Coming Soon

by Jo Leigh

  “You’re lying.”

  “Why else would I be here?”

  Nan looked back at Sheila, who had put her hands down and was staring at Mia, just as confused as Nan to see her. Mia stole the opportunity to distance herself even further from Carlane and the others. “He’s never going to get out of jail, Nan. They know it was a mistake, a tragedy, in Mexico. They also know that he’s owned you ever since. You and Bobbi and Danny and even Peter Eccles. They know he set you all up. But they didn’t have any evidence, and now they do. He can’t talk his way out of this, or buy his way out. It’s over.”

  “She’s got pictures,” Nan said, her voice quieter, but just as scared.

  Mia looked at the man next to Sheila. “He’d be insane to run any pictures with the kind of lawsuit that’s coming up. They’d be in court so fast it would make your head spin. The only pictures they’re gonna run are the ones of Oscar Weinberg behind bars. And pretty soon, no one will even remember who Oscar Weinberg was.”

  Nan stared at her, and for a moment, Mia thought she’d done it. That she’d averted disaster and that Nan would drop the gun. But only for a moment.

  The woman, her face still as red as her hair, turned to Sheila. “We know different, don’t we, Sheila?”

  “What do you mean?” Sheila no longer looked confused. In fact, for the first time, she seemed more terrified than Carlane. “Nan, I didn’t—”

  “Shut up, you bitch!” Nan screamed. “They’ve got me for murder. You knew they would. You planned this whole goddamn thing! You were there, in Mexico. You know I didn’t kill that kid. Oscar did. The pervert wanted a young one, and he didn’t want someone willing. So he got me to lure her into that back lot. Gave me the gun.”

  “I’ll tell them Oscar killed her,” Sheila said. “I swear.”

  “Yeah? You going to tell them he killed your husband? That he was the one in the parking garage?” Nan buckled, but only for a second. This time, when she raised the gun, it wasn’t shaking at all. “Oscar Weinberg won’t go to prison. He’ll find a way to twist it, like he always does.”

  Mia stepped back. She’d tried, and failed, and if Bax didn’t get here soon…

  “Oh, Christ, I need to get out of here,” Nan said, mostly to herself. “Give me the suitcase.”

  Sheila nodded. “Take it. But you’re making a mistake. Without me, you’re going down. Together, we can still make this work. I swear, Nan, you’re not going to get a better offer.”

  “Not necessarily,” the man next to Sheila said as he distanced himself from her. “I’m sure we could tell your story the way it should be told. With the right pictures and details, we might be able to hear the whole thing in, say, Bali. Where they don’t honor U.S. extraditions. No trial. No jail. You could live in paradise for the rest of your life.”

  Nan blinked and her hands began to waiver. “I don’t believe you. None of you.” She turned abruptly toward Mia and lurched forward. Mia tried to run, but Nan grabbed onto her arm. “You. You’re my ticket out of here. You tell that boyfriend of yours I want a helicopter. I want money, enough to leave this fucking place. A plane. Got it? You tell him that.”

  “Why don’t you tell me yourself?”

  Mia spun around at Bax’s voice, jerking herself out of Nan’s grasp. He’d gotten there somehow without using the elevator, or at least this elevator. Now he stood with a clear shot at Nan, his weapon a whole lot steadier than hers, and no nonsense in his stare.

  “Lower your weapon. Nice and slow.”

  ia reached behind herNan shook her head. “I’m not going to jail.”

  “Not my call, Nan. That’ll be up to a judge and jury. But you are going to put that gun down because no one here’s going to get hurt. There’s a whole lot of police right outside these doors, Nan. Give it up. It’s over.”

  “I’m not the one!” Nan screamed. “It’s not my fault! I’m just the lackey. The one they call to do the dirty work.”

  She swung back until her ia reached behind hergun was pointing at Sheila’s chest. “She knows. She was part of it, and so was her husband. But Gerry, he was tired of dealing with her bullshit. Always drunk, always bitching at him. Ask her what the final straw was. Go ahead. Ask her.”

  “Nan, put the gun down and we’ll ask her anything you like.”

  She just stepped closer to Sheila. “Tell them what happened, Sheila. You saw those pictures of Gerry with Danny Austen, and it made you crazy. Gerry wasn’t sleeping with you, so he had to be doing someone else. You figured I was screwing him, right? But that was okay because he sure as hell wasn’t going to leave you for an extra. For a gofer.”

  Mia watched as Bax moved quietly and quickly in front of the group of hostages. He waved them back, and Mia helped usher them away from danger. Carlane first.

  “But you saw those pictures of Gerry in Danny’s bedroom, and that made you insane.” Nan moved even closer to Sheila. In another second, the gun would touch Sheila’s chest. “That was it, wasn’t it? You wanted him dead for screwing Danny, but let me tell you something, Sheila. Gerry wasn’t sleeping with anyone. He was just adding to Oscar’s collection of pictures. Setting Danny up the way he set us all up. He didn’t give a shit about Danny, or me, or you. All your husband cared about was the money.”

