by Lisa Regan
I approached the receptionist and put on my friendly smile. “Hi. I’m Shelby Nichols, here to see Alex Drake.”
The receptionist looked me over, wondering why Drake wanted to see me. From his surly behavior lately, she hoped I could stand up for myself but, from my eager-to-please smile, I looked like someone he could rake over the coals and eat for breakfast. She sure hoped I wasn’t the crying sort.
What did she mean by that? Was Alex Drake a bully or something? My heart sank. It was just my luck that instead of heading to heaven, I was on my way to hell.
“Please sign in, and I’ll let him know you’re here,” she said, pushing an elegant, black leather logbook in front of me with a fancy fountain pen attached. It reminded me of signing in at a doctor’s office, only on a much more elaborate scale. At my puzzled frown, she continued, “For security purposes.”
“Okay, sure.” I quickly signed my name and handed it back to her. She checked my signature, then placed the book on her desk and took a bolstering breath before turning down the hall. She fervently hoped Blake had remembered the appointment and wouldn’t yell at her for the interruption.
After a quick knock, she stuck her head inside to announce me. A moment later, she came back to her desk with obvious relief. “He’ll see you now.” I followed her to the office, imagining a beast-like hairy person with horns sticking out of his head and a ring through his nose.
I entered, surprised to find a handsome, but unsmiling, man standing to greet me. His thick, sandy hair had just the right amount of gel to be stylish without trying.
“Hi, I’m Shelby Nichols.” I reached to shake his outstretched hand, and my breath caught to find the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. The color stood out even more because of the long, dark lashes that bordered them.
As he took my hand, I caught the same thoughts from his mind about my blue eyes. The irony brought a warm smile to my lips.
“Alex Drake,” he said. Instead of smiling back like I expected, his lips turned into a grimace, and he abruptly dropped my hand, gesturing toward a plush chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”
His brusque tone would have unsettled me, but I picked up that he used it to hide any weakness that would undermine his ruthless authority. Just like Uncle Joey. What had I gotten into now?
“Thank you.” I kept my tone light to hide my worry. “So… Mr. Drake, how can I help you?”
“Call me Drake,” he said, his voice low and hard. “I need help finding something that was taken from me.” He sent a piercing stare my way, his brow raised with an underlying challenge. “I’m taking a chance on you but, from what I’ve gathered, you’re someone who can be trusted, and that means more than a bunch of credentials.”
He was thinking that if I worked for Joey “The Knife” Manetto, I was bound to be discreet, and that’s what he needed for the job. It was painful enough to admit that he’d been taken advantage of, and he sure as hell didn’t want anyone else to know about it.
He’d also heard that I had “premonitions,” and that fact alone intrigued him. He figured there must be some truth to it, or Manetto would have dropped me flat. It might also be the one thing that could solve his predicament. His piercing blue gaze judged my reaction, hoping to sense any false emotion I might display.
“Of course,” I said. I wanted to show him that I was a professional and shoved away any qualms I had about working for someone who knew Uncle Joey. “What did you lose?”
A quick expression of regret that I didn’t already know crossed his features, then his eyes turned hard, and his lips drew into a thin line.
“An acquaintance took an antique pocket watch from me. It belonged to my grandfather and has no other value than a sentimental one, but I want it back. She’s disappeared, and I can’t find her. I’m hoping you’ll be able to track her down.”
That statement wasn’t exactly true. The larger-than-normal watch held a secret compartment. Inside, he’d hidden a number of flawless diamonds worth several hundred thousand dollars. He didn’t know how she’d found out about them, but once she got her hands on the watch, she’d disappeared without a trace.
I picked up that he’d gone to her apartment, only to find the landlord cleaning it out. She wouldn’t answer her phone, and now it just went to voicemail. The company she worked for told him she was on leave. It was like she’d never existed.
None of it made sense. He could only believe that she’d played him. But the worst part was that he’d fallen for it. She’d made him believe that she loved him. Not his money or his success. Him. How could he be so stupid? He should have known it wasn’t real. Just like all the others. They only wanted him for his money, even the rich ones. Dark fury unfurled in his chest, and he could hardly see straight.
“What’s her name?”
My question pulled him from his dark thoughts. “Lily Daniels. But it’s probably not her real name. I’m afraid she conned me.” It pained him to say it, but if he wanted me to find her, he had to tell me what had happened. “Here’s a picture of us.”
He handed me a photo. In it, he smiled brightly, something I doubted he did very often. His arm circled a woman’s small waist, and her lips tilted up slightly, reminding me of the famous smile on the Mona Lisa. She looked like she was hiding something.
“Okay,” I responded, letting out a breath. “Let me get this straight. You don’t think Lily Daniels is her real name. She no longer lives at her apartment, won’t answer her phone, and she’s on leave from her job. Is that right?”
His mouth dropped open slightly, then he quickly clenched his jaw. He hadn’t told me any of that, but I knew. Was it because of my premonitions? Who else could have told me? He’d kept it close to his chest, mostly because it humiliated him to no end. “How did you know those details?”
“You’re aware that I have a special psychic ability, right?” At his nod, I continued. “I picked it up when you showed me the photo.”
