by J. D. Robb
She was everything Laine wasn't—disordered, impulsive, undisciplined, an emotional whirlwind. And exactly the sort of friend Laine had pined for throughout childhood.
Laine considered it one of those golden gifts of fate that Jenny was in her life.
"I'm starving. Are you starving?" Jenny dumped the bakery box on the counter, ripped open the lid. "I could hardly stand the smell of these things on the two-minute walk from Krosen's. I think I started to whimper." She stuffed the best part of a jelly-filled into her mouth and talked around it. "I worried about you. I know you said you were okay when I called last night, just a little headache, don't want to talk about it, blah, blah, blah, but Mommy worried, sweetie."
"I'm okay. It was awful, but I'm okay."
Jenny held out the box. "Eat sugar."
"God. Do you know how long I'll have to work out to chip this off my ass?"
Jenny only smiled when Laine caved and took a cream-filled. "You've got such a pretty ass, too." She rubbed her belly in slow circles as she watched Laine nibble. "You don't look like you got much sleep."
"No. Couldn't settle." Despite every effort not to, she looked through the display window. "I must've been the last person he spoke to, and I brushed him off because I was busy."
"Can you imagine how Missy's feeling this morning? And it's no more her fault than yours." She went to the back room, moving in the waddle/march she'd developed in the sixth month of her pregnancy and came back with two mugs. "You'll have some tea to go with your sugar hit. You're going to need both to fortify you for the onslaught when we open. Everybody's going to want to come by."
"I know."
"Vince is going to keep it quiet until he's got more figured out, but it's going to get out, and I figure you've got a right to know."
Here it comes, Laine thought. "Know what?"
"The guy's name? It wasn't the name on the card he gave you."
"I'm sorry?"
"It wasn't the name he had on his driver's license or credit cards either," Jenny continued excitedly. "It was an alias. His name was William Young. Get this. He was an ex-convict."
She hated hearing the man she remembered so fondly called an ex-con, as if it was the sum of him. And hated herself for doing nothing to defend him. "You're kidding? That little man?"
"Larceny, fraud, possession of stolen goods, and that's just convictions. From what I wormed out of Vince, he was suspected of a lot more. Like a career criminal, Laine. And he was in here, probably casing the joint."
"You're watching too many old movies, Jenny."
"Come on ! What if you'd been alone in here? What if he had a gun?"
Laine dusted sugar off her fingers. "Did he have a gun?"
"Well, no, but he could have. He could've robbed you."
"A career criminal comes all the way to Angel's Gap to rob my store? Man, that website really works."
Jenny struggled to look annoyed, then barked out a laugh. "Okay, so he probably wasn't planning on knocking over the joint."
"I'm going to take exception if you keep calling my shop a joint."
"But he had to be up to something. He gave you his card, right?"
"Yes, but—"
"So maybe he was hoping to sell you stolen merchandise. Who'd look in a place like this for hot goods? Like I told Vince, he probably did a job recently, and maybe his usual fence dried up or something, so he had to find a way to turn the goods, and fast."
"And of all the antique stores in all the world, he walks into mine?" She laughed it off, but there was a twist in her gut as she wondered if that was indeed the reason Willy had come to her door.
"Well, he had to walk into one, why not yours?"
"Ah . . . because this isn't a TV movie of the week?"
"You have to admit it's strange."
"Yes, it's strange, and it's sad. And it's also ten o'clock, Jen. Let's open and see what the day brings."
It brought, as expected, the gossip hounds and gawkers, but Jenny was able to exchange theories with a few customers while she rang up genuine sales. It was cowardly, but Laine decided to take the yellow feather and escape into the back with the excuse of paperwork while Jenny handled the shop.
She'd stolen barely twenty minutes of solitude when Jenny poked her head in. "Honey, you've got to see this."
"Unless it's a dog that can juggle while riding a unicycle, I need to update this spreadsheet."
