Saving the Girl Next Door

by Susan Kearney

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  “You’re welcome, sweetie. You have any other leads besides my students?”

  He could have said any other long shots, but he didn’t. Obviously her father didn’t want to discourage her, and she loved him for it. He also hadn’t said one word about her whereabouts last night or asked any embarrassing questions about her and Jack. Yep, she’d lucked out in the parent department, all right.

  “We’re checking into the backgrounds of the two citizens who accused Piper,” Jack explained to her dad. “One of them died in a car accident two nights ago.”

  Her father raised a bushy gray brow. “Accident?”

  “That reminds me.” Piper wrote a memo to herself on the notepad. “I need to check with the department to see if they’ve learned anything new.”

  As their food arrived, her father stood. “I need to get to class, but if I can be of any help, you just let me know.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” She kissed her father goodbye, then dug in to her omelette.

  Jack stood and shook her father’s hand. “I don’t think you need it, but just in case, I’m going to have one of the Shey Group protect your house.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be sure to let my wife know, and you take good care of my girl.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jack sat back down and eyed Piper’s food, then helped himself to a slice of bacon. He gave her a sausage in trade. “You going to eat or call the department?”

  “I’m going to eat—before you finish my breakfast for me.”

  PIPER’S FRIEND INSIDE the police department had the day off, so they’d have to wait another twenty-four hours to hear more on whether Vince’s accident had really been an accident. No matter how much Piper tried to cover up her disappointment, he could see frustration in her eyes as they walked out of the café into the parking lot.

  Jack had been saving his news for the right time. “The computer found another name for Baby Cakes, Leroy’s mistress.”

  She frowned at him over the roof of the car. “You’ve been holding back on me?”

  “That’s what you get for distracting me,” he teased. “I was thinking about going to see Ms. Venus De Lux last night—”

  “Ms. Venus De Lux?”

  “Online she’s Baby Cakes. In real life she’s a stripper.”

  “With a name like that, she’d have to be.”

  “According to her tax return, she works at Club Passion. And she lives in Pelican Bay.”

  Piper opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. As always, she snapped on her seat belt. “A waterfront address? Pretty fancy digs for a stripper.”

  “She makes good money, but not that good.” Jack inserted the key into the ignition and started the car.

  “Let’s pay her a visit. Then I want to do a little computer shopping over at Hodges Computer Systems. They probably open at ten. Which should just give us time to talk to Venus first.”

  “Agreed.”

  Venus lived inside a luxurious community. Most of the homes were on the intracoastal waterway, but the most extravagant houses sat on the Gulf with their own wide sandy beach and spectacular view.

  Jack pulled through an open gate and parked under royal palms beside a sleek Jaguar. Stripping paid well, but not this well. He wondered if her extra income came from Leroy—but Leroy got his cash from his wife.

  On the way over, he had thought about the best approach to gaining Venus’s cooperation, and had decided to play it by ear. The woman who responded to the doorbell wore a shiny black halter top with pink lace sticking out of the bra, skimpy shorts that showed her navel and fishnet stockings. Her makeup must have been applied with a paintbrush. Obviously she’d just gotten off work. At about five foot six, the auburn-haired woman had big hazel eyes that sparkled with curiosity.

  “Venus De Lux?”

  “Yes?”

  “My name is Jack Donovan and this is Piper Payne. Could we talk to you for a few minutes?”

  “I’m not interested in buying any Bibles.”

  She started to shut the door, but Jack shoved his foot in the crack. “We aren’t selling anything, ma’am. We want to talk to you about Leroy.”

  Venus opened the door wider and frowned at them. “Is he in trouble?”

  “Not yet.” Jack said nothing more. He simply hoped her curiosity would do the rest.

  “All right. Come in. But I’m warning you that I’m not at my best after a hard shift. I danced all last night, and I was just heading to bed. Alone.”

  “We won’t take much of your time,” Jack promised, wondering about the emphasis on alone. Could Leroy be here? Or was he off on a family vacation as his neighbor had said?

  The house’s interior was done in black marble and slashes of gold and cream. A pair of ultrahigh heels were next to the front door where she’d kicked them off, probably the moment she’d come home. The interior was neat, albeit a bit gaudy for his taste, but still not what he expected from an exotic dancer.

  On stockinged feet Venus led them to a back porch where the Gulf breeze and an overhead fan cooled them. A fountain next to the swimming pool provided a constant background gurgle. “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Iced tea? Bourbon?”

  “We just had breakfast. We’re fine, thanks.”

  She poured herself a bourbon and raised the glass. “An after-dinner drink—for me. It was a long night. We have a big South American clientele.”

  “I used to work nights, too,” Piper told her. “But I got fired because Leroy lied about me.”

  Venus’s expression didn’t change at Piper’s revelation. “You’re the cop?”

  “Yes.”

  Jack didn’t know if Piper should have admitted that fact so quickly. He suspected that the cops hassled the strip joints as part of their civic responsibility. But Venus didn’t seem hostile.

  “And I don’t understand why Leroy lied about me,” Piper continued. “I was hoping you might know.”