“So you need something physical to see or touch?”
“Not always,” I hedged. “But it doesn’t hurt. Now… about the diamonds. Are they traceable? We might be able to find them that way, even if we can’t find her.”
This time his jaw dropped open, and he gaped at me with widened eyes. He hadn’t told a single person about the diamonds, not even Lily. Somehow she’d found out. But how did I know?
Oops. Maybe I should have been a little more circumspect about how I revealed that to him. This mind-reading thing was harder than I thought. Even if I called it premonitions, it still tended to shock people, and I needed to be more careful.
“You’re probably wondering how I knew about them, but…” I wasn’t sure how to explain, and I didn’t want to give away my secret. Then my gaze locked on the photo, and I let out a relieved breath. “Uh… the watch is in the picture too… see?” I pointed out the chain dangling from his suit pocket and hoped that was right.
“Oh yeah… I suppose it is.” His eyes suddenly lit up with that same cold calculation I’d seen in Uncle Joey’s gaze. He was thinking that I was the real deal. It was huge. Then he wondered how he could get me to work for him on a more permanent basis. Just like Manetto.
Oh great! This was terrible. I needed to get his focus back to the reason for my visit, ASAP. “Why don’t you give me everything you have on her, so I can get started?”
He nodded, willing to let his plans go for now, but he wasn’t about to give up on me and my potential. With more enthusiasm than I’d seen so far, he handed me a folder. “I had a file made for you.”
As he handed it over, he wondered why I didn’t know that already, but it didn’t faze him. I’d proven my worth by telling him about the diamonds that nobody knew about… of course, that wasn’t true, as Lily now had them. But how had she found out? He’d never told anyone.
“Thanks.” I tucked the folder into my bag and glanced his way. “If you want, I could talk to your staff and find out who might have told her about the diamonds. You obviously have
a leak… unless you told her unwittingly?”
His brows shot up. How dare I insinuate such a thing? “No. I didn’t tell her.” Then he remembered telling her how much the watch meant to him. He might have even said it was more valuable than anyone could guess. Had she examined it while he’d been sleeping and found the hidden compartment? It was a possibility that he hadn’t wanted to consider until now. That must have been how it happened.
He shook his head, thinking what an idiot he’d been. Why had he ever let her get under his skin anyway? Even now, thoughts of her sent shards of sadness through his chest, making it hard to breathe. He could still hardly believe she’d betrayed him like that, especially after everything they’d shared.
He’d meant something to her, he knew it. He prided himself on reading people. So how had he become the victim? Maybe something had happened to her, and it wasn’t all a scam?
As soon as that thought entered his mind, he shoved it away, knowing it was wishful thinking. Anger hardened his heart, and he raised his cold, icy gaze to mine. “I’ll pay your normal fee plus a deposit of ten grand.”
He was thinking that I probably charged at least five to seven hundred an hour, maybe more. But the money didn’t matter. He’d spend twice that much if I could find out what had happened to her. Even getting his watch and the diamonds back was secondary to finding out why she betrayed him.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll take the case. My fee is five hundred an hour.” That wasn’t true, but because he was willing to pay more, I decided it was better than the fifty I’d settled on before speaking to him. Sure, I could get more than that, but as I wasn’t a “real” private investigator, with a license and everything, it was better not to push my luck.
While I’d been lost in my thoughts, he’d written out a check and held it out to me. “Here’s your retainer. Don’t let me down.”
“I won’t.” I pulled one of my business cards from my purse and handed it to him. “Call me on my cell if you think of anything else.” He took it, and I continued, “Can I have your cell number too? In case I have a question or find something important?”
“Of course.” He wrote his number on my business card and handed it back. “I already have your number. And… that’s my private number. Don’t give it to anyone.”
I smiled. “I’m a ‘private’ investigator for a reason. I won’t. You can trust me.”
His lips twitched upward, and I thought he might smile, but he closed up again. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
I turned to leave, but stopped at the door and glanced back at him. “It’s never stupid to care for someone. It means you have a heart.”
My candor caught him off-guard. His eyes softened for a second before they changed back to glittering ice. “Not anymore. I’ll never make that mistake again.”
I gave him a quick nod and hurried out of his office. Back in the elevator, the interior golden tones warmed me, but it wasn’t until I got in my car that the ice left my shoulders.
I glanced through the folder, noting Lily’s defunct address and the company she was supposedly on leave from. Without a lot to go on, I needed to head to the precinct and see what I could find in the police database. It was sure to have more information.
The only problem was sneaking past Dimples. He was the detective I worked with and the first one on the scene after I’d been shot in the head. His name is Harris, but when we first met I’d called him Dimples and the name stuck. Yes, he has dimples, but not the garden-variety kind. He has the big, whirling, tornado-like kind. Just looking at him is enough to make me smile.
I drove to the precinct and parked in a visitor space, then pulled my lanyard with my special ID badge over my head. I’d been given this honorary ID badge at the Museum Gala, where I’d been officially hired as a consultant for the police. This was the first time I intended to use it for my own purposes, and a spike of guilt washed over me.
