by Liliana Hart
“Maybe you should try naked yoga. It sounds like that might get your juices flowing just fine.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I dropped Rosemarie home and swung by my mother’s house so Phoebe could grab her suitcase and leave a note that she was staying with me for a couple of days.
We drove back to my place in silence. Phoebe was asleep in the passenger seat and I was thinking about the final potential heir on my list. I looked at the clock and wondered if I still had time to make a visit to Jacksonville and visit Walter Price. Probably not. But I could leave the next morning and be back home before I had to show up at my Mom’s for dinner.
I pulled into the driveway of my house and saw a green Jaguar parked at the curb. I remembered the night before that Spock had said a woman in a green Jaguar had stopped by. It looked like she was back.
I nudged Phoebe awake and we got out of the car and headed to the front door. My brows raised in surprise when Nick’s mother got out of the green Jag and met us at the porch.
“Mrs. Dempsey,” I said.
“Ms. Holmes.” Her gaze landed on Nick’s car and her eyes turned to steel. “I assume you can find time in your schedule to meet with me?”
“I’ve got a few minutes.”
Phoebe’s brows raised at the open hostility, but she didn’t say anything. I put the key in the lock and had my other hand on the gun in my purse. I was a little nervous about going inside after what happened the night before. I felt eyes on me and looked over to see Spock looking out his window with his binoculars.
I didn’t feel a disturbance in the force after we crossed the threshold, so I left Mrs. Dempsey cooling her heels in the living room while I showed Phoebe where to put her stuff. When I came back out Mrs. Dempsey was sitting at one of the bar stools looking through her purse.
“My time is valuable, Ms. Holmes, so I’d prefer we get this finished quickly. You obviously have some sort of plans for trapping my son into marriage, but I can assure you that’s not going to happen. Nicholas is the heir to one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Savannah. You might be fun to play with, but you’re certainly not long term material. Now what’s your price?”
She had her checkbook open and her pen poised and ready to write a lot of zeroes. I bided my time by making myself a cup of coffee and wishing I’d bought an extra praline at the restaurant. I needed a hit of sugar.
“This seems like a conversation you need to be having with Nick,” I said. “I don’t want your money.”
“Oh, believe me, I’ll be having a long discussion with my son. Will fifty thousand do? Who shall I make the check out to?”
I almost choked on my coffee at the amount. It was more than my yearly teacher salary, that was for sure. Phoebe chose that moment to come back in and I could tell she had no problems with eavesdropping on the conversation.
“Like I told you, Mrs. Dempsey. I’m not interested in your money. Nick and I aren’t even really dating. We work together if you want to know the truth.”
“I seriously doubt the truth is anything you’re familiar with. I could see the way he looks at you.”
I walked back to the front door and opened it for her, hoping she’d get the hint, but she just stared at me with that steely gaze.
“My sister is here visiting, and we have an appointment this afternoon,” I fibbed.
Phoebe put on her company smile and came the rest of the way into the room. “I’m Phoebe,” she said. “And your plastic surgeon is just fabulous, darlin’. But you might want to have him take another nip the next time you see him. You’re sagging around the eyes a bit.”
Mrs. Dempsey sucked in a breath and two splotches of color appeared on her cheeks. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. This was why I loved my sister. She didn’t take shit from anyone. And when she was around she did a hell of a job looking out for her baby sister. The problem was it was like the blind leading the blind.
Mrs. Dempsey tucked her clutch under her arm and walked past me and out onto the porch. “I’ll not make another offer.”
“It’ll save us both time then,” I said.
“You realize my husband and I can make a lot of trouble for you, Ms. Holmes?”
“You’re going to have to get in line. Trouble is my middle name.” I shut the door in her face and turned back to Phoebe.
“What a bitch,” she said. “Do you have an X-Box?”
“No. I have a box of crossword puzzles and Pictionary somewhere in the top of the closet.” I went to collect my coffee cup and realized my heart was pounding like crazy. “I think I need to lay off the coffee. I’m getting heart palpitations.”
“I’m pretty sure that woman would give anyone palpitations.”
“I’ve got some more work to do this afternoon. How are you going to get around if you need to leave?”
“I just called the rental place and told them to deliver the car here instead of Mom’s. My car won’t be here until next week. I did one of those customized car orders on the Internet. Apparently, they’re having to ship it from somewhere in Oregon.”
“You ordered a car on the Internet?” I asked.
“Yeah, I got to customize it and everything. My initials are even going to be embroidered on the seats.”
I was guessing the painting business was going better than the private investigator business.
“I’m going to go take a nap. Weed makes me sleepy. I’m out of practice. Haven’t done it since college.”
“It might not have been such a good time to start up again.”
“I figured once wouldn’t hurt. I’m an artist. I’m supposed to be on drugs. It would ruin the image if people knew I wasn’t. Perception is half the battle.”
I wasn’t sure which half of the battle she was referring to, but clearly Phoebe had her life figured out. I couldn’t say the same. Phoebe was the kind of person who was usually underestimated. She was really smart, but the artistic side of her lended itself well to general flakiness and living in her own world all the time. No one ever questioned it when Phoebe did something the tiniest bit stupid. It was just artistic temperament.
