Unfortunately, it wasn’t her client. The woman who walked towards Shanna was a tall, slim brunette, probably somewhere in her forties. She was wearing a beautifully cut black silk suit, adorned with a single strand of pearls. Shanna had always envied that kind of understated elegance. The woman was not beautiful but she was perfect. Hair, make up, nails, a walking fashion plate.
“Ms. Mclain?” The woman looked her up and down inquiringly and under that cool stare, Shanna felt instantly an ugly mess not fit to walk in this hallway. She felt herself start to sweat and inwardly cursed her own insecurity. The fashion plate was returning her card. “I’m Alicia Hickman. I’m afraid my husband isn’t here right now, and as far as I know he won’t be back for a while. Is there something I can do for you?” As she said this, Alicia Hickman was already dismissively half-turned away with a condescending smile, obviously not the slightest bit impressed with the representative of her husband’s law firm.
Aside from feeling about two inches high, scruffy, fat and ugly all at once, Shanna was dismayed. It was not uncommon for divorcing couples to cohabit but she was going to kill Dominick for this. He should have told her. Obviously, Shanna could not ethically deal with the opposition, even if she wanted to, so she had made a trip for nothing. This was typical of Dominick. She took a deep breath and prepared to extricate herself as graciously as possible. “Mrs. Hickman. I do apologize. There must have been some kind of mix up with the scheduling. I am sorry to have disturbed you.” Shanna took back her card and fled.
About halfway down US1, Shanna realized that she was so furious her foot was all the way to the floor and she was in serious danger of a speeding ticket. It was still a little early but she would head straight for the Mangrove Café and relax with a drink before Chase arrived. She didn’t want to start her evening with a day’s worth of stress still on her shoulders
.
Eighteen
When Chase arrived at the Mangrove Café, it was jammed. It was a popular spot with the locals and did a brisk happy hour trade serving two-for-ones to the stressed-out working population. It had great food for the couples dinner crowd and it provided top notch local bands for the single party crowd on weekends. Not to mention it was on the water, had a floating dock and water taxi service and the tourists could sip fruity drinks while watching the giant yachts of the rich cruise by. All in all, not the best place for a quiet conversation, but it was a place they both knew and was convenient for both Shanna and Chase.
After Joe had guided Chase back to the wildlife center, he found the bike still in one piece and sped back home to an irate Jake who let him know in no uncertain terms that he knew damn well his master was going out again and he didn’t like it one bit. Finally, freshly showered and primped and watched sorrowfully by Jake doing his best imitation of an abandoned puppy, Chase was able to make it to the Mangrove Café only an hour late.
The place had three bars separated from the dining area and it was worse than the New York City subway in rush hour. Chase stood for a moment and watched the frenetic mating game going on around him. Finally deciding to enter the fray, Chase pushed his way through, was groped, shoved and fondled in various places and finally spotted Shanna’s fiery mane in the far corner, not surprised that she was surrounded by a covey of admirers.
Chase knew that he was going to have his work cut out for him being an hour late on a first date, so he bulled his way through to Shanna and despite her coolness, managed to frighten off the swains who had been monopolizing her. No mean feat. Finally triumphant, he caught the bartender’s eye. Turning to ask what she was drinking he was met with hurt and anger in those electric gray eyes and an unforgiving expression that did not bode well.
Luckily for Chase, Shanna had had just enough alcohol to mellow her out, but not enough to make her antagonistic. She was driving after all and was now on club soda. Chase felt a distinct chill in the air as he handed her a new club soda and watched a stubborn chin go up. She didn’t look at him but pointedly checked her watch.
“We had an appointment an hour ago. I would have left already, but I couldn’t get through the mob.” Shanna’s tone matched the ice in her glass. She tossed back her hair and took a swallow of the soda.
“I’m sorry.” Chase contrived to look devastatingly contrite. In truth he was tired. His brain was reeling from all the information it had processed today and he really wasn’t in the mood for a rowdy bar or a pissed off woman. Watching Shanna’s fiery mane in movement he thought fleetingly of fire and ice.
