"Are you okay, Michael?"
"I haven't felt okay in a long time. It's so damned unfair. Liliana should be here, living her life, making her dreams come true. Where the hell is she?"
"I don't know, but we're going to find out."
"Will we find out? We may never know what happened to her." He ran a hand through his hair, feeling overwhelmingly angry and discouraged.
"It's too soon to think that way."
Her optimism only pissed him off. "You may believe in miracles, but I don't, and I think that's what it's going to take. There are no clues here. There are no clues anywhere. We're chasing dreams just to make ourselves feel better."
"Michael—"
"No," he said, putting up his hand. He saw the plea in her eyes to not give up, but he couldn't go along with that plea, not now, not in this moment, standing in Liliana's bedroom, in the home she would probably never see again. "I have to get out of here."
He was out the door before she could utter a word, and he didn't stop moving until he'd walked past the car and down the block.
* * *
Alicia stared after Michael, not sure whether she should go after him or give him a minute. She chose the latter.
Michael needed time to get his head together. Hopefully then he would see that it was too soon to give up. They'd only just arrived in Corpus Christi. There were lots of people to talk to. They weren't at the end—at least not yet.
She walked over to the dresser and opened one drawer after another. The police had no doubt come here during their investigation, but nothing seemed too messy. Whoever had looked around the apartment had not done a very thorough search, or they'd been extraordinarily neat, which didn't seem that likely.
For a moment, she felt a little of Michael's discouragement. Maybe the police had only done a cursory search because there was absolutely no link between Liliana's life in Texas and what had happened in Miami.
Or…they hadn't looked closely enough.
She took the box of photos into the living room and set it down on the coffee table, then moved into the kitchen. The refrigerator had been cleaned out. Maybe the landlord had done that.
She opened the cupboards and found boxes of cereal, tea, flour, sugar and canned soups. It was strange to look at someone's life from the outside, think about who they were, how they lived. One minute they were there and the next they were gone.
Liliana obviously hadn't left Texas thinking she wouldn't be back.
As that thought ran around in her head, she wondered where Liliana would keep her work if she brought it home with her. There was no obvious briefcase or computer anywhere in sight.
She walked back into the living room. She tried to see the details, to consider whether there was a clue here in this apartment. Lieutenant Hodges had said that Liliana would have been a good spy, that she was a good judge of people and always dug deeper than anyone else. So where were her notes? Work made the most sense. On the other hand, she had a feeling Liliana took her work home.
There would have been no reason for her to hide her notes. She lived alone. She could have left anything she was working on in plain sight, unless she wanted to hide something away. But Liliana hadn't acted like a woman who was hiding anything. She'd gone to Miami, participated in pre-wedding events, and never mentioned any problems to anyone in her family.
So she hadn't been afraid, but would she still have been careful? Would she have tucked her notes away somewhere?
Alicia let out a sigh. She was trying too hard. Michael was right. There was nothing here.
Her phone rang, jolting her out of her reverie. She expected to see Michael's number. He probably wondered what the hell she was doing and why she hadn't left the apartment yet, but it was her mom's number. She thought about answering but then let the call go to voicemail. She wasn't ready to deal with her mother just yet.
As she slipped the phone back into her bag, her gaze caught on the bookshelf.
Her mom used to hide spare cash in books. She'd said no robber would ever go looking for anything in a book.
It was a long shot, but the memory drew her over to the shelves. She went through the books but quickly saw there was nothing unusual. So much for that brainstorm. She might as well go find Michael. They needed to move on with their day.
As she went to pick up the box of photos from the coffee table, her gaze fell on a much older book sitting on top of a pile of magazines in a basket next to the couch.
It was Emma by Jane Austen—Michael's gift to Liliana.
She picked up the old book and opened the cover to check the copyright. That's when she saw a piece of paper holding a place about midway through the book. She pulled out the paper, her heart beginning to race as she saw Liliana's handwriting. Maybe they were going to get lucky after all.
* * *
Michael paced up and down the sidewalk. Where was Alicia?
He appreciated the fact that she'd given him a little time to regroup. Seeing that picture of Liliana at their First Communion had hit him hard, but now he wanted to get on with things, figure out what to do next. He was about to go back to the apartment when he saw Alicia come jogging down the sidewalk with the box of photos in her hands.
Her face was lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.
"I found something," she said, coming to a breathless stop in front of him. She put the box down on the ground and handed him a piece of paper. "Take a look at this."
He took the paper from her hand. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what he was looking at. "What—"
"It's notes from Liliana's case. Look at the list of names and notations," she said, moving next to him so she could read them aloud. "Cheryl-sister, doesn't believe affair; BR-ex-husband, temper, jealous? PS-frustrated during court testimony; housekeeper's son-professor cheap; teaching assistants not fans-professor arrogant SOB; Randolph-no friends, why?"
Alicia looked over at Michael, who was studying the paper. "This is a list of who she spoke to regarding the case."
