Scottsdale Squeeze: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 2)

by B A Trimmer

  “Haven’t heard anything yet. The police are sending out everyone they can spare to look for her. But honestly, I’m not sure they believe the kidnapping story. They are treating her more as a fugitive suspect than as a kidnapping victim. I’m spending my time looking into the places the police won’t think to go.”

  “That’s what we’ve been thinking too. We want to help. We were planning on hitting a couple of the clubs tonight and asking around. We know everyone worth knowing in Scottsdale and maybe somebody will know something.”

  “What a great idea,” I said. “When and where are you starting? I’d like to come along.”

  “We are going to meet at the Maya Day and Nightclub about nine o’clock. You can probably find us near the pool.”

  “Perfect, I’ll see you there.”

  I had just put the phone down when Sophie called. She sounded annoyed.

  “Hey Sophie” I said. “What’s going on? I thought you and Milo were going to the Rhythm Room tonight.”

  “We were, but he called to cancel. Seems his boss called a big meeting and he can’t make it.”

  “Sorry it didn’t work out. Dating a henchman seems a lot like dating a cop. Neither one had a predictable schedule.”

  “That’s so true. What about you? Are you working or playing tonight? I need to get out and do something.”

  “Actually, a little of both. The Scottsdale cougars and I are going to work a couple of the clubs tonight and search for information on Jackie. We’re meeting at Maya about nine. Why don’t you come along? I’m sure Lenny won’t mind if I expense both of our covers for the night.”

  “That would be great, although I’m going to need to change and redo my make-up. I’m good enough for Milo and a blues club but not if I’m going to hang out with cougars. Those women sorta intimidate me, you know, a little.”

  “You’ll be fine. See you at nine.”

  After I hung up, a wave of exhaustion came over me. This happens every time I schedule myself a late night after a long day. I looked at the clock and decided there wasn’t enough time for a nap, but maybe there was time for a quick dinner. I pulled out my phone and called Reno.

  “Hey,” I said after he answered. “You free for diner?”

  “Actually, I’m off duty for the weekend. I was going to call you and see if you wanted to make a night if it. I’m never sure with your crazy schedule.”

  Damn! Tonight?

  “I’d love to do the whole night, but dinner is all I can squeeze in. I don’t know if you heard, but Jackie Wade was kidnapped this morning and I need to try and track her down.”

  “I’ve heard. And I’ve also heard there are several teams working on the case already. I guess Jackie is some sort of celebrity in Scottsdale. Apparently, city hall has already taken an interest in the case. Between that and the stories in the media, the department is going all out to find her. Are you sure you need to be out there too? I can think of a much better way for you to spend your Friday night.”

  Oh, Yum!

  “Trust me, I’d much rather be with you. But I was there when Jackie was kidnapped. I have to try to get her back. I’m meeting up with Jackie’s friends and we are going to hit some of the clubs to see if we can pick up on any rumors.”

  “So, just dinner then?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. What about Frankie’s?

  “Frankie’s would be good. I’ll meet you there in about a half hour.”

  “Let’s make it an hour. Jackie’s friends are all cougars and I need to redo myself.”

  “Cougars, huh? Are you thinking about switching to young boys? Should I be worried?”

  “Ass.”

  ~~~~

  I went into the bedroom and pulled out several outfits, finally deciding on my short black skirt with the multi-colored sparkles. I love this skirt. No matter what I do to it, it never wrinkles, plus the sparkles always make me feel special and sexy whenever I wear it. I then settled on my second favorite red knit top. It has a plunging neckline and if I wear the right bra, it makes it look like I actually have cleavage. My favorite red top had ripped when I was standing too close to a building when it had blown up a couple of months before.

  I then spent the rest of my time trying to fix my hair and make-up. Like Sophie, I was starting to feel slightly intimidated at the thought of being with a group of Scottsdale cougars all night.

  ~~~~

  Frankie Z’s is a small family-run restaurant off of Hayden and Via Linda. It’s one of those places that have been around for as long as anyone can remember. Ever since Reno had taken me there on our first date, about a year and a half ago, I’ve come to regard it as “our” restaurant. It is run by Frankie Zappitelli, a small and ageless Italian woman.