"It's better." Jenny jerked her head toward the shop, stepping back with the door open.
Since her curiosity was piqued, Laine slipped out after her. She saw him, holding a green Depression glass water glass up to the light. It seemed entirely too delicate, too feminine, for a man wearing a battered bomber jacket and worn hiking boots. But he didn't fumble it as he set it down and picked up its mate for a similar study.
"Mmmm." Jenny made the same sound she made when contemplating jelly doughnuts. "That's the kind of long drink of water a woman wants to down in one big slurp."
"Pregnant married women shouldn't slurp at strange men."
"Doesn't mean we can't appreciate the scenery."
"Mixing metaphors." She elbowed her friend. "And staring. Wipe the drool off your chin and go make a sale."
"You take him. I gotta pee. Pregnant woman, you know."
Before Laine could object, Jenny nipped into the back. More amused than irritated, Laine started across the room. "Hi."
She had her friendly merchant smile in place when he turned, and his eyes locked on hers.
She felt the punch dead center of the belly, with the aftershocks of it radiating down to her kneecaps. She could almost feel cohesive thought drain out of her brain, replaced by something along the lines of: Oh. Well. Wow.
"Hi back." He kept the glass in his hand and just looked at her.
He had tiger eyes, she thought dimly. Big, dangerous cat eyes. And the half smile on his face as he stared at her had what could only be lust pooling at the back of her throat. "Um . . ." Fascinated by her own reaction, she let out a half laugh, shook her head. "Sorry, mind was wandering. Do you collect?"
"Not so far. My mama does."
"Oh." He had a mama. Wasn't that sweet? "Does she stick to any particular pattern?"
He grinned now, and Laine cheerfully allowed the top of her head to blow off. "She doesn't—in any area whatsoever. She likes . . . the variety of the unexpected. Me too." He set the glass down. "Like this place."
"Excuse me?"
"A little treasure box tucked away in the mountains."
"Thank you."
And so was she, unexpected, he thought. Bright—the hair, the eyes, the smile. Pretty as a strawberry parfait and a hell of a lot sexier. Not in the full-out, warmly bawdy way the brunette had struck him, but in a secret, I'll-surprise-you way that made him want to know more.
"Georgia?" she asked, and his left eyebrow lifted a fraction.
"Tagged."
"I'm good with accents. Does your mother have a birthday coming up?"
"She stopped having them about ten years ago. We just call it Marlene's Day."
"Smart woman. Those tumblers are the Tea Room pattern, and in fairly short supply. You don't often see a set of six like this, and in perfect condition. I can give you a nice price on the complete set."
He picked one up again but continued to look at her. "I get to haggle?"
"It's required." She stepped closer to lift another glass and show him the price on the bottom. "As you can see, they're fifty each, but if you want the set, I'll give them to you for two seventy-five."
"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but you smell really good." It was some smoky fragrance you didn't notice until it had you by the throat. "Really good. Two and a quarter."
She never flirted, never flirted with customers, but found herself turning toward him, standing just a little closer than was strictly business and smiling into those dangerous eyes. "Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Two-sixty, and that's a steal."
"Throw in the shippin
g to Savannah and have dinner with me and we've got a deal."
It had been too long, entirely too long, since she'd felt that little thrill swim through the blood. "Shipping—and a drink, with the option for dinner at a later time and place. It's a good offer."
"Yeah, it is. Seven o'clock? They've got a nice bar at the Wayfarer."
"Yes, they do. Seven's fine. How would you like to pay for this?"
He took out a credit card, handed it to her.
"Max Gannon," she read. "Just Max? Not Maxwell, Maximillian, Maxfield." She caught the slight wince and laughed. "Maxfield, as in Parrish."
"Just Max," he said, very firmly.
"All right then, Just Max, but I have a couple of very good framed Parrish posters in the next room."
"I'll keep that in mind."
She walked away and behind the counter, then laid a shipping form on it. "Why don't you write down the shipping information. We'll have this out this afternoon."