There was a knock at the door and before I could answer it Nick came in and closed the door behind him.
“Leaving the doors unlocked?” he asked.
“I just had an unexpected visitor. I forgot to lock it back.”
He looked like he’d put in a hard day. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up and his tie was stuffed in his shirt pocket. He froze when he saw Phoebe and raised his brows in question.
“This is my sister, Phoebe. She’s staying here a while. Phoebe, this is Nick.”
Phoebe let out a long whistle. “Is this the cop you’re not sleeping with? Because I have to say that’s probably a mistake.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her,” Nick said.
“Both of your opinions are duly noted. What are you doing here?”
“I brought Chinese.”
“Then you can stay.”
Nick looked at Phoebe again and he deflated a little bit. I could tell she’d definitely put a kink in his plans. By the smug smile on her face, I could tell she knew it.
“Was your visitor Johnny Sakko’s man?” The question was casual but I could tell he was in full cop mode.
“No, your mother. She’s a lovely woman. Really.”
Nick smiled and dumped a bunch of plastic bags on the dining table. “How much did she try to offer you to leave me alone?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“Good job holding out for more. She offered my first wife five times that.”
“Whoa,” I said, eyes widening at that bit of information. “You never told me your first wife left you because your mother paid her off.”
“It didn’t seem like a good conversation starter.”
“This is pretty exciting stuff, but I’m going to crash,” Phoebe said. “It was good to meet you, Nick. You’re a much better choice than that asshole she was going to mar
ry. Have you thought of seducing her with ice cream? I’ve seen her do a lot of things when ice cream is involved.”
Nick opened up one of the plastic sacks he brought in and pulled out a pint of Haagen Daas chocolate ice cream. “That was my hope.”
“I’ll put my headphones on in case you two kids can’t control yourself.” Phoebe headed to the guest room and closed the door behind her.
“I like your sister,” Nick said, opening up cartons of Chinese. I got a couple of plates and joined him at the table. “But I think she’s doing drugs. It smells like pot in here.”
I pulled my shirt up to sniff it and realized he was right. I reeked of pot. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain it to you some day.”
“So how good do you think her headphones are?”
“Not that good or she’d still be staying with my mom and Vince.”
Nick’s shoulders shook with laughter. “Vince for the win. I want to be just like him in thirty years.”
“It’s not funny. Do you know how embarrassing it is to know your mother is having more sex than you are?”
“We can remedy that at any time. And I’m a desperate man. I’m to the point I don’t really care who’s listening.”
“Hmm.” I grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and we dug into the food. “How are things going in the world of law and order?” I asked.
“They’ve been better. We still don’t have a murder weapon for the Tannenbaum case. I’ve got a muddy footprint in a size 12 athletic shoe and the housekeeper says there are things missing from his personal desk. A couple of rare coins, a sweater that he kept over the back of his chair that he used when he got cold, and an umbrella from the stand just by the front door. The place had been ransacked pretty good, so she’s not sure if anything else is missing. His papers were scattered all over his desk and office and she didn’t have access to them so she wasn’t able to tell us if anything was missing there.”
“No one saw him leave the house?”
“The weather’s been bad. No one’s out on the street when we have storms like we have been. The medical examiner is putting time of death between ten P.M. and midnight. The alarms were turned off. We think Tannenbaum opened the door for his killer since there was no sign of forced entry.”
“No one else was in the house?”
“He doesn’t have live in staff. He has a housekeeper and cook that come in daily and various outdoor staff for his yard and the pool in the back. What about you? Any word from Sakko?”
I told him about my phone call from Smash Nose and that he had someone watching me. Nick’s mouth tightened and I caught a flash of anger in his eyes before he damped it down. Nick knew how to keep hold of his temper.
“Smash Nose has a name,” Nick said. “I did a little checking today after you described him to me. His name is Anthony Franco, but everyone knows him as Tony Hatchet. You want to stay far away from him. There’s a reason he has that nickname.” I shuddered and drank down the rest of my beer. Nick leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands over his abs. “He did some boxing during some time spent in prison, which explains the nose.”
“What was he in prison for?”
“He got caught with a stolen car. Not only that, but there was a trash bag in the trunk that held various body parts. The murder charge didn’t stick, but he spent a year in the cage for the stolen car and for assaulting an officer when he was arrested. He’s managed to not get caught ever since then, but we’ve looked at him several times for various things. I don’t like that he’s got eyes on you.”
“I’m not exactly thrilled either.”
We cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. I’d just closed the dishwasher when Nick came up behind me and pressed me into the counter. He kissed the back of my neck and I could tell he was very happy to be kissing me.
“I don’t suppose I can talk you into pretending your sister isn’t here.” His teeth nipped at the sensitive spot just under my ear and my eyes crossed with the pleasure. His hands were becoming very involved under my sweater.
