“I have some ideas.”
I turned my attention back to his profile. Serene, unruffled. “Like what?”
“I’ll let you know when I have something definite.”
“Did you run those plates on the car at Paula’s?” I asked. “Was that Lisa’s car?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ve been busy.”
“Doing what?”
He didn’t answer. I didn’t expect him to.
Chapter Twelve
Trent was waiting on my front porch when I got home. He rose from the swing as I approached, his eyes and his mouth both getting wider with every step I took toward him. “You look…uh…different. Nice. Interesting. Unusual. Why are you dressed like that?”
I tried to twirl enticingly but ended up on my butt. Damned four inch heels. I had to give Lisa credit for dancing in those things when I could barely walk in them.
Trent charged down the steps to help me up. “You okay?”
“Embarrassed but unhurt. My fall would have been softer if Rick hadn’t made us mow my greenery.”
He brushed the grass off my butt and grinned. “I’m glad you’re not hurt, and I don’t believe you’re embarrassed. I’ve never seen you embarrassed. Is that what you plan to wear to dinner tonight? Should I go home and change?” He had on faded blue jeans and a denim jacket. It was much too hot for a jacket, but he didn’t like to go anywhere without a gun, and people tend to freak out if they see the gun so he wears a jacket most of the time.
“No,” I assured him. “I’m going to put on jeans. Just give me a few minutes. Would you take Henry for a walk? Don’t let him escape or eat anything strange.”
He continued to hold my arm, preventing me from leaving. “I realize this is probably none of my business, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know the answer, but I have to ask. What were you and Fred doing this afternoon that you dressed up like this? The most dressed up I’ve ever seen you is when you wear your jeans with rhinestones on the butt.”
I looked directly into those compelling hazel eyes and tried to think of an acceptable story that wouldn’t be a total lie. “Visiting someone,” I finally said.
His cop-gaze narrowed. “Who?”
A few more moments of eye-to-eye contact. I gave up. “You’re right. It’s none of your business, and you really don’t want to know.”
“I’ll find out eventually.”
“I know.”
He released my arm. I went upstairs and changed into jeans and comfortable shoes then tamed my hair but decided to leave the makeup. He had included nice among the things he said about my appearance. I went downstairs and found Trent and Henry battling in the back yard. Trent was frazzled, and Henry was angry.
“Has he pottied?” I asked.
“Yes,” Trent snarled, darting around to head off Henry’s attempt to escape. Henry bared his teeth and hissed.
“Then put him inside and I’ll give him catnip. If you don’t solve this case soon, my cat’s going to have to go to rehab when it’s all over.”
“You put him inside. I’m not getting anywhere near those teeth and claws.”
“Oh, for crying out loud. He’s just a big baby.” I strode over to my hissing, snarling cat and picked him up. He glared at me and made some threatening noises but allowed me to take him inside. When I gave him catnip, he purred and twined around my legs.
Trent and I went out for barbecue, rented a movie and headed home. Henry roused himself to greet us, purring, his eyes still slightly crossed. Someday I was going to have to try some of that catnip.
Trent discarded his jacket and we cuddled on the sofa while we watched the movie.
“I’m not sleeping on this thing again tonight,” Trent announced when the credits were rolling.
“Fine. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You go home and get a good night’s sleep.”
He shook his head. “I’m not leaving. I’m just not sleeping on this sofa again.”
I thought about that for a minute. Well, actually it was probably more like a millisecond. “Okay.” If we waited for my divorce to be final, we might both be too old to do anything, and my almost-ex had broken every marriage vow he’d made. Surely that was adequate nullification of the contract between us even without the judge’s signature. I wrapped my arms around Trent and gave him a long, inviting kiss.
Sometime later, he drew back, breathing hard, his eyes slightly crossed even though he hadn’t had any catnip. “Wow. What I actually meant was that I brought an air mattress.”
“Oh.” My fantasies came crashing down. “I think I need another Coke.”
“Bring me a couple.”
