Now I really was laughing. Aloud. Uncontrollably.
“What?” Sebastian sat his glass on the table.
“I’m sorry. I just never would have imagined those words coming from your mouth.” I’d regained my composure.
“How soon we forget. I thought I told you, Henry, Eugene and I love wine.”
Ah, that’s right. One of the pieces of evidence in Esme Bailey’s murder investigation was a bottle of wine that had been drugged.
I looked up at the twins, who were oblivious to us as they terrorized each other while playing their game.
“It’s a nice night. Let’s take this bottle and go outside.”
Lola was still in the yard. She sat on the grass in the far corner, next to her dog house. Her Doberman ears were on high alert, even though she looked ridiculous with the stuffed bear in her mouth. I gave the bear about two days before she buried it, which was longer than most of Lola’s toys last before she killed them.
Sebastian squatted down. “What’s her name?”
“Lola, but you don’t want to engage her. She’s not much for strangers.”
He called her over anyway, and she trotted straight to him. He petted her between the ears, and she promptly dropped the bear at his feet. I was delighted. Lola never shared her toys with anyone but me. Maybe Sebastian was really a good guy, and I had good judgment for a change. But then again, she seemed to like Nick, too.
We sat on the wooden swing, still holding our glasses of wine. It was quiet as Sebastian threw Lola’s bear across the yard, and she took off after it. There was no retrieving, as Lola knew that game, and never brought the toy back.
“Do you mind if I ask what’s going on with you and Nick?” He wasn’t looking at me when he asked. He stared off into the darkness.
“Nothing is going on with us.” I looked over my shoulder to be sure the twins were out of earshot. “He stopped by to explain that he has my best friend locked up in his jail cell because it’s his job.”
“Ouch. What happened?” He looked at me now.
“It’s a long story.” I sighed.
“I have all night.” He actually shifted his body to face me.
So I told him. About the cell phone, William (but I didn’t say his name), the murder, the weapon, and Nick arresting Jackie. He listened, not once interrupting me. It felt good to talk it out.
“Wow, what a day. Are you okay?” He touched my leg.
My body reacted more violently than I’d planned. I wanted more. So I scooted a bit closer, turned my back, and leaned into him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
And I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I’d turned my head and kissed him full on the lips. He kissed me back. I kissed him again.
He pulled me back away to arm’s length and asked, “So that’s what the hug was all about? Nothing more?”
Still lost in his dreamy kiss, I said, “What?”
“Nick was holding you pretty tight when I arrived. It was just a friendly hug?”
I sat back. “That’s all it was.”
“So then why did you act like you were expecting me?”
I thought for a minute. Lie? No, I didn’t want to lie. “I wanted Nick to leave. And when you showed up out of nowhere, I thought if I acted like I was expecting you, Nick would feel unwelcome and leave. And he did.”
“You never even asked me why I’m here.” He took a long sip from his wine glass.
“I guess after I saw how great you are with the twins, I didn’t care why you’re here.” I truly did forget that he’d arrived uninvited.
“I actually stopped by to apologize for bothering you at work. I should never have come by to discuss a private matter in your place of business.” He took yet another long sip of wine.
I grabbed the bottle and started to refill his glass.
“No, I want to be sober when I tell you this. I want you to know I’m completely sincere.”
Now I took a long sip of wine. I didn’t want to be sober when I heard what he had to say.
“I won’t bother you anymore. I just needed to get it off my chest that I can’t stop thinking about you. The weird thing is that this isn’t like me. I’ve never had any trouble getting a girl out of my head. But, seriously, I masturbate thinking of you.”
Okay, then. “Sebastian--”
“Okay, that came out more crude than I’d planned. I’m not perfect. But what I’m really trying to say is that the next move is yours. I told you how I feel, I invaded your house tonight, and I just embarrassed you by being crude, so now I’m done.” He started to stand.
