Live and Let Bondi

by Clare Kauter

  “No we don’t,” said Billy. “Why did you have Rogers killed?”

  Spencer looked up at him. “I had nothing to do with that,” he said. “He was a good kid. Helped Dougie out. He understood.” Spencer shook his head. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.”

  “Maybe Dougie stabbed him,” Billy suggested. “After all, it’s not like he hasn’t done it before. We hand that video in to the police, you know exactly what they’re going to think. He’ll be locked up before the day is out. Doesn’t matter how much you pay your lawyer, that kid’s going away for a long time.”

  “You’d really do that, Billy?” asked Spencer. “You do know what that means, right? You hand that tape in and they’ll let me out of here a lot sooner. I’ll come after you.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” said Billy. “I also don’t care.”

  He maintained his illusion of being perfectly relaxed, which seemed to drive Spencer crazy. “He’s a good kid! He doesn’t deserve this! That kid bullied him every day for years. When he saw him again he cracked,” he said. “You and I both know I deserve to be in here. Just let me serve the time. That video has nothing to do with the lawyer’s murder. I didn’t want him dead.”

  “Sure you weren’t just tying up loose ends?” said Billy. “Leaving him alive seems a little risky. I can see why you would have done it.”

  Spencer leaned forward, speaking quietly. “Billy, if I’d done this, I’d have done it right. Not stabbed him in the same way the other kid was killed. Not left that fucking video with him for the cops to find. This is clearly meant to set me or my nephew up. You aren’t stupid, Billy. I know you see it.”

  Billy shrugged. “Give me a name, then. Who’s trying to set you up? Why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I don’t know!” he shouted. The guards turned our way and Spencer hunched down, speaking more softly. “Look, I didn’t do this. You have to believe me.”

  “I don’t have to do you any favours,” said Billy.

  “Then do yourself one,” said Spencer. “Forget you found that tape. Leave me in here. I promise you, that tape has nothing to do with what happened to the lawyer. My boy didn’t do it. He’s a good kid. He just snapped. He deserves a second chance. You need to give that to him.”

  “Someone tried to kill us today,” said Billy. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?

  Spencer shook his head. “Come on, Billy,” he said. “You know perfectly well that when I kill you, I’m going to do it with my own two hands.”

  The conversation with Spencer hadn’t been particularly illuminating, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. It was the end of the work day and I had shit to do that didn’t revolve around dead bodies and criminals. Not unless Maggie had a really interesting side to her that I hadn’t yet encountered.

  I had Billy drop me off at home and immediately took Theodore out for a run. I didn’t bump into Maggie along the way which made me a little sad, but not too much since I was going to see her later in the night anyway. When we got back home I still had a while before I’d organised to meet Maggie, so I ran myself a bath. (A jasmine-scented bubble bath with bright green water, if you were wondering.) I lit my Sexual Healing candle and stepped into the tub, soaking in the water and trying to get my brain to switch from thinking about the case to thinking about the date. Then I started to get nervous so I switched back to thinking about the case.

  Spencer’s nephew killed the first guy, but Spencer was insistent that he hadn’t killed the lawyer. The lawyer had done good work for them and besides, he had a copy of that tape which would most likely come out if he ended up dead. Killing him – especially stabbing him like the other guy – didn’t seem like the smartest of moves.

  And then there were the arrows. Why shoot at me and Billy with a bow and arrow? Why shoot at us at all? It wasn’t like we’d actually found out anything by that point. And had the person really been trying to kill us or just scare us off? They’d seemed like a pretty terrible shot.

  First Rogers had been killed in the same way as a guy who was murdered by one of his clients, then we were attacked with a bow and arrow, like a guy who was suing another of his clients. What did that mean? Why was someone using those particular methods to attack people? And who was responsible?

