Good News and Bad News – Ruby Grace Sutherland
Trina walked back in just as her phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. She picked it up and accepted the call. “Hello? Hey, Eula. You’re working on Saturdays now days?” She held the cell phone out and put it on speaker.
“Someone’s got to do the work,” Eula quipped.
“Ut oh. Did you run off another one?” Trina asked, rolling her eyes.
“If they can’t take the heat, they damn sure need to get out of my kitchen.”
“Let me guess. It was that rich, daddy’s girl, intern who thought she knew everything, right?”
“Yes, it was,” Eula said. “And no, she didn’t.”
Growing impatient, I yanked on Trina’s arm, nodding at the phone.
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Eula, have you got something for us? Ruby’s here with me.”
“I just finished the autopsy on Grady Underwood,” Eula stated. “Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?”
“Good news,” Trina said.
“Bad news,” I said at the same time.
“Well, which is it?” Eula asked.
“Okay, the bad news first,” Trina relented.
“The bad news is that I analyzed Ruby’s clothes and the only DNA I found was from Underwood. I also analyzed Underwood’s clothes. Whoever his partner was, he knew how to avoid forensic detection.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that,” I admitted. “Goes along with the department spy theory.”
“Underwood, of course, had Ruby’s DNA on him. Well, since I can’t access your records, Ruby, I’ve had to base it on your sister’s DNA. He is definitely your rapist.”
“That’s good, I guess,” I said, not feeling any better about the confirmation.
Trina ran her fingers through her hair, a defeated look on her face. “It means that we are basically nowhere with catching the snake hiding in the grass. Or should I say snakes.”
“What’s the good news?” I asked.
“The good news is that Underwood had testicular azoospermia.”
“Well, I got the testicular part, but what does the other thing mean?” Trina asked.
“He has no sperm,” Eula explained.
I looked at Ruby. “No sperm means…”
“I can’t be pregnant!” I shouted, yanking on Trina’s arm. Oh, thank, God! I jumped up and down and finally jumped into Trina’s arms. “I’m not pregnant,” I whispered in her ear.
“No, but you are beautiful,” she said, pulling me into a kiss that I couldn’t resist, even if I had wanted to.
“Hello? Trina? Ruby?”
Trina pulled back and held the phone in front of her. “Hey, sorry. Eula. Anything else?”
“No, that was—”
Trina tossed the phone on the couch and picked me up, twirling me around. I giggled like a school girl.
“So, we’ve talked with everyone we need to, today,” she said, setting me back on my feet.
“Yes. Yes, we have,” I agreed.
“And our afternoon is free, although I need to do some—”
I put my finger to her lips. “No, no, no. Go back to what you were thinking.”
She grinned. “Want to try the bed this time?”
“No time, I need you right here, right now. We need to celebrate!”
Chapter Twenty-Five
As a Rule, I Hate to Shop – Trina Wiles
We spent the afternoon celebrating, on the living room floor, then the couch, and finally in my bedroom. Ruby drew the line at using Lori’s bed, not that I could blame her. After celebrating in the shower, it was time to go shopping. We needed to get some tuxedos for the auction, and Ruby wanted to go by her apartment to get a dress for church tomorrow. I must say, I was looking forward to seeing her in a dress.
We needed a disguise to go shopping for our disguises, so I raided Lori’s clothes, which she wasn’t going to be happy about, but I didn’t tell Ruby that. Luckily Lori and I were the same height and weight, so her clothes fit me, albeit snugly. I wasn’t comfortable looking so feminine, but I suppose it made for a good disguise. I also wore a red wig, a loud-colored jacket, and a really big set of sunglasses.
“You look good as a redhead,” Ruby said with a laugh.
I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment laugh or not. “And you look good as a brunette.”
She had chosen the dark, short-haired wig, a very flowery blouse, solid blue jacket, and a pair of Lori’s Capri pants, which on Ruby, came down to the top of her shoes. She put on a lot of dark rouge and bright red lipstick, and a red hat to bring out the audaciousness of it all. Let’s just say it was not easy on the eyes.