  I walked in and saw Frankie was at her usual place at the hostess stand. She was wearing her standard long black dress, flat black shoes, and single strand of pearls. Her salt and pepper hair was pulled up in a tight bun, held in place with a black knitted hairnet. When she saw me, she smiled her broad smile.

  “It’s good to see you back again. It’s been almost a month. Where you been eating if not here? It’s not so good as my cooking, eh?”

  “Hi Frankie,” I said. It always smells so good when I walk in the door.”

  “It’s the essence,” she said. “The garlic. With it, everything is beautiful. Your cute boyfriend is already here. I put you two in the corner on the patio, very romantic.”

  She then walked me through the lounge. Frankie’s son, Little Zappy, was working at his usual spot behind the bar. Little Zappy is in his mid-forties and must weigh three hundred pounds. He waved as he saw me walking through with his mom. Frankie then led me to the outdoor patio where fragrant jasmine vines covered the red brick walls. It was beautifully lit with dozens of strands of white Christmas lights. Italian love songs were softly playing in the background.

  Reno was looking over the menu when I got to the table. When he saw me, his face broke out into a smile. I always take that as a good sign. I sat next to him and leaned over for a kiss. As always, Reno smelled wonderful.

  “You look great,” he said. “Maybe I should take you out to the clubs if you’re going to look like that.”

  “Maybe you should. Has there been any word on Jackie?”

  “None at all. But, as I was telling you, there already are several teams looking for her. Apparently, she has friends who are well connected in city politics so this is getting a lot of visibility. Most everyone in the department agrees it was a genuine kidnapping. But a vocal few think this was just a set-up to have Jackie disappear. The lead from homicide is all but accusing Lenny of having planned the entire thing.”

  “That’s stupid. I was there and it was legitimate. Plus even Lenny wouldn’t do that to one of his own people.”

  “Nevertheless, people know how Lenny works and there’s been some talk. It will be in everyone’s best interest if she’s found quickly.”

  Dominick, another one of Frankie’s sons, brought over our drinks and breadsticks. We ordered dinner and then talked. It was great being with Reno. Sitting next to him and talking about my day is always so perfect. Whenever we are together, I think about Reno and me being together every night and how great it would be. It kills me we can’t spend more time together. Sometimes I blame him but with his cop schedule and my chaotic life, it’s no wonder we only see each other once or twice a week.

  I let out a sigh. Reno heard it and looked at me.

  “Oh that was just a sigh of frustration we can’t ever seem to be together for more than an hour or two at a time,” I said. “It makes me wonder what it would be like to be two normal people with normal day jobs. We could have dinner together whenever we wanted and even spend the entire weekend together whenever the mood struck us.”

  “You think you’re frustrated? Here I am, dating a beautiful and sexy woman and we never have time for anything more than dinner. To be honest, I was getting more action back when I didn’t have a steady girlfriend.�
��

  “Oh, yeah? You want to go back to dating normal women? Ones with normal schedules?”

  “Naaah, normal women are boring. But something’s gotta change or I’ll go nuts. I keep hoping our schedules will match up someday soon and we can actually spend some quality time together.”

  I held up my glass.

  “Here’s to hoping for better schedules.”

  He held up his glass and lightly clinked it against mine.

