Masked Indulgence

by Michelle Love

  She would call him, she decided, now Noah was out of immediate danger, and try and get their friendship back on track, albeit with new boundaries. Decided, she went to help Quilla prepare the dinner and they chatted easily until Jakob and the boys returned.

  Tinsley and Harry were in his hotel suite, planning their visit to the prison where Lauren Shannon was being held. ‘Do we do good cop/bad cop?’ She asked Harry who grinned.

  ‘No we just offer her the thing she loves the most – money. Money to get the best lawyer possible.’

  ‘Surely her dad would have given her that?’

  Harry shook his head. ‘I did some digging. Daddy Shannon has disowned her; she has to rely on the state.’

  ‘Woah,’ Tinsley’s eyes were wide, ‘that’s cold.’

  Harry shrugged. ‘From what I’ve found out, it’s long overdue. I don’t blame the man; even familial love can only go so far when someone behaves like that.’

  Tinsley nodded. ‘How do we stop her hiring the best lawyers with our money and getting off?’

  Harry grinned wickedly. ‘Easy. By hiring them first ourselves but she doesn’t need to know that does she?’

  ‘Harry…this all takes money and I know how generous you are but really, this isn’t your fight?’

  ‘Isn’t it? Just because Noah Applebaum isn’t my family, all of this leads back to Lila’s stabbing and Richard’s murder. It is my fight. Plus, anyone who tries to hurt you immediately makes my shit list.’

  She smiled and touched his cheek. He covered her hand with his, holding her to his skin, his eyes on her. ‘Remind me again how I could have been so dumb as to go back to Australia without you?’

  Tinsley flushed with pleasure. ‘It wasn’t the right time for us.’

  He nodded and they gazed at each other in silence for a long moment. ‘And now?’ He said softly then without waiting for a reply, leaned forward and brushed her lips with his. Tinsley’s hands came up automatically and slid into his short hair. As they kissed, Harry pulled her onto his lap, his mouth hungry on hers, and his hands under her t-shirt, sliding it over her head.

  Soon naked, they tumbled onto the floor and Tinsley moved down his body to take him into her mouth, sweeping her lips over the wide crest of his pulsing cock. The silky skin felt so good on her tongue as she traced the blue veins, and she tasted the salty tang of his pre-cum. Harry moaned as she teased him, and soon he was pulling her upwards so he could thrust inside her. Tinsley straddled him, his hands on her breasts as they moved together, both smiling and loving. This was so different to the dead serious sex that she and Charlie had and even though it was good, this was love-making, not just sex. She and Harry bonded as friends first then lovers and the combination left her feeling complete.

  Afterward they ordered room service and ate it in front of the TV., chatting idly about Australia. ‘Do you think you’ll go back, ever? Long term, I mean.’ Harry asked her as he scooped some apple pie into his mouth.

  ‘Ask me that a few months ago and I would have said no. But now? I can see it.’ She hoped she wasn’t blushing too much but Harry grinned at her.

  ‘That is very good to know, Miss Chang. That is very good to know.’ And he kissed her again and they started where they had left off.

  Noah waited for the doctor – his colleague Doug Halpern – to check him over. Doug was a cardio-god, one of the best in the world. He nodded at Noah now. ‘If all my patients were in as good physical condition as you, Applebaum, my life would be easier. Don’t get me wrong, you have a long way to go yet, but your wounds are healing, your heart trace showed no problems and even with one lung, you’ll be able to function pretty much the same. Maybe not too many marathons anymore, but even that isn’t out of the realms of possibility.’

  Noah grinned. ‘You know me, Doug, I get antsy if I don’t exercise.’

  ‘Yup, he’s weird like that, me, I prefer sloth,’ Lila walked into the room and smiled at them both. She studied Noah. ‘You do look good, baby.’

  She went to kiss his cheek and sit by him. Doug nodded at them.

  ‘Well, just be careful you two. Don’t put too much stress on his heart by being too gorgeous, Lila.’

  ‘Dude, are you hitting on my fiancée?’ Noah was laughing as Lila flushed.

  Doug grinned. ‘Hell yes. Perks of having saved your damn life.’

  Noah nodded. ‘Fair enough.’