We got to her apartment via a different route then what we took the first time, and I parked a block away. The sun had set, but the October moon hadn’t risen yet.
I was feeling on edge. I didn’t see anyone following us, but the tiny hairs on the back of my neck said otherwise. I took precautions, driving erratically, backtracking, and stopping suddenly, but there was no one. Ruby and I wore shoulder holsters under our jackets, and as I got out of the car, I adjusted my gun out of habit, more to know that it was within reach than because it was uncomfortable. I scanned the neighborhood and Ruby noticed. She also looked around.
“Did you see something?” she asked.
“No. Just my gut telling me something doesn’t feel right. Let’s keep this visit short, okay?”
“Agreed. Better not press our luck any more than we have to,” Ruby agreed as we walked down the sidewalk.
“I also think we should probably change locations, too. We’ve gotten to cozy in Lori’s condo and we’ve let our guard down.”
“Then let’s not go back there. At least until after the auction. We’ll pick up my clothes, drive over to the mall and get what we need, then check into a hotel.”
“Okay, sounds good,” I agreed, looking over my shoulder. “Double check with Jack tomorrow and make sure the auction hasn’t been moved.”
“Sure, right after I accuse him of being the mole,” Ruby said sarcastically.
“No, ask him before that… oh, you were joking.”
At my insistence, we took the stairs and paused to listen for sounds that we were being followed. When Ruby unlocked her apartment door, I unfastened my gun and kept my hand at the ready. The door was wide open, and we unholstered our weapons immediately. We entered to find her apartment had been ransacked in the same manner mine had been. Snitch was spray painted across the living room wall, and everything had been turned inside out.
Calmly, Ruby held her gun in front of her and together, we proceeded to check each room. The last room we checked was the bedroom. I pointed my gun at the closet door as Ruby yanked it open. No one was in the apartment. Ruby holstered her gun and knelt, picking up the picture of her parents. The glass was broken but the photo wasn’t damaged.
“Well, I guess they found out where I lived.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of curious,” I said, holstering my gun. “They found you quicker at my apartment than they did at your own apartment. Makes me wonder.”
“Wonder what?” she asked as she stood up holding the photograph.
“Wonder just how many moles there really are.”
She looked around the room. “I’d say at minimum, two.”
“And maximum?”
“Anyone’s guess, at this point. We have four suspects, Jack, his partner Alan, your partner, Paul, and my ex-partner, Greg. But it just as easily could be anyone else. I’m loathe to say it, but I’m leaning toward someone in the FBI.”
“I don’t know. If they were a Fed, wouldn’t they have found out where you lived quicker than when you were with me?”
“Not necessarily,” she rebutted. “Accessing Federal records are by authority only. You have to log in to see them, which leaves a digital trail, so if you’re not authorized, as is the case for employee records, then you’re busted.”
“Jack would certainly be authorized to look at your
employee records.”
“Yes, you’re right,” she said halfheartedly.
“Come on. Get your stuff, and let’s get out of here,” I ordered, anxious to get moving.
“Just need a skirt and a blouse. Oh, and some shoes,” she said, walking into the closet. “Would you grab a pair of pantyhose from the top drawer for me, please?”
“Oh, goody. I finally get to rifle through your undies,” I teased, walking over to the dresser. It probably wasn’t the time for that, but I was nervous. Things were escalating rapidly, and my gut was telling me that we were headed for a showdown. Granted, we were, but this was a different feeling, a different showdown.
“I thought that’s what you were doing all morning,” she yelled from the closet.
Grinning, I opened the drawer and picked up a couple of different shades of pantyhose. “Do you have a baggy or something I can put these in, so they don’t get a run in them?”
“Good thinking. There are plastic baggies in the kitchen. Thanks.”
