In the time it took to blink, it was over. Wiley jumped to the side at the last second and gave him a shove. Caught off guard, Sanchez lost his balance and fell on his face in the dirt. Instantly, Wiley was on him, jerking his arms behind his back and slapping handcuffs on him before he could draw a breath to curse him.
The police arrived then, running through the woods to burst upon the scene just as Wiley rose to his feet, leaving Sanchez hogtied on the ground, cursing a blue streak. “I don’t think I have to introduce you gentlemen to Roberto Sanchez. He was in the process of slapping the lady around when I arrived on the scene.”
“I had a flat,” Josie added huskily. “I had just called my road service when he pulled up behind me and accused me of following him. Then he grabbed me and dragged me into the woods.”
The officer eyed the bruise on her cheek. “Are you all right, ma’am? Do you want me to call an ambulance?”
“Oh, no,” she said quickly, horrified. “It’ll be fine once I put some ice on it.”
Satisfied, the officer pulled out a small notebook and began taking notes. “I’ll need your name and address, ma’am, and a statement.”
Wiley pulled out his ID and flashed it for the officer. “We were hired to investigate him,” he said quietly. “I want the lady protected at all cost, so let’s do this over there.” He nodded to a fallen tree twenty feet away where Josie could sit and almost be out of earshot of Sanchez.
“No problem,” the officer replied easily, and moved with them through the trees, away from where Sanchez was being read his rights. “He’s a nasty character. I don’t blame you for being concerned.”
“His wife hired us to see if we could discover if he was having an affair,” Josephine explained after giving her name and address, then sinking down to the log. “I think she was afraid to confront him without proof. Now I can see why.”
“I have a right to know who hired you!” Sanchez yelled after them as two of the other officers moved to restrain him. “You can’t keep it from me. Tell me, damn you!”
Ignoring him, Wiley said, “Throw the book at him. I’m going to take the lady home, if that’s okay.”
Quickly going over his notes, the officer nodded. “I’ve got everything. If something comes up and I need more information, I’ll call you.”
Helping Josie to her feet, Wiley slipped his arm around her and urged her back through the trees to where he’d left his motorcycle and her car. “C’mon, sweetheart. You’re safe now. He can’t hurt you any more. He wouldn’t dare!”
“We have to tell his wife,” she said huskily. “If he figures out that she hired us, she could be in danger.”
“I’ll call her later. You rest while I change this flat—you’re too upset to ride the motorcycle right now.”
“No, I’m not. The road service is on the way to change the tire. We can take the bike and go to Mrs. Sanchez’s,” she insisted. “She has to know what her husband’s capable of.”
“She’s been married to the man for twenty years, sweetheart,” he said dryly. “Trust me, she knows.”
When Josie just looked at him, the bruise on her cheek a badge of courage, Wiley realized he could deny her nothing. “All right,” he sighed, pulling her close for a fierce hug. “We’ll go by and talk to her. But then you’re going home and you’re going to let me take care of you. Okay?”
Relieved, she pressed a quick kiss to his mouth. “I think I can suffer through that. Let’s go.”
Chapter 10
In spite of the fact that Roberto Sanchez was the notorious head of the Mexican mafia, he lived in one of the most exclusive gated communities in the city. There was a reason for that. When Wiley pulled up at the front gates and told the guard they were there to see Mrs. Sanchez, the guard just looked at him.
“It’s business,” Wiley told the man easily, refusing to accept no for an answer. “We work for her.”
“Yeah, right,” he growled, making no move to lift the cross bar that blocked their entrance.
Wiley’s eyes narrowed at the guard. “What you’re going to be is out of a job if you don’t change your tone. I’m sure Mrs. Sanchez wouldn’t appreciate you being rude to a guest.”
Not the least impressed with the threat, the guard smiled snidely. “If you were a guest, you won’t need me to get through the gate—you’d know the code.”
Wiley wanted to bust him, but Josie had other ideas. Grabbing her cell phone, she punched in Olivia Sanchez’s phone number. When she answered on the second ring, she said, “Olivia? This is Josephine London. My partner and I are at the gate, but the guard won’t let us in. In fact, he’s been quite rude. Would you care to speak to him? I know this is short notice, but it’s very important that we talk to you as soon as possible.”
Wiley couldn’t hear the other woman’s response, but he didn’t need to. Seated behind him on the bike, Josie held out her cell phone to the guard. “Mrs. Sanchez would like to speak to you.”
Whatever Olivia Sanchez said to the guard, he obviously didn’t like it. His face turned red, his jaw clenched, and his mouth pressed tight into a thin white line. He didn’t, however, say anything disrespectful. Instead, he growled, “Yes, ma’am,” and handed the phone to Josie. Without another word, he pushed the button that lifted the cross bar that blocked their access to the gated community.
Five minutes later, Wiley pulled up before Roberto Sanchez’s home and cut the engine. When he helped Josie off the bike, his jaw clenched at the sight of the darkening bruise on her cheek. “Are you sure you want to do this now? You’ve had a rough day. Why don’t you let me take you home and you can deal with Olivia Sanchez tomorrow?”