So we were back to the blasted guard-Lindsay-from-the-intruder thing. I was getting really tired of having that control my life, of feeling threatened in my own home, and Henry was really tired of not being allowed to roam his own territory.
I got two sodas from the kitchen, handed one to Trent and popped the top on mine. What a beautiful sound.
“Did you find out who owns that car that came to Paula’s house last night?” I sat beside him and took a long, calming drink of cold, fizzy Coke. Next to chocolate, it’s the best thing out there for stress relief.
“Yes, I found out.”
“Who? Is it Lisa?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Yeah, you could. Maybe you won’t, but you absolutely could.”
He pulled me close, gazed deeply into my eyes and I thought maybe he was going to forget about the air mattress. He gave me a soft, sensuous kiss. “You tell me what you and Fred were up to this afternoon, and maybe I’ll tell you who owns that car,” he whispered intimately.
I pulled away. “No deal.” I’d find out about the license plates from Fred eventually.
He sighed and leaned back on the sofa. “Let me make a guess about your afternoon’s activities. It had something to do with Lisa. You must have checked on her and found out she’s a stripper or you wouldn’t have asked Paula that question last night about her visitor wearing the kind of makeup a stripper would wear.”
“Quit doing your cop thing,” I protested and kissed him again in an effort to distract him.
The doorbell rang followed immediately by a pounding on the front door.
We jerked apart. I have to admit, my heart was racing and not just from the kiss. Trent picked up his jacket and took out his gun then nodded to me to answer the door.
I looked out the peephole and turned back to Trent. “It’s just Rick. Ignore him. He’ll go away eventually.”
“Open this door, Lindsay, or I’m calling the cops! Oh, I forgot, you have one of them in there with you already. Does he know what you did? Trent! Did you know my wife’s been harassing my fiancé?”
That blabbermouth bimbo had obviously spilled her guts.
I burst out laughing. “Rick, do you have any idea how ridiculous that question is? How can you have a wife and a fiancé at the same time? Go away!”
Trent stood and tucked his gun behind him in the waistband of his jeans. “Let him in, Lindsay. We’ll see what he has to say and then I’ll get rid of him for you.”
“Planning to shoot him?” I asked hopefully. A well-aimed shot could stop Rick from revealing my afternoon’s adventure.
He lifted an eyebrow. I shrugged, gave up and flung the door open. “Rick, how nice to see you, though I don’t remember inviting you. Did you bring your fiancé? I can’t wait to meet her.”
He was already standing inside the screen door, and he immediately charged past me and into my house. His blond hair was immaculate as were his gray slacks and long-sleeved white cotton shirt, but his eyes were wild and his face was red. “What the hell were you and Fred doing? And don’t try to tell me it wasn’t you! Lisa saw Fred’s car, and she described the two of you! A tall man with white hair and a tall woman with frizzy red hair. You are so busted!”
I thought about trying to look innocent, but that would have been a futile effort.
<
br /> “Hello, Rick.” Trent moved up beside me and slid his arm around my waist.
Rick didn’t even look in his direction, just kept his gaze focused on me. “I know you’re here, Trent. I saw your car outside. You stay out of this. This is between my wife and me.”
“Oh, stop it! Calling me your wife just because of a legality is like saying speeding is wrong because of a legality.”
Trent moved up between Rick and me. “I don’t think you should talk that way to Lindsay.”
“I don’t care what you think!” Rick made an effort to shove Trent aside. Have I mentioned Rick’s not the smartest man in the world? Trent grabbed his arm, twisted and put him on the floor in one second flat.
Usually I prefer to fight my own battles, but it was very satisfying to see Rick put in his place so easily.
“Police brutality!” Rick shouted. “I’m going to own you before this is over!”
“Right now, I’m not the police. I’m just a man protecting a woman from a threatening male. I’m going to release you, and then we’re all going to sit down and have a rational conversation.”
Trent stepped back, and Rick struggled to his feet, his face redder than ever. Not surprisingly, the incident hadn’t calmed him.