Chase tossed down a shot of Jack Daniels and tried again. “Look Shanna, I really am sorry. It couldn’t be avoided and I appreciate you taking your time to help me. I know that you don’t really want to. Linda told me she put the screws to you.”
“What?” Shanna leaned forward to hear what Chase was saying and almost got her nose broken as a customer pushed in between them, anxious to snag an unwilling bartender.
Chase glared at the man but waited until he collected his drinks and left. “Look, we can't talk here, its impossible. My place is just round the corner. How about you accept my apology, I’ll cook us a couple of steaks in atonement and we can hear each other talk?”
Shanna seemed to consider this. “No. I don’t think so. It’s getting late. Let’s make it another time.” She started to gather up her things.
Chase tried again. “Jake could use some steak and he won't get any if we don’t have company. No ulterior motives. I promise. I’m too tired.”
Shanna wavered. She searched Chase’s face, looked at her watch again, kept him waiting for eternity and then finally capitulated. “Okay, let’s go, but it better be a damn good steak.”
Nineteen
Shanna wondered how she got through life in one piece. On the promise of the best steak ever, she got back in her car and followed an almost total stranger the couple of blocks to his place. Instinct. That’s how. It hadn't let her down yet, but there was always a first time. She was going to have words with Linda tomorrow, that’s for sure.
Shanna followed Chase into his house, curiosity starting to take hold. She was met by flying fur and salty licks. Jake was ecstatic. Not only was he going to get company, but food too. He knew the signs.
Chase went straight through to the patio and turned on the lights and lit some tiki torches then grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses and led Shanna out into the back yard. He told Shanna there had been Christmas lights up all over the place last year and Sophie had removed all of them except the white ones. Now, together with the tiki torches, they lit the yard sufficiently that most of it could be seen.
“Oh.” Shanna forgot her snit and walked out on the deck. “Its’ so beautiful. Chase, what a wonderful place, it’s like a miniature rain forest, and so secluded back here.” Entranced, she headed off to explore.
“Careful.” Called Chase. “I haven’t had a chance to clean up after Jake yet.” He followed Shanna handing her a glass of wine before heading over to start the grill. While Chase was busy cooking, Shanna toured the yard and played with Jake. Then she settled comfortably on a glider feeding Jake peanuts until dinner was ready. They were silent for a while enjoying the night.
Enclosed by the deck was a small rock garden. Chase told Shanna he had brought each rock back from a different country. He pointed them out to Shanna and had her laughing with his story of how he had started the garden, tired of all the browns of the Middle Eastern countries he had been visiting. He had spent one entire day digging and planting and watering, had gone inside for an hour and come out to find that Jake had not only dug them up all up but eaten every trace of every plant. Chase had been so furious he had tied the remains of a large plant around Jake’s neck and left him to wear it until it rotted. Jake, unlike any other dog, had not minded this at all and had, of course, won the battle.
Dinner was served up on a small patio, artfully set further back in the garden. Chase prov
ided New York strip, baked potato grilled in butter, sautéed onions and salad.
Shanna took one bite and then set down her fork looking at Chase in amazement. “You’re in the wrong business. This is without doubt the best steak I have ever had. You could make a fortune if you opened up this place back here as a restaurant, or maybe a weekend getaway. Why aren’t you eating any?” Shanna demanded.
Chase had piled his plate mostly with salad, his earlier meal with Joe having sated his appetite. He shrugged, “just not hungry, I guess.”
While Shanna ate Chase kept the conversation light, giving her a condensed version of his life story in response to her intermittent questions.
Finally she pushed her plate away. “I don’t believe you Chase Larsen. A place like this, you cook like that and you’ve never been married. You must be the world’s best kept secret from potential mothers-in-law.”
Chase laughed. “I was always too busy, but I did have a few narrow escapes. It helped being a biker. The leather and the attitude caused many a mother to drag their daughters from my clutches. Mothers prefer doctors and lawyers you know. Besides, most of the women who have visited here have done the cooking themselves. It is only a special lady who forces me to display my talents early. I had to get you to forgive me somehow.”