  ‘When you two have stopped objectifying me…’ but Lila laughed along with them. It felt so good to be relaxed again, to know that they would be okay after everything. Doug left them alone and Lila snuggled into Noah’s side.

  ‘Hey handsome.’

  ‘You look refreshed,’ he noted, brushing his lips against her. ‘That’s good, I was worried.’

  ‘You were worried about me?’ Lila rolled her eyes. ‘Quilla and Jakob spoiled me. I really do have to commend you on your choice of friends, I adore them, and their kids. So cute.’

  ‘Making you broody?’

  ‘Oh yes but we need to get you back to fighting fit before we even consider that again.’

  She kissed his jawbone, smoothed the hair at his temples. ‘Thank god you’re okay.’

  ‘Between us we have nine lives, we must have,’ he nodded, twirling a lock of her hair – freshly washed that morning – between his finger and thumb.

  She studied him. ‘Do you have this feeling of what’s next? I mean, we’ve been through the mill these last eighteen months but I still feel, there’s more to come. Am I being pessimistic?’

  Noah considered. ‘No…and I think it’s that we still don’t know for sure who kicked this whole thing off. Who it was who stabbed you – or hired someone to do it. We’ve – you’ve – had no closure on that.’

  ‘I think you’re right but it could be we’ll never know.’ She sighed. ‘Is it wrong I want to lock you away somewhere safe where no-one can touch you?’

  ‘Nope, that’s exactly how I feel about you.’

  ‘It sucks.’

  ‘Yep.’

  She nuzzled closer to him, careful not to tug on any of the tubes and wires which stuck of out him. ‘A day at a time.’

  ‘A day at a time,’ he agreed and held her close.

  Tinsley hadn’t stepped two feet inside the prison when she decided she never, ever wanted to do it again. The sense of hopelessness was palpable. She slipped her hand into Harry’s feeling him squeeze her fingers reassuringly. The Carnegie name had gotten them in to interview Lauren Shannon, they had sent their offer of money in advance. As expected, Lauren had jumped at the chance and Tinsley felt no guilt about the way they were fooling her.

  Lauren’s hair was shoved into a greasy ponytail and she barely made eye cotact with them both as she was led into the interview room. She flicked her eyes dismissively at Tinsley and Tinsley glared back.

  Harry did all the talking and he got straight to the point. ‘Lauren, did someone tell you, or pay you to shoot Noah Applebaum?’

  Lauren smirked. ‘You don’t think a woman could come up with and execute – so to speak – a plan like that?’

  ‘Oh I do…I just don’t believe it in this case. So, tell me, did someone hire you? Or perhaps a better description would be ‘encourage’?’

  Lauren looked out of the window. ‘I called a lawyer, one of my dad’s friends, told him you were stumping up the money to hire me good representation. He told me no.’

  ‘Not my problem. Answer the question.’

  Lauren smiled. ‘Perhaps. Perhaps someone with a vested interest in seeing Noah dead was…supportive. Perhaps they found the gun for me.’

  Tinsley was getting irritated. ‘Was it Charlie Sherman?’

  Harry cleared his throat – a warning and Tinsley got his meaning – leading the witness.

  Lauren’s eyes were twinkling – she was enjoying the game. ‘He didn’t give me his name.’

  Progress. Harry glanced at Tinsley. ‘Lauren, are you able to describe this man?’

  ‘I never met
him. He called me.’

  Tinsley made a disgusted sound. ‘Motherfucker.’

  Lauren laughed softly. ‘So you see…I can’t even use that as a defense. Who’s going to believe that? A man told me to do it.’

  Harry too was frustrated. ‘Is there anything, anything distinguishing about his voice, the way he spoke, accent?’

  She shook her head. ‘I got the impression he was disguising his voice.’

  ‘Fuck,’ Tinsley hissed then looked back at Lauren. ‘Just tell us what he said, his exact words.’

  ‘He asked me if I wanted to get back at Noah and told me he could help me. He said he’d pay two-hundred grand to shoot Noah but I had to do it in public and in front of his girlfriend.’

  ‘Did the man ask you to shoot Lila as well?’

  Lauren shook her head. ‘No, that was just something I said to the cops when I was arrested. He was very specific – I was only to kill Noah.’