I stopped him. “Sit.” Then I said, “This is my next move.” I kissed him again, and it felt as good as it had the first time.
Between kisses, Sebastian said, “Oh, Mimi, I want you so much.”
And then I heard, “When are we ordering pizza?”
CHAPTER 8
Damn, damn, damn. I should never have polished off that bottle of wine with the pizza. I’m not twenty-five anymore, and even the extra water and ibuprofen before going to bed didn’t help much. Everything sounded magnified, and I had teen twins in the back seat of my car. I was only too happy that they were ignoring me and had shoved their ear buds in their ears as soon as they buckled up.
Once at the school, I thought for sure they’d want me to park a block or two down, so no one saw their crazy “Aunt Mimi” dropping them off, but they let me drive right up to the front of the school.
Catey yelled before she was even out of the car, “Hey, Anna, wait up.” I thought my head would explode.
I looked across the schoolyard to see Anna stop and look up at Catey. I asked, “Hey, Catey, who is that with Anna?”
“Her mom, why?” Catey hesitated just long enough to answer. But she was out the door before I could tell her why.
Anna’s mom. I wondered just how much she knew. Then I saw a little girl run up to Anna’s mom, wearing a Hello Kitty backpack.
“Later, Mimi. Thanks for the sleepover and the pizza.” Corey slipped out a bit more quietly than Catey did.
I just wished it was Sebastian saying thanks. He made a hasty exit when the pizza arrived last night. I’m not sure why I kept drinking the wine after he left. Was it to rid myself of wanting him to stay? Or was I trying to forget kissing him? All I knew was the whole thing made me nauseous this morning.
Lola leaned across from the passenger seat and licked me in the face, which brought me out of my trance, and I drove to the agency.
* * *
Charles sat at the kitchen table when I walked in. He was bent over, adjusting his argyle socks. The socks just happened to bear the same shade of lavender as his polo shirt, and the navy of his slacks. I reached out and mussed his hair, just to piss him off.
“Not going to happen.” Charles fingered his blonde locks back into place.
“What’s not going to happen?” I reached for a coffee cup from the cupboard.
“You aren’t going to rile me this morning. I don’t have time for it.” He stood, straightened his slacks and left the room.
This was not my normal Charles. I abandoned the coffee and caught up to him. “What’s going on?”
“Maybe I should ask you that question,” Charles grinned from ear to ear.
“Oh, no, what’s going on?” Suddenly I felt a dread far worse than a hangover.
“Nick stopped by last night.”
“He stopped by your place?” So his visit wasn’t exclusive to me. My heart flipped a bit. I thought he was worried about me.
“He wanted to let me know that he’s still looking for the killer, and that he doesn’t think Jackie is the guilty party. But at the same time, she’s looking like their best suspect right now.”
“Yeah, he stopped by my house last night, too, and said the same thing.” I still didn’t understand why he felt the need to talk to Charles personally, too.
Charles started to walk away again, and then turned, “Oh, and he wanted to
know how long you and Sebastian had been dating.”
Yes! was what I was thinking, but I said, “Really? That’s weird, don’t you think? What would make him ask that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Mimi, maybe it was the way you were flaunting him in front of Nick?” Charles winked.
“I wasn’t flaunting him. Poor Sebastian, I was actually using him. I wanted to make Nick jealous, but it didn’t seem to work.” I headed back into the kitchen, because I really needed that coffee.
Something good must have gone down, because Charles followed me. “Oh, it worked. He tried hard not to show it, but he didn’t like you being with Vampire Boy.”
“I wasn’t exactly with him.”
“Bullshit, you were too with him. So? What was he like?”
Now I was crimson. “I wasn’t with him. But we did kiss. And it was…” I patted my chest with my hand.
“That good?”
I just nodded and finished fixing my coffee.
“Now that we have that drama out of the way, you ready to visit with Jackie this morning?”
I sipped my coffee, and I swear just that one sip eased my hangover a bit. “Dude, she’s in jail.”
