I turned the photo over. In Jake’s hand were the words, “Fan-Glorious!”—exclamation point and all. Below, in different script, were the words, “Miss you, Big D.” It was signed, “Fancy.”
I sat bolt upright. “ ‘Big D’ was the name on the note in the alley!”
“And if she called Jake, ‘Big D’—”
“Then maybe we actually have a suspect.” I stared at her picture. She had a strong, direct gaze. Was she a woman capable of violence? Absolutely. But murder? “On the other hand … I don’t know, Zach. Call it gut instinct, but I think if this woman wanted to shoot someone she wouldn’t do it as an ambush. She’d want to look him in the eye. Besides, why kill Jake when she’s the only heir to his vast Christmas Club fortune?”
“But doesn’t it make you wonder why his wife and daughter aren’t in the will? Where are they? And who is this Fancy lady? A second wife, maybe?”
“Maybe the two women in the other photos aren’t his wife and daughter.”
“Then who are they?”
“I don’t know.” I flipped Fancy’s picture toward him. “But maybe she does. And you know what? I’m going to go and find out.”
“What do you mean, fly to New Orleans?”
“Why not? Jake obviously knew he was in trouble, but he was still willing to send me to see her. Clearly he trusts her. Maybe we should too.”
Zach rubbed his jaw. “Well … I would like to see you leave town. I reckon you’d be a might safer. But how do you know she’s still there?”
I snatched Jake’s handwritten note. “This only has the department store number.”
“New Orleans is in our time zone. And big stores stay open late.”
“That’s true.” I borrowed Zach’s cell phone and dialed the store. After two rings, a woman answered. “Gorman’s Department Store. How may I direct your call?”
“Is Ms. Smith there, please?”
“We have several, ma’am. Do you have a first name?”
“F. Gloria. Oh! Or maybe Fancy. She goes by both.”
“Just a moment, please.” I looked at Zach and crossed my fingers. Seconds later, the woman said, “I’m sorry, but Ms. Smith has just gone for the day. May I direct you to someone else in her department?”
“Which department would that be?”
“That would be the Quetile Cosmetic line in our Beauty Department.” The woman’s voice took on a suspicious tone. “And who did you say you were, ma’am?”
“A friend.”
“And you don’t know the department she works in?”
“Um. She changes jobs a lot.”
“Not in the last ten years, according to my records.”
“I don’t suppose you could give me her home phone?”
“No ma’am, most definitely not. May I have your name, please?”
“Oops, sorry. Bad connection, I’m going through a tunnel.” I punched the off button.
Zach said, “What was that all about?”
“I think she suspected I was some kind of stalker or something.”
“You handled it smoothly, though. Nobody suspects that going through the tunnel thing.”
I screwed up my face at him, then felt fuzzy-headed with the effort. “Whoa. I think that Percocet is starting to take effect. Anyway, at least we know that Ms. Fancy Smith still works there, and she’s been there all day. So she wasn’t here taking shots at Jake or planting bombs. Tomorrow I can fly down and—” I stopped, immediately realizing why that wouldn’t work. I clucked my tongue in frustration. “Wait. I can’t. I’m broke! Come to think of it, who knows if I’ll even have a job in the future? Crap!”
“I’ll loan you the money.”
“I couldn’t—”
“My money not good enough for you? I’m doing all right. I won a nice little purse in Omaha. Besides, that way you’re beholden to me. And think of what I can do with that.” He waggled his eyebrows like some silent movie villain.
I laughed. “You are the best! But I’d still feel bad.”
“Darlin’, it ain’t safe for you here. Now, I’d prefer to watch after you myself, but I got a competition in two days, and who knows how long this’ll go on.”
I opened my mouth in protest.
He held up one hand, palm first. “Yeah, I know. You’re a big, brave, independent woman who don’t need no man to look after her. But if I’m out there worrying about you alone here, I’m likely to get throwed and get my skull split open like a melon. And it’ll be all your fault. So, you’re getting on a plane tomorrow.” He pulled his phone from the holster on his belt and dialed his travel agent cousin. In no time, I had a flight to New Orleans for ten a.m. the next day.
