"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought this was Aiden's office. The receptionist said I could come on back. She said the third door on the right."
She rolled back her shoulders, like she was getting ready for a fight. "This is the fourth."
"Silly me," I said, without my usual dumb blonde routine to go with it. No widening of the eyes, no cocking my head or lifting my shoulders, no acting innocent. Instead, we stared one another down.
She definitely remembered me. And while she had no clue why I was really here, I assumed she thought I was staking my claim. In a way, I was.
"Jamie," said Aiden's voice from the hall. He stepped in and walked to my side.
I stood on my tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Something we did every time we saw one another. "Hi. I must've counted wrong, because this is not your office."
He narrowed his eyes and titled his head to the side. He knew I was up to something, but I doubted he'd call me on it in front of her. "I wasn't expecting you." He glanced to Miranda then added, "So soon."
I smiled. Good boy. "I'm early, yes. I was eager for our lunch."
"I thought we were working through lunch, finishing up the paperwork on the Nelson case. We have court first thing Monday morning. The McDonald case," Miranda said.
Nelson must've accepted the plea bargain.
Since I didn't have time for a pretend lunch anyway, I figured I'd give her this one. Just this one. "Oh, if you're too busy, I understand. We can move it to dinner instead." Well, nothing was completely free.
Aiden scratched his head. The poor guy was definitely clueless, but he played along nicely. "If you don't mind." He gave me that look. The one that said, "What the hell are you up to?"
"Of course not. Dinner's better anyway. It's closer to night." Okay, so all of my comebacks weren't paved in gold. But it was too late to take it back, so I just smiled.
Then I turned to Miranda. "So sorry to bother you."
She nodded curtly.
Aiden grabbed my elbow, ready to lead me out, but I still hadn't accomplished my goal. The bug was in my pocket, and if I could just have five minutes to look for the best place to hide it…
"Before you go, Aiden," Miranda said.
Yes! She was finally being useful.
"Can you look this over quickly?"
He let go of my arm and nodded. "Sure."
Instead of giving him time to walk around her desk to where the file lay, she lifted it and approached him. It gave her the opportunity to have their backs to me, for her to press her side against his, as he read over her cleavage, and for her to get a minute of him alone in front of me.
But what she wasn't aware of, was that also gave me ample time to do the exact thing I came here for. I pulled the device from my pocket and eyed a photo on her desk, a small plant on a side table, and the books on her shelves. None of those areas was the right one. It needed to remain more hidden.
Then I noticed her leather tote bag on the carpet, leaned up against the bottom desk drawer. The front pocket was small enough that nothing of value could fit properly, which probably meant she rarely used it.
I bent over, pretending to scratch the back of my ankle, and slipped the bug inside.
When I stood up, Miranda and Aiden parted.
"Ready?" he said to me.
"Absolutely." I didn't need to give her a triumphant smile as I passed to leave. But I did anyway.
Phase two of my plan was complete.
* * *
I couldn't wait to get through the official work day so I could tune into my private eavesdropping session. In the meantime, Caleigh and I tailed Ruby while she spent the afternoon shopping. First it was Rodeo, where she tried on every cocktail dress the trendy new boutique next to the Armani store possessed. Even from my car parked outside, with my wonderful new binoculars, I could tell the poor saleswoman was irritated. She did a lot of hand-on-hip standing. But money spoke, and Ruby flashed a lot of it. She ended up buying a royal blue, silk wrap dress that hugged her perfectly.
The saleswoman handed her the credit card receipt with a tight-lipped grin. I'd bet she was glad to see Ruby gone.
"I couldn't deal with fussy customers," Caleigh said beside me.
I scoffed. "Me neither." But in a way, didn't we do the same?
Then it was on to shoes. This went much easier. Ruby found several pairs she loved and couldn't decide between. I was surprised she was choosing and didn't just buy them all. She finally settled on a five-inch pair of black and rhinestone encrusted stilettos with straps that criss-crossed around her ankles and legs, up to the middle of her shins. From our distance, the rhinestones made them look more silver.
