by Beth Yarnall
Ewww.
Richard embraced a snuffling Juan Carlos. Some sobbed openly, others sniffed and shifted in their seats, all obviously affected by Sora’s words and actions. I felt eyes on me and turned to find Kennedy blatantly staring at me from the edge of the room as though he were gauging my reaction to Sora’s words. He raised a brow as if to ask, Well?
I rolled my eyes in response and he nodded in agreement. So…Kennedy was mistrustful of the little wifey, too. Interesting.
Trinity remained fixed to her seat, petting her skunk harder and faster as the emotions in the room escalated. She looked lost, completely overset by her circumstances. I felt more sorry for her than ever.
The next to speak was the woman I didn’t recognize. She had that hairstylist look to her, dressed all in black, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail so sleek and tight it acted as a poor man’s facelift.
“Hello. My name is Golda Gonzales.” Her smoker’s rasp was a sharp contrast to Sora’s melodic voice. “I was Dhane’s hairstylist and friend. We worked together for many years. He was a good man. I liked him very much. I will miss him.” She clip-clopped her way back to her seat on sky-high heels.
So much for overblown sentiment.
Juan Carlos leaned into me. “That’s who we need to talk to next.”
He was right. Want to know a person’s deepest, darkest secrets? Ask his hairstylist. We knew more about our clients’ lives than their therapists.
“I’m meeting Kennedy afterward. Can you guys catch up with Golda?”
“Sure thang, darlin’,” Juan Carlos said. “I’m Oprah. I’ll get her to spill her guts like she’s about to be given a car and a trip to Paris.”
The last to speak was Jerk.
“Hello.” He yanked at his collar. “I’m Hank Door, the new CEO of Hjálmar. Dhane recruited me right out of college. I started as an account executive and worked my way up the corporate ladder.” The rest of Hank a.k.a. Jerk’s speech was all about him and his incredible rise within the company. He earned his nickname with every word.
The memorial closed with a video montage of Hjálmar marketing-campaign photographs featuring Dhane in all of his splendid vivaciousness. It was hard to reconcile the images on the screen above the stage with the visions that had haunted my dreams, both waking and sleeping. He was so young, so attractive, so…gone. The finality of his death hit me harder than I imagined it would.
The lights came up.
“He was so beautiful,” Juan Carlos blubbered. “Cut short in his prime. It’s a crime against nature.” He dabbed at his eyes. “It’s true, only the good die young. Oh, why’d he have to die?” Juan Carlos threw himself at Richard, who caught him deftly, cradling him.
“We’ll catch up with you later,” Richard said over Juan Carlos’s head.
For some, like Juan Carlos, the memorial made them wonder why. Why did bad things happen to good people? Why did only the good die young? To me, the memorial was a battle call. Who would do such a thing? What did they want that Dhane stood in the way of? What was worth killing for? And in the face of such an injustice, who would stand for Dhane? Who was willing to do more than just shake their head at the tragedy?
With the final onscreen image of Dhane burned into my memory and the anger at the unfairness of it all coursing through me, I made a vow right there, right then. If it was the last thing I would ever do, I would find out who killed Dhane. Not to satisfy my own curiosity, not even to clear Vivian’s name, but to right a wrong and bring Dhane’s killer to justice.
Chapter Fourteen
I met up with Kennedy at the coffee kiosk as planned. We ordered our drinks and found an out-of-the-way corner to sit down.
“I’m surprised you don’t know about the fire,” I said.
“Oh, I knew about the fire. And the parents.”
Well, that popped my smugness balloon. “Then why’d you want to meet if you already know all there is to know?”
“I wanted to find out how you knew. And how much you know.”
I just stared at him. Really, this was not going at all like I thought it would. This wasn’t even a one-way street. It was a cul-de-sac.
“Well?” he asked.
“I’m smart enough to use a computer search engine, you know.”
“No doubt. But what made you look it up in the first place?”