"And where she went," he continued, pointing to the next column. "MDT-fake willingness to help—whatever that means; Flight Deck-meeting place with a question mark—sounds like she was trying to figure out where the professor met his lover."
"There's another reference to the bar on the back," she said as he flipped the paper over.
"Bartender witnessed marital fight days prior," Michael read. "That's interesting."
"And what about this?" she said, tapping her finger at the next line. "Housekeeper overheard loud argument with male outside the house three days before murder." She looked at Michael. "Who was that?"
"Beats me." He sucked in a breath as his gaze drifted toward the bottom of the page. "Did you see this? MDT-RP, Will Jansen," he read aloud. "Then there's an arrow to my name."
"Looks like she did want to talk to you about your grandfather and MDT. I don't know what RP stands for? Maybe someone in the company?"
He stared at his grandfather's name, reeling from the fact that he now had some concrete proof of why Liliana had wanted to talk to him. But what did his grandfather have to do with anything? As far as he knew, Will Jansen had never set foot in Texas. And he was about as low-tech a person as you could find. He barely answered emails. What would he have to do with MDT?
"Where did you find this?" he asked, looking up from the paper to meet her excited gaze.
Alicia gave him a smug look. "Tucked between the pages of a second edition of Emma."
"Are you serious?"
"It was sitting on top of a pile of magazines next to the couch. I'm guessing Liliana was making notes and either used the note page as a bookmark or just stuck the notes in there so they wouldn't get tossed out accidentally."
"How did you think to look in the book?"
"My mom used to hide money in books. I looked through Liliana's bookshelves and didn't see anything hidden away. Then I saw Emma by the couch. I remembered your sweet story, and I actually just opened it up to see the copyr
ight date. I wasn't really expecting to find anything, but I did."
"That's amazing. You're amazing," he said, truly in awe of how Alicia kept finding her way back into the mystery no matter how many doors slammed in their face.
"I am pretty good," she said with a proud smile. "I just found us some more clues to follow."
"You certainly did." He stared into her bright, sparkling eyes and felt an incredible pull. This woman was turning his life upside down, taking him out of the darkness and moving him toward a very hopeful light. His nerves were on fire. His pulse was pounding. And he wasn't thinking about the notes anymore, but about the woman standing in front of him, the woman with the heart of a lion and the mouth of a goddess.
He couldn't fight it anymore. He didn't want to fight it anymore.
He folded the paper in his hand, shoved it in his pocket, and then stepped forward, slid his arms around her waist and kissed the look of surprise right off Alicia's sweet, sexy lips.
Thirteen
Michael was kissing her!
Alicia couldn't quite wrap her brain around what was happening. It wasn't just a brief kiss of gratitude. It was filled with emotion and heat.
The sparks that had been smoldering between them burst into flame, and after her initial surprise, Alicia found herself sinking into his kiss. She loved the feel of his mouth on hers, the strength of his hands on her waist. He held her as if he never intended to let her go.
As if she was his, and he was hers…
But he wasn't hers.
And this kiss was just an emotional release, a spontaneous idea…something…
Michael lifted his head, his breath coming hard and fast, his light blue eyes glittering with what looked like hunger.
Her breath caught in her throat. There was no denying the desire in his gaze, the feeling that he needed her as much as she needed him. Licking her lips, she almost went back in for another kiss, wanting to feed that hunger, but Michael abruptly stepped back. It happened so quickly she almost stumbled, but somehow she managed to stay on her feet.
He ran a hand through his hair, his gaze troubled now. "Alicia, I'm—"
"Don't say you're sorry." She put up a hand to ward off the apology she knew was coming. "It's really awkward when someone kisses you and then says they're sorry, they didn't mean it."
He stared back at her, and even though he hadn't said the word, the apology was still in his eyes. "It's not that I didn't mean it," he said.
"Was I a stand-in?" she couldn't help asking.
Shock moved across his face. "What? You mean for Liliana? No!"
His emphatic denial killed that little niggling worry.
"Alicia, I told you that Liliana and I had a brother-sister relationship." He paused. "You asked me why I need you to know that. This is why. I've been attracted to you since we met in the park. There's something about you…" He shook his head in bewilderment. "You're honest and brave and sexy as hell, and I find myself thinking about taking you to bed when I should be thinking about the case we're working on."
She licked her lips at his direct words, her entire body lighting up at the idea of going to bed with him. How could that be? She didn't jump into bed with men she barely knew. But Michael was different. She'd learned more about him in two days than she'd learned about her last boyfriend in three months.
"We can't do this now," he said, digging his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, his expression now grim and determined. He'd made a decision and he'd put his walls back up. She was not scaling those walls today.
Not that she wanted to. Well, she did want to, but she couldn't. Michael was right. This wasn't the time.
"Are you going to say anything?" he asked, his words tinged with worry as his gaze searched her face for a reaction.
"You know I feel the same connection with you. I keep telling myself it's just the situation. We're both running on too little sleep and too much emotion. This isn't real life, so what we're feeling can't be that real." She paused. "But it feels real."