If Dimples wasn’t around, I could use his computer, and no one would know. He’d never given me his password, but I’d picked it up from his mind, so that wasn’t a problem. If he was there, I could talk my way around it if I needed to. I could always say I had a premonition that the police needed me. Sure, it was a lie, but I’d learned that sometimes lying was a necessary evil I could live with, as long as it didn’t hurt anyone.
I hurried into the detectives’ offices like I belonged there, giving a quick smile and a wave to those I knew. I glanced toward Dimples’s desk and my heart sank. He was slipping on his jacket to leave. He caught sight of me and his eyes widened.
“Hey, Shelby,” he said. “We just got a call about a body. Do you want to come? Is that why you’re here?” He knew it was a possibility. He believed in my premonitions, but it still freaked him out when I showed up out of the blue like that.
I should probably make up a different reason for my visit, but I hated to let him down. “You mean a dead body with blood and everything?” He nodded and I continued. “Okay. But just so you know, I don’t do well with blood.”
“Uh, all right.” He thought that could be bad because there was sure to be blood, but he hoped I could hold it together long enough to get something that would help him with the case. “Let’s go.”
I followed him out of the precinct to his car, wishing I could change out of my tight skirt and tall heels. My feet were starting to hurt. I also picked up from Dimples that he’d never seen me wearing such high heels. Then he thought I looked more dressed up than normal. What was up with that?
I slid into his car, and we headed off to the crime scene. “So what do you know about the body?” I asked, trying to prepare myself.
“Female. That’s about it. She was discovered this morning by a passerby, so she was probably murdered sometime last night. But we’ll know more once we get there.”
We drove to an area of town that had seen better days and pulled to the curb. Crime scene tape crisscrossed the entry to an alley, and I followed Dimples inside. A couple of dumpsters sat on either side with garbage piled up between them.
Several police officers stood over the body, along with a man wearing rubber gloves who knelt beside her. “It looks like the medical examiner is here,” Dimples said, thinking that he’d have a good idea about the time and cause of death that might help me with my premonitions.
Great. Just what I needed… a new case and more pressure.
As we neared the body, I held back just a bit, because I wasn’t kidding about the blood. The medical examiner stood from his crouch beside the body, and I got my first look at the victim.
Her eyes were wide open, and she lay on her back with her arms splayed out. Although I’d been expecting it, there wasn’t any blood underneath her, but her shirt was covered in it, like she’d been stabbed again and again.
I swallowed to keep the bile down and took a good look at her face. My heart skipped a beat, and my breath caught. It was her. Lily Daniels. And tied around her neck was Drake’s pocket watch.
Hearing my gasp, Dimples turned to me. “What is it?”
“I... I think I know who that is. I’ve seen her before.”
His gaze sharpened, and he pulled me away from the group for some privacy. “In a premonition?”
“Uh… no.” Now that someone was dead, I had to tell him the truth. “From my client.”
“What?”
“Uh… remember? I started my Shelby Nichols Consulting Agency right after the Museum Gala?” His lips thinned, and his gaze held disapproval. He nodded, and I continued. “Well, I spoke with a new client this morning, and he asked me to look for her. He had a picture of her, and it’s definitely her. Her name’s Lily Daniels.”
“Let me see if they found an ID with the body to make sure it’s the same person.” He left my side and spoke to another detective, then came back. “It’s her all right. That’s the name on her driver’s license.”
“Oh… I’m kind of surprised. My client wasn’t sure if she used her real name or not.”
“He didn’t… I don’t think he killed her. I just met with him this morning. He gave me a lot of money to find her. Why would he do that if she was already dead?”
Dimples let out a breath. “I don’t know. But why did he need you to find her?”
“She took something from him and disappeared. He wanted it back.”
“Shelby. I need more than that. What aren’t you telling me?”
“All right,” I said, giving in. I knew they’d find out the watch belonged to him eventually, and I wasn’t doing my client any favors by keeping my task a secret. “See the watch… the one around her neck?” He glanced at the body and nodded. I continued, “It belongs to my client. She stole it from him, and he wanted it back. My job was to find her.”
Dimples snorted. “Well, you certainly did that. So who’s your client?”
He couldn’t figure out why I was protecting someone who could be a murderer. If she’d stolen the watch from him, it gave him a motive, no matter what I said.
“Uh… before you start pointing fingers, I don’t think my client killed her. If he did, why would he leave the watch behind?”
“Maybe, but I still need to talk to him.” Because intimidation wasn’t working, he caught my gaze and lifted his brows, then he gave me a big, encouraging smile. “Please?” It sent his dimples into a deep dive, and I couldn’t have stopped smiling if my life depended on it.
“Okay. I get it. I have to update him anyway, so I’ll let him know you want to talk to him and see if he can come in.”
“Can’t you just tell me who it is first?” Dimples didn’t like my choice of words. There were no “ifs” about it. The guy was coming in whether he wanted to or not.
I let out a nervous breath. For some reason, I had a hard time giving Dimples his name. It almost felt like I was betraying Drake’s trust. So I decided on a compromise. “I’ll tell you, but let me call him first, okay?”