“We’re here,” she said stubbornly. “And she needs to know what kind of man she’s married to.”
Resigned, he reached out to gently cup her bruised cheek in the palm of his hand. “It’s your call, sweetheart. And you’re right. Maybe this is better. Once you tell her about Sanchez, you’ll be done with her, and I won’t have to worry about her low-life husband coming after you any more.”
Relieved, Josie covered his hand with hers. “Thank you for understanding. I guess we’d better get this over with.”
She wasn’t looking forward to it. Even though Olivia Sanchez already suspected that her husband was playing around on her and had hired them to prove just that, Josephine couldn’t believe that she really wanted her suspicions verified. What woman would? How would she react to the truth? Would she hate her for being the bearer of bad news?
“Don’t worry,” Wiley said as they started up the front walk. “If she kills the messenger, I’ll take care of Ethel for you. And see that you get a decent funeral, of course.”
Surprised that he’d read her thoughts, she looked up to find him grinning down at her knowingly. “Gee, thanks,” she said dryly. “I feel so much better.”
“That’s what I’m here for, sweetheart.” Reaching the door, he stepped back and motioned for her to precede him. “It’s showtime. Go for it.”
Dragging a calming breath, she stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell. When Olivia Sanchez answered the door a few seconds later, Josephine greeted her with a cool smile. “Thank you so much for seeing us so quickly, Mrs. Sanchez. This is my partner, Wiley Valentine.”
“Mr. Valentine,” she said, shaking his hand. “Please…come in.”
She showed them into the living room, which had been formally and expensively decorated in antique French imports, and motioned them to take a seat on the couch. Once they were side by side, she settled into a delicate armchair across from them and frowned at the bruise on Josephine’s check. “Are you all right, my dear? That’s quite a nasty bruise.”
“I’m fine,” she assured her. Touching her cheek, she added, “This is one of the reasons I’m here, though. Your husband hit me.”
“What?”
“Somehow, he realized I was following him and demanded to know who I was working for.”
“Did you tell him?”
Olivia Sanchez didn’t seem the least bit concerned with that. Instead, she said, “Were you able to find out anything? Is he seeing someone behind my back?”
When Josie hesitated, Wiley said, “It’s only been two days, Mrs. Sanchez.”
“But you discovered something, didn’t you?” she replied, her shrewd eyes noting Josie’s hesitation. “You don’t have to spare my feelings. If I didn’t want the truth, I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of hiring you.”
“Your husband appears to be seeing at least two different women,” Josie said grimly.
Surprised, she blinked. “Two?”
“There could be more,” she warned her. “We’ve been on the job two days, and he’s been with a different woman every day.”
“Who are these women? What are their names?”
“We’re still working on that,” Wiley said. “One of them lives in a house owned by one of his companies.”
“We’ll have a full report for you in several days,” Josie assured her. “I just wanted to warn you that you’re in danger. Your husband was furious when he discovered we were following him. I’m afraid he’s going to turn all that anger on you when he figures out that you’re the one who hired us.”
“He was arrested for assault,” Wily told the older woman flatly. “If I hadn’t come on the scene when I had, he would have seriously hurt Josie. He’ll do the same to you—or worse—if he gets the chance.”
“Why don’t you come with us?” Josie asked impulsively. “We’ll find you somewhere safe to stay where Roberto won’t be able to find you. You should get a restraining order. After what he did to me, I’m sure you won’t have any trouble—”
“That won’t be necessary,” Olivia said with a faint smile as she rose to her feet. “My husband would never hit me.”
“But—”
“I want to thank you for doing your job so quickly,” she added as she strode over to a delicate French writing desk and sat down to write out a check. “I know we agreed to an hourly rate, but I added a bonus for your promptness and concern. I never expected you to have anything for me so quickly.”
“But we don’t have the women’s names yet,” Josie said in confusion as Olivia returned to where she and Wiley sat and held out a check. “And I didn’t bring the pictures. I can send them with the report, of course, but we haven’t finished the investigation. Don’t you want us to finish?”
“You have finished,” she simply. “Thanks to you, I know what I needed to know. I thought I wanted the details, but now I’ve decided I don’t. And the last I heard, it was a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.”
Put that way, there was nothing Josephine could say. Helpless, she looked at Wiley, who rose to his feet and pulled her up beside him. “Then we thank you for your business,” he told Mrs. Sanchez, offering his hand as Josie dazedly accepted the check. “If there’s anything else we can do for you, just let us know.”
Taking Josie’s arm, he escorted her outside with him and hustled her onto the back of his bike. Still reeling from the turn of events, Josie held her tongue all the way back to her house. The second they walked through her front door, however, she turned on him. “Can you believe that?” she exploded. “We gave her what she wanted—proof that he was playing around on her, even that he was violent! And what did she do? Write us a check and say thank you very much!”
“Check the check,” he said. “How much of a bonus did she give us? The way I figure it, at $350 an hour and a minimum of ten hours’ work, she owned us $3,500, at the least.”
“How can you think about money at a time like this?” she asked, shocked, as she pulled out the check. “She could be in danger—”
Wiley grinned when she gasped in shock at the sum. “That good, huh? I figured as much.”
