“I went by your apartment. Your landlord said you’ve been gone since Thursday.”
He sounded angry.
“I sent you a text message that Krista and I had a job.”
“I didn’t realize you were skiing.”
“Maybe if you weren’t avoiding me, I could have told you face-to-face.”
Shit, she sounded like a whiny, needy bitch.
She smiled and tried to relax. “We solved the case and made more money this week than in the last two months. It’s nice to have a paying client for a change.”
“I’m not avoiding you,” Alex said.
Damn, he’d heard what she’d said.
“It’s just things have been busy,” he added. “I’m leaving for my parents in the morning for Christmas. I wanted to see you before I left.”
“Right,” she mumbled.
“What’s wrong?” He looked confused. The slight lag over the Skype connection distorted his face momentarily.
“Nothing,” she snapped.
“Scarlet—”
It all spilled out. “For the last month you’ve cancelled every time we made plans. You don’t return my calls, when you do call you’re rushed, and last time you came over to my apartment, you left right after sex. What am I supposed to think?”
The surprise on his face almost made her apologize.
“Look, Alex,” she said, “just tell me the truth.” She didn’t want to do this now, over the phone, even though she could see him. But she couldn’t seem to help herself. And she had to know the truth. “Are you done?”
“What? Done with what?”
“Me. Us. Just shoot straight with me, okay? I’m a big girl, I can take it.” Her eyes burned, but she would not cry. She was thirty-four years old. She would get over him. It might take a while, but she’d survive.
“I—dammit, Scarlet, no. I’m not done. Why on earth—?” He shook his head. “I know I’ve been distracted lately. I’ve been working on this case … I want to tell you about it, but I can’t. When it’s over, I’ll explain.”
He wasn’t looking at her. He was glancing away from the screen. Was someone there? Or was he lying? About what? She’d given him an easy out. Why didn’t he take it?
“Something’s going on, Alex. You’re lying to me. I was a cop, remember. I know when someone isn’t being honest.” Her voice cracked at the end.
“Scarlet, I’m not lying. Nothing is going on.”
At that moment, she hated that she’d been a cop. Every gut instinct that she’d developed over the twelve years she was on the force told her unequivocally that Alex was lying to her. Was he lying about the case? Was it another woman? An old girlfriend? What was going on that he couldn’t at least explain to her, even vaguely?
“Don’t,” Alex said. “I know what you’re thinking. Why can’t you just trust me?”
“I do,” she said automatically, but there was that niggle of doubt. She wanted to trust him. But over the last four weeks he’d changed. She knew it in her head, and in her heart.
“It’s killing me that you don’t trust me. I know I’ve been preoccupied, but it has nothing to do with you.”
Again, that faint hesitation in his voice, the way he glanced away, just for a second. If he were a suspect, she would press harder until he cracked, and he would crack.
But if she forced him to tell her what was going on, he would resent it. She was damned if she did, damned if she didn’t. If he continued to hide whatever this was then she’d never completely trust him. Neither of them could live like that.
“Good-bye,” she said. Her voice broke. Damn, damn, damn! She moved her thumb to disconnect the call.
“Don’t you dare hang up on me! Scarlet—dammit, Scarlet, I love you!”
She blinked, her hand frozen over the off button. That was the last thing she’d expected to hear.
“Fuck,” he muttered, running both hands through his short hair. “Not seeing you this last month has been killing me, but this case is almost over. Okay? Please trust me. I’ll tell you everything when I can. I promise. I love you. I’ll be back in Newport late Wednesday night. I’ll come by your place. Okay?”
Silence.
“Talk to me, Scarlet. Tell me it’s okay.”
“Wednesday,” she said. Her voice sounded weird.
I love you.
She hadn’t expected it.
She was scared to death.
“I have to go, Scarlet. I wish—just—just be careful, okay? Drive carefully. I’ll see you Wednesday night.”
He hung up.
She lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Four months … and he loved her. Or was that his way of distracting her from the fact that he was lying to her?
Really, Scarlet, you enjoy making yourself miserable, don’t you?
She wanted to love him right back, but that fear inside that she’d fuck it up terrified her. Because she would screw everything up. She’d been so judgmental and unforgiving with Matt that she wouldn’t let him back in, even when he apologized. Because he didn’t mean it. Yes, he’d been sorry that she’d walked out after he told her he didn’t believe her about the ambush. He backtracked and said that maybe she thought she heard her partner on the radio, that maybe she’d gone to the wrong address, that maybe she was just mistaken … but in the end, he still didn’t believe her, and she could never forgive that. And it had been a relief to break off their engagement. What did that say about her? About their relationship?
You didn’t love him.
With Alex … when she thought he was pulling away she became angry. And worried. And scared, because she didn’t want to let him go. She would if that’s what he wanted, but she didn’t want the same thing. She craved him, like chocolate. Only she could never get enough time with him, so the last four weeks had put her on edge. Just the thought that he could have ended it during their conversation made her stomach hurt. She’d given him an out. She’d opened the door and was ready to watch him walk away.
I love you.