  By the end of the bath, my skin was silky smooth, I smelled amazing and I still had no clue who the murderer was. Never mind. I towelled off, spritzed on some perfume and zipped myself into a little black dress. Then I put on thick tights, boots, a jacket and a scarf because it was winter and I wasn’t insane. I did my hair and makeup, and when I surveyed myself in the mirror I decided I looked pretty good. OK, I hadn’t solved a murder today (or at least not the one I meant to), but I was convinced this was going to be the best first date in history.

  I was wrong.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Billy

  Staring down into my beer, I tried to make sense of my churning thoughts. Spencer didn’t kill the guy. Should we turn in that tape? Ella looked amazing wearing that red lipstick. Who had shot at us? I needed to buy more cat food.

  Yeah, like I said. Churning thoughts.

  The one I kept coming back to, though, no matter how stupid, was Adam fucking Baxter. Nat was out on a date with him. I took a swig of beer. And that was fine. Everything was fine. She and I could still be friends. She was a good partner. I would never have gotten so far on this case without her. At least not this quickly. We worked well together. I could only hope she thought the same thing so she didn’t have me fired like she planned to do with Bruno.

  As the others chatted and laughed around me, I wondered what the hell I was doing here. I hated Bruno, I only sort of liked Drew and I hadn’t even bothered to learn the other guys’ names. Well, I knew why I was here. Ella. With her perfect red lipstick and kind eyes and smile and sense of humour –

  But if she was the reason I was here, if I really liked her that much, why the hell had I gone back to the office after seeing Spencer and looked up Eric’s address?

  I’d told myself it was because of the Spencer thing. I wanted to warn Eric that Spencer might be coming out of jail soon and he should be aware. We’d lived together during the meat cleaver incident and it had really freaked him out. He’d probably appreciate the heads up.

  Of course, it was a little premature to be issuing warnings given that I hadn’t even decided whether or not to hand the video in. I didn’t know what Nat planned to do with it, but it was currently locked in the office safe. I could make sure it mysteriously went missing before Nat had a chance to hand it over to the authorities. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that.

  Although I’d told myself that’s why I was looking up Eric’s address, the truth was I could have just called him if Spencer actually became a threat. Hell, he’d probably know before I did given that it was his firm that represented the guy. No, the truth was that I’d looked him up because I wanted to go and visit him.

  What was wrong with me? Eric. Actual demon incarnate Eric. Adopted a cat even though I was allergic Eric. Huge bag of dicks Eric. And I wanted to see him. Argh.

  It was those fucking arrows. If no one had shot at me today, this wouldn’t be happening. Trouble was someone had, and now I was wondering whether Eric really had told me about that other case of Jake’s because he was concerned about my safety. Maybe that lead had been useful after all. I couldn’t see how right now, but it had to be connected, right? Which meant that maybe Eric hadn’t just pretended he wanted to speak to me to try and get that key back for Audrey. Maybe he’d been telling the truth when he said he missed me.

  And so here I was, with my dishwasher thoughts whirling around in my brain, different ones constantly bobbing to the surface. Adam and Nat. Was Spencer involved? Red lipstick.

  And Eric.

  “Billy?” said Ella, and I turned to see her watching me expectantly.

  “Sorry,” I said. “What was that?
”

  She smiled. Ah, those lips. But Eric… But those lips.

  “You were off on another planet, weren’t you?”

  I did my best impersonation of a grin. “Yeah, sorry. It’s this case I’m working.”

  “Hey, Billy,” called a very drunk Bruno from across the table. “You walked in on Nat and Baxter banging in your office yet?”

  The other guys laughed, but Drew, for once, did not join in. Nor did Ella.

  “Bruno, don’t be so rude,” said Ella. “It’s none of your business if –”

  I gritted my teeth. I’d had enough of this. “You’re wrong about her, Bruno,” I said.

  He raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

  “You’re wrong about her,” I repeated. “She’s a good investigator. One of the best. Definitely better than you.” I paused. “Although I guess that wouldn’t necessarily make her one of the best.”

  The others laughed, but Bruno just glared at me.

  “You don’t think she’s screwing Baxter?”