  “Better schedules, soon.”

  ~~~~

  Reno walked me out to the parking lot. I was in the back row and I noticed it was relatively dark where my car was parked. This, of course, started giving me some naughty ideas. My heart started beating faster and my mind began to race.

  Why can’t I think of anything else?

  I hit the beeper and unlocked the doors. I got in the driver’s seat while Reno took the passenger’s side. I tossed my purse in the back seat then looked at Reno. He looked back at me for a moment then took me by the shoulder and bent over to kiss me.

  As soon as his lips touched mine, my heart sped up another notch and I suddenly felt warm all over. I had a bad case of the butterflies and a pleasant tingling had started to climb up my thighs. When I felt his tongue touch mine, my libido hit the red zone. I grabbed his body and smashed it against me. His kisses became deeper and I felt his body growing hot. At my not-so-subtle prompting, he started to gently touch and tease.

  After two or three minutes of this, I literally started to squirm with sexual frustration. I knew there was no way I was letting Reno out of the car without him giving me some sort of relief.

  “I want you Reno,” I said, my words coming out in gasps.

  He was breathing hard and his face looked flushed. I reached my hand down and felt he was also ready.

  He let out a low moan. “I want you too,” he said. “Do you have enough time to come to my place?”

  I looked at my watch. I had told the girls I would meet them in less than half an hour.

  “Not enough time,” I said.

  “Cream-puff, we talked about this not twenty minutes ago. You need to fix your schedule so we can actually be together, at least occasionally. Can we plan on tomorrow?”

  “Maybe, but you aren’t getting away yet. I need you to make me happy -- now.”

  “In Frankie’s parking lot? What did you have in mind? It wouldn’t be a good idea to be bouncing in the back seat like a couple of teenagers. What if someone was to walk by? We should probably think of, umm, something else.”

  His fingers were gently touching my lips and I knew what he had in mind.

  “Well,” I said, “there is one magic thing you do to me.” I then took his hand and lightly kissed the tips of his fingers.

  “Sure, great for you. But what about me? I’m a guy. I have needs too. Maybe more than you.”

  “I seriously doubt that. Besides, I’m wearing a skirt and you have on a ton of clothes. It’s not my fault you didn’t plan better.”

  “Like how? Wear a kilt?”

  I took one of his fingers and sucked on it for about ten seconds, sliding his finger in and out of my mouth, to give him a nice mental image.

  “Make me happy now and I’ll make it up to you,” I said in my sexiest voice. “I promise.”

  “Oh yeah? When?”

  “Soon.”

  “Soon’s not an answer.”

  “It’s the best I can do right now. Take it or leave it.”

  ~~~~

  Twenty-five minutes later, I pulled into the public parking lot two blocks from the Maya Day and Nightclub. In a way, I felt much better. But in a deeper way, I was more frustrated than ever. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, but I always look at the first one as a quick warm-up before the main event. Having the one, and then stopping, was causing me to have some weird twinges and spasms. In a way, it was worse than getting nothing at all.

  SEVEN

  The Maya Day and Nightclub is a beautiful place sitting on the site of where the nightclubs Myst and Suede used to be. It’s on the same street as Nexxus and ever since it opened, it’s been one of my favorites. The inside is beautiful with great dance floors, hidden alcoves, and several VIP rooms, which I’ve only seen from the outside.

  The thing setting Maya apart from the other Scottsdale clubs is the resort-sized swimming pool set in the middle of a huge outdoor patio. Seemingly floating in the middle of the pool is the main DJ stage.

  Surrounding the pool are date palms, tropical plants, pool bars, soft lounge chairs, and a dozen beautiful cabanas. It’s a great place to relax, listen to music, or to watch the beautiful people of Scottsdale.

  The girls weren’t hard to find. Even in a club this crowded, they seemed to have carved out a space of their own in a double sized cabana next to the pool. Annie, Sophie, and Pam were there along with four others. I was introduced to Elle, Shannon, Sonia, and Cindy.

  Of the new group, Elle was the most striking. She had dark wavy hair that went halfway down her back, deep green eyes, and a smile that was infectious. Between Pam and Elle, they were clearly the leaders of the group.

  Seeing them together as a group was an impressive sight, as if they belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine. Their make-up, hair, and nails were perfect. With the exception of Annie, each had on forty or fifty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry. Each had on an expensive pair of heels between five and six inches high. Each was beautifully dressed in an outfit saying she had both money and class, but also gave out a passionate sensuality. As I walked closer, I caught the subtle mingling of several high-end perfumes. I noticed there was a causal effortlessness about them. They all looked approachable, yet somehow unattainable.

  I tried to get to know the new women and I talked with each of them. When I told Elle I liked her name, she looked at me, a little surprised.