Did he? How did he know? How could she know how she really felt? Shit, she was a grown woman stressed about falling in love. Trying to know what love felt like. If she was even capable of it.
Maybe because she didn’t really believe in love.
Her mother had walked out on her dad. How could her mother have loved someone for fourteen years and then just … leave? Marry someone else and have a completely new family? Had her mother ever loved her dad? Had her mother ever loved her and John? There had never been an explanation that Scarlet bought, a reason.... other than the one her mother gave:
“I don’t love your father anymore, and it’s not fair to him or me to stay.”
And Scarlet had done the same thing with Matt, only they hadn’t been married, and there were no kids involved, and she knew when she left that she hadn’t loved him enough.
Now Alex … could she trust him when he said he loved her? And what did that mean for her?
She sat up abruptly. How had Alex known she was skiing? She hadn’t told him where she was. Her landlord Diego didn’t know she was going to the mountains. Scarlet had just told him she was going out of town. Diego couldn’t have told Alex that she was skiing.
So how did Alex know?
The only people who knew where she and Krista were ... Scarlet mentally went through the list. Mac. John. R.J. Why would Alex have talked to any of them? They were her friends, family, and associates. Not Alex’s.
There was a knock on her door and Krista came in. “Scarlet, let’s get some breakfast before the kitchen closes.” She frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Something’s going on with Alex.”
“You talked to him?”
“Yes. And he distracted me before I could put my finger on what’s wrong.”
“Distracted you? How?”
“He told me he loved me.”
“Wow. That’s good, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re in love with him.”
Scarlet frowned. “I don’t know.”
Krista rolled her eyes. “And I thought I was the one with trust issues.”
“It’s not trust. It’s me. I screw up all my relationships.”
“Then consider yourself lucky that Alex won’t let you sabotage this one.” Krista tilted her head. “What is it, really?”
She couldn’t articulate what she thought, what she felt. She rubbed her eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. Something is going on with Alex. I’ll find out when he gets back from Sacramento.”
Krista stepped closer and looked at Scarlet’s injury. “Ouch. Nasty bruise.”
“Nasty lump, too,” she said, rubbing her head. “But I’m fine. I just want to know what’s going on with Alex. He’s acting just as weird as my brother.”
Krista took her hands. “Scarlet, look at me.”
She did.
“Trust Alex.”
“I do, but—”
“No buts. You do or you don’t. If you don’t trust him, you don’t have a relationship. Trust me on that.”
She frowned. Krista was right. But still, she was going to have to think on this. Because even if she trusted Alex, she didn’t like being kept in the dark. If it was an undercover case, he could simply tell her that, but he hadn’t. Just talked about ‘the case.’ No details. Nothing to give her any idea what was going on.
“Where’s R.J.?” she asked Krista. “I thought he was coming back last night.”
“He got tied up, said he wanted to take a rain check.”
“Uh-huh. Great. And you’re giving me relationship advice?”
Krista laughed. “No. I think he means it. I think it’s going somewhere.”
“For the record, I don’t think he’s the lowest form of pond scum anymore.”
Krista arched her eyebrow in partial disbelief. “Really?”
“He helped us out a couple of times, and didn’t hold it over our heads. He still works for the lowest form of pond scum, but maybe R.J. is riding the surface of the scum pool.”
“I won’t tell him you said that. Actually, it’s good. Sort of. I’m figuring a few things out right now.”
“Like what?”
“Like ... seeing Adam again wasn’t really a bad thing. For too long I considered myself a failure. How could I be stupid enough to fall for a player? How could I get married to someone who can’t commit to anyone? Why did he even propose? What was I even thinking? But … I realized that I was in love with the idea of the happily ever after. Adam hurt me … but mostly because I felt stupid. I thought he’d given me a line, and I couldn’t figure out why he married me in the first place. It’s not like I was saving myself for a ring. Yet … I think Adam had this idea that when you found someone you liked, you got married. His parents have been married for thirty-five years. His two sisters are married. He wants to make everyone happy, but he can’t change who he is inside. He doesn’t think, he doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions, he doesn’t realize that what he does hurts people. Maybe now—he’s starting to get it.
“But mostly, I realized why I loved him in the first place. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. When he gives you his undivided attention, you get his undivided attention. After all the idiot, selfish, arrogant jerks I met in college … he was completely different.”
“He’s like SpongeBob,” Scarlet said.
Krista almost started choking. “Great,” she said between laughs. “I married a sponge?”
“You did fall in love on the beach …”
“Stop.”
“So, you and R.J.?” Scarlet raised her eyebrow.
“We’ve gone out a few times, but they were either working dates, or were cut short because of something that came up. We need to take it one date at a time. Maybe the four of us should go out. We can go with you and Alex.”
It was Scarlet’s turn to laugh. “I don’t know if you can trust me with R.J. I might shoot him if he picks a fight with me.”
“If R.J. doesn’t like my best friend then I don’t want him in my life. And Scarlet—your opinion does matter to me. I know you and R.J. have had some disagreements …”
“He’s okay. He has an honor code, and I respect that. But he is fun to jab.” She linked her arm with Krista’s. “Breakfast? Do we still have time?”