  Mia knew Bax would want her to leave, but she couldn’t walk away. Not when he was still in danger. However, she did ease her way to the wall where Nan wouldn’t have a shot at her.

  “So you had him killed for nothing, you stupid bitch.”

  “I wasn’t the one who killed him, was I? You were so desperate you would have done anything. But then, I knew that when I found out you were sleeping with Oscar.”

  “He made me!”

  “Nobody made you do anything. You were easy, that’s all. And too dumb to find your way out of a paper bag.”

  Nan had gone past livid to a trembling madness. She pushed the gun into Sheila’s chest and Mia braced for the shot, but no shot came. Instead, Bax tackled Nan broadside and they both went slamming into the wall. Nan’s gun hit the floor then spun under a table. Sheila fell to the floor as if all her bones had melted. And before Mia could even cry out, Bax was on his knees with Nan facedown. The handcuffs went on her as she wept like a child.

  Mia closed her eyes as she thanked God that Bax was safe. That Carlane was safe. That it was finally over.

  16

  BAX WAS FINALLY FINISHED at the precinct. Oddly, he hadn’t minded doing the paperwork, at least the part Grunwald couldn’t cover, except that it kept him from where he wanted to be.

  Mia was packing up the suite, getting ready to resume her life without murder and intrigue dogging her steps.

  It wouldn’t take him long to get to the hotel, where he’d speak to Piper, clear out his office, then join Mia in the suite.

  He’d wanted Boulder as badly as he’d wanted anything in his life. That dream had kept him going, kept him putting one foot in front of the other despite his disappointments. He’d looked forward to school, to the environment, the exchange of ideas, the stimulation that had been missing for so many years. As for writing, yeah, he wasn’t half bad. He had some online friends, people he’d never met in person but who’d become his sounding boards, his critique group, and they’d all been enthusiastic about his work. He knew at this point publication wasn’t a pipe dream. It was within his grasp if he gave it the time and attention it deserved. He’d planned himself a good life, all right.

  But the promise of a spectacular life beckoned.

  Of course, nothing was set. Not yet. There were big questions to ask and answer. Commitments to a way of life he’d never been good at. And then, there was Mia’s path. Would it, could it, merge with his?

  He pulled into the Hush garage, moving slowly past all the motor homes and production trucks. There were a few crew members milling about, but he knew that filming was stopped for the day. With the arrest of Oscar Weinberg, everything had ground to a halt. It was possible Coming Soon might nev
er come at all, and that seemed right to Bax. The whole thing had been tainted by greed and blackmail, not to mention murder.

  Sheila must be so pissed, knowing she’d had her husband killed for something he hadn’t even done. Or maybe it didn’t matter to her. Maybe she just had to have an excuse, any excuse, because taking responsibility for her own mistakes was simply too painful.

  He’d heard of worse things, lots worse. For years he’d been shocked at people’s reason for taking a life. But time and too many horrors had dulled his sense of outrage. He’d come to expect the worst in people instead of the best.

  Until Mia.

  He got out of the car and went into the hotel. It had become so familiar to him. He would never, on his own, have walked into this hotel, not even the bar or the restaurant. It wasn’t his style. He preferred coffee shops and little out-of-the-way diners, but for a fancy-ass hotel, this place wasn’t bad.

  Piper had sure surprised him with her treatment of Mia. Most bosses would have sacked her on the spot, but Piper had seen the truth of her transgressions and looked to the future. She’d seen what an asset she had in Mia. How she added value to the hotel in a way that would translate not only in goodwill but in repeat business.

  The staff he’d met had impressed him, too. He’d expected a bunch of snobs all vying for positions of power. What he’d found reminded him a lot of what he’d been looking forward to in Boulder—a convivial group of like-minded folks, all dedicated to achieving excellence. He wasn’t naive enough to think every employee at Hush was great, but enough were to make a real impact.

  In the borrowed office, he picked up the notepad he’d left there, then took great pleasure in dumping all those tabloids into the trash. That was it. He closed the door behind him and headed for the elevator.

  He should go see Piper.

  Piper could wait.

  He hit the button for the 14th floor, as anxious as a kid at Christmas to see Mia. To celebrate their victory and to find out if his hopes could become a viable future.

  He headed out quickly, but as he approached the suite his step faltered. It was quite possible he was way off base here. That Mia had been caught up in the drama of the case, not him. God, he hoped not.

  He opened the door, and there she stood by the window. She turned when she heard him. Her smile lit up the room. “Bax,” she said, as she came toward him. The scar on her temple still made him ache, made him sorry he’d been so easy on Nan.

  He pulled Mia into his arms and forgot about everything but the pleasure of holding this woman. He kissed her, and it was the closest thing to home he’d felt in years. She still smelled like flowers, like happiness. Just holding her made him feel absurdly lucky, as if he’d won all the lotteries there were.

  As the sun spilled into the room and the clock ticked away, he kept on kissing her, and she kept on kissing him back. There was desperation in her hands though, as she threaded her fingers through his hair.

  As difficult as it was, he pulled back. “Hey,” he said, looking into her amazing eyes. “We should talk.”

  She nodded, then she stepped away. “I guess it really is over,” she said.