  “Thanks, but it’s actually Lynaé. For some reason the club bouncers never liked my name. Maybe it was too hard for them to remember, I don’t know. They shortened it to ‘L’ and I’ve been Elle ever since.”

  I next chatted with Sonia. She was very tall, athletic, had dark wavy hair down to her shoulders, flawless coco skin, and large brown eyes. I told her she looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her.

  “It’s OK,” she said. “I get that all the time. Up until last year, I was married to one of the Phoenix Suns. I was always the girl in the background whenever he had a TV interview, so you probably saw me a lot on the ten o’clock news. When I found out my husband had a half a dozen girlfriends on the side, I dumped his ass. I’ve known Jackie, Pam, and Elle for years. After my divorce, I started hanging out with them whenever they went to the clubs. They are all my best friends and I’d do anything for them.”

  I asked Pam how she was holding up. She said she was OK and now she only wanted to help get Jackie back. I saw she had used make-up to skillfully cover the bruise she had gotten earlier in the day.

  The conversation in the group quickly turned to Jackie. I shared what I had, but it was nothing they hadn’t already heard from Pam. Before coming to Maya, three of the women had met for drinks and dinner at Mastro's, a high-end restaurant in downtown Scottsdale. Although they had talked to several people there, no one knew anything about Jackie. Everyone in the group had a different theory about what had happened but there wasn’t anything said that brought a new flash of inspiration.

  As we talked, I noticed there were several men in their twenties casually milling around our group. Each man apparently was waiting for an opportunity to talk to one of the ladies, yet each was doing his best not to look like he was hovering.

  At one point Shannon held up her empty martini glass in the direction of one of the men. He sped away, only to reappear at Shannon’s side two minutes later with a fresh drink. They sat together and chatted for a minute. From what I could catch, he was not so subtlety propositioning her. She then bent over and gave him a soft kiss. Shannon then smiled and caressed the man’s face as he continued to
talk. At some signal I did not catch, the man got up and resumed his place in the hovering crowd of men. A few minutes later, Sonia held up her glass to a different man and the process was repeated.

  After about a half hour of this warming up, the girls got up to work the crowd and ask about Jackie. Shannon, Elle, and Pam went straight to the entrance to the VIP lounge. They briefly chatted and joked with a huge bouncer, a bill was discreetly passed, and they were admitted.

  Sonia and Cindy went back in to the main dance floor. Annie and Sophie took off together and I went out on my own. I walked around the club, talking to the handful of people I recognized. Although everyone knew about the kidnaping, no one had any new insight on what had happened to Jackie or who had set her up.

  After about an hour, we gathered back at the cabana. No one had anything new to report on Jackie. We then decided to walk across the street to Nexxus.

  It was approaching eleven on a Friday night and there was a line of about fifty people at the door to Nexxus. Apparently, cougars don’t ever wait in line. The girls casually walked up to the entrance and spent a few minutes chatting and laughing with the three huge bouncers, who they all seemed to know by name. The bouncers seemed to have pet names for each of the girls, except for Pam, who was known by everyone as Pammy.

  Sophie and I were introduced as potential pumas, which seemed to amuse the bouncers. They said they were sorry to hear about what had happened to Jackie-D and they’d be willing to help any way they could. A bill was discretely exchanged, a bouncer then lifted the red velvet rope, and we were all admitted.

  We walked into the cocktail lounge side of the club. After a brief discussion with the hostess, we quickly had an entire corner alcove to ourselves. Within five minutes, a different group of men in their twenties began to hover around our group. A waitress appeared with a tray of drinks, apparently paid for by the men. We sat as a group and talked for about fifteen minutes.

  Sophie looked over at me. “I’ve gotta try it.” She then looked at one of the men and waved him over. He was tall, athletic, and looked Nordic or maybe German. He had long blond hair, dark green eyes, and a great smile. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two. He hurried over and slid into the booth next to her. They talked for a minute with her hands resting on his arm as she gave him a drink order. He then took off like a shot.