Shanna ignored this. She was not yet ready to let down her guard. She fed Jake a scrap of steak. “He’s not a Viking, your master, he’s Irish, listen to his blarney.”
Together they cleared the dishes and Chase showed Shanna the house pointing out bits and pieces of his past represented in pictures and furniture that he had collected over the years. It was a pleasant house, smallish, comfortably furnished, a mishmash of good antiques and unique items obviously from faraway places. It was definitely masculine and could do with a good cleaning but Chase made no apology.
“How about another glass of wine to let that dinner settle?” Chase asked.
Shanna didn’t hear him. She was staring at a picture of Chase with his arm round the shoulder of a petite Nordic looking blonde. “Chase? Is this Sophie?”
Chase came ambling over, bottle in hand. “Yes. That was taken about two years ago. I think it’s the last one of her that I have.”
“God what a small world. Chase I knew her, your sister.” Shanna couldn’t stop staring at the photograph. “She came into the office once for a consultation with Dominick. I remember because he threw her out. I’d never seen Dominick do that before. He literally threw her out and she looked so frightened. He wouldn’t tell me what it was all about, but I’ve never forgotten it, it was so out of character.”
Shanna replaced the picture she had been holding on the table and turned to look at Chase whose face had darkened with fury at the mention of Dominick’s abuse of his sister. “She was so lovely. You must miss her very much.”
Chase stared at the picture for a moment. “Yes. We were all we had, she and I. Did you ever find out why she was there? Was there a file on Sophie?”
“No.” Shanna shook her head. “I checked. There was nothing and Dominick refused to discuss it. I’m sorry.”
Chase poured two more glasses and took them out to the deck.
Shanna settled on the glider and sipped her wine. She twirled her glass for a moment thoughtfully. “Thank you for dinner. For a meal like that you are forgiven although it wasn’t necessary. Now, about business. I know that I promised Linda I would help, but frankly, I really don’t see what I can do. Not that I wouldn’t like to, especially since I knew Sophie, even if slightly. Small world isn't it? You already told me you have a private investigator working on the case, and certainly they can do anything that I could. What is it that you need from me?”
Chase watched the night sky as he responded. “I don’t really know. Linda didn’t realize I had Annie on the job when she enlisted you. She was just trying to help and once I saw you, of course, I encouraged her.” Chase grinned as Shanna made a face at him. “But there’s almost something fateful about this. You knew Sophie. Sophie knew your boss. Sophie worked for Myles Hickman. I think your boss was Hickman’s divorce lawyer. That puts you in the middle of this somehow. I don’t know how but I do know Hickman is the key.
Shanna frowned. “You asked me about this Myles Hickman last time we met and when I answered you, I was only half joking. Ethically, I’m bound like a lawyer to client confidentiality, and anyway, at the time I didn’t know he was a client.”
“So he is a client?”
“Yes. His wife is suing him for divorce. Dominick is representing him. I normally wouldn’t even consider talking to you about him but there is something strange going on.”
“How so?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never met the man, although I did have to go out to his house tonight. I’ve not even seen his file yet.” Shanna hesitated and then made up her mind. “I haven’t known you very long,” she paused and gave Chase an appraising stare from under her lashes before continuing with brutal frankness, “and I’m not sure I even like you very much but I do have this weird feeling that I’ve known you for years and Jake and Sophie. I want to help. I would want to help even if Linda hadn't asked me. If this Hickman character does have something to do with Sophie’s death then he should pay for it. I can’t promise you anything but I will look at the file and snoop around and see if I can come up with anything that is remotely off the wall. If I can’t though,” Shanna warned, “if everything looks like a normal divorce, then I won’t tell you anything, but maybe I can help in other ways. I could run license tags for instance, that’s pretty much public knowledge and it will keep the bill down a little from your PI firm if they don’t object.”