“Dude? Dude? Did you really just call me that? If dating a younger guy is going to have you speaking like an idiot teen, I’ll have to nip this one fast.”
“Whatever.” I took another sip of coffee and walked to my office.
Charles failed to mention I’d received a package already this morning.
I walked over to my desk to find a ceramic bowl wrapped in clear cellophane. Inside, I found an assortment of imported coffees, several different sizes and shapes of chocolate bars (all Peruvian chocolate), and a bottle of wine. I pulled back the cellophane to read the wine label more closely.
“Holy shit,” I gasped.
Charles leaned against the doorway to my office. “Oh, and you got a package this morning.”
I turned to Charles with the bottle in my hand. “Charles, this is a 2005 Chateau Rieussec Sauternes.” I shoved the bottle at him.
He took the dessert wine from me, and turned the bottle around, examining it as if he didn’t believe me. “Mimi, this cost like a hundred dollars. It’s French.”
“I know. That’s why I covet it, but I’ve never bought it.” I took the bottle back, afraid Charles would sneak it away.
“Who’s the package from?” Charles didn’t wait for me. He moved past me to the bowl and pulled the card.
He opened the envelope and read to himself. “Oh, barf.”
I grabbed for it, but Charles pulled it away. “Give it to me.”
He looked at the card again and read aloud. “I wanted you to remember how sweet we were together last night. S.”
I snatched the card. I admit it was a bit sappy, but sappy with such good taste. “Barf would be in order if he’d sent a crunch bar and a Riesling, but this,” I lifted up a Peruvian chocolate bar, “is very romantic.”
“Who would’ve guessed that inked up boy would have such refined taste?” Charles helped himself to one of the chocolate bars. “Mmmmm.”
I slapped his hand as he grabbed for another bar. “Hey, you didn’t make out with him last night, I did.” I rearranged the chocolate bars as I put the bottle of wine back inside the cellophane.
With chocolate still melting in his mouth, Charles said, “Before we go visit with Jackie, I want you to take a look at something.”
“Something good?”
“Nick dropped off a flash drive from William’s work computer. They went by his office last night, and the general manager let them make a copy of William’s hard drive.”
Interesting.
I grabbed the chocolate from Charles and took a bite as we headed to his office. Just as I sat in the chair next to him at the desk, Gemma poked her head in.
“Good morning.” She looked around. “Where’s Jackie?”
Charles and I looked at each other. I said, “Oh, this isn’t a meeting. Charles and I are working on a new case.”
Gemma’s mood dimmed. “Oh, so no meeting again today?”
Charles looked over his shoulder at Gemma. “Nope, we had it already. You’re late.”
I smacked Charles on the shoulder. “No, Gemma, you’re not late. Something came up with Jackie, so she’s not coming in today.”
“Oh.” Gemma stepped back as if to leave, then stopped. “So what’s this new case?”
Charles ignored the question. I thought about doing the same, but I didn’t want her to walk in and look over our shoulders. “It’s not really a new case. Well, it is, but it’s sort of for our eyes only.”
Gemma turned on her heel and left without saying anything. I heard a murmur as she stomped down the hall. “None of your fucking business Gemma, as usual.”
“Great, now I’ve pissed her off.” I started to get up.
Charles grabbed my arm and pulled me back to my seat.
“She’ll get over it.” He pulled up a social networking page. Suddenly, Gemma was an afterthought.
My stomach did flips as I watched Charles scroll through pages and pages of this predator’s networking profile. He claimed to be a high school senior, varsity football player, varsity lacrosse player, and vice-president of his class. He had the pictures and awards to back it up. William had an elaborate plan to suck these girls in. The private messages he’d been sending were flirtatious, boarding on pornographic. I’d stopped reading after the first few, because my coffee was threatening to come back out the way it went in.
“This is sick.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Charles logged out of this account, then logged back in with another email address. “This is even creepier.”
