this letting me in? Mister, you have a bizarre notion of—”
“Shit! I let you waste our time playing PI and what do you get? I’ll tell you what: squat, nada, nothing, bupkis. You’re useless.”
“Well, she didn’t know any names! You can’t blame me because she didn’t know any names. I can’t get information out of her that she doesn’t have.”
“A good investigator can.”
“That doesn’t make any sense! It’s not my fault if—”
“Wah, wah, wah. Not my fault, not my fault. You’re pathetic.”
My cheeks flushed. “Jesus, Hunter. What is wrong with you? You give me these impossible tests. It’s as if you’re trying to prove that I can’t—”
He shook his head and muttered to himself, “I knew better than to trust again.”
“Trust me? When the hell have you ever trusted me? Or are you talking about her—about this Sara character those cops at the precinct confused me with?”
His eyes shot wide. “How did you find out about—” Then his teeth snapped together. “You do not mention her to me! You do not have that right! I’m telling you, and now—”
“You tell me this, and you tell me that, but in the end you say nothing but to shut up—”
“And do you listen? Look, I gave you your chance. You’ve got no one to blame but yourself that you didn’t get jack shit.”
I could feel the vein pulsing in my forehead. “Oh, really? I don’t have jack shit, do I? Well, I have the goods on you, Mr. Holier-Than-Thou.”
“What are you bleating about?”
I crossed my arms and tipped my chin up toward his. “I know about you and Adalida.”
He blinked. “You know what about me and Adalida?”
“I know that you were having an affair with her.”
His mouth literally dropped open. “Wha—are you out of your fucking mind?”
“Give it up, Hunter. I have the proof. You paid her rent. You gave her money. I’ve seen the lease and the cancelled checks.”
Gaping at me, he stepped back. “I do not believe this! Are you accusing me of screwing my best friend’s little—?”
“Oh, get off it! How good of a friend could he be if he got you kicked off the force?”
“That’s not what happened!”
“And God knows you can’t keep it in your pants. Fancy had no problem proving that. And neither did your rich-bitch slut! So, you and pretty little Adalida start playing house—”
“That’s enough!” Anger flared in his eyes. “God! Do you really think I’m that low?”
“Yes, I do!” Actually, I kind of didn’t, but I was far too incensed to be reasonable.
Hunter stared at me. “Fuck this,” he said finally, turning his back on me.
I grabbed the back of his jacket. “Damn you, I want answers. How do you explain those receipts? Maybe we should talk about your motives.”
He turned his head slightly, enough to look at me over his shoulder. “Do you, now?” he said with deadly calm.
“That’s right!”
“You’re saying I have a motive?”
“I … yes … more or less.” I stammered. I knew I was being ridiculous, saying things I didn’t mean, but I was too angry, too full of indignation to care.
“You think I had the opportunity? And means?” His voice was low, like a lion’s purr.
“That’s … certainly possible.”
“You’ve got proof?
I nodded defiantly.
“And you think I’m capable of murder?”
“Well, maybe—you know what? Yes! Yes, in fact, I do!”
He stood silent for several long seconds. I shifted from foot to foot, unnerved by his complete stillness.
“So,” he said, voice devoid of emotion. “You’re accusing me, then?”
“Maybe I am. What do you think about that, Mr. Mighty Maxwell Hunter?”
“I think this about it.” He whirled, pinned me against the wall, and put a gun to my head.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A gasp convulsed my lungs. I struggled, but Hunter pressed an arm against my chest, his full body weight behind it. Somehow, he’d pinned my hands, palms inward so I couldn’t scratch him. He covered my mouth and pushed the gun barrel to my temple.
“Shut up!” he growled. “For once in your spoiled brat life, do what you’re told, and shut the fuck up!”
A disorienting buzz, like panicking wasps, sounded in my ears. I tried to stay calm, to think, but shook uncontrollably, my limbs jerking about, stupidly trying to break free.
He leaned down, face inches from mine, his gray eyes stony with the intensity of his glare. His lips drew back in a white-toothed snarl, and hot, sweet breath rushed my face.
“You think you’re so goddamned smart, do you? Little Miss P.I., you’ve got your proof, eh? Well, I’ve got this!” He pushed the gun again. “Not so smart-mouthed, now, are we? No? I didn’t think so. Well, you listen to me, Angel, because I’m going to teach you a lesson. I’m going to teach you real good.”
I kicked out, but he shoved forward with his hips, trapping me against the wall. His groin pressed at my belly, and, as I struggled, I felt him grow hard against me. “A lesson you’ll never forget as long as you live,” he said. He put his cheek to mine. “Though you may not have that much time to remember it.”
Again I tried to shout, but his hand muffled my cries. He laughed low and thrust his chest into me. “You just don’t know when to keep quiet, do you? I keep telling you to shut up, but still you push, and you push, and you fucking push!” His eyes blazed with fire and menace.
Tears flooded my eyes. I’d been so stupid! I’d let my desire blind me. So stupid!