Chase stood up and pulled Shanna to her feet. He hugged her close and hard, then released her reluctantly. “Thank you.”
Shanna was startled. Caught off guard by the sudden emotional reaction of such a cool guy, she didn’t want to admit to herself how good that hug felt. Nor did she want to face the fact that there might be more to this man than met the eye. She looked at her watch, breaking the mood. She was damned if she going to be part of a casual seduction scene, although in truth, Chase was not guilty of that yet.
Twenty
Annie kicked off her sandals and tucked her feet under her. She could not shake this vague depression that had followed her lately. When she had spotted Chase earlier at the Mangrove Café, her spirits had lifted, but then he had bee-lined towards a stunning redhead. Normally Annie would have cut him off at the pass in her usual brash way and let the redhead fight for him, but tonight she had sat and studied the two of them together for a while, then withdrawn quietly back to her office, her only sanctuary.
Annie had been in love with Chase for years and she had fought long and hard to see some spark of that returned. It never was. Chase had an eye for the ladies and although he wouldn’t admit it, he wouldn’t be caught dead with someone who looked like Annie.
Chase did love Annie, but to him she was one of the brothers. No more than that. This had never bothered Annie because Chase was a bit of a prick with the ladies. He usually picked the empty-headed ones. He had a penchant for dancers, the kind that looked great, spent money but required little conversation and less attention, once they had learned their place. Annie had enjoyed a special place because Chase had always treated her as an equal.
Annie sighed. She had seen something different tonight. She must be getting old. She had never retreated before. This Sophie business had really gotten to her. Sophie and Chase were the only people in the world that Annie loved. Chase was tough. He could take care of himself and would get over his grief, after all he was a man but Annie had been hit hard. She needed to solve this one, for all of them, and by God she would.
Annie shook herself like a dog throwing off her rare and unwelcome introspection. Men were only good for one thing. Fucking. Other than that they were nothing but trouble as Annie well knew, and she wanted no more of them. She had never had
a problem getting laid. The only real interest she had in Chase, Annie told herself, was whether he was really any good. She had always wondered that.
Jumping off the sofa Annie ran over to her desk. She lit one of her long thin cheroots, tossed off her melancholy with a gulp of French brandy and went to work. The piece of gold-colored metal that Chase had dropped off to Rose earlier lay on her desk. She picked it up and rolled it over and over in her fingers, squinting at it. The initials DB were a logo. She was sure of that. She had seen it somewhere before, but where and what was it anyway? It was not gold, but some kind of thin, cheap metal, some kind of packaging device maybe? Annie held onto it, rubbing it between her fingers while she dug through the mass of paperwork on her desk.
Chase would have a fit if he knew how much she was into Sophie’s case for but he would never find out. Annie could afford it and it was her company, she would spend her money wherever she wanted.
She read through the autopsy and police reports again. She also had been out to Sand Hills where Sophie’s body was found and interviewed anyone who had been near that section of the golf course. She had come up empty. Annie had enlarged the picture of Sophie as she was found that night. Something was wrong with it. She kept it pinned to the wall in front of her desk where she could see it at all times. As the file grew, the puzzle of that picture would be solved. Annie was a great believer in old-fashioned detail work. Now, as for that logo, that wouldn’t take long at all.
Annie sighed again. In her present mood she would much rather go out and kick somebody’s ass. She grinned wickedly at the thought but reached for the power switch instead of her jacket. Annie had the most sophisticated software available. She poured some more brandy while the computer booted up. It was going to be a long night.
Twenty-one
Joe hadn’t been specific about how long the trip would take or whether Chase should bring any supplies, so the next morning, a habitual early riser, Chase packed the truck with a sleeping bag and a few camping supplies and was gone before dawn. Surprisingly, he had got the first good night’s sleep in weeks and was looking forward to doing something physical. Much to Jake’s disgust, he had been rudely awakened from his doggy dreams and unceremoniously dumped at the dog sitters. Chase knew he would pay for that one but thought it best to go it alone this time.
Yokche:The Nature of Murder Page 7