Here’s where it got tricky. Vivian’s story had seeded my curiosity and then Jun’s made it take root. If I told Kennedy about Vivian’s lies and half-truths…well, I wasn’t sure that would be in Viv’s best interests. So I decided to go with that measure-of-truth thing that had been working so well for me so far.
“I’d been hearing stories about Dhane’s past and decided to do a little digging.” I shrugged. “That’s all.”
“Uh-huh.” He took a sip from his cup, eyeing me over the rim. “What else?”
“I did happen to overhear something that might be of interest to you.”
“What?”
I told him about my eavesdropping on Jerk and Shorty’s fight in the police station parking lot.
“Jerk’s real name is Hank Door,” I said. “He’s the CEO who spoke at the memorial. Shorty was the guy who sat next to him. I don’t know his name, though.”
Kennedy narrowed his eyes at me. “You really need to stay out of this. You’re a hairstylist, not a detective.”
“I am out of it.” Although I really wasn’t. I was up to my gold hoop earrings in it and planned on keeping it that way.
“I’m not kidding. You don’t know who you’re dealing with here. Dhane didn’t, and look what happened to him.” He eyed my neck. “I like your pretty head right where it is. Stay out of it.”
“I’m not in it. I’m way on the outside. I’m like Pluto.”
“The dog or the planet?”
“Ha-ha.”
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
“Maybe.”
“Out with it. Or do I have to remind you that the sooner I find out who really killed Dhane, the sooner your friend gets out of jail?”
“You don’t have to remind me, and you don’t have to hold it over my head, either. All you have to do is ask.” Then, because he brought out the contrary in me, I added, “Nicely.”
He smiled for the first time and it completely changed his face, adding a spark to those seen-too-much green eyes of his. “Tell me what else you know…please.”
He could pretend to be a human being all he wanted, but I didn’t trust him as far as I could spit. I had a feeling he’d somehow take what I told him and twist it around to fit whatever theory it was that he had about Vivian killing Dhane. There was no way I was giving him any information that might help him achieve his goal.
“I gotta go.” I grabbed my bag off my chair, knocking it into the table and spilling the rest of my drink in Kennedy’s lap.
He stood up, coffee dripping from his crotch. “Wait!”
But I was already melding with the crowd, entering the convention floor. My last vision of Kennedy was of him muttering obscenities and dabbing at the front of his pants.
This was terrible. What was wrong with me, pissing off the cop who held the keys to Vivian’s jail cell? At this rate she’d never get out. I’d be visiting her in a Nevada prison for the rest of her life, staring at her through a glass wall, trying to pretend that everything would be okay for her when it would never be okay again.
I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to clear the image. And ran smack-dab into a wall of chest.
“You really ought to look where you’re going.”
Oh, no. This was just what I needed, the other guy who shook up my emotions like a can of soda. What an amazingly awesome day this was shaping up to be.
“What happened?” Alex asked.
“Everything and nothing. What are you doing here? I thought you and James were working on getting Vivian released.”
“We did.”
“You did what?”
“She’s be
en released.”
“What? Where is she?” I tried to peek around him to see if she was with him.
“She’s back at the hotel with James. She wanted to shower and change. And I imagine they were going to do a little, ah, catching up afterward.”
“Oh.” I didn’t care about her catching-up time. I really needed to see her.
“She told me to tell you to come to her room around three. She’s dying to see you, too.”
“Did she say anything else? Did she explain what all this is about? Why she confessed?”
“She didn’t say much. I think she wanted to wait to talk to you herself.” He pulled me over, out of the line of traffic. “She’s had a rough time. Try to be understanding of that when you see her.”
“She’s had a rough time?” The resentment and anger at her that I’d been shoving down suddenly came up. “She created this rough time for everyone. She lied, confessed, and got herself arrested, leaving us scrambling to try and save her. I’ll show her a rough time.” I tried to push past him, but he wrapped his arms around me.