“You’re such a great friend, I—” A yawn overtook me. My weary body and woozy head joined forces. “I’m just so tired.” I yawned again, so hard that it almost knocked me over.
“I’m amazed you’ve stayed going this long. Here, give me this,” he said, taking the box from my lap. “And you lay down now.”
I kicked off my boots and scooted down flat on the giant sleeping bag atop the hay. Zach grabbed the blankets and lay down beside me, covering us both. I rolled against him, letting him put his arm around me as my body convulsed with another yawn. “This really is nice.”
“I think so,” he said into my hair.
A sense of indescribable contentment blanketed me. The bed was soft and giving beneath me. It smelled sweet and earthy, and Zach’s chest was warm against my cheek. “I wish I knew why someone threw the box out the window. If they were trying to steal it, why leave it? Do they want the numbers in Hunter’s envelope? Or maybe there’s something in the will I’m missing.”
“Maybe it wasn’t stolen. Maybe Jake threw the box out the window.”
“Why?”
He hugged me. “I don’t know. Shush now. Go to sleep.”
“Hmm. This is comfy.” Typical me, I start dropping off, and all the events of the day come rushing in, as if for one final parade review. “You know I was just thinking about Hunter.”
“Great. You lie down with me and start thinking about another man. That’s flattering.”
“No, silly. I don’t mean that way. In fact, I was thinking about Jake, too.”
“This just gets better and better.”
My head felt so light I thought it might float away, but I was so warm, so comfortable. “It’s, um, where was I going? Oh, yeah. Why ask me to talk to Fancy? Why not ask Hunter? And why don’t they work together anymore?”
His chin brushed against my head as he looked down at me. “What do you mean?”
“At first, I thought Lilly’s suspicions were ridiculous, but I’m not so sure we should throw away that data point prematurely. I mean, they were partners, yes? But Hunter’s a wealthy man, and Jake’s just scraping by. You’d think Hunter would want to help his old friend.”
“Maybe they had a falling-out.”
“They get along fine as far as I can tell.”
“I don’t know, Darlin’. But you can’t strike oil if you don’t dig for it.”
I tried to lift my head, but it wouldn’t budge. “What’s that, a wise old country saying?”
“I mean you need to dig deeper to find out what was really going on between those two. Now how about you stop talking about other men when you’re lying down with me?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I smiled, feeling like I was about to purr. I knew it was a side effect of the pills, but you know, I just didn’t give a damn. I tilted my head back, and my nose brushed against the soft bristles of his chin. “That tickles. And you smell good.”
“It’s all those lemony hand wipes we used to wash up with.”
“It’s nice. I like it.” I kissed the underside of his chin.
He shifted slightly, and his voice sounded strained. “Maybe you ought not do that.”
“You’re right,” I said, although my hand slid slowly up and down his chest. “Jolene would have every right to be angry.”
He ro
lled my body closer to him. “I meant to tell you. Me and Jolene broke up.”
Yay! “Oh, I’m sorry.” My damned hand started massaging his arm. “Are you sad?”
He swallowed hard and looked down at me. “Not at the moment.”
“But I feel so sorry for you. It makes me want to—” I wrapped my fingers in his hair and drew his head down, bringing his lips to mine. He hesitated, but then his arms tightened around me. Our lips moved against each other, soft and yielding, then increasingly insistent. My shoulder ached, though it didn’t compare with the ache lower down. I pulled him closer.
Zach broke off, gently pulling away. “I don’t believe I’m about to say this, but maybe we ought not. It ain’t right to take advantage of you when you’re in this state—”
I gripped his hair tighter and pulled his face back to mine. “Shut up, cowboy.” As my mouth met his, I ran the tip of my tongue over his lips. He shuddered and drew me hard to him.
Just then the floor shook. I broke off. “What was that? Did Fido come in the van?”
