Checkered Thief (A Laurel London Mystery Book 3)

by Kappes, Tonya

  “Perfect!” My voice escalated, sounding a little too over-joyous. “I mean,” I cleared my throat. “No time like now.”

  “Let me get you a key to get started.” He shoved the bucket in my chest and I took it, looking down into it.

  A stench I was familiar with crept into my nose, giving me an instant gag reflex. The bucket was filled with moldy bristle brushes and the bucket even had specks of mold in the bottom.

  “Here you go.” Louie had an untied hanger in his hands. A key dangled from a piece of string tied around it.

  “This is the key?” I rolled my eyes. “Louie, you need to get with the times. You need those slide key card thingies you see in movies.”

  “If business keeps up like it has been, I’ll be able to do that and more.” He rubbed his hands together.

  “And you need new cleaning supplies. They have mold on them.” I held the bucket away from my body. The smell reminded me of cleaning the orphanage. “You can run over to the Dollar Store and grab some new bottles.”

  The yellow color of the toilet bowl cleaner was light as though there was water added to the bottle.

  “I’ll run over real quick and grab some if you can keep an eye on the office while I’m gone.” He grabbed his keys from the office.

  “Sure.” I smiled knowing I’d get all the information I needed from the guy in room number one. “I’d be happy to.”

  “Here are the keys in case you need to get in there.” He handed me another set of keys on a coat hanger, one of them labeled office, before he jumped into his car.

  There wouldn’t be a whole lot of time since nothing in Walnut Grove was more than just a couple of minutes from each other. I had to call in the big dog.

  “Gia, I need your help.” I didn’t bother giving her time to chit-chat with me about how my day had been since I left the café and Jax had turned on me in front of everyone. “I need you to either call Louie or run to the Dollar Store and stall him. I have some investigation work to do.”

  “What?” Gia chomped on the other end of the phone. “You are what?”

  “I’ll explain later. But it’s for Jax and me.” I knew if I tugged at her heartstrings she’d give.

  “Are you getting a romantic room together for you two?” I could practically see the smile and smell the smoke from the wheels turning in her head.

  “You got it,” I lied, feeling a tiny bit guilty that I lied to my best friend. A code you just didn’t break unless in dire need. And this was dire need. “I’ll call you later!”

  There was an audible groan from her but I didn’t wait to hear the complaint. I knew the café was probably busy, but I also knew the afternoon staff was there to help out. Besides, what were best friends for? At least I hoped she saw it that way if she found out I wasn’t completely truthful with her.

  My first order of business was to get into the office and look at the computer for anything on room number one, only there wasn’t a computer in there. Louie was so far behind the times. The keys proved it and the old rotary phone was just the icing. Behind his messy desk was a large filing cabinet as rusty as the tines on the scrub brush. There was a little relief to see each drawer was labeled with a shared room number.

  I opened the top one with room one and two written in black sharpie. Louie definitely didn’t know how to keep up with the bookkeeping. My guess would be that Sally had done all of it before she died and he hadn’t hired anyone to help him. It was a shame because I was going to have to waste time trying to figure out who was in room one.

  There were two files in the drawer. One for room one and one for room two.

  I opened up both files to see what he had in them. There were credit card receipts and signed room contracts from what looked to be past customers.

  “Date. Date.” I scanned over the credit card receipts in room one file since it seemed to be the local way to see who was renting the room, but didn’t see anything dated within the last week. Louie did say the guy had been around for a week and asking all sorts of questions. I put the file back in the drawer and slammed it shut, almost giving up. Almost.

  Until my eyes slid over the desk. There was a receipt pad with carbon copies. Quickly I grabbed it and started thumbing through. I should’ve known a real criminal wouldn’t use a credit card so it could be traced. I bet the kidnapper in room one used cash.

  “Trent T. Lyle.” I tapped the yellow copy that had “merchant” stamped on the bottom.

  Louie had written the date, room one, and Trent T. Lyle’s address.