I watched as a picture of a girl, who looked to be about seventeen appeared in the profile at the top of the page. “No freaking way, he’s preying on boys, too?”
“I don’t think so, but he’s using this profile to lure others in.” Charles prowled around the site some, and stopped on a comment from a younger boy.
I sat back and stopped looking at the computer screen. “But this is all Internet stuff. Couldn’t he get in trouble for being on this site at work?”
“I don’t know for sure that he logged on at work. I haven’t looked into it that much. The date stamps on the site tell me enough. What I got from the flash drive was the logins and passwords.” Charles typed in something that brought up another log.
“What’s this?”
“His phone logs.” Charles slowed the page a bit.
I leaned forward to look. “I think I’m going to vomit.”
“Me, too.” Charles shut the whole thing down just as Gemma knocked on the open door.
“You have a visitor,” Gemma said flatly. She walked away without announcing the visitor.
I sort of hoped it was Sebastian, but at the same time I hoped it wasn’t. I didn’t know if I was ready to face him. I blushed again just thinking about making out with a man so young. I realized that when I was a high school senior, he was eight years old. I shivered. Thinking like that was creepy. I had to remember, we were both experienced, consenting adults.
When I walked into the reception area, no one was there. “Gemma?”
“What?”
“You said we had a visitor.”
She pointed toward my office without looking up from her file. Oh, yeah, she was still pissed at being left out.
I entered my office and saw Nick standing at the window, looking out to the front yard. My breath caught. I know it shouldn’t have, but it did.
“Hey,” I said.
Nick looked back at me. “You got a minute?”
I went to my desk and sat. Just for fun, I pulled out and unwrapped a chocolate. “Would you like one?”
“What is it?” Nick came over to the desk and leaned across.
His freshly showered scent made my mind swirl. The chocolate in my mouth suddenly tasted like him, just the way he’d tasted the night we made out so many mon
ths ago.
“Are you going to tell me what it is?” Nick said.
I came out of my aroma-induced trance and handed him a chocolate. “Peruvian chocolates.”
Nick took the piece I offered and sniffed. “This smells better than your average chocolate.”
“It sure does. Sebastian sent the selection of chocolates and some wine this morning.” Oops, did I say that?
Nick handed back the candy. “Smells good, but no thanks.”
Charles grabbed the chocolate from Nick’s hand. “Then I’ll take it.”
“So Charles, what did you get?” Nick said.
“I got a piece of chocolate, and Mimi got a nice piece of ass to give her some chocolate.” Charles grinned, but Nick didn’t think it was so funny.
“What can we do for you, Detective Christianson?” This had to be police business, or he wouldn’t have been at Gotcha.
Nick settled into the chair across from me. “What did you get from the flash drive used to gut Garrison’s computer?”
“We didn’t gut his computer.” Charles plopped down next to Nick. He had a look that said, “This is going to be fun.”
“I can’t get anything off of it. His laptop has some very nice security on it. I haven’t been able to get past the login.”
I watched as Charles savored his chocolate, one small bite at a time, and contemplated Nick’s words. “Who else is doing your forensics these days?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.” Nick crossed his arms. “What did you find from the work computer?”
Charles mimicked Nick and crossed his arms. “I’m not at liberty to say.”
Nick smiled, and looked at me. I smiled back.
Nick pointed at his teeth. “You have some chocolate…”
I ran my tongue over my teeth and resisted the urge to go look in a mirror.
Charles unfolded his arms and leaned in close to Nick. “Damn, you always smell so good.”
I nodded.
“Not going to work, Charles,” Nick hissed.
“What? You smell good. Jeez.” Charles leaned even closer. “You help me, and I’ll help you.”
“Help you how?”
“Tit for tat. Tell me what you have on the case, and I’ll tell you what I’ve found.”
Gotcha Detective Agency Mysteries Boxed Set (3 Books) Page 28