Zach nuzzled my neck. “Don’t worry about him.”
My toes curled, and I groaned. “But what if he comes over here?”
He feathered my throat with kisses. “He does, and he’s Sunday dinner, I swear to God.”
His mouth covered mine again, and I pulled him on top of me. Oh, this is heaven!
Then it happened: The most tremendous stink I’d ever smelled in my life filled the air.
I pushed Zach away. “What is that smell?! Oh my God!”
Zach’s eyes were glazed. “What? It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just—”
The stench nearly gagged me. I pushed Zach away, rising to my elbows. Fido stood on the other side of the net, his tail high in the air. “That animal just shit all over the floor!”
Face screwed up in helpless frustration, Zach said, “Well, it’s what they do. You can’t house-break cattle, Darlin’.” He put his hand on the back of my neck, massaging it as he lowered himself close to me. “Just give it a second. You’ll get used to it. Now, why don’t we—”
I straight-armed him. Logy head or not, my nose was sharp. “Clean. It. Up. Now!”
Zach dropped his head to his chest and groaned. “All right.” He threw the blanket off and walked toward the bull. “Probably best anyway.” He shouldered Fido toward the van door, none too gently. “You couldn’t give me five more minutes? Just five lousy minutes. Gosh-danged, cussed, ornery creature. Walking bag of fertilizer.”
Grogginess rushed over me, pushing my body back down on the bed. My mind slipped sideways, and I heard myself say, “Explosive stuff: fertilizer. It goes off like—”
… I stood in a field of snow.
Startled, I looked around. A thick forest of evergreens covered the horizon. The ground stretched flat, subsumed in drifts of deep, white snow. I stood alone.
What the hell? Zach? I heard scribbling and turned toward it. Ah. I’m dreaming.
I knew this because she was there: The Evil Dream Pixie. Well, I say pixie, but I don’t actually know what she is because her face is always in shadow, even when she’s standing in the middle of bloody nowhere under full light. She just seems pixielike. And I hate her. I mean, I really hate her. For as long as I can remember, she’s appeared in my dreams, usually before a big test or major paper was due. And she’s always, always writing on that damned pad of hers. She never says a word, just watches me, taking notes. What’s really frustrating is that I know the answer I need to any question is written on that pad. She won’t let me see it, but if I ever get close enough, I’m going to rip it out of her smart-ass little hands and beat her with it.
Evil Dream Pixie looked up. I knew she was staring at me, even though I couldn’t see her face. “What the hell do you want?” I snarled.
She pointed her pencil at my feet. I looked down to find myself standing in a steaming pile of cow crap. I danced to one side, shaking bits of shit off my boot. “You did that on purpose! You irritating, arrogant, know-it-all—”
“Now you know how I feel,” Hunter said, walking in front of me.
My annoyance swelled. “What are you doing here?”
He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. He wore my favorite of his suits: silk, navy and fitted perfectly over his muscular physique. “Hell if I know. It’s your dream.”
“I like that suit on you. And since you’re not actually here, I can admit that I’ve thought you were hot from the moment we met. Until you opened your mouth and ruined everything.”
“I thought the same thing about you. But maybe you ought to be paying attention to that.” He nodded to something behind me.
When I turned, I realized that I stood on the edge of the forest. A tree branch hovered above me, something fluttering in its branches. “What is it?”
“Again: your dream.”
As I squinted up at the thing, it floated into my hand, and I realized what it was. “The note from the alley. But—” I paused thoughtfully. “It’s completely silver. Why would that be?” A breeze blew the glittering paper out of my hands and carried it into the sky. As it went higher, it got larger until it actually became the sky. Then the snow turned into glistening silver flakes. On a whim, I closed my eyes and caught one on my tongue. It tasted like metal. When I opened my eyes, I watched the snow change from silver to black when it hit the ground, covering everything in a fine, ebony powder that rose in wisps as the wind blew over it. “That’s odd,” I said to Hunter. “Shouldn’t the drifts be silver too?”