  ‘Did he give a reason for that?’

  ‘Yes.’ She smiled nastily. ‘He told me that he wanted to be the one to kill Lila – said he’d tried before but next time, he would take his time and make sure she was dead.’

  Tinsley felt sick and she felt Harry slip his arm around her waist. ‘Is there anything else you can tell us?’ She asked Lauren, who chuckled darkly.

  ‘Yeah. I wouldn’t want to be Lila Tierney when he gets hold of her.’

  ‘She told us nothing,’ Tinsley groaned as they got back into the car and Harry looked at her in amazement.

  ‘Are you kidding? She told us so much.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘For one thing….Lila’s attacker is still out there. Another – we know now it can’t have been Riley – which means Riley was probably killed and framed. Another – if the killer was able to manipulate Lauren, what makes us think he won’t have done it to others. There’s one more person I think we have to see before we really double-down on this and go to Lila and Noah.’

  ‘Who?’

  Harry smiled grimly. ‘The one person we know can be manipulated easily – especially as she was in love with the man we suspect. My sister. We’re going to see Cora.’

  The cab stopped outside of the hospital entrance and Lila thanked the driver and tipped him well. ‘Could you come back about ten-thirty?’

  The driver smiled. ‘Of course, Miss, see you then.’

  Lila walked towards the entrance of the hospital. She’d spent the night at home. Getting things ready for Noah’s homecoming. Now he was out of bed and into a chair, the doctors had told him he could be released to rest at home in as few as two weeks. Lila couldn’t quite believe it. She grinned to herself now and her pace quickened.

  ‘Lila.’

  She started violently and whirled around. Charlie smiled at her. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Charlie…jesus.’ She put a hand on her chest to still her thumping heart. ‘Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you.’

  ‘I know, honey, I’m sorry, had things I was doing. Found a place.’

  ‘Good. Look I was just going in to see Noah.’

  ‘How is he?’

  She smiled. ‘Doing really well. Come in and say hello.’

  Charlie looked up at the well-lit hospital. ‘I won’t today, I don’t want to intrude. I’ll come back another day.’

  ‘You sure?’

  He nodded. ‘I would like us to sit and talk soon. Very soon. I think we need to get some stuff resolved.’

  Lila nodded. ‘I think we do. Call me tomorrow, okay? And we’ll talk.’

  ‘Promise.’ And he was gone. Lila frowned after him. She wasn’t imagining it, their friendship had change drastically. There was awkwardness there.

  Tomorrow. Tomorrow they would see if they could salvage anything from the mire of recent events and rejuvenate their friendship.

  Tinsley had elected to stay in Seattle while Harry went to see his sister in New York. Harry had understood; whatever she had done, Cora had still instigated a ferocious attack on Tinsley.

  ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be in the same room,’ she had told him and he agreed. Nothing good would come of that.

  Harry had told her he would fly straight back to Seattle after speaking to Cora and so Tinsley was holed up at his hotel, mindlessly ordering room service and watching TV. to take her mind off what they were finding out. It didn’t work and she ended up with a yellow legal pad and pen making charts and flow diagrams and writing everything down. It didn’t take her long to make the connection and now she wondered how they hadn’t seen it months ago. Of course, if she was right, it meant she herself had fucked the killer – unwittingly of course – and that their whole relationship had been a lie. If Charlie was as dangerously obsessed with Lila as they thought…

  ‘He’ll never stop.’ God, she needed to warn Lila now. She would risk Lila not believing her, even if it lodged a tiny suspicion of doubt in her mind, it might protect her. Tinsley considered what to do next. Harry had asked her to stay in the room, keep safe, but if Lila was still in danger…

  She could get a cab straight to the hospital and speak to Lila there; it would safe right? Probably safer than going to her home…

  Mind made up, she grabbed her purse and head out of the door.

  As far as she was concerned, there wasn’t a moment to lose.

  It didn’t take long for Harry to extract a confession from Cora, who broke down in tears. ‘It wasn’t like that, he didn’t ask me to kill her but just said…while she was in the picture, we could never be together.’

  ‘Fucking asshole,’ Harry raged. His mother, Delphine sat on Cora’s other side, looked devastated but resigned.

