CHAPTER 9
Lily froze. Even her heart stopped beating. Then Luke’s hand whizzed past her and punched Max in the face, sending him stumbling backwards to fall on his well-cushioned ass, blood streaming from his nose. Prue screamed. The scream grew higher and louder when Luke stepped out from the suits.
“Hey,” he said in a commanding voice that somehow managed to cut through her ear-splitting sound even though it was pitched an octave lower.
She stopped screaming and started throwing shoes at them instead. Lily caught a red stiletto as it flew past her head. “Stop!” She ducked under a boot. “It’s a crime to throw around Manolo Blahniks.”
“It’s a crime to break into people’s houses and assault them.” Prue threw shoe after shoe like a tiny whirlwind with her blonde hair swirling around her. Until she ran out of shoes.
“We’re not going to assault anyone,” Luke said.
Prue put her hands on her hips and looked pointedly at her husband bleeding all over the chaise.
“Anyone else,” Lily said. “Look, we’re just going to, uh, leave quietly.” What else could they do? The gig, as they say, was up. The stakeout had been a failure. She was screwed.
“We’re not leaving,” Luke said.
“We’re not?” Lily said just as Prue said, “I’ll call the cops.”
“The phone’s out there and you’re in here.” Luke moved to stand in front of the entrance to the bedroom. Prue glared at him for a moment then her predicament must have sunk in because fear flared in her eyes, bright and fierce.
Lily looked at Luke and mouthed “Badge”. He shook his head and she frowned at him.
“Go sit with your husband,” he told Prue.
Prue, a small, middle-aged woman with a face as smooth as a porcelain doll’s, obliged. “Max, why don’t you do something,” she hissed.
Max held a handkerchief to his nose. “Because there’s nothing I can do. Look at the size of him.”
“Offer him money.”
He snorted. “Got any on you?”
Prue made a huffing sound and crossed her arms.
“Lil,” Luke said, “why don’t you have a look for the fake jewelry in that closet we were hiding in. That is what you were looking for?” he asked the Haywood-Smiths.
Lily knelt on the floor at the closet door and counted ten pairs of men’s shoes stashed beneath the suit jackets. Not many but that was just as well since the pigeonhole shelving on the wall were all filled up with Prue’s. She checked the shoes at the back first since they were likely to be the least used. Bingo! She pulled out a small black velvet pouch from a pair of black runners.
She tipped the contents on the floor. Rings, bracelets, brooches and necklaces sparkled beneath the bright lights of the dressing room. According to the Haywood-Smiths earlier conversation, they were all fakes.
“I don’t understand,” Lily said, staring at the jewelry. “Why were you hiding fakes for an entire year? And why are you going to hide them somewhere else now?”
“Fakes?” Prue said. “Why would I have fake jewelry when I can have the real thing?”
“You’re lying,” Luke said, casual as can be from the doorway where he stood like a sentinel, his arms crossed and his expression thunderous. “They’re fake. And you hid them just the same as anyone would hide their most valuable jewelry.” He met Lily’s gaze. “Almost anyone.”
Yeah, yeah, point taken Mr Bigshot Cop.
“I do not own fake jewelry,” Prue said again.
“Yes, you do,” Luke said. “Ever since the real stuff was all stolen last year."
By Lily’s father, he could have said but didn’t.
“Since the insurance company would only pay a jeweler direct for replacements and not give you cash,” he went on, “you did a deal with your jeweler and had him make up fakes, costing him and you almost nothing. How much did he keep out of the payout for his co-operation? Half?”
Max and Prue sat on the chaise in sullen silence. Lily listened to Luke as he outlined the scheme and she realized how naïve she had been not to have figured it out already.
“Then you took your half of the money, kept the fakes and hid them as if they were the good stuff. Although not very well I might add. But then you were probably hoping another theft would one day occur and lo and behold these fakes get stolen too. Is that right?”
Prue made a snorting sound but said nothing.
“Except you were broken into the other night but nothing was taken. No problem since no one knew that. You thought you could make another claim, this time on the fakes. That’s why you were getting rid of them tonight. When were you going to report this jewelry as missing?” He nodded at the stuff on the floor. “Tomorrow after you conveniently remembered to look for it and found it also gone?”
“And tonight you were going to give it to your brother for safe-keeping while the insurance company and the cops investigated,” Lily said, shaking her head. Wow, these people were unbelievable. At least her dad was an honest thief and everyone knew what he was. The Haywood-Smiths were complete frauds, hiding behind a façade of respectability. “You were also going to give him the necklace I returned two nights ago since you couldn’t have it lying around after having it already reported stolen last year. That ruby necklace was the only fake piece in the entire lot from the original theft, wasn't it?" It must have been or her father would have sold it along with the rest.
Prue and Max stared at her. “You’re the thief?” Prue said.
“She didn’t steal anything,” Luke and Max said together.
“No,” Prue said, probably realizing there was no point in continuing to lie. “But you’ll be going to jail anyway.”
“No, she won’t.” A note of danger threaded Luke’s words. Prue winced.
