by Rose Pressey
Now I was in business. There was just one little problem… and he was sitting at his desk on the other side of the wall.
I grabbed my purse and strolled out of my office. I tried to act casual, but I was probably doing just the opposite. After a couple steps, I jumped. Derek was standing beside my door, as if he had been waiting on me. He looked me up and down.
I stared at him, and then I said, “Okay, let’s go.”
I headed for the door. I didn’t even need to ask. I knew he had been looking at the Snapchat too. There was no getting around it. I could sneak and tell him I was going somewhere else, but he knew. Derek followed me down the hallway toward the parking lot.
“I’m driving this time,” I said.
“All right, if you insist.” Derek said.
“You know you love my driving.” I pushed the key fob to unlock my car. “How did you know where she was?” I asked.
“I figured you’d know, so that was why I was waiting by your door.”
“So you didn’t even look at the picture closely to see the name on the wall?”
“Well, I knew you would.” Derek smiled.
“You are so frustrating,” I said.
“But good frustrating. You love it.” He winked as he open the car door.
“I do not love it. And stop trying to be so charming around me. It’s not working.” I slid behind the wheel.
He shrugged and buckled the seatbelt. “I think it is working.”
I started the ignition. “I think it’s not.”
I backed out of the parking space, knowing that it definitely was working. I could deny it all I wanted, but his charms were getting to me. Being this close to him all the time was killing me. I couldn’t handle it. I wanted to attack him and kiss him all over his gorgeous body.
After a short drive with sexual tension in the car, we pulled up in front of the tattoo shop. I turned off the ignition and looked over at the place. “So what are we doing now?”
“We go in,” Derek said with a smile on his face.
“I know that, but they’re going to want to know why we’re there. Are you getting a tattoo?”
“I guess I could. Should I get your name and a heart on my chest?”
I couldn’t hold back a smile. “You’re serious?”
“Why not? I get names of things that I love, right?” Derek opened the car door.
“Did you just say that you love me?”
Derek closed the car door without answering. Had he really meant that or was he just teasing me as usual? I was so confused. I didn’t know what to say. If he hadn’t really meant what he said, then I would look stupid for asking again. I had to let it go, but now this would drive me crazy with wonder. Did I want Derek to love me? He probably meant he loved me as a friend.
Derek and I went up to the shop. He opened the door for me. The buzzing sound from the needle made me contemplate leaving right away. A few people were working and a couple of customers sat in chairs getting tattoos. I looked around for Regina, but she was nowhere in sight. She couldn’t get away that quickly. We hadn’t taken that long to get her. Alas, she wasn’t here. Although I recognized the woman across the room—she had been there in the Snapchat photos with Regina. I wondered if they were friends and if they’d come together.
“We need to talk to her,” I said with a motion of my head. “They’re friends.”
“I remember seeing her picture,” Derek said.
A big, muscular, tall guy came over to us, towering above us like a giant.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say.
Derek finally stepped in. “Yeah, I’m just looking for a tattoo.”
“Do you know what you want?” the guy asked.
“Not exactly. I’m going to look around at some of the stuff that you got.”
“Yeah, go for it,” the guy said. “Let me know.”
He walked away, leaving us alone again.
“I need to get over there and talk to her while you pick out your tattoo,” I said.
Derek didn’t bother picking out a tattoo. He walked over to the friend with me.
“I thought you were staying back there,” I said.
“I can’t trust you to ask all the questions,” he said.
“Oh, I can handle this just fine. You’re just trying to make me upset.”
“Would I do that, Cece?” he asked.
“Yes, you would.”
Finally, we reached the woman. Streaks of pink flowed through her blonde locks. Her black t-shirt figured the name of a band I’d never heard of. She wore black shorts exposing her legs where there would soon be a tattoo.
“Excuse me, but were you here with your friend?” I asked.
She looked at me strangely. She was sitting in the tattoo artist’s chair. “Yeah, she already got her tattoo and had to go. Why? Who are you?”
Now I had to think of something that was plausible. Something that wouldn’t make her suspicious. I knew she was going to tell Brianna about this whole encounter.
“I just happened to see her outside. She said she just got a tattoo and that I should come talk to you about yours. That’s the kind I want to get.” I pointed at her tattoo.
I couldn’t believe that I’d just said that. It sounded totally suspicious.
She gave me a half-hearted smile though and then motioned to her butterfly tattoo. “Yeah, it’s awesome, isn’t it?”
“Oh, it’s great. I love it. I think I’ll get something similar.”
“Yeah, good. You’ll love it,” she said. “You should have him do it.”
The guy nodded.
“Maybe I will,” I said with a smile.
I really didn’t want to get a tattoo today. When I glanced over, I noticed a phone sitting on the chair next to her. The friend had her cell phone in her hand, so I didn’t think it was hers. I had a suspicion that it was Regina’s. Now if I could just get my hands on it… I didn’t think that Derek had noticed it yet.