  “Las Vegas.” I smiled. “Where else are there major casinos?” I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and took a picture. There wasn’t time for me to write anything down; I had to get out of there before Louie got back and into room one before Trent got back. I flipped to the next page and saw Brittany Hawthorne’s name on the receipt along with room two written by Louie on the bottom. I took a picture of that because it also looked like she was renting by the week and paying for it by cash.

  I ran my finger down the screwed in hooks on the wall and found the hanger with room one written in sharpie marker on the actual key. I grabbed it and room two’s key before grabbing the bucket of moldy cleaning supplies, then locked the office door behind me and headed over to room one. I slipped the room two key in my pocket.

  “Good gravy,” I groaned and walked into room one after unlocking it. “Oh, Louie.”

  The Windmill was in desperate need of a makeover. Each room had a large window that viewed the parking lot. The heavy curtains were faded orange and desperately needed to be replaced or even just washed. I used the long plastic rod to jerk the shade back to let the sun in and dust flew everywhere. Even a good vacuum across them would do.

  The bed covers were worse. I wouldn’t even let poor old Henrietta sleep on those old blankets. But gold was sitting next to the bed. A journal of sorts. I looked out the window to make sure the coast was clear before I picked it up and opened it. Right there in black and white were listed different hotel casinos, a dollar amount next to them and a date. The last one was Glitz and Glam, four point two million dollars, and this week’s date. Quickly I took a few pictures and threw it on the bedside table when I heard a car door slam shut.

  “Shit, shit, shit.” I scampered about the room when I realized someone was trying to get in and it wasn’t big Louie. I grabbed the cleaning brush and ran into the bathroom. “If you change your mind,” I began to sing the lyrics to Take a Chance on Me by Abba. Clearly it was the only thing that popped into my head because I had never even owned an Abba album, but remembered Trixie humming it when we would clean the orphanage toilets. “I'm the first in line, Honey I'm still free. Take a chance on me.” The harder I scrubbed around the tub, the louder I got.

  “Excuse me.” The male voice I only assumed was Trent T. Lyle’s was heard from behind me.

  “Whoa!” I jumped around like he scared the living crap out of me and dropped the moldy brush. “You scared me, Mr. Lyle.”

  “What are you doing here?” The squirrely little man was not the type of guy I pictured as a casino robber or kidnapper. His nose was pointy, his chin was long, his cheeks were sunken in, he was bald, and thin as a cake of soap. The three-piece suit hung on him like his shoulders were a child’s hanger holding a man-sized suit.

  “I’m here to clean your room.” I bent over and picked up the brush. “Louie said to get yours first since you were out for the day.” I tried to smile. He’s the man. He gave the orders, but didn’t do the hits. There had to be another man.

  “I don’t want my room cleaned. If you could leave some fresh towels, that would be great. Other than that,” his eyes narrowed as he stared down his pointy nose at me, “get out.” He spoke with a cool authority.

  Even though he was squirrely, something about him made my skin crawl.

  “I can just finish up here if you want.” I pointed the scrubber toward the toilet.

  “Not with that nasty brush.” He scowled, curling h
is nose. “Now, I’ve got work to do.” He stepped to the side to give me plenty of room to walk by him.

  He wasn’t going to get off the hook that easy.

  “Why are you in Walnut Grove?” I asked with a giggle, working my girly assets with a little hip swing. I adjusted my shoulders a little closer together, clasping my hands in front of me and bending over slightly, causing my cleavage to deepen.

  Just like every man I tried to seduce, Trent’s eyes dropped to the intended spot.

  “I’m. . .” His eyes lingered for a minute on my girls until his eyes drew back up to mine and he blushed. “I’m a banker of sorts. Here for a casino convention.”

  Banker. You mean casino thief? The corner on one side of my lips tipped up and my thoughts ran wild and my palms began to sweat.

  “And.” Trent slid his skinny body up to me and put his slimy hands around my waist. “I’ve not been with a woman as fine as you in a long time.” He drew me to him and took a long sniff of my hair.