  ‘Do you think Lila is in danger?’

  Harry nodded. ‘The worst kind – and I don’t think we can wait any longer to tell her. I have to go back to Seattle. Right now.’

  Lila and Noah were laughing together when Tinsley knocked softly at the door. Lila’s eyes widened when she saw her friend and she jumped up and pulled her into a hug.

  ‘Where the hell have you been?’

  Tinsley realized her friend was crying and she hugged her back tightly. ‘I need to talk to you, alone,’ she whispered. ‘Meet me at the bottom of the stairs, the exit is next door.’

  She pulled away from Lila’s curious stare and kissed Noah. ‘I’m so glad you’re looking so well.’

  ‘Thanks Tins…what’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing you should worry about. I’m sorry, I only have a few minutes, I have to go pick Harry up at the airport.’

  ‘Harry…Carnegie?’ Lila was shocked but Tinsley smiled.

  ‘The very one. He would like to come see you if you don’t mind.’

  She stayed for another five minutes then nodded for Lila to follow her out. ‘Give me five minutes then come down.’

  ‘What’s with all the intrigue?’

  ‘I want to make sure I wasn’t followed.’

  Lila stared at her. ‘You’re scaring me.’

  Tinsley tried to smile. ‘I don’t mean to. Remember, five minutes.’

  And she disappeared in to the stairwell. Lila shook her head – what the hell was going on?

  Noah asked the same question and she shook her head. ‘I don’t know, I really don’t.’

  Five minutes later, she stuck her cell phone in her pocket. ‘Be back in a few.’ She kissed him but he held onto her hand.

  ‘Lila…I’m worried.’

  ‘Let me just go find out what’s on Tinsley’s mind. Get some rest, I love you.’

  He didn’t look happy. ‘Come back soon. Love you too.’

  Lila smiled and went out into the corridor pushing open the door. It was pretty poorly lit and she walked down carefully so she didn’t trip.

  ‘Tins?’

  No reply. Lila’s heart began to beat a little faster. She peered into the dark as she descended the final flight. ‘Tins.’

  Her foot hit something soft and she heard a moan. Lila snagged her phone from h
er pocket and switched on the light. Tinsley lay on her back, her face contorted in such pain Lila gasped. Tinsley was covered in blood and the hilt of a knife protruded from her stomach.

  ‘Oh god, no, no, no…’ Lila dropped to her knees and Tinsley looked up at her with wide eyes.

  ‘Lila…no…he’s…’

  A gloved hand was clamped over Lila’s face, and as she struggled, her attacker slammed her head against the wall and she was dumped, dazed to the floor. As she began to pass out, she saw the attacker rip the knife from Tinsley’s body and begin to stab her again as Tinsley, her voice weakening, cried ‘No, no, please, no…

  Charlie, please no…’

  Noah started to get panicky. Surely Lila should be back by now? He eased out of bed, thankful he no longer had wires and tubes attached, and shuffled to the door. All was quiet in the corridor but the nurse at the station looked up and smiled.

  ‘Look who’s out of bed.’

  He tried to smile. ‘Have you see Lila?’

  The nurse shook her head. ‘Not since earlier. Why?’

  Noah just shook his head. ‘She as supposed to be back by – ‘

  He turned sharp as the door to the stairwell opened and a breathless, panicked young man almost fell out of the door. ‘Please, I need help…there’s a girl down there…I think she’s been stabbed.’

  ‘No, no, no…’ The adrenaline coursed through Noah and he lurched towards the door just as the nurse, alarmed, both called for assistance and yelled at Noah to stop.

  ‘Noah, you’re not well enough…stop…’

  He didn’t listening. He grabbed the rail and climb down the stairs as best as he could, desperate to get to her…not again, please, not again…

  The lights flooded on and he heard people shouting behind him. As he made it to the top of the last flight, he saw her.

  Tinsley. She was prone on the floor, in a pool of blood, her clothes soaked red. Noah’s heart began to pound out of his chest as he rushed down to her. ‘Tinsley, oh my god…’

  Tinsley opened her eyes and looked up at him. ‘Noah…’ He could barely hear her. ‘Noah, he has Lila….Charlie has Lila…’