“Gents –” I started but Max spoke over me.
“So you’re happy to check out her ass until you find out she’s dealin’ with some serious shit then you’re not interested anymore?” Max enquired, his eyes narrow.
“No,” Jeff bit off.
“Sounds like it to me,” Max told him.
“Yeah, then I guess you don’t know that I been by Barb and Darren’s every day since that scene at the river,” Jeff returned. “And Mindy’s made it clear she don’t wanna see me and I figured that out since each time I went she said she don’t wanna see me but she didn’t say it to me, she told her Mom to say it to me and Mindy didn’t fuckin’ see me.”
“So?” Max asked and Jeff’s brows drew together.
“So, she don’t wanna see me, that’s it. I can take a hint.”
“You like her?” Max asked straight out.
“Max!” I hissed but Jeff answered.
“Not your concern.”
“You like Mindy, it’s my concern,” Max countered.
“Better answer, it doesn’t matter,” Jeff retorted.
“Do you like her?” Max repeated.
“Max, please –” I began but Jeff didn’t answer and Max leaned forward, taking his arm from my chair.
“Jeff, man, I’m askin’ you a question.”
“She’s the prettiest girl in town,” Jeff clipped, obviously not wanting to share but doing it anyway probably knowing Max enough to know he wouldn’t let it go, a lesson I too had learned and I’d known him a lot less time than Jeff. “She’s also the sweetest by a long shot. So, yeah, I guess you could say I like her.”
My stomach melted and I stared at Jeff, seeing his anger at Max was covering a much deeper emotion. He didn’t like Mindy, he liked her. And I liked that.
“Come with us to get coffee,” Max ordered, obviously liking it too.
“I’m tellin’ you, Max, don’t have time,” Jeff replied.
“Then get it to go.”
“Max –” Jeff started but Max leaned further in and cut him off.
“A few days ago Nina told me, when a woman gets fucked over by a dickhead, or a bunch of dickheads, she needs to learn there are good guys out there. You’re a good guy and you like her. She’s got serious shit to deal with now. She needs all the help she can get, especially from good guys who like her.” A muscle jumped in Jeff’s jaw but he stayed silent so Max finished, “Nothin’ worth havin’, it ain’t worth fightin’ for even if the thing you gotta fight is the thing you want. She don’t wanna see you right now because she’s embarrassed, thinks you think less of her because of what you saw and, I’m guessin’, the guys she’s picked in the past, maybe she thinks she’s not worthy. You want her, man, your job is to convince her she’s wrong.”
I’d stopped breathing and was staring at Max’s profile as he spoke to Jeff.
Every word he said about Mindy slid through me like an invisible blade shrouded in velvet, cutting me to the quick but doing it a way that felt like he was surgically removing a malignant tumor that I’d been carrying around for years. A tumor that had been eating away at my insides. A tumor that, with his words, suddenly was gone.
You love him, Charlie said in my head.
Yes, I replied to Charlie, scared at this sudden knowledge but, along with that fear, far stronger, I also felt joy.
There was no response from Charlie.
Do you think I’m crazy? I asked my dead brother.
Sweetheart, Charlie answered, not anymore.
“I’ll come with,” Jeff said and I forced my mind off my brief conversation with Charlie and my eyes away from Max to Jeff as he finished. “Get it to go.”
Max didn’t reply, just nodded and sat back in his chair and I leaned sideways until my shoulder hit his chest. His arm went over my head to curl around me, my head dropped to his shoulder and I gave his thigh another squeeze of my hand.
Then Jeff brought the matter back to hand and, looking at me and lifting his pen to the paper, he stated, “All right, let’s get this done.”
* * * * *
Seeing as it was sunny and warm, the snow again melting, Max and I, with Jeff trailing, walked through the café out to the back seating area and Linda saw us immediately.
She indicated us to Barb, Becca and Mindy with a nod of her head, all of them twisted in their chairs to look at us. Barb and Mindy’s eyes got wide when they saw my face but neither of them said a word when Max and I hit the table. I suspected this was because Linda and/or Becca had already told them about Damon and I hoped they’d done it sensitively for Mindy’s sake.