With her pantyhose securely in my hand, I walked out of the room and into the kitchen. I opened the first cabinet I came to, but it had canned vegetables in it, so I moved to the next one and opened the door. My heart stopped.
“Oh!” Ruby cried from behind me.
I looked at her and then back at the cabinet.
“Well, I told you that I liked chocolate,” she said with a sly grin.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding. There’s got to be at least five bags of mixed chocolates in here.”
“I was saving them for when I got back home. You know? To celebrate. They’re good until the end of 2019.”
“You are so cute. I love you…” Shit! “I love your… quirkiness.”
If she caught what I tried to cover up, she didn’t acknowledge it. “That’s a good thing because I’ve got a lot of eccentricities like that. Listen, let’s not call this in right now.”
“Why not?”
She pointed toward the door. “We have no easy way to leave a key, and I’m not leaving my apartment open to be robbed... again. We’ll sort things out later.”
We finished up at her apartment and walked back down the stairs two at a time. Once outside, Ruby suggested that we take her car because we’d been using mine for a while. I convinced her that her compact car was no match for my Mustang. She saw the wisdom in that and soon we were speeding down the road toward the I-10 West interstate. Our destination was Katy, Texas, twenty-five miles west of Houston. Katy had a couple of outlet stores where we could pay cash for our dress clothes without anyone taking notice.
I kept a visual on my rearview mirror, but thankfully didn’t seen anyone. Still, I pulled off onto the access road a couple of times, just to be sure. The mall was busy, which would allow us to get lost in the crowd. The mall played host to over one-hundred stores, with their flashing store monikers and inviting window displays. The building itself was unique in that during the summer, the domed ceiling made of glass and steel could be opened up to allow the fresh air inside. This mall was a half and half type, where on one end of the mall were outlet stores and on the opposite end, there were retail stores. When the mall was first opened, the news captioned it as the end of the civil shopping war.
I don’t know why it surprised me, but the mall was decorated for Christmas… in October. What happened to Halloween? “By the way, Ruby. Did I mention that I hate shopping?”
“That’s okay. Let me make all the decisions, and we’ll be out of here in no time.”
“Why does that scare me?”
You Would Look So Good in That – Ruby Grace Sutherland
I had to admit, in spite of all that was going on, I was excited about picking out a tuxedo for Trina, even if it had to be two sizes too big for her. I had an idea of how that would work. Most men’s clothing was at least a size bigger than the women’s, depending on the manufacture, maybe two sizes larger. We found a tux that fits her so that we didn’t have to take in the seams. Then we’d stuff a large enough pillow inside to make it look like the buttons were about to pop.
“Okay, here’s a very nice-looking tux,” I said, pulling one off the rack and holding it up.
“It’s blue,” Trina pointed out.
“Yes, it sure is, how about that,” I teased. “Do you not like blue?”
“Sure, it’s okay. But I look better in black.”
“We don’t want you to look better; we want you to look old and fat.”
She tilted her head and looked at me curiously. “You know we can’t keep these, right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I fudged.
“This blue is an exact match to your eyes and Christmas, no, New Year’s Eve is coming up.”
Never try to con a detective. “You’re good. Okay, yes, I was thinking that if a certain someone asked me to kiss her at the stroke of midnight wearing this tux, I would melt right in her arms.”
“Oh, yeah. I’d love to see that. Maybe we can keep them a few extra weeks.”
“So, blue it is, then,” I said with a flirtatious grin. “Go try this on, please.”
“Here, give me the jacket and I’ll try it on,” she said, holding out her hand. “I don’t want to take time to go into a dressing room.”
“Right. If the pants are too long, we can easily fix that, but the jacket needs to be fairly snug.”
She pulled the jacket on and shrugged her shoulders, adjusting the sleeves. She looked dashing and so debonair that I could feel the flush of heat in my depths.
“Okay, this one will work,” she said, taking the jacket off. “Your turn.”