He walked up behind me. “You think that’s odd, look over there.”
I looked at the pile of cow dung, now half buried. Black snow slid down in a tiny avalanche, setting off puffs of flame, like little soundless explosions.
“Well, that’s just bizarre.”
“Fertilizer is unstable,” Hunter said.
“I know. The chemistry is such that—uh, Hunter what are you doing?”
His hands encircled my waist, and he put his lips on my neck, slowly, softly kissing the length of it. “What part of ‘this is your dream’ are you not getting?” he said as he nuzzled me.
I shivered under his warm touch. “I, um—oh. That’s nice. I quite like that.”
His hands traveled up my abdomen and cupped my breasts. “That’s probably why you have me doing it,” he murmured into my hair.
“Makes sense.” I moaned and closed my eyes, pressing my back into his chest as his thumbs caressed my nipples. “I mean, I really, really like that.”
“So it appears,” a harsh voice said.
My eyes snapped open. I was still lying on the bed in the van. My arms were stretched over my head, my back arched. Hunter crouched beside me. “Looky what I got.” He dangled a pair of handcuffs above me. “Just for you. And this time, you’re not getting away from me.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
I jerked into a sitting position. My head swam, and a searing pain rushed down my back. “Ow,” I growled.
“Stop whining. I’ll see you get aspirin back at the safehouse. Come on. Up you go.” He slipped the handcuffs into their holster and scooped me up, depositing me on my feet. “I’ve had all the trouble I’m taking from you. Let’s go.”
I swayed and looked around the van, willing my head to clear.
Hunter grabbed my boots and thrust them at me. “You can come along on your own or cuffed to the bar in my car. Your choice.”
I glowered at him and snatched my boots. Leaning against the wall, I struggled to pull them on, dancing in place to keep my balance. “Where’s Zach?”
“Your boyfriend’s down the street at a coffee shop.”
He held my elbow as we walked down the ramp of the van, although I wasn’t sure if he was steadying me or making sure I didn’t make a break for it. Nodding at Fido, who lay on the ground, tethered and apparently fine with my being kidnapped, he said, “Good-looking animal. Your man looking to sell it?” He marched me to a nearby car. “I’ve always wanted to
try my hand at raising bulls.”
I shook my head hard enough to break through the cobwebs. “What?”
Hunter opened the passenger door and blocked me between him and it. “You’re not a morning person, are you? Is that the best a genius like you can do first thing?” His gaze slid over me. “Or did your boyfriend wear the smarts right out of you last night?”
Indignation snapped me awake. “He’s not my boyfriend.” Yet.
“Just a one-night stand, then? Needed to get your pipes cleaned?”
“You are so out of line, mister.”
He shrugged a bit too nonchalantly to be convincing. “Not like I care. Look, we can wait around until your not-boyfriend comes back. I’ll be happy to start my morning with a throw-down. But I thought it might be easier to wait until he was out of the way. On the other hand, if watching a fight gets you all hot and bothered, fine by me.”
I scanned the street. The sun was barely up, peeking under bands of gray clouds. Distant traffic sounded, but nothing moved nearby. No sign of Zach. “I can’t leave Fido here alone.”
“Fido?” Hunter snorted out a laugh. “You call it Fido?”
“For now. We were considering Satan’s Snot.”
He shook his head. “You are the weirdest damn female. Get in the car.”
“But the calf—”
“First of all, that’s a yearling, not a calf. And second, Mick will watch it.” He pointed to a black car parked across the street.
“How long has he been there?”
“All night. In fact, he’s been following you since you pulled that little piece of sabotage on my car. And by the way, you’re paying for that.” He leaned in, forcing my back against the door frame. “One way or another.”
“So, that’s how you found me at Jake’s. But Zach and I were sure we weren’t followed.”
“Any of my guys get made on a tail, they don’t finish out the day. I only hire the best. Jake, sadly, tended to pity every stray that came along. And you can see where it got him.”
The Last Best Lie Page 10