  Venus swallowed her drink in one gulp, then set the glass down and swirled the ice with a long red nail. “All I can tell you is that he wasn’t happy about coming forward.”

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked.

  She shrugged. “It’s just a feeling. But I know men. He didn’t want his name in the paper. Leroy is a private man. Quiet.”

  “Do you know if he came into any money recently?” Jack asked.

  Venus snorted. “Just the opposite. The guy was broke. All the time. Actually, he owes me money.” She shook her head. “You’d think I’d know better than to get involved with a married man.”

  “We heard from a neighbor that his wife paid the bills,” Piper told her.

  “He claimed the wife was keeping him on a tight leash but…” She shrugged. “He seemed scared.”

  “Of what?” Piper asked.

  “I don’t know. Some men don’t talk all that much.” She shot Piper a sharp look. “Is Leroy in trouble?”

  “Two men accused me of taking bribes,” Piper said. “One of them just died in a car accident two nights ago.”

  Venus thrummed her long nails on the table. “Honey, you don’t look like the type who goes out for revenge. You aren’t threatening Leroy, are you?”

  “On the contrary. I want Leroy somewhere safe. I’d love to talk with him.”

  “But—”

  “I said it was an accident—but the police are still investigating. In the meantime, Leroy is now the only person who knows I’m innocent. I don’t want anything to happen to him—if you get my drift.”

  Jack offered Venus a card with the printed number of his cell phone. “If you think of anything else or hear from Leroy, could you give us a call?”

  Venus stuffed the card in her bra. “Sure. Be happy to.”

  But she didn’t look happy at all.

  After they left, Jack picked up the phone and made a call to his home office. He gave Venus’s phone number to the message taker. “I want every word she speaks on her phone, including her cell,
for the next forty-eight hours.”

  Piper looked at him and sighed. “In the last two days since I’ve been with you I’ve broken more laws than I have in my entire life.”

  He winked at her. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  Jack suddenly pulled her close and spoke softly in her ear. “Don’t turn around now, but Leroy’s peering out of Venus’s second-story window at us.”

  Chapter Eight

  Since Jack didn’t want Leroy to know that they knew he was there, Piper didn’t look up at the window. However, she didn’t understand why they were heading away from the house.

  She tugged on Jack’s shirt. “We should go back and talk to him.”

  Jack opened the car door and gestured for her to slide in. “He isn’t going to tell us anything—”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “—or he wouldn’t be hiding upstairs.”

  After she sat in the passenger seat, Jack shut her door with a firm click and walked around the car. Jack had a point, but she didn’t want to leave. After all these weeks, she wanted to face her accuser. She wanted to stare the man in the eye and ask him why he’d lied about her. Perhaps she was too emotional to think with Jack’s coolheaded logic, yet she felt as though they’d just given up.

  “We have nothing to lose by trying.”

  “Sure we do.” Jack started the car and drove out of the driveway. “If we confront him, he might bolt. And now that we know where he is, we can return any time we want.”

  “But we might convince him to talk, if we tell him what happened to Vince.”

  “Don’t you think Venus will tell him? And I gave her my cell phone number.”

  “I guess.”

  She supposed she was too accustomed to hauling a suspect into police custody and asking questions to readily accept Jack’s plan. She’d been good at her job, and her skills at interviewing suspects had become proficient enough that they’d often confessed. But without the power of her badge behind her, wringing a confession out of a guilty party was less likely. And Jack was right—Venus would tell Leroy about Vince’s supposed accident.

  “I’m having a hard time staying unemotional about this case,” she admitted.

  “I know.” Jack donned his sunglasses. “But don’t be so hard on yourself. Those kinds of reactions are only natural when it’s personal.”

  Did he have to be so understanding? She wanted a good argument right now. To let off a little steam. To steady her nerves. But as usual, he had to go and be difficult—by trying to soothe her, of all things.

  She glared at him. “Do women often turn to you for emotional support during your missions?” She wished she could see Jack’s eyes. Instead she had to settle for the slight tightening of his neck and jaw muscles.

  “My missions don’t often bring me into close contact with women.” His voice, curt, yet polite, told her as much as the tensed muscles in his forearms that he didn’t like the subject matter.

  “I wouldn’t exactly call this close contact, either, would you?” she needled him, watching his fingers clench the steering wheel. When he didn’t answer, she poked just a little harder. “What do you have against us being close, Jack?”

  He pressed his foot down on the gas pedal. “Are you deliberately trying to distract me?”

  “Yes.” She leaned over to look at the speedometer and let her breast brush against his arm. A tingle shot through her, warming her all the way from her nipple to between her thighs. Jack’s arm flinched. She kept her tone light and playful. “And you’re speeding again, Jack.”

  “Piper.”

  “Yes?”

  “You’re nagging. If I wasn’t driving, I’d shut you up with a kiss.”

  A kiss? She was getting to him. So she kept at it. “Nagging you is so much fun. And I haven’t had much fun recently.” She grinned. “You don’t want to deny me a little fun, do you?”

  “When your fun is at my expense, I do.” He practically growled. “I’m not made of steel.”

  “Good. Steel doesn’t give, and I want you to give in to me, Jack.”