  “I don’t think that has anything to do with her job,” I said. “And I don’t think a manager should be speculating about his employees’ sex lives.”

  Bruno rolled his eyes. “Billy Defranco, always so by the book. Perfect Billy. Golden boy.” He shook his head. “Always talking like someone who hasn’t been laid recently.”

  I shook my head at him. He was drunk, and I knew I should probably let it go, but the anger had risen in my chest now and I couldn’t. “Bruno, I know you have a crush on Nat, and I guess you’re just lashing out because she rejected you, but this is more than a little pathetic.”

  He snarled at me. “Fuck you, Billy,” he said.

  “Fuck you,” I said. “You made up all that bullshit about her being crap at her job so you could give her the shitty cases because you couldn’t handle the fact that she wasn’t into you. That sound about right?”

  “Shut your fucking face.”

  “Or what?”

  “It’s the truth!” he snapped. “They’re sleeping together, and they have been since she started working here.”

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. OK, maybe he was right about Nat and Adam, but I couldn’t just sit here and listen to him say she wasn’t good at her job and laugh at her like she was some kind of joke. I wasn’t that sort of person, and I should have said something the first time he started with this bullshit.

  “Bruno, you have no idea what’s going on in her life.”

  “Fine,” he said. “Then how about we ask her?”

  I frowned and he nodded over my shoulder. I turned, my stomach sinking, expecting to see Adam Baxter with her.

  Instead what I saw was a short woman with dark hair, smiling and laughing with Nat, who was smiling (smiling! Nat!) and laughing (!!!) back. It was about then that things clicked into place.

  Nat wasn’t dating Adam. Bruno had made the whole thing up and I’d fallen for it like the idiot I was. Nat and Adam were friends, sure, but it wasn’t like I’d seen them do anything more than talk. Even if Bruno thought what he said was true, I should have known better than to trust Bruno’s conclusions. He was a terrible PI. Of course he’d gotten this wrong. Nat and Adam weren’t together – Nat was seeing someone else. She was on a date with this woman. I glanced back at Bruno and my heart sank.

  Oh god. Nat’s date was about to go horribly, horribly wrong.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Natalia

  Oh, shit.

  “Maggie,” I said quietly. “You and I should leave.”

  “What?” she said, looking confused. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like the place?”

  I swallowed, eyeing the group sitting across the room. What were they doing here? Had they changed the place they hung out? Just my luck. “It’s more the people. Specifically the people directly ahead of us,” I said. “I work with them.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “And you don’t want to be seen with me?” she teased, a smile on her lips. When I didn’t smile back, she frowned. “Wow, you really don’t want to be seen with me.”

  I sighed. “It’s nothing to do with you. I just don’t want to deal with them,” I said. “Especially drunk. They’re all dicks.”

  All except Billy, maybe. Although if he considered these people his friends, he couldn’t be as nice as he seemed. Unless he was a total idiot. I wondered again if he’d heard the rumours about me. Probably. Bet that was the first thing they told him. Maybe that was why he’d been acting so weird earlier. Before we’d nearly been shot and the weirdness had been knocked out of his system.

  “Seriously, we need to –”

  “Natalia!” slurred a voice from across the room.

  Fuck. Too late.

  “What are you doin’ here?” called Bruno. “No one invited you, Natalia.”

  “I invited her, Bruno,” said Ella, turning and giving me an apologetic smile. I appreciated the effort, but somehow I didn’t think that was going to stop Bruno from being a total fucking dickhead. Nothing could stop that. It was inevitable. One of life’s constants.

  “Lookin’ sexy, Natalia. Where’s your boyfriend? Bet he likes that outfit.”

  “Bruno,” said Billy. “Don’t do this.”

  But Bruno was already on his feet, stumbling towards me, Ella and Billy rushing after him.

  “Boyfriend?” Maggie murmured.

  “No boyfriend,” I said. “He just likes to tell himself that’s why I won’t sleep with him. We should leave. Now. Before this goes any further.”