I struggled to escape his embrace, but he was too strong. And that’s when I saw Kennedy, staring straight at us. I froze, stuck in the tractor beam of his gaze as he made his way toward us.
“Let her go,” Kennedy said.
Alex turned toward Kennedy, releasing me except for the arm that fastened me to his side. His unexpected sense of protectiveness toward me was kind of thrilling—plus, I had to give him points for holding in the comments that must have been rattling around in his head about the coffee stain on Kennedy’s crotch.
“We didn’t finish our conversation,” Kennedy said to me.
I adjusted my stance, folding my arms over my chest. I wasn’t going to let him get to me. “Yes, we did.”
“No. We didn’t,” Kennedy insisted.
“It felt done to me.”
“We can do this the nice way or the Hagatha way. Your choice.”
I pictured the burly police matron he’d threatened me with earlier. That right there was why he annoyed the hell out of me. Always threatening. “Fine. The nice way it is.”
“Go ahead, Kennedy. Ask your questions,” Alex said.
The annoyed sternness of Kennedy’s glare made me doubt the glimpse of human kindness I thought I’d seen in him just a few moments ago. Maybe it had been all in my imagination. Or, more likely, he’d been faking it to get me to spill my secrets. This man staring at me now was clearly annoyed with me. In fact, I thought he might hate me a little.
“I’m okay,” I told Alex. “Why don’t you catch up with Juan Carlos and Richard? I’m sure they’ll want to tell you all about the memorial service this morning.”
“Are you sure? He’s looking hard for a new suspect now that the charges against Vivian have been dropped. You could be next.”
“You dropped the charges?” I asked Kennedy. Of course he did. He was manipulating me to get what he wanted. How terribly, awfully familiar this all was.
“The DA dropped the charges,” Kennedy said without a hint of shame or apology.
Glaring angry daggers at Kennedy, I shrugged off Alex’s embrace. “Yeah, we’re definitely fine. You don’t need to stay, Alex.”
Alex looked from me to Kennedy and back again, clearly picking up on the undercurrents between us. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” Boy, was I ever. Any softening I’d felt toward Kennedy, he’d blasted away with one betrayal and manipulation after another.
Alex gave my shoulder a squeeze and one last warning look at Kennedy before he left.
“You son of a motherless jerk!” I wished right then with everything I had in me that the coffee I’d spilled on him had been boiled in hell. “How dare you use Vivian’s incarceration to get me to tell you stuff, all the while knowing the charges against her had been dropped?” My anger ratcheted up another twelve notches. “You’re a coldhearted bastard, you know that? I can’t believe I thought for a minute that you… Oh! I’m so stupid. Always wanting to believe the good in people.”
I got right up in his face, wanting to physically shove him like he’d been verbally shoving me around since the day we met. “You want to ask me any more questions, you’re going to have to haul me in and do it in front of my lawyer.” Shaking with the effort not to burst into hot, angry tears, I spun on my heel and wove my way through the crowd.
“Azalea, wait! I’m sorry. Azalea!”
But I didn’t stop. I didn’t turn around. I was so done getting jerked around by Kennedy. I plowed my way through to the other side of the convention floor and out through the back exit, right into a pack of smokers.
“Hey, man.”
“Dude, watch it.”
“Sorry, sorry,” I mumbled, not looking back. If I had to, I’d walk all the way back home…or at least back to the hotel.
A hand grabbed my arm, yanking me back.
“I said I was… Oh!”
“I’m sorry. Did I frighten you?” Tenchi asked. “I saw you hurrying across the convention floor, but you didn’t seem to hear me call you.”
I was sure he’d scared at least three years off my being a natural brunette. “No, you didn’t frighten me. I just wasn’t expecting you.” I eyed the distance between the smokers and myself just in case he tried to suck out my soul or something. “What can I do for you?”
“It’s Trinity.”
“What about her?”