  “You want total surrender?”

  “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

  As he swallowed hard, she watched his Adam’s apple bob in his throat. And was that a bead of sweat glistening on his upper lip?

  She sat back in satisfaction at a job well begun. Jack might be pretending right now, but she knew he wasn’t a patient kind of man when it came to sexual favors being offered. She could tell by the rasp in his throat and the tension in his shoulders that he now wanted her almost as much as she wanted him. Sooner or later, preferably sooner, he would yield to desire.

  And she would get what she wanted. His arms around her. His lips on hers. Just the two of them together flesh to flesh. And she would show him how good they would be together. She already knew they got along well. The spark between them just needed a little kindling to burst into flames.

  When Jack turned in to the parking lot of Hodges Computer Systems, she reapplied her lipstick, slicked back a stray hair and faced Jack with an equanimity that surprised her. She hadn’t played these kinds of games before, and yet, with Jack she seemed to know exactly what to do. She wasn’t holding back. For once, she knew what to say. She knew exactly what she was doing. And it felt good to go after what she wanted.

  Every time she knocked Jack off balance, she could feel her feminine powers growing and strengthening. She might be a late starter. She’d always assumed this kind of flirting wasn’t in her. But she’d been wrong. She’d been missing a required element to bring out her natural female tendencies; she’d been missing the right man.

  And for her, Jack was the right man. She liked almost everything about him, from the way he protected her, even against himself, to the way he smelled—earthy, yet clean. And she felt comfortable with him, whether hiding in danger behind a desk in a strange house or simply sitting beside him in the car in silence. Oh, yeah. He was definitely the right guy for her. Now all she had to do was convince him. And as much as she wanted to quickly clear her name and win back her job on the police force, she wasn’t ready for their investigation to end before she and Jack had more time together.

  She was glad that her father had quite a few students that she and Jack would have to interview. Together.

  Hodges Computer Systems sold more than just computers. The store had software, printers, scanners and peripherals as well as a repair and technical department. Rock-and-roll music blasted through a state-of-the-art stereo system. Youthful shoppers tested the demo models and helpful salespeople touted the newest technical marvels.

  “Aaron Hodges seems to have made quite a success of himself,” Piper commented. And somehow the success story didn’t fit her mental picture of a man who would plant a virus in the university computer system, burn down her father’s house to cover the evidence and then frame her because she was looking into the arson. While she’d met Aaron before—she’d interviewed at least fifty of her father’s former students—the man hadn’t left much of an impression except that he’d badly wanted to sell her a computer—one he’d constructed out of specialized parts. After she’d told him that she didn’t need to upgrade, he’d lost all interest in answering her questions about the fire that had destroyed her parents’ home.

  Maybe Jack would get more out of him. She put her arm around Jack’s waist and leaned in close. “If you pretend you’re interested in buying a computer system, Aaron will probably be much more eager to talk to you.”

  “Understood.” Jack put his mouth close to her ear. “I’m going to try and find out if he knows much about hacking.”

  His lips were close enough to fan his warm breath down her neck. She tucked her arm through his and enjoyed his hard length pressed to hers, and they entered Aaron’s office side by side.

  Aaron had a large office on the second story of the back of the store. Mirrored windows allowed him to gaze down at his domain witho
ut any of his employees knowing whether or not they were being watched. On his walls were pictures of him fishing, pictures of him hunting, pictures of him golfing. A picture of him in military fatigues. In all of them he was alone.

  Aaron might not have left much of an impression on her, but the reverse was not true. Jack had given his name to the secretary to gain entrance into Aaron’s office. But when Aaron saw Piper, not only did he recognize her, but his eyes narrowed and he frowned.

  He was about an inch shorter than her five foot six, and although he was young to own such a prosperous business, nature had not been kind. He might have a genius IQ, but his mousy brown hair was already thinning. He left the top longer on one side to comb over the bare spots in a ridiculous attempt to hide the obvious. In addition, he wore eyeglasses that slipped down his nose. Yet, in contrast, he’d donned an immaculate suit, shirt and tie, although he worked in an industry known for casual attire.

  Aaron didn’t even make a pretense at cordiality. He stood up behind his desk and glared at Piper. “What are you doing here?”

  “She’s with me,” Jack said. He stuck out his hand to shake.

  Aaron ignored him and spoke to her. “I heard you got fired.”

  Jack planted both palms on Aaron’s desk and loomed over the shorter man. “She brought me here because she said you could hook me up with a fast connection at a reasonable price.” He shrugged. “But if you can’t…we can go elsewhere.”

  Aaron wasn’t going for Jack’s bait. “I sell hardware and software, not connections. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m a busy man.”

  Piper figured the guy probably wouldn’t be so openly hostile if he had something to hide. But then again, they weren’t looking for the average criminal, either. Aaron had a Ph.D. in computer science. Her father said he was brilliant. Aaron might realize that most people would attempt to look innocent by playing nice, so maybe he’d done the opposite just to try to throw them off.

  She didn’t like the look of his eyes. Cold. Malevolent. She had to force her feet to remain still and not automatically step closer to Jack.