I handed her the pants and walked over to the smaller sizes. I found an exact match to her tux in my size. I didn’t need to do much padding since I was the supposed to be the son. I tried on the jacket and found the sleeves too long for my short arms.
“We can say that it was my suit, and I’m waiting for you to grow into it,” Trina said impishly.
“Yeah, I’m sure that will work,” I jibed. “Okay, I need to pick up some stuff to make you look like a man with money and me a pubescent boy.”
“Why does that sound so kinky to me?” Trina asked.
“Because you’re a dirty old man… or at least you will be soon.”
“Hey, I’ve got a fantastic idea,” she said, taking my suit to hold with hers. “Why don’t we test out our disguises tomorrow at church?”
“You mean wear the tuxes or go as men?”
“Go as men. Wear the makeup and wigs and clothes that look manly and see if anyone recognizes us.”
“By anyone do you mean Jack?” I asked, intrigued with the idea.
“Not just him. My parents and my brother will be there, too.”
“Well, as much as I hate to say this, I don’t want Jack to know what we will look like. I mean, if he’s involved, our cover will be blown the minute we walk into the auction.”
“The way I see it, he already knows about our plan. If he is involved, we’re screwed anyway. If you have any doubts about him, now is the time to say so, and we will call this whole thing off right now.”
She was right. Either I trusted Jack, or I didn’t. But he had acted peculiarly when we met. I should have taken more time with him to make sure he was all right. “Let’s talk with him and his partner, and I’ll let you know afterward. Is that doable?”
“Very doable. Remember, we don’t have to do this. Jack knows the location, he can go in and arrest everyone and sort it out afterward.”
“I know you’re trying to make me feel better,” I said. “But you know as well as I do, by the time a team is even put together to raid the place, the mole will have already alerted the family and be long gone. That’s why you and I have to infiltrate the auction without the backup.”
“I knew that, but I wanted you to think it through and come to the same conclusion. Okay, we’ll corner Jack and his partner tomorrow and get some answers.”
“You know… that doesn’t mean we ca
n’t play dress up tonight, right?”
“Oh, yeah, lady. When you’re right, you are right,” Trina answered breathlessly.
Eliminate Two Suspects with One Church Service – Trina Wiles
Sunday morning was cold and blustery, reminding us that winter was not far away. The hotel room was small, with one window that couldn’t keep the gusts of wind out. We snuggled close and overslept, so we ate leftover bagels from yesterday while Ruby put on her makeup. I never wore makeup, nor watched Lori apply hers, so watching Ruby transform her face with the stroke of her fingers was fascinating and arousing. Ruby applied her base like an artist with a paint brush, and soon, even her laugh lines smoothed away.
I didn’t have a lot of clothes with me, but I did dress in clean slacks and a button-up shirt. Ruby, though, looked stunning in her pantyhose, which I had so carefully packed for her. But when she put that dress on, combed her hair back and slipped into her high heels, the finished ensemble made my mouth drop open.
“Wow.”
She chuckled. “It’s just a dress, silly.”
“But you fill it out so well,” I said with a suddenly dry mouth. I took a step closer and undressed her with my eyes.
“Now, behave,” she warned. “We’re going to be late for church, and I think that I need to repent for last night.”
“Oh, no. Not me. I think we should do it again tonight. Especially that thing when you stripped down and showed me that you were all woman.”
“That was fun. I’d never stripped in front of anyone like that before. Well, I’d never dressed up as a man before either, for that matter.
“Really? Not even for an old girlfriend?” I realized that I knew nothing about her prior relationships. “You know, I’ve told you all about Lori, but I haven’t heard from you about your old flames. Care to share?”
“Grab your keys and I’ll tell you all the sordid details on the way.”
I grabbed my keys from the bedside stand and ushered her out the door. Five minutes later, we were on the road and heading back to Houston and my brother’s church.
“Okay, so I’ve dated, of course,” Ruby began. “But the main crush I had was a girl I met in college.”
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