  Maggie nodded. “OK,” she said, smiling. We turned and began to walk back towards the door, but not fast enough. Bruno grabbed my arm.

  “Let go of me before I glass you, arsehole,” I said, turning and glaring.

  “Bruno, let go of her!” Ella ordered, looking horrified.

  He let go of my arm, putting his hands up like someone was pointing a gun at him. “Ooh, touchy subject.”

  “You’re the one who’s getting touchy, dick brain,” I said. “In future keep your hands to yourself or I’ll break your nose again.”

  “Again?” said Maggie.

  “Yep.”

  “Wow. Does this dude ever let up?”

  “Rarely,” I said.

  “Where’s Adam, Nat?” Bruno said, his words running together. “At home waiting in bed for you? He oil up his nipples for you?”

  “Why are oily nipples becoming such a theme in my life?” Billy muttered.

  “What’s it like, Nat? Sleeping your way into a job?”

  “OK, Bruno,” said Billy. “You need to shut the fuck up.”

  “Let’s go, Bruno,” said Ella, trying to drag him away. “We’ll get you some water.”

  “I don’t want water!”

  “That’s usually a sign that you need it,” she said, really putting her back into yanking him away from us. Billy helped her for a moment, but she waved him away, saying something I couldn’t hear.

  Billy walked back over to me. “Ella wanted me to apologise on Bruno’s behalf and she said she’ll make sure he’s appropriately punished, although she understands if you make good on your offer to break his nose. Again.”

  “That’s nice of her,” I said.

  “Who knew this evening would be so eventful?” said Maggie.

  My stomach clenched and I turned to her, feeling sick. How the hell was I meant to explain this? “Maggie…”

  “I should go.”

  I shook my head. “No, you shouldn’t! I mean, you should. But with me. We should go. Together.”

  “Nat,” she said, smiling, “I’m going home. It’s fine. Clearly you have something you need to figure out here, and I don’t want to get in your way.”

  “You’re not in the way! It’s – we’ll go somewhere else. It’s fine. You don’t have to go.”

  “Nat…”

  “It’s a work thing. We work together.” I glared over my shoulder at Bruno, wondering just how bad the consequences would be if I punched hi
m in the face again. And maybe threw in a kick to the nuts.

  She waved a hand. “It’s fine, Nat.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a business card. “Here’s my number.”

  I frowned. “I already have your number.”

  She smiled. “I know.”

  “Then why –”

  “Look, I just got the business cards printed and I wanted to seem cool, OK? Let me have this,” she said. I grinned at her. “Now, once you’ve sorted out whatever’s going on here, how about you give me a call?”

  “I will. Theodore would never forgive me if I didn’t,” I said, taking the card. I glanced down at it, frowning as I read it. “You’re an accountant?”

  She sighed, nodding. “Not very sexy, I know. But look at that gold embossing. That makes me seem more interesting, right?”

  “Maggie, it’s tax time. If anything you just got sexier.” I looked back down at the card. “Oh my god,” I said. “Your full name is Macgyver Lee Banks?”

  She nodded. “Yep,” she said with a grin. “What, were you expecting Maggie to be short for Margaret or something weird like that?”

  “Of course not,” I said. “I obviously thought you were a Magneto. Out of curiosity, did you choose to work with money entirely because of your surname?”

  “Maybe.”

  I grinned. “You’re the coolest person I’ve ever met.”

  She laughed, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. I smiled back at her. Man, I’d been smiling so much my cheeks hurt. Even on this disaster of a night.

  “I should go,” she said after a moment. “Check on Corgnelius.”

  “Make sure his little heart hasn’t given out after last night.”

  “Exactly.” She leaned forward and pulled me into a gentle goodbye hug. “It’s been fun meeting you, Nat. Never a dull moment.”

  “I promise my life is usually much more boring.”

  “Sure it is.”

  “I will call you,” I said.

  “I know,” she said with a smile, then she turned and headed for the exit.