“Hey again,” Becca said to us and I smiled at her and looked between Mindy and Barb.
“Hi Mindy, Barb,” I greeted.
“Hi guys,” Barb greeted back.
“Hey Neens,” Mindy started then her eyes slid sideways, she caught sight of Jeff, pink hit her cheeks and she bit her lip before saying, “Max.”
Then she dropped her chin to look at her lap, ignoring Jeff completely. I looked at Barb who was studying her daughter and also biting her lip.
“Mindy,” Jeff rounded her chair and looked down at her.
“Jeff,” she said quietly to her lap.
Jeff looked at me and requested, “Could you order me a to go Americano?”
“Sure,” I replied.
Jeff looked back at Mindy. “Can I have a word?”
There was silence for several moments before Max stated softly, “Mins, babe, Jeff’s talkin’ to you.”
Mindy glanced at Max then her head swung to Jeff then she looked down and told the table as she started to rise. “I think I gotta –”
Jeff cut her off by grabbing her hand, pulling her fully to her feet, her head jerked to look at him and he said, “Five minutes.”
“But –” Mindy began and didn’t finish.
Jeff pulled her chair from behind her and walked toward the river, his hand firm in Mindy’s dragging her behind him.
I watched as he took her to the stairs that led off the back seating porch and they walked down a cleared footpath until he stopped them out of earshot and close to the river.
“What’s that all about?” Barb asked, her eyes on the couple by the river, as Max pulled a chair from an empty table and flipped it around behind me.
I sat in it, throwing a smile over my shoulder at Max and answered, “Jeff just needs to get a few things straight with Mindy.”
Max sat beside me as Barb, her gaze still on Jeff and Mindy, her expression uncertain, went on. “He’s come around every day but I don’t… is that…” She looked at me. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
I looked from Barb to Mindy and Jeff and I watched them. Jeff was standing close and doing all the talking. Mindy had her head tipped back, holding her body stiff and she looked scared as a jackrabbit.
“Um…” I started to mumble my answer then watched Mindy’s head shake, Jeff got closer, Mindy prepared to retreat and Jeff’s hand came up to the side of her neck, halting her retreat and his face dipped close to hers. He was mostly in profile but I could see he was still doing the talking. Mindy stood frozen, staring up at him, then suddenly her eyes closed and her head bent. This placed Jeff’s lips close to her forehead but, instead of moving back, he leaned in and kept talking.
I knew what it felt like when a mountain man did that and I hoped Mindy felt it too.
Then I watched Mindy’s hand come up to curl around his wrist at her neck. At first I thought it was to pull away but then, as I watched, I saw it was to hold on and I knew she felt it, the same as me.
When she touched him, Jeff stopped talking, his hand at her neck slid into the back of her hair and he tipped her head down further in order to kiss the top of her head. When he pulled away and allowed Mindy to look at him again, she was no longer stiff, her face no longer scared. It was unsure but it was also soft and she’d leaned into him, just a bit but enough to tell the tale.
My stomach melted again and I turned to Barb a
nd finished my answer.
“Yes.”
Barb’s eyes caught mine and her smile was tremulous but it was a smile all the same.
When I looked away, I caught Becca’s eyes and her smile wasn’t tremulous, it was wide and shining.
“Kami?” I heard Max say and looked at him to see he had his mobile to his ear and his eyes on the couple by the river. “We just got back from the Police Station, Jeff says they need to talk to you again.” He looked from the river to me, he gave me a Wonder Max wink and a small grin and kept talking. “Nina’s with me and she’ll be with you when you talk to Mick. It isn’t a big deal, nothin’ to worry about but they need you to drop in and talk about the last time you saw Shauna. Can you swing by for a break or do you have to do it after work?”
“Why do they have to talk to Kami?” Linda asked me.
“Right, yeah, I’ll tell Jeff. Later,” Max said into the phone and flipped it shut.
“Max is right, it isn’t a big deal,” I answered Linda. “They can’t find Shauna and Kami’s the last person to see her.”