Lily waited for him to draw out his badge, arrest them for insurance fraud then look for the necklace in Prue’s purse. It was the evidence they needed to get her free.
But he didn’t.
“Uh, Luke,” she said, “can we talk. Out there.” She led the way into the bedroom where they stood far enough from the Haywood-Smiths to talk in private but still keep them both in their line of sight. “Why aren’t you arresting them? We have the evidence now.”
He kept his focus on the Haywood-Smiths sitting at opposite ends of the chaise. “Because it’s not a good idea.”
“Of course it’s a good idea! It’s what we came here for.”
He hesitated, his gaze flicking to her then back to the dressing room. “We need another plan.”
“What? Why? You’re a cop and this is an official investigation. What other plan is necessary?”
He said nothing and didn’t look at her. Not good signs. She must have got it wrong. “Luke? This is an official investigation, isn’t it?” When he didn’t answer her, she said, “Oh-kay. You’ve gone rogue.”
His gaze slid to hers, brows raised. “Rogue?”
“Your boss didn’t authorize this did he?” When he said nothing, she swore. “What the hell are you doing? You’ll get fired! The Haywood-Smiths will see to it. Damn it, are you an idiot?”
“A simple thanks would suffice.”
“No. No way. Do not blame your stupid choice on me. I—."
“It wasn’t stupid. And I’m not blaming you.” He touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “I don’t blame you for anything, Lil. Okay?”
She offered him a small smile even though her heart was racing and her breathing erratic. Damn it, why did he have to go all tender on her? “Okay. But why are you doing this?”
He turned to her fully and put both hands on her cheeks, cradling her face. “Because I’ll do anything to keep you out of jail, no matter what the price. Even if you did do the crime.” The corner of his mouth tugged up in a smile and he turned back to keep an eye on the Haywood-Smiths. “Now stop worrying about my job and try to think of a way out of this.”
She didn’t know what part of that she should focus on first. Then her attentio
n snapped into place and she could think straight again. “You don’t even have a plan? Are you crazy?”
“Probably.”
She wanted to knock some sense into him since he’d apparently lost it somewhere, but then she calmed down and thought through their predicament. They were alone. Going to the cops, or the insurance company (who would ensure the cops got involved), would spell the end of Luke’s career. She didn’t want that to happen. His career might have been the reason for their break-up but it was important to him and she didn’t want him to lose it because of her.
She sighed. It was hopeless. Thank God the Hartford’s-Smiths didn’t know he was a cop. If they did, they would make sure he was fired first thing in the morning.
Whoa. They didn’t know.
She smiled at Luke. “I’ve got a plan.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
“Follow my lead,” she said, spotting Prue’s purse on the bed and picking it up.
“Not a good answer.”
She found the fake ruby choker and held it up for him to see. “No, but it’s what you deserve after leaving me in the dark.” He didn’t look like he agreed with her logic but too bad. The sooner this was over the better. “Just don’t act like a cop.”
Back in the dressing room she spoke to the Haywood-Smiths. “Tomorrow morning, you are going to drop all charges against me for the break-in.”
“Don’t be absurd.” Prue tossed her head. “You broke into our house. We will not drop the charges.”
“Since I didn’t steal anything, I think that’s fair,” Lily went on as if Prue hadn’t spoken. “And since you two are lying, thieving scum then I think it’s doubly fair.”
“We are not thieves,” Max said, getting to his feet and thrusting out all of his chins. His nose had stopped bleeding but dried blood covered the lower half of his face so he looked like a sated vampire.
“You stole from your insurance company at least once,” Luke said, pulling himself up to his full height beside her. “That’s theft.”
Max puffed out his chest, looked Luke up and down, then must have decided he was completely out-muscled and sat down.
“And I think your insurance company would love to know about it.” Lily picked up the fake jewelry lying on the floor and stuffed it back into the pouch. “We’ll take this with us and use it against you. I’m sure your insurance company would love to have these valued by a reputable dealer.”
“We don’t care what you tell our insurance company,” Prue said, poking out her pointy chin in an imitation of her husband. “We’re excellent customers. We have several policies with them. They’ll let this incident slide.”
“No, they won’t,” Lily said. “They’ll ask for their money back. And I’m guessing the real jewels were worth a fortune. That’s money you no longer have.”
Prue scoffed. “Of course we do. We’re the Haywood-Smiths. Look at this place.” She stretched out her arms to indicate the house, the shoes, the lifestyle.
“Darling,” Max snapped, “shut up.”
“Good idea,” Luke said. “Because by the looks of things, your wealth, like these jewels, is an illusion. You’ve run out of money. That’s why you’ve sold off the paintings, some of your clothes and furniture, replacing it with fakes or lesser quality stuff like that frayed rug out there.” He indicated the bedroom. “I bet the insurance company would love to know about your financial woes.”
Lily smiled at him. He caught on fast. “You drop the charges,” she said to the Haywood-Smiths, “and we won’t go to the cops or the insurers. Deal?”
“No,” Prue said.
“Prue,” Max said. He exchanged a look with his wife and she huffed and crossed her arms. “All right,” he said to Lily. We’ll drop the charges. But we keep all the jewelry.”