“I’m just going to go over here and look at some of these photos,” I said, pointing.
They nodded at me like, Yeah, whatever. You don’t have to tell us every move you make.
My actions probably made me look more suspicious. I was telling them every move I made. Anyway, as I moved away from her, I inched over to the chair and reached down to pick up the phone. I didn’t think she’d noticed because no one said anything.
Now I needed to check the messages for anything suspicious or any clues that might help us. I stood against the wall looking at the pictures. Derek was beside me.
“I found this phone,” I whispered. “I think it might be Regina’s. We have to check it now.”
I scrolled on the screen and checked her text messages. There were messages to Mark. At least that was the name on the screen. The phone number was different than the one I had for him. Regina was telling him she didn’t want to be involved any more. Involved in what?
“What do you think about that?” I asked.
“We need to find out from Mark,” Derek said.
“Unfortunately, you’re probably right. I don’t know how we’ll find that info.”
“We have this other number.”
“I’m going to take that number down on my phone,” I said.
“We can try to contact him later and find out who has this phone number.”
I took down the information and then eased back over to the chair. I put the phone back down. I didn’t want to be the one holding it if it rang or if Regina came back looking for it.
“Now we have to get out of here before we have to get tattoos,” I said.
“You don’t want me to get a tattoo of your name and a heart?” Derek asked.
“That’s totally up to you, but I really don’t think it’s necessary,” I said as I headed over to the door.
The big guy stopped us before we got out the door. “Aren’t you getting tattoos?”
“You
know, we really can’t decide what we want, so I think we’ll just come back later.”
He just shrugged and walked away. “Yeah, see you later,” he said over his shoulder.
They really weren’t worried about getting business, but that was not my concern. Derek opened the door and we walked outside.
“Well, that was certainly interesting,” I said as we walked over to the car. “She got a tattoo of a butterfly. I don’t want to get a tattoo.”
“Maybe someday you will want one,” Derek said as he opened the car door. “You know, maybe a heart with the name of the guy you have fallen in love with.”
I slid in behind the wheel. “And what would this name be?”
Derek closed the door. “You tell me.”
I ignored that question. “Anyway, I’m glad that we found that phone number.”
“I’ll take a look on my phone to see if I can find anything while you drive.”
“All right, but make sure to tell me everything. Don’t hide anything from me.”
“Of course not,” Derek said as he looked down at his phone.
Chapter 24
I had decided to go to the party being hosted by Chuck. Maybe while there I could track down some kind of clue. The shindig was being held at a casino. I was going undercover dressed in my Marilynn Monroe costume. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was snooping around. Of course I got looks, but everyone thought I had been hired for the entertainment. I just let them believe that, then I could infiltrate all of the conversations. I could possibly find out exactly what was going on with Paul’s death.
One woman came up to me and said, “Excuse me, but exactly why are you here?”
I gave her a confused look. “Actually, someone asked me to come as the entertainment.”
“Do you remember who this person was?” she asked.
Now I would have to give Chuck’s name and I hoped that she didn’t mention it to him before I was at least out of there. Later I could tell him I had no choice but give the woman his name. . Right now, I wanted to be undercover. Chuck had asked me to be discreet when I was there.
“Chuck Cochran,” I said.
“Oh,” she said. “Well, I suppose he knows what he’s doing then.”
“Yes, I guess he does,” I said with a smile.
She had walked away, but then I sensed someone else’s presence standing next to me. When I looked to my left, there was an Elvis impersonator with me.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I said.
It was as if I was a magnet to weird situations. I couldn’t believe I was hanging out with Elvis. A total fifties moment. Elvis didn’t even look at me. I studied his face for a moment. There was something familiar about him.
Then I realized who was standing next to me.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” I asked.
Derek looked over at me and smiled. “I’m just going undercover like you.”
“Are you following me around everywhere? How did you know I was going to be here?”
Derek shrugged. “I had a gut feeling.”
“You can’t stay. You have to go. This will be too suspicious,” I said.
“So a Marilyn Monroe isn’t suspicious, but Elvis is?”
“No, but an Elvis and a Marilyn together is, so you have to leave. Goodbye.”
Another man walked up to us. “Hey, I can really use you two for a party I’m doing next week. Elvis and Marilyn together.”
“I’m sorry, but we’re probably all booked up, so we can’t do it,” I said.
“Cece, we have all next week available and we’d be happy to do the party for you. Cece, give them your business card.”
I glared at Derek and then fished one of my cards out of my purse. How did he even know I had cards? I would get him back for this. It looked as if I was going to have to cancel this undercover mission for the night.
“Hey, how about you do a little bit of entertainment right now? We could use a song. Come on, Elvis.”
A few other people had gathered at this time, and they were encouraging Derek to put on a show for us.
“We want to hear you sing.”