“Damn tootin’ they can’t find her!” I heard from behind me and turned to see Arlene bearing down on us. “Get this!” she announced when she had everyone’s attention, her arm snaking out to snag a chair from a table with two people sitting at it and she did this without asking them if it was okay which made them look at her with a mix of shock and irritation even though they weren’t using it. Then she announced grandly, “Shauna Fontaine has disappeared and they got an APB out on her.” Her eyes rounded in the middle of making a circle of the table to gauge our reactions, they caught on me and she yelled, “Holy shit! What happened to your face?”
“Damon,” Max, Linda, Becca and Barb answered in unison and without hesitation.
“What?” Arlene asked.
“Last night, Damon got retribution,” Max told her and Arlene’s eyes narrowed.
“Where were you?” Arlene returned.
“Not with Nina,” Max’s answer wasn’t evasive, it was a firm indication of where he wasn’t and that the reason why he wasn’t with me was none of Arlene’s business.
“Right,” Arlene muttered then noted, “Must be why the call went out on him on the police band late last night.”
“Yeah, Arlene, that’d be why,” Max confirmed and his eyes came to mine, I gave him a placating grin, he shook his head and didn’t appear very placated but instead mildly irritated.
Suddenly Arlene’s neck twisted and she shouted across the porch, “Fran, get me a cappuccino, heavy on the sprinkles!”
“Gotcha!” Fran, a waitress standing at a table several feet away, shouted back and Arlene’s head swung back to us and her eyes took in the table.
Then they took in me and Max. “What’s your problem? You ain’t drinkin’?”
“We just arrived,” I told her.
“Watcha want?” she asked, I answered for myself and Jeff, Max placed his order with Arlene and Arlene twisted her neck and shouted again.
“Fran, Nina needs a skinny latte, Max wants an Americano, black, and Jeff needs a to go Americano, cream and one sugar. Got that?”
“Yeah, up in a minute,” Fran shouted back and then turned to the table that had twice been interrupted in placing their own orders.
Arlene plopped into her chair as Mindy and Jeff came back to the table, still, I noted with a warm feeling in my middle, holding hands.
“Yo Mins,” Arlene greeted, her eyes moving to the couple’s hands but fortunately, her mouth remaining shut.
“Hey Arlene,” Mindy replied.
“Jeff, what’s shakin’?” Arlene asked.
“Everything,” Jeff answered, releasing Mindy so she could sit down and his torso twisted, he glanced at a table beside ours, put his hand on the back of a chair, gave them a chin tilt and then at their nod he rounded the chair to our table.
We all pushed our chairs out a bit as our group got wider so we could fit everyone in and Jeff sat, his chair very close to Mindy’s.
“So, Shauna Fontaine is suspect numero uno,” Arlene said to Jeff and Jeff’s eyes cut to her.
“Pardon?” he asked, playing dumb.
“Boy, you got an APB out on her,” Arlene informed him of something he obviously already knew.
“Arlene, can’t discuss the specifics of the case,” Jeff told her and Arlene gave him a look but turned back to the table, declaring, “Well, I can.”
Jeff’s eyes went to Max and both men sighed simultaneously as Arlene launched in.
“Shauna Fontaine is gone, gone, gone. Her house’s been sold, her shit’s been moved out and no one has seen her since day before yesterday,” Arlene told the table.
“Her shit’s been moved out?” Linda asked, her eyes wide.
“Yep, cleaned out,” Arlene replied. “Cops went through it yesterday.”
“That’s not enough for an APB,” I noted, my eyes moving to Jeff.
“Yeah, though she cleaned all the shit outta her house, don’t mean she left the house clean. That dead PI guy was done on one a’ Curtis’s construction sites in the bedroom of a new, unfinished build. They were drywallin’. Cops found drywall residue inside Shauna’s house, leadin’ a trail from her backdoor to her bedroom.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed and Arlene looked gleefully at me.
“Shauna don’t work and it’s doubtful she drywalls as a hobby, so why’s she got drywall dust in her house?” Arlene asked without really expecting an answer and I knew this because there was no answer to give and because she kept speaking. “So, the woman’s got evidence in her house, motive and she and her boytoy disappear into thin air…” Arlene grinned and finished, “A… P… B.”
“Boytoy?” Barb asked.