“Of course.” Lily tossed him the necklace she’d taken out of Prue’s purse. He caught it and a flicker of a smile crossed his lips. “Tomorrow morning you will show that to the cops,” she said. “You’ll say you found it in a very good hiding spot you’d forgotten about. Then you’ll tell them there was no break-in because you remembered that you’d hired me to come by and fix your computer.” She dug in her pocket and pulled out one of the business cards she always kept on her. “You can even give them this as proof.”
Max took it. “You fix computers?” He raised his bushy eyebrows at her. “I thought you were a career criminal.”
“Your wife was incorrectly informed. I’ve never stolen anything in my life. And yes, I have my own business setting up and fixing computers.”
He put the card in his shirt pocket. “Good to know.”
Prue glared at him.
“Are we all on the same page?” Luke said.
“Yes,” Max said.
Everyone looked at Prue. “Yes,” she finally, reluctantly, said. “But if this gets out, if people start taking more notice of my jewelry, then I will come after you both with a lawsuit. I do not wear fakes. Do you understand?”
“Perfectly,” Lily said, tossing the pouch to her.
CHAPTER 10
Luke’s body buzzed with energy as he drove the SUV back to Lily’s place. It was the sort of high he felt after a long-awaited arrest. It was better than exercise, better than sex.
No, not better than sex.
“That was incredible,” he said. “You were incredible in there.” He rubbed her knee. She didn’t remove his hand or pull away.
“Yeah, it felt good.” She rested her hand over his. It was warm and soft like her. “Thanks, Luke. You didn’t have to do that.”
He wished she’d waited until they were back at her place to thank him, that way he could give her his full attention. He turned his hand palm up to hold hers but this time she did pull away.
Right. All was not well with Lily yet. Damn. He wished he knew what he could do to make it right. Sleep with her? No, that hadn’t worked last time.
Damn. He was out of ideas.
They drove the rest of the way in silence while he tried to figure out how to make it up to her. At least she wasn’t going to jail now so they had more time to work things out.
He parked out the front of her little Victorian house and switched off the engine. He half expected her to hop out of the car, close the door and wave goodbye, but she didn’t. She sat next to him, her profile silhouetted against the passenger window. Her breathing sounded erratic and her fists were balled up on her thighs.
“So this really is your car?” she asked.
“No. I hired it for tonight under a false name.”
She nodded but didn’t seem all that interested. Small talk. Great. The kiss of death to any relationship. He reached for her and she drew away.
“Luke,” she said. “I really am grateful. For everything. What you did was ... well, it was amazing and generous and wonderful and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I wanted to do it. For you. For us.”
“Ah. Well. That’s the thing.” She chewed her lip. “Us. You see, tonight we worked as a team. We were good together. But tomorrow you’re going to go back to being a cop and there will be no us anymore.”
His insides clenched. “Lily, it doesn’t have to be that way.”
“No?” She huffed and although he couldn’t quite make out her expression in the dark, he could tell she wasn’t happy. “Luke, the reasons you broke up with me are still there. Dad may have gone but the rest of my family hasn’t. I can’t distance myself from them for you. I won’t—.”
“I don’t want you to. Damn it, Lil, I want us to be together again. I don’t care about your family."
“Don’t you? You still have a few more rungs to climb at work.”
“Lil.”
“I know how important your job is to you. I know you want to go all the way to Chief Commissioner one day.”
“Lily.”
“And although it’s unethical for a senior detective to date a member of Melbourne’s
first family of burglary, it would be downright impossible for a Chief Commissioner, or even a deputy.”
He caught her hands, forcing her to look at him. “Lily, will you stop! I don’t care about that anymore. I don’t want to be Chief Commissioner, or deputy or anything else. I’m happy where I am. Well, I would be if you were with me.”
Lily tried to keep it together. She really did. But her lip wouldn’t stop wobbling. “Oh.”
He leaned forward and kissed her oh-so gently. “I made a very stupid mistake and I’ve spent the last two years paying for it. I’ve been miserable without you, Lily McAllister, because you are the love of my life and always will be.”
“Okay,” she said then cringed even as the tears flowed down her cheeks. She sounded so lame but she couldn't think straight with her head so full of fog.
He loved her. He loved her. He loved her.
“I love you too,” she added hastily in case he thought her lack of response meant she didn’t.
His teeth flashed white in the darkness and he drew her into a kiss so fierce it knocked the air out of her.
“Lily?” he said, drawing away but not letting go.
“Yes?” she said on a sigh. Enough talking already and kiss me again.
“You know how you kicked me out of your house last night?”
She shrugged. “Yes.”
“Are you going to do that again tonight?”
She smiled. “No. You can stay the night.”
He wasted no time leaping out of the SUV. “Good, because I’ve got plans and they might take a while.” He came round to her side and opened the door for her.
“Got your handcuffs on you?” she asked as he helped her out.
He grinned. “Of course. Want to play cops and robbers?”
"Only if get to be the cop."
He kissed her hard. "Whatever my Lily wants."
THE END
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You Again (a novella) Page 6