After this, she stopped at Chanel and went inside. Unfortunately I had no idea what she was buying there. I couldn't see inside from our angle.
"Want me to run in, see what she's up to?" Caleigh asked.
I wasn't sure. If Ruby spotted Caleigh now, and then again possibly later, we could blow our cover. We were good, but Caleigh was hard not to notice.
Before I had to decide though, Ruby emerged, dressed in her new purchases. She'd gone in to change.
Then we followed her to an outdoor cafe for coffee. It appeared that she was waiting for someone else. The waiter pointed to the empty chair across from the redhead. She said something, and when the waiter walked off, Ruby glanced up and down the street.
"We should get a table beside her," Caleigh said.
I shook my head even though she wasn't looking at me. "It'll be too suspicious if she decides to bolt and we're doing the same alongside."
Stakeouts were easiest when you didn't know where your subject was headed. Spy cams and microphones were best when it was an enclosed area, like tailing someone at a party or the other night at the club.
I glanced at my phone to check the time and couldn't help noticing that Danny hadn't tried to call again. Maybe he thought the kiss was a mistake? Maybe he was as glad as I was that we were not talking about it.
A buzz sounded, and I jerked the phone from my purse, but there was no message, no text. I looked over to Caleigh.
She pouted at her phone.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, slipping my cell back into my purse.
"Curtis may not be able to make it tonight. Practice with the band," she said.
"The price you pay for being with a talented musician." I sent her an encouraging smile.
She giggled. "Like a doctor."
In a way, music healed broken hearts, helped people through hard times. Maybe it was better than being a doctor in some ways.
We sat there with our binoculars and watched Ruby sip her coffee and watch for her guest. But he or she never showed. She pulled her phone from her purse and smiled at the caller ID. She spoke to the person (This is where those lip reading skills would've paid off.) then hung up. She slapped a ten dollar bill on the table and jumped up, heading toward the parking garages at the Rodeo Collection.
She wasn't being driven around today. She slipped behind the wheel of a sleek, black Jag and tore out of the lot, heading west on Wilshire.
Following her erratic driving wasn't easy as she connected with the 2, still heading west. Weaving in and out of traffic was a surefire way to either get yelled at or pulled over. She was a menace to other drivers, but I did my best to keep up and not cause an accident as she merged onto the 405 south.
"She's crazy," Caleigh shouted while clutching her door.
I would've replied, but I was too busy silently praying.
Ruby exited the freeway in a decidedly lower rent district than the one she'd shopped in all morning, and after a few blocks pulled into a motel parking lot. It was a two-story motor inn style place with a couple dozen rooms, peeling paint from over-exposure to the harsh California sunshine, and the kind of classy appearance that spoke of rooms by the hour.
"Gotcha," Caleigh shouted.
I slowed down and parked right beside her car.
&nb
sp; She went into room fourteen. We'd give her a few, let her settle down, get undressed, get in bed, and then we'd make our move.
"She doesn't seem like the kind of girl who needs a lot of foreplay," Caleigh remarked, clearly getting antsy in her seat.
I smirked. She was right. But I still wanted photos of Ruby and her secret lover in the throes, nothing less. "Give it a bit."
After a few minutes, I spied a housekeeping cart, slowly moving along the second floor, a few rooms down from fourteen. I nodded to Caleigh. "There's our ticket in."
I jumped out of the car, clicking the door shut softly with my hip, and making sure my camera was powered on.
Caleigh approached the housekeeper with a story about how we'd locked ourselves out of our room—silly us. It was clear the women didn't speak much English, but with a few hand gestures, she got the idea and moved to open room fourteen for us. She slowly inserted the key and turned the lock.
I wedged myself in the doorframe so that when she pushed it open, I'd be in direct sight of the bed.
The housekeeper turned, pushed, and stepped back to her cart. If she wondered why the crazy blondes wanted to take pictures of their room, she didn't say anything. I had the feeling this was the kind of hotel were she'd seen stranger things.