Derek smiled nervously. “I’m really not prepared right now.”
“Well, you have to show me what you can do. I probably can’t use you next week if I don’t hear you sing.”
I snickered. “Yeah, Elvis, we don’t want to lose out on a gig. Sing for him.”
“This isn’t an audition,” Derek said.
“Oh, I think it is,” I said.
The crowd had really gotten larger gathered around us. The man had walked over to the microphone at this point and announced that Derek would be singing for everyone. I clapped, encouraging everyone to join along. Derek shook his head despite the chants for him to sing. I reached out and grabbed his hand. Luckily, he gave in and let me pull him in front of the microphone.
“I’ll get you for this,” he said.
“It’ll be totally worth it. I hope you know an Elvis song.”
Now I was nervous. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked him to sing. Oddly enough, he didn’t appear to be nervous, but I sure was. My heart thumped stronger and my stomach danced.
Derek took the microphone. Words slipped from his lips like smooth bourbon. The sound was rich, thick, and smooth. His voice covered my body and I was lost in the sound. Who knew he could sing like that? I was impressed.
The crowd was clapping and staring as Derek sang. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh at their enthusiasm. Derek was totally into it too. Of course when he finished the song they started chanting ‘encore’ and he immediately started into Jailhouse Rock. He was gyrating his hips and moving his upper lip at just the right time. If I hadn’t known better I’d say he had done this before. Was he hiding something from me?
When the crowd asked Derek for another song he politely declined. He walked over to me with a swagger and a big grin on his face.
“Okay, I’m impressed that you have that hidden talent. I had no idea you could do that, and I thought I knew everything about you.”
“That’s the problem. You think you know everything about me, but you don’t.” His expression changed.
It made butterflies dance in my stomach.
“I think it’s about time we got out of here,” I said.
“If you say so.”
I looked across the room and spotted the Mark. “Well, don’t look now, but Mark’s here.”
“You want to tell me what happened that makes you want to avoid Mark?”
“There’s only so much I can handle in the name of my career. I really don’t want to talk about Mark right now. I can’t deal with that.”
“Okay, take a deep breath,” Derek said.
“Just get me out of here,” I said.
Apparently the spell wasn’t going to stop any time soon. When I glanced over again, I saw Regina was with Mark. I hadn’t known that she was talking to him. “Look who’s with him,” I said.
Just then Mark and Regina left the room. Had they seen us? Maybe the costumes had thrown them off.
“We should follow them,” Derek said.
“Why were they here?” I asked as we made our way over to the door.
“I think that’s something that Chuck should answer,” Derek said.
“Something doesn’t seem quite right about this whole thing,” I said.
We slipped out of the door without anyone asking for more singing. Mark and Regina were walking down the hall. Derek and I hurried to catch up with them. Once they moved away from the conference rooms and into the main part of the casino it would be much harder to keep up with them. I was so preoccupied by chasing them that I almost forgot Derek and I were dressed as Elvis and Marilyn. Surprisingly, they hadn’t turned around and noticed us. That made me think they weren’t in that conference room looking for us. Were they looking for Chuck? Maybe his life was in danger too.
We rounded the corner.
“Where are they?” I as
ked.
“I don’t see them,” Derek said.
“I knew once they got out here we wouldn’t find them.”
“We’ll go to the main doors.”
It was the only option really. I’d rather take my chances that Mark and Regina had left the casino than search around in this crowd. Derek and I rushed through the people to the front doors. There was no sign of them there either. We stepped outside, but it looked as if they’d gotten away. “At least we tried,” Derek said.
“Tried isn’t good enough. Let’s go to my car,” I said.
One good thing, at least it looked as if the spell had worn off Mark. Derek walked me to my car. We stopped at the door and he opened it up for me. I paused before getting inside. When he accidentally touched my hand, my heart sped up. My insides tingled with his touch. I found it hard to breathe. Derek stared at me and stepped closer. I had a feeling he was getting ready to kiss me.
“Hey, you, step away from her right now,” the male voice yelled out.
Derek turned around to see if someone was in fact talking to him. Mark was walking toward us.
“Get in,” I said.
“No, we need to talk with this guy.”
“Not if he wants to fight,” I said.
As Derek moved closer to Mark, I jumped out to stop him. It wasn’t necessary though. Regina grabbed Mark and forced him into the car. She jumped behind the wheel and then they took off.
Chapter 25
I was sitting at my desk completing paper work on some cases that I had just wrapped up when I got a text message. I checked the screen and saw it was a text from Regina. I was surprised she had finally contacted me again. Especially after the incident with Mark. Something felt wrong about this whole thing. She wanted me to meet her to try on some clothing that she’d picked out. I knew that Derek was right outside at his desk. There was no way I was going to let him come with me and watch me try on clothing. That was simply out of the question. She gave me an address that I didn’t recognize.