  “Whoa.” I put my hands on his bony chest and pushed, only he was much stronger than he looked. “I’m just the cleaning girl.”

  For a second, I knew I could stab him with the rusty brush in hopes he hadn’t had a tetanus shot so whatever rust did to the bloodstream would happen and go right to his heart. That wasn’t going to work since I needed to find out where he was keeping Brittany. I was convinced more than ever that he might not be doing the dirty work, but he was definitely the mastermind behind whatever was going on.

  “Oh, I bet you are so much more than that.” He tugged harder, smooshing my tits against his chest. “Tell me,” he whispered. I pushed a little harder. “Does money turn you on because I’m getting ready to have plenty of it.”

  “No.” I jerked. He grabbed a handful of my hair. “Ouch! Let go!”

  He flung me forward. Disgust crossed his face.

  “I’m not here to fool around. I’m here on business, so you might as well tell me who you are and why you are in my room when I told roly-poly out there that I didn’t want my room to be cleaned.” He stood between me and the door.

  “Louie!” I screamed when I saw him waddle in front of the window. He had a yellow Dollar Store bag in his grip. Thank God I had opened the shade. “Louie!”

  Louie stopped, looked behind him and back in front of him trying to find my voice.

  “In room one!” I screamed as loud as I could. Louie put his hand over his eyes and planted his face up against the window. When our eyes locked, he pulled back, smiled and waved. “Help!”

  Trent reached behind him and opened the door.

  “Laurel. Mr. Lyle.” Sweat beaded up on Louie’s forehead. He wrung his hands.

  “Can you please tell him that I’m working for you?” I bent down and picked up the cleaning brush, resisting the opportunity to stab Trent on the way up.

  “Mr. Lyle, I’m sorry if Laurel bothered you. She is my cleaning lady.” Louie reached out for me to come with him. “I told her that you didn’t want your room cleaned.”

  “You did?” I asked, turning my southern accent more into a hillbilly tone, and twirled a strand of hair around my finger.

  “Excuse my behavior.” Trent’s shoulders fell and his jaw loosened. “I’m generally not that forward, but when I’m out of town my job requires me to be on my toes.”

  “He’s a big banker.” Louie’s head took one big nod. “He’s an important man, Laurel. Let’s leave him to his business.”

  I didn’t look Trent in the eyes when I walked by him. Goose bumps started on my calf and crawled up my trunk and didn’t stop until my neck was covered. My bullshit meter went off, telling me Trent T. Lyle was a big zero. Loser. Liar. And in over his head. He was the guy. The guy involved with Brittany, and I had to get answer. I was going to find out. He was definitely lying to Louie and if Louie hadn’t been walking by, I wasn’t sure Trent would have backed down. In fact, I’m sure he wouldn’t have. Regardless, Trent T. Lyle was not only at the top of my shit list, he was also lucky suspect number one.

  There was a deafening silence between Louie and me until he safely shut room one’s door behind us.

  “What the hell, Laurel?”

  “What?” I pretended to play dumb. “I was going to work my way down the rooms.”

  “I specifically told you not to clean room one,” Louie said through his gritted teeth.

  “You did?” I stopped, curled my nose, and looked up to the sky.

  “Yes.”

  “Hmm.” I tapped my chin and held the bag back toward Louie. “Just maybe I’m not meant to do this.”

  “What?” Louie shoulders slumped, his head followed.

  “Yeah. I think I’ll just maybe go apply at the casino for part-time work.” I smiled and did a little giddy-up, patting him on his thick back. “Thanks though!”

  I trotted off in the direction of my car, not looking back because I knew Louie was still standing there with his mouth hanging open. It was a shitty thing for me to do. Pretend to want to help him, but Derek was now my main concern. I needed to give him a future he deserved, even if it meant I wasn’t in it.

  The next stop was to go see Jax. I had to see where we stood and maybe get him to help me. Pastor Brown and Rita were still protesting the casino on the lawn of Friendship Baptist. Well, Pastor Brown was. Rita was leaning on the sign talking to a couple of people. I’m not sure what he thought he was going to do. Glitz and Glam was up and running and the town was buzzing with new economic growth. Not bad in my opinion.