  “There’ll be more. Probably a trial. A deposition for you, I would imagine. Lots of paperwork for me.”

  “You mean for Grunwald,” she said, giving him a quick glance before getting busy with the laptop.

  He walked over to the couch and sat, then patted the seat next to him. “Come on. Let’s talk.”

  She came to him slowly. The look on her face made him wonder if she was dreading what she was about to hear, or what she was about to say. Maybe it would be easier on both of them if he just said what he wanted. Yeah. That would be the exact right thing to do, if only he could remember how to talk.

  Mia watched the color drain from Bax’s face and her chest squeezed so hard she had to force the next breath. She touched his knee, grounding herself in the sturdy feel of him. He might be leaving, but not today. There was time enough to be depressed when he was actually in Boulder.

  “Here’s the deal,” he said. “I—” He closed his mouth, shook his head, then looked at her again, this time square in the eyes. “I’m in love with you.”

  As wonderful as it was to hear, his words weren’t exactly what she was hoping to hear. Not that she wasn’t over the moon that he loved her, but she kind of knew that already. She wanted to know what he planned to do about it.

  “You’ve changed things,” he said. “Changed me. Despite the fact that I’d be willing to walk on hot coals to keep you from getting hurt, this was the most satisfying case of my career. Not because I solved it, but because we solved it.”

  “We did?”

  Bax put his hand on her neck as if he meant to pull her into a kiss, but he didn’t. He just kept looking into her eyes. “It’s crazy. Working with you was everything I’d wanted when I first joined the force. I had this totally idealized version of what being a cop would be. It was based on fiction. Literally. I’d read so many detective stories, from Cadfael to Spenser to Poirot, and all of them had someone they could talk to, someone with a sharp mind, a quick wit, who volleyed ideas like Wimbledon champions until the case was solved, the bad guys thwarted. I was, let’s just say, disabused of that notion quickly. Painfully. I had to leave because every day I walked through the valley of my broken, childish dreams. And then you came along.”

  Mia was practically swooning at his words. “I’m your Beringar? Your Susan Silverman? Your…damn, who was with Poirot?”

  “Captain Hastings,” he said, grinning.

  “Because you know what?”

  “What?”

  “I’m in love with you, too. And I loved working with you on this case so much, I can’t even find words.”

  “Good, because I’m not finished.”

  “Oh,” she said, closing her mouth. Dying to hear the rest.

  “We’re good together, you and I,” he said. “I think that was my point. Not just when there’s a case to solve, either. I haven’t looked forward to anyone, ever, the way I look forward to you. So, depending on, well, you, I’m not going to Boulder.”

  Mia took in a deep draught of air because she had to be mature here, not just selfish. “What about the Ph.D? Teaching? Writing?”

  “The doctorate was never the real point. That was just to have some leverage in teaching. The writing, I can still do. It may not be under a big tree in a national forest, but who cares.”

  “And the teaching?”

  He touched the side of her face. “Teaching was just another way of searching for what’s been missing. And wouldn’t you know? The thing I was missing was you.”

  Mia wanted to fall into his arms and never, ever come up for air, but there were still things to be said. Asked. “Here’s what’s scary for me. I love the idea of being your companion, your partner, whatever you want to call it, but I don’t want to be responsible for your happiness. Just as I wouldn’t expect you to be responsible for mine. Do you really think we’re enough to make you happy being a detective? The paperwork is still going to be there. So are all the other things that made you want to leave.”

  “God, this makes me love you even more. I’ve thought about it a lot. There’s a magic here, between us, that extends beyond the bedroom. I’m not making that up, am I?”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “I never would have put it together, how great a team a concierge and a homicide cop could be. But we are. I don’t think I’ll be taking too much from you. I know you love your job, and I want nothing more than to support that. But you have to tell me if you don’t want to play.”

  “I do. More than you can imagine. I want to play. I want us to get our own whiteboard. I want to bug Miguel and Grunwald. I want to hear all the details, and I’m even willing to look at the icky pictures. Because there is nothing cooler in the whole world than you and me, working it together.”

  He sighed. “Sure now? There’s still time to back out. Boulder’s not going
anywhere. I can always turn to Plan B.”

  “I’m sure. I want to give this a go, Bax. With everything I’ve got.”

  “Thank God. I think I would have wept like a schoolgirl if you’d said anything else.”

  She stood, but only long enough to climb into his lap, to wrap her legs around him and lock her arms around his neck. “Who’d have thunk, huh? The concierge and the detective. Kinda sounds like the beginning of a beautiful partnership. Or maybe a big feature film?”

  “No more movies, please. I’ve had enough of those for a while. But the partnership? Oh, yeah. I can see that having a very extended run.”

  She leaned that little bit forward until her lips brushed his. “I don’t think the boss would mind if we stayed one more night in this suite.”

  “Especially if we don’t ask,” he said. Then he kissed her. And it was perfect.

  * * * * *

  ISBN: 9781472055972

  COMING SOON

  © Jolie Kramer 2013

  First Published in Great Britain in 2013

  Harlequin (UK) Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

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  All characters in this work have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.