Trent turned his back on Rick and walked over to the sofa. Rick’s eyes got big and his face went from red to white when he saw the gun tucked in Trent’s jeans. I’m sure that’s why Trent did it. He was pretty cool even if he did steal my thunder.
Trent took a seat on the sofa, and I sat beside him. He flipped a hand toward my recliner on the other side of the room. “Please have a seat, Rick.”
“I’d rather stand.”
Trent smiled. “It’s easier to talk when all parties are on the same level.”
Rick glared at me then at Trent, but he sat.
“Lindsay, would you like to get our guest something to drink?” Trent asked.
“No.”
“All right, then I guess we’re ready to talk. Go ahead, Rick. I believe you had a question for Lindsay.”
“I want to know why that b—”
Trent hadn’t said a word to stop Rick. All he did was put a protective arm around me and reach behind him with the other hand.
Rick began again. “I want to know why Lindsay and Fred went to Lisa’s place and told her they were talent scouts for somebody in Las Vegas.”
I didn’t look at Trent, but I could feel his muscles tensing. “Lindsay doesn’t have to answer any of your questions.”
But I’d be answering his questions when we got rid of Rick. Might as well get it over with now.
“I wanted to see if she had cat scratches.”
“What?” Rick looked genuinely puzzled.
“Henry did some serious damage to whoever broke into my house the other night, and I wanted to see if it was her.”
He paled, going from angry and puzzled to surprised and panicked. “Somebody broke in your house?”
“Two times. One time they dug up my basement floor.” I watched him closely for his reaction to that.
He didn’t disappoint me. His eyes flared and his lips moved as if he were speaking, but no words came out. He cleared his throat. “Dug up your basement floor? Did they find anything?”
“I don’t think so since they came back a second time. At least, I assume it was the same person or persons both times.”
“What made you think it was Lisa?”
“I found a gold earring.”
He rose slowly from the chair and took a step toward the door. “No, Lisa didn’t break into your house.” His voice was thin and subdued.
I stood, sidling over to block his exit. Trent got up too and took my hand. Probably thought he could stop me from attacking Rick. “Yeah, I figured that out today,” I said. “She’d have had to get scratches on just the lower half of her butt or right around her nipples. Henry wouldn’t have been that careful.”
As if he’d heard his name, Henry strolled in, looked at Rick, arched his back and hissed.
“Henry doesn’t seem to like you, Rick. Maybe we need to see your arms. Maybe it was you and Lisa both in my house, but Henry only scratched you because he doesn’t like you.”
That brought back some of Rick’s anger. “There’s something wrong with that cat!” He moved closer to the door, farther from Henry.
“And maybe you were driving the car that brought Lisa to Paula’s house last night.” We hadn’t talked about that incident, but I wanted to see how he’d react. I was pretty sure Paula’s visitor was Lisa.
He stopped, looking confused. “Somebody broke into Paula’s house too?”
“It’s getting late,” Trent said. “You probably need to leave now.”
Rick glared at Trent and seemed to be deciding if he ought to protest. Henry moved closer and growled. “Keep that damned cat away from me. He’s crazy.” Safer to take his anger out on the cat than on the cop. He turned and grabbed the door knob.
I reached down and picked up Henry. “He’s a good boy, aren’t you?” I scratched under his chin, and he purred. I turned my attention to Rick. “If somebody had cut off your balls when you were six months old, you might be a good boy now too.”
Chapter Thirteen
“I’ll make sure he leaves then I’ll move my car around behind your garage so it won’t scare off any would-be intruders,” Trent said.
I nodded. That would give me a little more time before we had to talk about the Lisa incident.
As soon as he walked out the door, I set Henry on the recliner, picked up my cell phone and called Fred. “Did you run those license plates yet for that car at Paula’s house?”
“Yes.”
I gritted my teeth and fought the urge to lay down my cell, go next door and strangle Fred. “Do you want to share that information with me?”