"Yeah," he said softly, meeting her gaze. "It feels like something—important."
A knot grew in her throat at his words. In the past she'd been a little afraid of feelings that were important. She'd made a habit of keeping relationships light, because love terrified her more than anything.
"That scares you, doesn't it?" he asked, cocking his head to the right, a bit of wonder in his gaze. "The girl who chases lightning is afraid of love."
"We're not talking about love; we're talking about sex," she said, feeling a little desperate to remind both of them of that fact. "And we shouldn’t be talking about either one. We should be concentrating on the note I just found."
"You didn't deny that you're scared of love."
"And you're not scared of love? I don't see you having a lot of serious relationships."
"A counterattack is always a good defense."
"We're not talking about this now. Let's move on."
He hesitated for a moment, then said, "All right. Let's get in the car. I'll call my grandfather, see if he can shed any light on his appearance in Liliana's notes."
"Good idea," she said with relief.
Michael called his grandfather while she settled into her seat and fastened the seatbelt.
"He's not answering. I'll leave a message." He paused, and then said, "It's Michael. Can you call me back as soon as you can? I have a question for you." Michael set the phone down on the console. "He's probably on the golf course. He has a regular Monday game."
"Does that mean he's retired?"
"No, it just means he plays golf on Mondays and Fridays and usually the weekend," he said with a smile. "But he still goes into his office, and he definitely knows what's going on in his company. I don't think he'll ever retire. He's seventy-six years old with no sign of slowing down yet."
"What's your grandmother like? I've never heard you speak about her."
"She's quiet, always lets her husband do the talking. She's probably what you would call a corporate wife. She has spent her entire life supporting her husband's business efforts. She's always entertaining people, participating in charity fundraisers, that kind of stuff."
"I wonder what kind of relationship your mom had with her."
"My father said that they weren't close. My mother was more of a free spirit. She really didn't have much in common with either of her parents."
As Michael finished speaking, her phone rang. "Speaking of parents," she said with a sigh.
"Your mother?"
"Yep."
"Go ahead and answer it."
"I don't know." She hesitated long enough that her phone went to voicemail.
Michael sent her a thoughtful look. "What's the problem? We can see her for a few minutes. We can make time for your mother."
"She'll ask a lot of questions about why we're here and as soon as lightning comes up, you'll find out just how crazy she thinks I am."
"I don't need her opinion for that," he teased.
She made a face at him. "It's not like you were dying to talk to your dad the other day, so you should give me a break."
"Hey, you can do what you want. I'm just saying that I would support any attempt you want to make to see your mother. What does she do anyway? Does she work?"
"Yes, she works at the university," she said idly, as she considered whether or not to call her mom back.
"Hold on."
Michael's energetic words brought her gaze to his. "What?"
"Your mother works at Texas A&M?"
"Yes, she's in admissions." As soon as she finished speaking, she realized what she'd just said. "She probably knows Professor Bryer."
"I would think so. You need to call your mom back. Sorry, Alicia, but we need to speak to her. She might be able to give us information about the case. You're just going to have to suck it up."
She raised an eyebrow. "Suck it up? That's the extent of your pep talk?"
He gave a careless shrug. "I didn't know how el
se to put it."
She knew he was right; she just didn't like it.
"Fine, I'll call her back. But I know I am going to regret this." Pulling out her phone, she punched in her mom's number. "I'm not going to give her the whole story yet. We should do that in person."
"Good idea. Let's get in the door first."
Her mother answered on the second ring. "Alicia?" Joanna Monroe said. "It's about time you called me back."
"Sorry. What's going on?"
"Your sister just got a fabulous new job. She's going to be working for Senator Dillon. She's moving to D.C. next month, and I want to have a party for her. I know it's far for you to come, but I think you should make the effort."
"That's great." Her sister Danielle had worked very hard on the senator's election campaign, so it was nice that she'd been rewarded with a good job. Dani had been trying to move up the ranks for the last several years. "What's the date?"
"Probably the last week in October."
"I'll see if I can come," she said.
"I want a yes, not a maybe."
"We'll talk about it." She saw Michael giving her a pointed look and knew she'd stalled long enough. "I'm actually in Corpus Christi right now."
"What?" her mother asked in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"It was a last-minute trip. That's why I didn't call until now. I was wondering if you're free, if I could come by and see you."
"Well, of course. When?"
"Are you still at work?"
"I'll be leaving in a few moments. I should be home in half an hour."
"We'll come by the house then."
"We?" her mother queried.
"I'm going to bring a friend with me."
"A female friend or a male friend?"
"His name is Michael Cordero. We'll see you soon." She ended the call before her mother could ask any other probing questions. "My mom will be home in thirty minutes."
He nodded approvingly. "Good. Let's go back to the hotel and check in with the front desk to see if Lieutenant Hodges has left us anything. Then we'll head back out."
"Before we meet with my mom, we need to figure out how much we want to tell her. She's going to ask questions."
Beautiful Storm (Lightning Strikes Book 1) Page 13