The couple hadn't heard us enter the room. Music from an iPod played, and a couple of open beer bottles stood on a night stand next to the bed. The TV was on, even though it was muted. It added light to the room though. Ruby was on top of someone with muscular arms, someone other than her fiancé. Her head was thrown back, hair spilled down to her waist, and she rode him with the wild abandon of a drunk novice on a mechanical bull at a rodeo bar.
I stepped into the room, snapping like mad.
"What the hell—" Ruby started, turning toward Caleigh and me in the doorway. Which was perfect, since I got a clear shot of her face. No way that poor gullible Michael could deny this was his fiancée now.
Caleigh gasped beside me.
And it as I turned my camera to get a couple of shots of the guy, and understood why.
Ruby St. Martin's bull was Caleigh's Curtis.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I lowered the camera and stepped back, way back, to the door, trying to somehow shield Caleigh.
Curtis looked up, saw Caleigh, and mumbled, "Oh shit."
"You sonofa—" Caleigh was too much of a lady to finish that. Instead, she shot forward, grabbed the two open beer bottles from the nightstand, and poured them on the couple, making sure to direct the stream over each of their heads. The liquid dribbled down the middle of their faces with perfect precision.
Ruby leapt off Curtis (Boy, that had to hurt.) and fell onto the other side of the bed, sputtering. She blinked and screamed and then blinked and screamed some more.
"What the hell are you doing?" Caleigh screamed louder.
I was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question.
"How could you?" She threw the bottles at the wall, past the bed.
They hit but didn't break and fell to the carpet with a thunk.
Their non-destruction just seemed to anger Caleigh more. She reached for the lamp, but it was bolted down.
Curtis tried pushing Ruby off the bed, so he could get up. "Look, I can explain."
Seriously, dude?
"Ohmigod, my extensions," Ruby sputtered, smacking Curtis as if it was his fault she was covered in beer.
"Caleigh, please," Curtis said, ignoring the screaming redhead.
"You lying sack of—" Caleigh found his clothes by the foot of the bed and threw them out the door, into the parking lot. Then she pushed past me back into the room, looking for more ways to hurt him.
Luckily the heavy stuff wasn't budging. Thank goodness for cheap motel security.
"All those nights. You told me you could fall for me, that I was the best thing that ever entered your life," Caleigh fumed.
Ruby stood up and turned on Curtis. Her bare breasts bounced. "You told me the same thing."
Both women did this guttural scream-slash-moan sound. I took a step closer to the door in case I needed to run for it.
Caleigh jerked open the nightstand drawer and found something that wasn't bolted down. She picked up a book and held it over her head, ready to throw it at him.
Ruby screamed, "Not the Lord."
Caleigh looked up, realized she held the Bible, and put it back in the drawer. She reached for a pillow and began beating Curtis, who was still stuck on the bed, between both women.
At first I just stood there. I was in shock and felt raw seeing Caleigh so upset. But then the pillow started slipping from its case, and soon Caleigh was hitting him with her own hands.
He tried to block his face and head with his arms. At one point his mouth set into a grim line, and I worried he'd eventually strike back.
I slung the camera's strap over my head and lunged forward. I grabbed Caleigh beneath her arms and tried to pull her backward. She dug her heels into the carpet and fought me at first, trying to twist out of my hold.
"Caleigh, come on. We have to go." Even though this seemed like the sort of "what happens in the ghetto stays in the ghetto" type of motel, eventually someone was likely to call the cops on two screaming women. I didn't want to be held for questioning. I didn't want Ruby to find out we were here because of Grandma Vaughn until she decided to show the evidence to Michael. And boy, was there plenty of it.
A foot from the door, I spun Caleigh around and blocked her way before she had time to start beating Curtis again. I stared into her eyes.
They were wild, and she didn't seem to see me.
"Let's go," I said in my loud and stern voice.
She blinked, sent one last icy gaze Curtis's way, and stomped to my car.
I glanced back at the room.