"Efficient, too." He leaned against the counter as he filled in the form. "You've got my name. Do I get yours?"
"It's Tavish. Laine Tavish."
He kept his smile easy as he looked up. "Just Laine? Not Elaine?"
She didn't flick an eyelash. "Just Laine." She rang up the sale and handed him a pretty gold-foiled gift card. "We'll include this, and gift wrap, if you'd like to write a message to your mother."
She glanced over as the bells rang, and the Twins came in.
"Laine." Carla made a beeline for the counter. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine. Just fine. I'll be right with you."
"We were worried, weren't we, Darla?"
"We certainly were."
"No need." With something like panic, she willed Jenny to come back in. The interlude with Max had driven the grief and the worry over Willy out of her mind. Now, it was flooding back. "I'll get those things I have on hold for you as soon as I'm finished here."
"Don't you rush." Carla was already angling her head so she could read the destination on the shipping form. "Our Laine prides herself on good customer service," she told Max.
"And certainly delivers. Ladies, you are a two-scoop treat for the eyes."
They blushed, in unison.
"Your card, Mr. Gannon, and your receipt."
"Thank you, Ms. Tavish."
"I hope your mother enjoys her gift."
"I'm sure she will." His eyes laughed into hers before he turned to the Twins. "Ladies."
The three women watched him walk out. There was a prolonged beat of silence, then Carla let out a long, long breath and said simply, "My, oh my."
Max's smile faded the minute he was out on the street. He had nothing to feel guilty about, he told himself. Having a drink with an attractive woman at the end of the day was a normal, pleasant activity, and his inalienable right as a healthy, single man.
Besides, he didn't believe in feeling guilty. Lying, prevaricating, pretense and guile were all part of the job. And the fact was he hadn't lied to her—yet.
He walked half a block down where he could stand and look back at the spot where Willy had died.
He'd only lie to her if she turned out to be part of this. And if she was, she was going to get a lot worse than a few smooth lies.
What worried him was the not knowing, the not intuiting. He had a sense about these things, which was why he was good at his work. But Laine Tavish had blindsided him, and the only thing he'd felt was that slow, sugary slide of attraction.
But big blue eyes and sexy smile aside, the odds were she was in it up to her pretty neck. He always went with the odds. Willy had paid her a visit and ended up splattered on the street outside her shop. Once he knew why, he was one step closer to the glittery end of the trail.
If he had to use her to get there, those were the breaks.
He went back to his hotel room and took the receipt from his pocket, carefully dusted it for prints. He had good ones of her thumb and forefinger. He took digital pictures and sent them to a friend who'd run them without asking irritating questions.
Then he sat down, flexed his fingers and went to work on the information highway.
He plowed through a pot of coffee, a chicken sandwich and really good apple pie while he worked. He had Laine's home address and, between the phone and the computer, the information that she'd bought her home and established her business on Market four years before. Previously, she'd listed a Philadelphia address. A bit more research located it as an apartment building.
With methods not strictly ethical, he spent more time peeling away the layers of Laine Tavish and began to get a picture. She'd graduated from Penn State, with her parents listed as Marilyn and Robert Tavish.
Funny, wasn't it? Max thought, tapping his fingers on the desk. Jack O'Hara's wife was, or had been, Marilyn. And wasn't that just a little too coincidental?
"Up to your pretty neck," he murmured and decided it was time for more serious hacking.
There were ways and there were ways to eke out tidbits of information that led to more tidbits. Her business license had been, according to law, clearly displayed in her shop. And that license number gave him a springboard.
Some creative finessing netted him the application for the license, and her social security number.
He stuck with it, using the numbers, intuition and his own insatiable curiosity to track down the deed to her house through the county courthouse, and now he had the name of her lender should he want to break several laws and hack his way to her loan application.
It would be fun because God knew he loved technology, but it would serve more purpose to find out where she'd come from rather than where she was now.