“That probably wouldn’t be a good idea. Besides, I’ve got some work to do tonight. Speaking of, would you mind if we traded cars? It’s not exactly a good car to be invisible in. ”
He sighed and gave me his truck keys and took back the keys to the Cabriolet. “I’m going to need the truck for work in the morning, so stop by on your way home and we’ll trade back.” A long, silent look passed between us and I licked my lips. The tension was thick and I could almost taste the anticipation of what that one smoldering look promised.
He let himself out since I was pretty much frozen to the spot, and I looked down and noticed my nipples were as hard as rocks. I knew for a fact if I went to Nick’s house again tonight under the pretense of trading cars that I wouldn’t be walking out of there until the next morning. And I’d probably be walking bowlegged at that. Nick had that effect on a woman.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I grabbed a quick shower and changed into clothes that didn’t smell like cannabis. My head was still tender so I took some more aspirin, but my hair looked great. If I ever saw Jules again I might be tempted to kiss her square on the mouth.
My plans were to do some early surveillance on the new case file I’d picked up from Kate. We’d been hired by a guy named Hugh Mathis who was convinced his wife, Carly, was cheating on him. Truth be told, Hugh was probably correct in his assumptions. In my experience, once the spouse moved from denial and started looking at the clues, the signs of adultery were usually there. By the time they hired us, they knew what was going on and just wanted the proof.
I put on jeans and I tucked a stretchy black long-sleeved T-shirt into the waistband and added a black belt. I knew from experience I might end up climbing trees or hanging from rooftops, so I passed on the Uggs and laced up my black sneakers. I grabbed a black zip up hoodie and a raincoat just in case and headed back into the kitchen. My gun was in my purse along with other tools of the trade that came in handy on occasion. I was ready to roll.
Nick’s truck was big and black with bug-eyed headlights and lots of buttons and other things on the dashboard that didn’t come in normal cars. I knew he had a Kojak light in there somewhere, and if I could have found it I would have used it just to see what it was like.
Carly worked at a Chase bank over in Thunderbolt, and it said in her paperwork she had step aerobics every Monday and Thursday after work at the local gym. I could catch her there if I hurried.
I saw Spock looking out the window and went over to talk to him before I left. He had the door open for me before I could knock.
“Who’s the new girl?” he asked. “Does she like Dr. Who?”
“My sister is staying with me for a couple of days. I have no idea if she likes Dr. Who, but you should ask her.” If Phoebe spent time hanging out with Spock I wouldn’t have to worry about her while I was gone. “Can you do me a favor and keep an eye on my place? I had a break-in last night. I’m afraid someone will come back.”
Spock sucked in a deep breath and his eyes that never blinked seemed to get bigger until I thought they were going to pop right out of his head. “NO,” he exclaimed. “It can’t be. I was on watch last night and I saw no one. I can’t have failed. I’ll be open for challenges. I had to fight hard to win my place as president.”
“You had to fight?” I knew I shouldn’t have asked, but the words had already left my mouth.
“Oh, yes. This is a very coveted position. Agent Savage graciously bowed out of the fights because obviously he was our first choice as leader. But he already has too many commitments saving the world, so the torch fell to me. I almost didn’t make it though. Mrs. Rodriguez gets awfully violent with that walker.”
His eyes were rolling around until I was starting to feel dizzy. I know he had lids. Every person had to. But I’d yet to see them. “There was nothing you could’ve done. The person came through the backyard and broke a window.”
“That explains it. You
r backyard is a blind spot for me. You should consider taking down your fence.” He snapped his fingers and pulled a giant Android phone from his pocket. “I know just who to call. My friend Walter lives in the house directly behind yours. He’s got a second story. I’ll have to deputize him for the night.”
“I’d appreciate it.” And I’d remember to make sure my blinds were closed in my bedroom from now on.
I went back to the truck and dialed Savage for backup. Spock was good in the nosy department, but he didn’t really have the muscle to back it up.
“You owe me big time,” Savage said when he answered the phone. “Spock showed up for the workout you ditched this morning. I don’t suppose you want to explain that?”
“He wants to get in shape. I figured you’d save time by doing both of us together.”
“You just don’t want to be alone with me because you’re afraid you’re going to give in.”
“That too. I have a favor to ask.”
“Does it involve Spock?”
“No, it involves my sister. I had a break-in last night.” I explained what had happened with Tony Hatchet the night before and how I was supposed to keep the police out of it when he contacted me for the job he wanted me to do.
“You should have called me first instead of Dempsey. I’m in a better position to help you. And we don’t have as many leaks. I heard about the cop that was found this morning. You need to be careful.”
“So I’ve been told. I’m out doing a job for Kate, but I’d appreciate it if you could keep a closer watch around the neighborhood while my sister is there. I don’t want her getting caught in the middle.”
“Got it covered.” He disconnected and I stopped at a four-way light getting ready to turn on Victory. I was in the right hand lane and there was someone in a blue Toyota in front of me who didn’t believe in turning right on red. I honked a couple of times but they didn’t move. And then all of a sudden the passenger door was jerked open and Smash Nose slid into the truck with me.