Ruby had run into the bathroom. Curtis sat on the edge of the bed, facing the wall, his back to me. He must've felt my staring because he turned his head and glanced at me.
Anger bubbled up inside my chest. I desperately wanted to hurt him for Caleigh, but if I didn't leave right away, she'd come back in. And if I didn't get her out of there, I risked her doing something she couldn't take back.
Once we were strapped in my car and on the highway headed back to the office, the sobbing began.
I handed Caleigh a small pack of tissues from my purse, while keeping my eye on the jerk driver ahead of me. He or she kept swerving in and out of my lane.
I didn't know what to do about Caleigh. I couldn't leave her alone, but I didn't have much time before Sam and I were to meet Candy and Apple at Agev. I hated that I couldn't spend the evening getting drunk with my friend. Then I remembered Maya was still at the office, so I pulled out my phone and called.
"Bond Agency."
"Hey, it's me. Do you have plans tonight or can you stay a bit late?"
"As long as you need." Maya sounded worried. She could probably hear the tension in my voice. "What's up?"
"I'm almost there. I'll explain then. Just…" I glanced at Caleigh, who was slumped in the seat, her head pressed against the window. "Get some margaritas ready."
* * *
When we pulled in, I parked right in front of the door and helped Caleigh inside.
Maya and Sam were standing in the doorway waiting, a drink in each of their hands. They both looked at Caleigh's wet, mascara caked up face and then to me. Deep questioning frowns creased their foreheads.
"We found Ruby in bed with…" I nodded toward Caleigh.
Sam's eyes doubled in size. "Curtis?"
"Don't say his name," Caleigh said through gritted teeth. She grabbed the drink in Maya's hand and downed it.
We stepped into the lobby, and I spotted Danny. Crap. What the heck was he doing here? I turned to Sam, grabbed that drink, and repeated Caleigh's actions.
He stepped forward. "Hey, I thought we could chat, but I guess this isn't a good time."
I shook my head sharply. "No. Definitely not."
At least now I k
new why he hadn't called. He wanted to do a blitz attack.
"How'd you get here?" I asked, a bit annoyed that I had to deal with this right now.
"Mrs. Rosenbaum."
I should've known. This meant he'd need one of us to give him a ride home. I'm sure he planned on it being me, but those plans would have to change. I glanced at the time. Sam and I had to leave very soon.
Maya poured another round of drinks for Caleigh and me. I declined, and Caleigh took both. She collapsed into a chair. "I can't believe the bastard is a cheating…"
Maya and Sam surrounded her. One patted her arm, the other rubbed her back.
"Dog?" Maya offered.
"Asshole?" Sam asked.
Caleigh nodded. "Both." She took a deep, cleansing breath and sipped one of the margaritas.
I glanced at Danny, who was watching my friends. I think he knew the last thing Caleigh would want right now was a man's opinion.
"I don't understand how I could've been so stupid," she said between sobs. "I thought he loved me, and this whole time he's been cheating on me."
"What?" shouted a deep voice by the door. "I'll kill him."
We all looked over, and Mr. Presley stood there. His hard, cold stare zeroed in on Danny.
Oh crap. We were definitely going to be late.
Mr. Presley took five giant steps toward Danny, his arms extended like Frankenstein, as if he planned on strangling Danny to death.
Danny's eyes darted back and forth, searching for a place to hide. "Mr. Presley, I can explain."
Probably not the best thing to say. It made him sound guilty.
For an older man, Mr. Presley had a lot of power in his steps. He chased Danny around the lobby, one fist in the air, ready to slug him.
"Caleigh, tell your father the truth," Danny shouted. "I don't want to hit him, but I will defend myself."
Mr. Presley cornered Danny by Maya's desk.
Caleigh jumped up and stepped between them. "No, Daddy, it wasn't him."
"You just said he cheated on you." Mr. Presley's chest rose and fell rapidly.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Tears fell from the corners. "It wasn't Danny. It was another man."
Lethal Bond: Jamie Bond Mysteries Book #3 Page 14