Krista glanced down at her watch. “If we run.”
“I’m starving. Let’s run.”
Don’t miss these books in the Moreno & Hart series...
LOST AND FOUND
(Moreno & Hart Mysteries Book 3)
Order LOST AND FOUND:
http://www.allisonbrennan.com/lost-and-found
Scarlet Moreno and Krista Hart’s P.I. business is teetering on the brink of failure when they land their next big case... and this time it’s personal. After digging for years into the mysterious shooting that cost Scarlet her badge and nearly her life, Scarlet has finally unearthed some answers. She thinks she knows who is behind the plot to murder her three years ago, but to prove her case she needs the help of a previously overlooked witness who seems to have vanished.
Krista is on the job. It’s the most challenging skip trace of her career, so she brings in the big guns—rival private investigator R.J. Flynn. While Krista and R.J. set out to track down the missing witness, Scarlet sets out on a dangerous quest for answers—starting with her former partner, who retired to Arizona. She trusts only Krista because everyone else is keeping secrets, including her boyfriend, Detective Alex Bishop. As Scarlet begins to unravel a shocking conspiracy, Krista hones in on the lone witness and someone close to both of them is watching their every move. With the clock ticking down and the body count rising, Scarlet and Krista realize this may be their last case, because a vicious killer with everything to lose wants them both dead.
HIT AND RUN
(Moreno & Hart Mysteries Book 2)
Danger comes from all sides as private investigators Scarlet Moreno and Krista Hart tackle two new cases.
HIT...
Scarlet Moreno gets a panicked call from long-time friend Jason Jones, an L.A.P.D. street cop wanted for killing his girlfriend. Paranoid with no one to trust, he reaches out to Scarlet for help. Before they can figure out who set him up, a SWAT team descends, Jason runs, and Scarlet is left with questions she can't answer when the police show up. She’s determined to prove Jason innocent, but the cops want him behind bars and someone else wants him dead. As Scarlet digs deeper into the murky case, she realizes that whoever is framing Jason wants her dead, too—and it might connect to the ambush that nearly killed her and Krista three years ago.
and RUN...
Krista Hart doesn’t want to team up with rival private detective R.J. Flynn. And she definitely doesn’t want to help an unscrupulous trial lawyer get away with murder. But when R.J. pulls her into his latest high-profile case, Krista realizes that nothing about the murder of a beautiful Laguna Beach housewife is quite what it seems. Krista sets out to uncover the truth—no matter whose side it helps—and manages to provoke all the wrong people, including a vicious murderer who won’t hesitate to kill again and then make a run.
CRASH AND BURN
(Moreno & Hart Mysteries Book 1)
Three years ago, L.A.P.D. Detective Scarlet Moreno and rookie cop Krista Hart were nearly killed during a botched sting operation. Now, they’re best friends and partners in the Orange County private investigation firm of Moreno & Hart. But their routine assignments are anything but safe.
CRASH …
Scarlet Moreno has her hands full with a cheating spouse case when the bartender at her favorite pub becomes a murder suspect. Worse, the detective in charge of the investigation threatens to arrest Scarlet for obstruction—even when she tries to give him valuable information. Scarlet risks her P.I. license and her life to find out the truth, absolve her friend, and track down a killer—with or without the help of the arrogant, mysterious Detective Alex Bishop.<
br />
and BURN …
Krista Hart is burned out on catching deadbeat dads and philandering husbands when a big-time criminal defense attorney hires her for a choice assignment: find the sole witness to murder the day before the trial. The case could be a boon for Moreno & Hart, but the witness is in hiding, someone is following Krista, and her own client is withholding information. The last person she wants help from is sexy investigator R.J. Flynn, but he claims he’s willing to share intel—for a price. If she can solve this case, it’ll elevate Moreno & Hart above being divorce voyeurs, but first she has to survive with her life and heart intact.
ALLISON BRENNAN
Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than two dozen thrillers and numerous short stories. She’s been nominated for multiple awards, including the Thriller from ITW and the RITA from RWA, and she won the Daphne du Maurier award in 2008 for Fear No Evil. Her next release is POISONOUS, book three in the Maxine Revere cold case series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children and assorted pets. For information, excerpts and more, visit her website http://allisonbrennan.com.
ALLISON BRENNAN Booklist
By Series
Maxine Revere Series
Maximum Exposure (novella)
Notorious
Compulsion
Poisonous (4.12.16)
The Ex-Wife (Spring 2017)
Lucy Kincaid/Sean Rogan Series
Love Me to Death
Love is Murder (novella)
Kiss Me, Kill Me
If I Should Die
Silenced
Stalked
Reckless (novella)
Stolen
Cold Snap
Dead Heat
Best Laid Plans
No Good Deed
Untitled #10.5 (Summer 2016, novella)
All Fall Down (Fall 2016)
Untitled #12 (Winter 2017)
Frosted (Moreno & Hart Mysteries) Page 11