“Are you going to bake brownies tomorrow?”
“Brownies? Sure. That’s a good idea. Trent’s spending the night. We could all get together and cook out. But stop distracting me! Trent’s car door just slammed. He’ll be back any minute. Tell me who owns that car. Is it Lisa?”
“George Murray.”
Trent opened the front door and I hung up on Fred without saying good-bye, the same way he usually does to me.
“Who were you talking to?” Trent asked, setting a deflated air mattress on the floor and looking at my phone suspiciously.
“I was talking to Fred. We’re having a cookout tomorrow, and I’m making brownies.” Every word of that was true. I don’t approve of lying. Well, except when circumstances justify it.
“Okay, that sounds good. So why did you look guilty when I walked in the door?”
“Did I? Or have you just been a cop so long, you think everybody looks guilty?”
He grinned. “I’ve been a cop so long, I think everybody is guilty. Help me get this thing spread out, and I’ll plug it in and soon have a reasonably comfortable bed.”
“Be careful you don’t upset Henry tonight. One swipe of his claws on that mattress, and you’ll be sleeping on the floor.”
Henry lifted his head and smiled. Maybe not in the same way we smile, but it was definitely a cat smile.
***
I love entertaining friends. I think that’s one reason my chocolate shop is so successful. I not only make the best chocolate in the world, I have a great time serving it to people and watching them enjoy it.
I made brownies on Sunday, Trent and Fred joined forces to grill hamburgers and hot dogs, Paula brought corn on the cob, and Zach played with Henry, delighting in the new game of keeping Henry within the confines of my back yard. Henry, being the well-mannered cat he is, refrained from snarling or hissing at the kid, but I could tell he did not like the new game nearly as much as Zach did.
After we stuffed ourselves, we lounged on my back porch in the cool shade of my overgrown bushes and trees. Trent had a cold beer, Fred and I enjoyed a bottle of wine, Paula sipped lemonade and Zach guzzled whatever liquid we put in his
sippy cup, convinced he was drinking the same things we were.
Fred lifted his crystal wine glass and drank from it. He refuses to “ruin good wine by putting it in a plastic cup” so he’d brought over a set of etched crystal. Says if we break a glass, he has more of that kind, that they’re his everyday crystal. He’d never let me drink from his special one-of-a-kind wine glasses, anyway, since I’m so clumsy. Personally, I don’t believe he has any one-of-a-kind wine glasses, but I never know for sure with Fred.
“I wish I could have been there to see Rick on the floor,” he said. “You should have snapped a picture with your cell phone.”
“Darn! I should have! Can we do it again?” I looked at Trent.
He smiled and had another drink of beer. “If the need arises.”
I can take care of myself, but it was kind of nice to know I had somebody to fight for me instead of against me.
“Do you think it was Lisa who posed as the insurance lady?” Paula asked.
“Probably,” I said. “She fits the description, but if it was, her cohort in crime didn’t know about it until last night. That was one of the few times I’ve ever seen Rick really freaked out, not in control.”
Zach charged over to me and held up his sippy cup. “More wine, Anlinny!” Sweat plastered his blond hair to his head, his hands were grimy, he had mustard on his shirt and grape juice stains on his mouth. He was totally adorable.
“You bet, Hot Shot.” I walked over to the ice chest, lifted out a bottle of grape juice and filled his cup. “You’re not driving tonight, are you?”
He giggled and raced away, short legs churning.
I poured myself another glass of wine as long as it was handy. The real stuff, not the grape juice. “I would have liked to have a bug on Rick’s wall last night so I could have heard what he and Lisa talked about after our encounter.”
“You mean you’d have liked to be a fly on the wall,” Trent corrected.
Paula choked on her lemonade. I gave Fred a meaningful glance, and he returned a blank stare. He and Paula both knew I was hinting for Fred to use his special skills and bug Rick’s house.
Sally Berneathy - Death by Chocolate 02 - Murder, Lies & Chocolate Page 10