“Well, more like mantoy,” Arlene answered. “Name’s Robert Winston and Winston’s gone too. Neighbors of his say he hasn’t been home in days, they haven’t even seen his car. Cops got a man parked out in front of his house and have since yesterday. No show. He’s self-employed, real estate, if you can believe that shit. If I remember, Shauna’s wrinkled, old goat of an ex-husband was also in property. Girl’s got a type.”
I looked at Max and he was glaring at Arlene so I again put my hand on his thigh, his eyes came to mine and I gave his thigh a squeeze. His hard face got a bit softer but that’s all my effort achieved before Arlene was talking again and Max looked back at her.
“Cops went to Winston’s office, they say he’s on vacation and has been for two weeks, his leave is extended and he’s not due back in awhile. ‘Cept, he was seen brawlin’ with poor, old Harry at The Rooster Saturday night, so everyone knows he isn’t exactly outta town.” Then Arlene leaned forward and shared on a very loud whisper, “And, get this. He’s got a wife! In Aspen. He’s supposed to be openin’ a branch of his business over here, which he’s kinda done but he’s also definitely on…” Arlene lifted her hands and made quotation marks with her fingers, “‘vacation’.” She dropped her hands and carried on talking. “The wife says she’s been in Aspen, closin’ up their house, gettin’ ready to move here. Cops in Aspen who questioned her said she was pretty pissed when she heard the name Shauna Fontaine. Apparently Shauna’s got a history with this Winston guy, one dates back years. The wife took his ass back after the last round of history and now Shauna’s back for round two.”
My gaze slid to Jeff to see he was staring at Arlene in disbelief or, I should say, somewhat angry disbelief as Arlene kept sharing her story.
“This’s where it gets really interesting. See, last time, when the wife took him back, she made him sign everything over in her name. She owns it all, the houses, the businesses, even the bank accounts are in her name, she’s got control of the whole enchilada.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered, now I was staring at Arlene.
“How do you know all this shit?” Jeff asked.
“Everyone’s talkin’,” Arlene answered.
“Not cops and this is confidential information,” Jeff returned. “Y
ou aren’t hearin’ this stuff on the grapevine or on your police band, Arlene.”
“I got my sources,” Arlene replied.
“They local?” Jeff returned.
“Not sayin’,” Arlene muttered.
“Arlene, are they local?” Jeff repeated.
“Nope,” Arlene answered quickly and Jeff stared at her.
Then he muttered, “Chantelle.” His eyes went intense and he asked, “Your niece works reception at Chantelle PD, doesn’t she?”
“Uh… she might,” Arlene replied, Max grunted (whether this was an amused or knowing grunt, I had no idea), Jeff looked annoyed and the rest of us glanced at each other as Arlene carried on, her eyes on Jeff.
“Anyway, Jeff, seems to me, unless this Winston fella finds himself a sugar mama, his wife gets pissed, which she is, she takes it all.”
It was then Mindy entered the conversation and suggested to Jeff, “Maybe a sugar mama who thought she was going to inherit some, or all, of a local big man’s construction empire because she told him she was pregnant with his child?”
My gaze snapped to Max who was watching Mindy then his eyes turned to me.
“That’s what I’m thinkin’,” Arlene responded to Mindy then looked to Jeff. “That what the boys at the Station are thinkin’, Jeff?”
At this point Fran hit our table carrying a tray filled with coffees and Jeff stood, fishing his wallet out of the back of his jeans.
“What the boys at the Station are gonna be thinkin’ in about ten minutes, Arlene,” Jeff said, flipping open his wallet and pulling out some bills, “is that the shit you shared at this table better stay at this table or someone’s niece is gonna be out of a job.” Jeff threw the money on the table and took his coffee from Fran before he concluded, eyes back on Arlene. “Yeah?”
I looked at Jeff’s angry eyes and set face and realized, when he was being macho mountain man police officer, he was even more attractive than normal, in fact, as Becca would put it, he was downright hot.
Then I looked at Mindy and saw her gazing up at him with an expression on her face that said she thought much the same thing.
Arlene visibly ground her teeth at having her gossip curtailed and then she muttered, “Yeah.”
The Gamble Page 58