  I turned right on First Street and pulled up along the curve, parking the car across from the building in which Jax had opened his P.I. shop.

  He looked up when I walked in and leaned back in his chair. He gave a slight watchful hesitation. His hazel eyes dipped down on the edges, sending a sadness to my heart.

  “I—” Ahem, I swallowed a lump. “I came to apologize for my behavior last night.” I stood at the door, not sure whether to walk in or wait to be invited.

  In a small town like Walnut Grove, you always walked in without an invitation. Not with Jax. He was different. He wasn’t from Kentucky and he followed his own set of standards. That was probably why I was attracted to him in the first place. He was a cop that didn’t listen to anyone, not even me. In fact, he stood up against me and that was the biggest turn on. Fighting to get him to come to my side was a great win and our sexual chemistry wasn’t bad either.

  He eased back a little further in his chair. His face was covered in a two-day growth. His hazel eyes stared at me. Normally I would have gone straight to him for a kiss.

  I wasn’t sure if I was there to beg for forgiveness or just have him over for dinner so Trixie and Derek wouldn’t know Jax and I were having problems.

  It had been a while since Jax and I had been intimate. Derek’s little love affair with Brittany had me all confused and I needed a good dose of Jax to get me back on track. . .at least that was my crazy thinking. Maybe he’d come to dinner and then stay.

  With one swoop, he jerked me in his arms, pressed me up against his body and kissed me with an almost punishing sweetness.

  His phone chirped from the pocket of his jeans.

  “Don’t,” I begged for him not to answer. I still wanted to try to force myself to have feelings for Jax. “We should talk.”

  The phone continued.

  “Please,” I begged, hoping I could bring back the feelings I had had for him just a few weeks ago. “Please don’t.”

  “I have to.” He took a deep breath and reached for his phone, leaving me sitting there alone and confused. He turned around. “This is Jax,” he answered in a husky voice. “Is that right?” he questioned the person on the other end. “Yeah. I do.” He was being vague with the caller. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  My heart fell to my toes when I realized what was happening. Jax put the phone back in his pocket.

  “I’ve got business to take care of.” His voice was stern.

  “But. . .” I
stammered, more confused than ever. Here I was with Jax, but couldn’t stop thinking about Derek. Derek being in danger. Derek being in bed with Brittany.

  Derek.

  “No buts. I’ve got business to take care of. A new client.” Jax walked over to the door and stopped with his hand on the door knob. “We can talk later. And I mean talk.”

  “I also came here to ask if you could go to dinner with Brittany and Derek as a peace offering. Trixie wants to have all four of us over. And I want to show you that I was just shocked to hear that Derek didn’t tell me about his girlfriend. I mean; he’s like my brother.” I shook my head and tugged on the hem of my shirt.

  “Is sleeping with your brother legal in Kentucky, though?” Jax’s head waved side-to-side in a smart-ass sort of way. “Well, technically you aren’t related, but you still slept with him.”

  My mouth dropped. How did he know about Derek and me? Neither one of us had told anyone.

  “Oh, yeah.” Jax’s mouth flew open. “You told me last night that he was the best fuck you ever had, including me. Or were you that drunk that you don’t recall going down memory lane explaining every single detail of your one night with him on the banks of the river?”

  I guess my face said it all.

  “Yeah. That’s what I thought.” He jerked the door. “Get out. I’m busy.”

  Without another word, I sucked in a deep breath, held my head high and walked out.

  Chapter Ten

  There wasn’t any worse feeling than the feeling of not being wanted. I’d had lived like that all my life. Not being wanted by family was a big issue with me growing up and I blame my petty crime sprees for that. Of course the therapist always told me to move on, “drop the baggage” or “invent who you want to be” or “the world is your oyster.”

  I hated oysters.

  Being rejected by a man was just as bad. This was probably the reason I never let myself get involved. The fear of rejection was no longer a fear. It was my reality.