He went back to the parents, began a search that required a second pot of coffee from room service. When he finally pinpointed Robert and Marilyn Tavish in Taos, New Mexico, he shook his head.
Laine didn't strike him as a flower of the West. No, she was East, he thought, and largely urban. But Bob and Marilyn, as he was thinking of them, had a link to something called Roundup, which turned out to be a western barbecue joint, and they had a web page. Everyone did, Max thought.
There was even a picture of the happy restaurateurs beside an enormous cartoon cowboy with lariat. He enlarged and printed out the picture before flipping through the site. The attached menu didn't sound half bad, and you could order Rob's Kick-Ass Barbecue Sauce through the site.
Rob, Max noted. Not Bob.
They looked happy, he thought as he studied the photo. Ordinary, working class, pleased as punch to own their own business. Marilyn Tavish didn't look like the former wife—and suspected accomplice—of a career thief and con artist who'd not only gotten delusions of grandeur, but had somehow pulled it off.
She looked more like the type who'd fix you a sandwich before she went out to hang up the wash.
He noted Roundup had been in business eight years, which meant they'd started the place while Laine had been in college. Playing a hunch, he logged onto the local Taos paper, dipped into the archives and looked for a story on the Tavishes.
He found six, which surprised him, and went back to the first, in which the paper had covered the restaurant opening. He read it all, paying close attention to personal details. Such as the Tavishes had been married for six years at that point, and had met, according to the report, in Chicago, where Marilyn had been a waitress and Rob worked for a Chrysler dealership. There was a brief mention of a daughter who was a business major in college back East.
Rob had always wanted to own his own place, blah blah, and finally took up his wife's dare to do something with his culinary talents besides feed their friends and neighbors at picnics.
Other stories followed Rob's interest in local politics and Marilyn's association with a Taos arts council. There was another feature when Roundup celebrated its fifth anniversary with an open-air party, including pony rides for kids.
That story carried a picture of the beaming couple, flanking a laughing Laine.
; Jesus, she was a knockout. Her head was thrown back with the laugh, her arms slung affectionately around her mother and stepfather's shoulders. She was wearing some western-cut shirt with little bits of fringe on the pockets, which—for reasons he couldn't fathom—made him crazy.
He could see a resemblance to her mother now that they were side by side. Around the eyes, the mouth.
But she'd gotten that hair, that bright red hair, from Big Jack. He was sure of it now.
The timing worked, too well. Marilyn O'Hara had filed for divorce while Jack was serving a short stretch, courtesy of the state of Indiana. She'd taken the kid and moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Authorities had kept their eye on her for a few months, but she'd been clean and had worked as a waitress.
She'd bumped around a bit. Texas, Philadelphia, Kansas. Then she'd dropped out of sight, off the radar, a little less than two years before she and Rob tied the knot.
Maybe she'd wanted to start fresh for herself, for the kid. Or maybe it was just a long con. Max was making it his mission to find out.
3.
"What am I doing? This isn't something I do."
Jenny peered over Laine's shoulder at their dual reflections in the bathroom mirror. "You're going to have a drink with a great-looking man. Why that isn't something you do is best discussed with a therapist."
"I don't even know who he is." Laine set down the lipstick she held before applying it. "I hit on him, Jen. For God's sake, I hit on him in my own shop."
"A woman can't hit on a sexy guy in her own shop, where can she? Use the lipstick." She glanced down to where Henry was thumping his tail. "See, Henry agrees with me."
"I should just call the inn, leave a message for him, tell him something came up."
"Laine, you're breaking my heart." She picked up the lipstick. "Paint," she ordered.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into closing a half hour early. I can't believe how easy it was for you to talk me into it. Coming home to change—it looks obvious, doesn't it?"
"What's wrong with obvious?"
"I don't know." Laine used the lipstick, studied the tube. "I'm not thinking straight. It was that moment, that ka-boom moment. I just wanted to yank off his shirt and bite his neck."