Her eyes wide, she looked up at him in confusion. “Wiley, it’s for $25,000! Has she lost her mind?”
“Not at all,” he said easily. “The woman knows exactly what she’s doing. We gave her proof of her husband’s infidelity, and she plans to use that to get what she wants out of Sanchez. Trust me, 25K is a small price to pay for that kind of power.”
“You think she’s going to blackmail him? But that’s crazy! Doesn’t she realize how dangerous he is?”
“Of course she does. And still she stays with him. What does that tell you about her?”
“That she’s as ruthless as he is,” she replied, stunned. “I can’t believe I didn’t see that. She seemed so nice.”
“I’m not saying she’s not nice,” he said. “She’s just got a different set of values than you and I. She lives in an expensive house, drives a Mercedes, and no doubt, has a closet full of designer clothes. Obviously, those things are more important to her than having not only a faithful husband, but a law-abiding one.”
“I guess so. I just can’t understand that kind of reasoning. She’s sold her soul to the devil for a fancy zip code and diamonds, and she thinks she has respectability.”
Stepping into the kitchen to wrap some ice in a towel, he returned to press it to her bruised cheek. “This has really gotten to you, hasn’t it? What’s going on? Why do you care?”
“Because it’s such a waste. You saw her. She’s sophisticated, beautiful, pleasant. And she’s married to a drug lord who apparently makes a mockery of their marriage every time he leaves the house. And she’s okay with that.”
“Like I said, she has a different set of priorities.”
“Then they deserve each other.”
“My feelings exactly. How’s the cheek?”
“I’m all right. Really,” she insisted when he studied her with a frown. “It’s just a bruise.”
“And the Grand Canyon is just a hole in the ground,” he retorted. “Sanchez hurt you, and that’s my fault.”
Shocked, she blinked. “How do you figure that? It’s not your fault I had car trouble.”
“No, but I should have made sure you made it home safely. All of this is new to you, and I knew Sanchez was sharp as a tack. He probably nailed us both the second we walked in that bar the other night.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” she said as he began to pace. “He never even glanced our way.”
“Then I made a mistake later…”
Her bruise forgotten, she tossed the ice aside and stepped into his path to confront him with a scowl. “Will you stop? None of this was your fault. Why are you doing this?”
Standing toe to toe with her, his eyes locked with hers. “I don’t want you to hate me.”
“Hate you? Why would I hate you?”
“I can think of any number of women who want nothing to do with what I do for a living. After everything that’s happened, I thought you would feel the same way.”
Just a month ago, she would have had a difficult time stepping out on a limb and telling a man how she felt about him. Thanks to Boonie, however, she wasn’t the same woman who’d spent most of her adult life hiding in the narrow aisles of the library. She couldn’t retreat back into her shell. Not when the happiness she’d always longed for but was afraid to go in search of was right in front of her.
The thunder of her heart loud in her ears, she faced him with her heart in her eyes. “I could never hate you,” she said huskily. “I…”
When she hesitated, his smile faded. “What?” he asked softly, stepping closer. “How do you feel, sweetheart? Tell me. Put me out of my misery. Am I the only one falling in love here?”
Searching for the right words, it was a long moment before his last sentence registered. Startled, she gasped, “What did you say?”
“Throw me a lifeline because I’m sinking fast,” he urged huskily, lifting a hand to gently trace the curve of her cheek. “I never expected to fall in love with you, but the second you walked into the
office, I felt like I’d been waiting for you my entire life. And it scared the hell out of me. Didn’t you notice? Why do you think I offered to buy you out?”
“I just thought you didn’t want to work with a stranger,” she replied, unable to stop smiling. “I guess this is the time to admit that when I first decided to check out my inheritance, I told myself I would sell out if things didn’t work out. Then I met you.”
Grinning, he slipped his arms around her waist. “And?”
“And I decided I wasn’t going anywhere,” she said with twinkling eyes. “I didn’t realize I was the kind of woman who could fall in love at first sight—”
He moved so fast, she spoke the last few words against his mouth. Then he was kissing her as though they were the only two people on earth.
Standing on her perch, Ethel sang out, “When’s the wedding? Make him buy you a diamond. A big pretty one. Because diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”
“You always did like the shiny stuff,” Wiley told the parrot, laughing. “Don’t worry—she’ll have a diamond and something old and something new and something borrowed and something blue. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that she has stars in her eyes for the rest of her life.”
When he swept her up in his arms, Josie felt as if she was going to cry. “Oh, Wiley. I can’t even remember what my life was like before I met you.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” he said huskily, and sealed the promise with a kiss.
Not concerned that she was being ignored, Ethel quietly hummed, “I’m getting married in the morning.” And somewhere up in heaven, Boonie Jones grinned happily and hummed along.
THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS
Ingrid Weaver
Dear Reader,
When I get an idea for a story, it’s often hard for me to tell whether it began with a plot that demanded the characters, or whether the characters led to the plot, but with “The Man in the Shadows,” it was neither. This story started with chocolate.
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