He smiled, sending chills over every inch of my skin. “This is the lesson, Angel. You don’t threaten a murderer when you’ve got no escape.”
My eyes cut to the bedroom.
“Her?” Hunter jerked his head toward the door. “She sticks her head out, and I blow her away. Then I claim that she admitted to the murders. I say she shot you with this gun, which, conveniently, isn’t registered. I had to wrestle the gun away and had no choice but to shoot her.”
I tried to shake my head.
As if reading my mind, he said. “But by admitting I shot her in self-defense, I have a reason to have my fingerprints on the gun and residue on my hands. Then when she’s dead, I put the gun in her hand and shoot the wall next to you and simply say she missed the first time.”
My glance flitted to the doorway of the suite. That got another headshake from him.
“The cousin? Poor thing catches another wild bullet from crazy Tina’s gun.” He paused and dipped his head to my neck, inhaling. “Nice. Lavender? I like it. Did you wear that for me?”
Fury replaced fear. I struggled against him and felt him get stiffer against my stomach.
He lifted his head. His breathing grew more labored, and his eyes blazed with desire. “You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you
? Squirming around, trying to get me hot. You think I won’t kill you if you make me want to fuck you? Oh, sweetheart.” He kissed my neck. “You don’t have to be alive for that.”
My eyes shot wide. I pushed and squirmed, but he didn’t budge. He raised himself to his full height, lifting me onto my toes with the weight of his body. I felt his voice reverberate in his chest. “You really don’t get it, do you, Angel? I’m doing you a favor. I’m teaching you a very important lesson, and you’re trying to skip out of class early? What would your mother say?”
Mom? Oh, God, I’m going to die, and it’ll destroy her. Mom, Mom, I’m so sorry.
“Now, now, what’s this? Tears?” Hunter kissed my wet cheek. “We can’t have that.”
I jerked my head away from his lips.
“Well, then,” he said. “We’d better finish the lesson. It goes like this.” He pushed my chin up, forcing me to look at him. “You think you find proof that someone’s a murderer and, like an idiot, you accuse him. Only you’ve got no backup. And so the murderer immobilizes you. Like this.” He glanced down at my cleavage, traced the globes of my breasts with his gaze and licked his lips. “Then he does this.” He pressed the gun hard into my temple. “And then.”
My ears roared and my stomach lurched. I couldn’t breathe!
Hunter put his finger on the trigger. “And then …” He leaned over and whispered into my ear. “Bang, you’re dead.” Then he stepped back, releasing me. “Thus ends the lesson. Think you can remember that one?”
My knees nearly snapped. I slumped against the wall, unable to think, fear convulsing my stomach like poison begging to be vomited out. My chest heaved and tears streamed down my face. I looked up at him through the wetness. He stood before me, gun hanging harmlessly at his side, his face impassive.
I screamed and lunged at him, punching him hard in the chest. He barely recoiled as I struck. “You dumb fuck! You goddamned, stupid, son of a bitch! You fucking asshole!”
“That’s telling me.”
“I HATE YOU!”
“Maybe, but you’re not going to do anything that stupid again, are you?”
“Who the fuck are you to tell me—”
He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me to him, my chest once more inches from his. His eyes blazed. “God damn it, Madison! This is not a game! You can’t go around accusing killers when you’ve got no backup, no weapons, no escape. There are men out there that will do what I threatened and worse! When they’re finished with your body, your mother won’t recognize it! I’ve seen that happen to women. I don’t want that to happen to you!”
Mutually dumbfounded, we stared into each other’s eyes.
What the hell just happened?
He released me. Straightening his tie, he cleared his throat. “You do something that stupid again, and it just might. I owe it to Jake to keep you from getting hurt.”
I leaned against the wall, trying to detangle the knot of my thoughts and emotions. “Well … well, I … I don’t want me to get hurt either …”
“Then don’t be stupid.”
Anger fell out of the tangle, and my cheeks flushed. “All right, already! I got it!”
“I’m just telling you—”
“I heard you!”
“Good!”
“Fine!”
“All right!”
Tina peeked through the doorway. “Is everything okay?”
“YES!” We shouted together.
Hunter pointed at her. “Get back in there and finish packing!”
She looked at me. “Do you need—”
“It’s okay,” I said, rubbing my cheek. I felt weak, but my trembling had lessened. “We were just … talking.”
She gazed at us, clearly doubtful, but ducked back into the room.
I glared at Hunter. “You’re a jerk, you know that? A complete, utter, fucking jerk. Complicated? Layered? You’re damaged. I don’t know what this woman, Sara, did to you, but she fucked you up bad. And any other woman would have to be insane to want you.”
He grimaced, his cheeks going red. Then he shrugged as if he didn’t care, but it was an unconvincing gesture. “Quit whining. You were never in any danger.”
“Never in any—? You put a loaded gun to my head!”
He shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out six small projectiles. “I took the bullets out.” With a flick of his wrist, he swung out the cylinder and thumbed them into the holes.
I stared at the gun, blinking, relieved but far from pacified. “So, what? You think that makes it all right? Are you so mentally twisted you think that was in any way appropriate?”
His face hardened with arrogance. “Listen, Angel. This business is dangerous enough without you setting yourself up to get killed. If I scared you …” He shrugged again, closed the cylinder, and shoved the gun firmly into its holster. “Fear’s a part of the game. Deal with it.”
I stared hard at him. “Jake would never have done anything that low.”
He flinched, looking away.
“But, then,” I said, “you never could measure up to him, could you?”
He looked back at me. Pain and doubt flickered in his eyes.
Good!
I set my jaw. “I’m sick of playing your game. You’re going to answer my questions, damn it. You owe me, you son of a bitch. And if you’ve finished getting a hard-on pushing me around, tell me: if you weren’t messing around with Adalida, why did you pay her rent?”
His condescending smile flitted back. “What makes you think I did?”
“I have a copy of the lease agreement.”
“Where’d you get—”
“I got it, that’s all you need to worry about. Now, talk!”
“Humph. You need learn to get your facts straight if you want to do this job. Sure, I signed a lease. Jake took an apartment that summer for them both. She came up first, but he got delayed for a couple of days. The management company of the apartment wouldn’t let her sign the lease alone because she had no credit history. So I co-signed, as a favor to Jake.”
“That … that’s it? That’s all?” I grimaced.
“That’s it, Sherlock. A dickhead manager who wouldn’t wait, nothing more.”
“But … no! Wait. There were checks! Some were big—tens of thousands of dollars.”
Smiling derisively, he said, “Sorry to keep disappointing you, Angel, but you’re way off base there too. I let Adalida redecorate my lake house. Sure, I could have hired a company, but she had good taste, and she cost less. I let her buy what she wanted and even helped her get a credit card to pay for it. I’d give her a check to cover the purchases and her commission, and she’d pay her card off every month. Neat, huh? That was my idea; it helped her establish good credit, not easy for a kid her age. I may be a big, bad bully, but I’ve got good business sense.”
Defeat forced a sigh. “That’s all there was to it?”
“You know, you may have it together when it comes to all of that technocrap. But you got shit-for-brains when it comes to street work. Go back to mommy. You’ll be a lot better off.” He added in a murmur. “We all will.”
But when he looked back at me, I sensed something beneath his derision, as if he fought some internal battle. Did he actually care what I thought? Crap. Maybe, in his own ultra-macho, uber-asshole way, he was actually trying to teach me something with that stunt. I clenched my jaw. But he sucks as a teacher. And there’s no damn way I’m going to let him get away with it.
He made a move to leave.
I stepped in his way. “I’m not finished with you yet.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, that’s so. You tell me what happened in Chicago. All of it.”
“Why should I?”
“You promised we’d work together. Or does your word mean nothing?”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
“I know Chris and Adalida fought because he cheated. Jake told Adalida to break it off, but she wouldn�
��t. And, supposedly, she and Chris tried to kill themselves rather than be parted.”
“That’s about right,” he said.
“I want to know what part you played in all of this.”
“I got the proof on Chris cheating, for one. At least one of the many times, anyway. He’d hooked up with some small-time crook he met in a gay bar, claimed they were just friends. Also I pulled strings to get him in some summer study, art thing he’d applied for in Chicago.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Jake wanted to put distance between his daughter and the little boy-banger.” He stopped and scoffed at me. “What? Am I not politically correct enough for you?”
Exasperated with his haughtiness, I said, “It’s not a matter of being politically correct. It’s a matter of being wrong. You have no right to judge—”
“Whoa! Before you get your socialist ideals in an uproar, Missy, his sick-ass lifestyle aside, that’s not why I had problems with the kid.” He put his hands on his hips and looked hard at me. “He betrayed someone who loved him. Straight or queer, in my book that’s wrong.”
“I’m not trying to defend that.”
“What then? Because he lived some freaking alternate lifestyle, I’m not allowed to say he fucked up? I’m supposed to pretend his kind are perfect? People are people, Angel, some good, some bad. I don’t actually give a shit whether the kid did it with men, women, or ducks. He cheated. That’s wrong. You’re with someone, you’re loyal to them. Period. End of story.”
I cocked my head, peering intently at him. Something in his tone said there was more behind his passionate outburst than met the eye. “You feel strongly about fidelity, don’t you?” I almost asked if that had to do with his animosity toward this Sara, and, by extension, to me.
He shrugged and glanced away. “What I feel is none of your business.”
Irritated to feel that emotional door clang shut in my face again, I shook my head. “Whatever. How about we stick to what happened three years ago?”
“Fine by me.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Unfortunately, Adalida convinced Jake to let her take an internship in Chicago, too. He never had the heart to refuse her anything. Not two weeks after she’d arrived, Chris got caught again.”
The Last Best Lie Page 24