“She wants to see you again.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” How about hells no? The only person who freaked me out more than Tenchi was Trinity. And on the creep-o-meter they were both off the charts. There was no way I was going to be alone with the two of them ever again.
“Please? She insists,” he said.
“I really can’t.”
“I see. Are you sure I can’t change your mind?”
“No, I’m afraid not.”
“Trinity won’t be happy, you know.”
“I’m sorry about that, but I just…can’t.”
He looked really unhappy, almost pained. “I’m afraid that’s not acceptable.”
“Like I said, I’m sorry, but I really can’t.” I glanced back at the smokers again. Only two were left, and they looked like they couldn’t help me kill a short line of ants.
Tenchi moved toward me, his weird eyes boring into mine as if he were trying to do a mind meld with me or something. “You keep saying that, so I feel you must be sincere. However, Trinity wants to see you. So, you will come.”
I felt a sharp pain in my side. “What—”
“I’m sorry. It would have been so much easier if you’d agreed.”
I looked down at the knife pressed up against my left side. Although knife was an understatement—small sword would’ve been more accurate. “Don’t ruin my shirt. It’s vintage. Okay, fine. I’ll go.”
“I’m so glad you’ve agreed. I have a car waiting.”
Of course he did. Because that was how my day was going. Kicked in the stomach by a dirty rotten detective and then thrown forcibly into a waiting car by a Comic-Con reject who was taking me to visit a mad murderer who probably wanted to kill me afterward.
My life was awesome.
A sleek black rental car pulled up just inches from us. I gave the smokers one last hopeful glance, but they were all gone. I was on my own.
“Please, get in,” Tenchi said.
He’d put the knife away somewhere, but just knowing it was there and he’d use it was enough for me to climb into the back of the car. The door locks clicked, locking us in. I looked to the driver for assistance, but one glance from him in the review mirror and I knew there was no help there.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to confiscate your cell phone. Trinity’s rule. Do I need to go over them again for you?”
“No.” Even if I had forgotten them, at this point I didn’t care who I pissed off. I felt contrary enough to try to break them all just to see what happened. I gave him my phone. “Are you going to
kill me?”
“What? No.” He looked sincerely insulted. “What gave you that idea?”
I showed him the small hole he’d made in my shirt.
He looked like he was trying to frown, but his overly Botoxed face wouldn’t cooperate. “That’s unfortunate.”
Unfortunate. Yeah, that’s how I would have described it. “Where are you taking me?”
He gave me a pitying look and spoke slowly. “To see Trinity.”
It was clear I was going to get nowhere with this guy. If he was the one holding all of the sanity in the Trinity/Tenchi relationship, I was pretty sure the bag he held it in had a serious rip.
I turned away and looked out the window. In the near distance stood the Raine Tower Suites. So we were going back to the scene of the crime, back to where it all began. A knot bunched up in the pit of my stomach. I really didn’t want to go back to that hotel. Nothing good had happened there. I couldn’t fathom why Trinity would want to stay mere feet from where her brother had died. Maybe that was part of the crazy.
Watching her during her brother’s memorial, it was clear she was breaking apart. It was almost like watching a statue slowly crumble, a piece here, a chunk there. Again, I worried who would care for her. Going around kidnapping people at knifepoint, Tenchi was obviously not in a mentally stable position to care for someone as ill as Trinity.
We pulled up to the front of the hotel. Tenchi gripped my elbow as soon as I got out of the car and hustled me toward the elevators. The lobby bustled with people checking out and more checking in.
I felt the coolness of Tenchi’s blade through the fabric of my shirt. “It would be a shame to damage your shirt further.”
So much for thoughts of escape.
We got out of the elevator and walked down the hall. The same hall where Dhane was killed in his suite, where Trinity’s suite was, and where I’d first met Kennedy. I did not have good memories of this hallway.
Tenchi pulled out his key card and let us into the room. He ushered me through the living area and knocked on Trinity’s bedroom door, then before she could answer, he opened it and shoved me through, slamming it closed behind me.