I pushed the box at Rabit. “These are for you.” I lowered my voice to add, “She is not. Got it?”
He took the box, but his eyes stayed firmly on Izzy. “I’m busy, so make it quick.”
“I need to see James Wild’s personal effects.”
He snorted. “For what?”
“Closure?”
His next snort was louder.
“Fine,” I said, taking out my wallet and passing him a hundred bucks. “Let’s call it a professional courtesy.”
Rabit shook his head, but his nondescript, overly gelled hair didn’t move an inch. “Add another hundred and we’ll call it good.”
Annoyed but willing to do anything—I glanced at Rabit and his leering gaze—or almost anything to get the burner phone, I pulled out another hundred and slapped it on the desktop. Cops today. A few years ago a hundred bucks would’ve bought me a baggie of personal effects as well as a few baggies of fairy dust. When his hand went for the cash, I smashed my hand on top of it. “Effects first.”
He rolled his eyes but headed toward the evidence room just the same. I looked at Izzy, her wings brightly colored against the backdrop of the institutionally grey walls, and felt instantly better. It was nice to have her watching my back, though I would never admit it. Not for a second. I’d eat a blind mouse first.
As I was finishing my girlish musings Rabit returned, a thick padded envelope in his hand. He ripped the seal and emptied the contents onto the desk in front of us. Sure enough a cell phone dropped onto the desktop, as did a wallet and a driver’s license in the name of James W. Jones. No wonder James had used the name Wild. After all, the surname Jones didn’t inspire confidence when hiring a killer. Not that Wild was much better.
I reached for the cell phone but Rabit grabbed my gloved hand before I touched it. “You can look, but no touching,” he said. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue. Cops had a thing about chain of custody. Not like thugs. We just had a thing for chains. “Did you trace his last call?” I asked.
Rabit laughed without humor. “Are you telling me how to do my job, PI?”
“Of course not,” I said. “I was asking. That’s all.”
He rolled his eyes. “I suggest you ask somewhere else before my good mood vanishes and your ass ends up in the holding cells.” He paused, his eyes roaming over Izzy’s body, stopping on her wings. “You, I’ll keep right here.”
She smiled, stepping around me to flirt with the dickhead of a detective. “Is that so? What will you do with me?”
I turned away, the urge to fry Rabit nearly overwhelming. Taking gulping breaths, I tried to calm the desire. The leather of my shoe started to smolder. The cop seated at a desk a few feet away, jelly doughnut puffing out his cheeks like a hamster, glanced up. “We grilling burgers for lunch?”
I stomped the smoking shoe out, returning my attention to Izzy, who was now practically sitting in Rabit’s lap. What the hell was she thinking? He was an even worse choice than our VP Clark. Hell, the guy smelled of cheap aftershave and hookers. When I couldn’t stomach a minute more, I grabbed Izzy’s arm in my gloved hand. “Time to go.”
She didn’t argue, taking her time to scramble off Rabit. She shot him a large, toothy grin. He returned her smile. “Call me,” he said, winking as he tucked his card into the crease between her wings and shoulder blade. She winked back.
I pulled her toward the door, thankful when we reached the exit without my being arrested or electrocuting a certain detective. Once we were outside in the crisp afternoon air, Izzy gave a shudder. “I need a shower. Maybe two of them.”
“What?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Her tone conveyed just what she thought of me. “You really believed I was into that guy? Give me some credit, Blue.”
“Then . . .” I glanced down at her hand. “You stole the cell phone.”
“I’m getting pretty damn good at this petty-crime thing.”
I took the phone from her. “Sorry to be the one to break this to you, but stealing evidence from the cop shop is a little more than a petty crime.” I paused, my eyes burning with electricity.
Izzy swallowed, stepping back a small step. “Blue . . . we . . .”
I shook off the desire to kiss her until she moaned. “Right. The case.” I blew out a harsh breath. “We should go back to the office, give the phone to Alice, and see if she can prove my parents hired James to kill me.”
I spun on my heel and started down the stairs, nearly missing Izzy’s softly spoken words. “The case always comes first.” Her words were far from comforting.
CHAPTER 48
Following our mini crime spree at the police plaza, we grabbed a taxi and set off for Reynolds & Davis. Right and Left followed behind in a second cab, leaving Izzy and me alone for a few minutes. My heart pulsed in my chest with unquenched lust and a renewed sense of purpose. James’s cell phone was just what I needed to crack this case. I could feel it.
I glanced over at my pink-winged obsession, smiling as she juggled her cell phone and her iPad. Izzy wasn’t one to let a minute go by without making the most of it. I, on the other hand, let too many minutes and opportunities go by. Most times it was easier that way. Less mess. No fuss. “Is Alice in?” she was asking whoever was on the other line. “Doreen, tell her to stay there. We’ll be right in.”
She hung up and smiled. “Alice is at her desk.”
“Excellent.” I fingered James’s cell phone. As soon as the taxi pulled to a stop in front of our offices, I tossed a few bucks at the cabbie and leapt from the cab. The doorman barely had time to reach for the handle of the door before I ripped it open and plowed my way inside. Izzy followed on my heels, or rather her heels, teetering with each step. Finally she apparently had enough, kicked off her offending footwear, and ran after me. I stabbed the elevator call button.
“Blue,” Izzy said, reaching for my gloved hand but pulling away before making contact. “Maybe we should just drop this, forget about James and your past . . .”
“What? Why?” I asked, surprised. When she didn’t answer I shook my head. “Izzy, you know me. You know what this means to me. What it could mean for me.” I nodded to my vibrating fingers. “Why would I stop before I learn the truth?”
Her eyes met mine, and I swore I saw tears well in them. “Because it won’t set you free, Blue.”
My forehead wrinkled. “What’s that mean?”
She blinked a few times, and the wetness disappeared. A trick of the light, I told myself, though I knew better. Izzy was keeping something from me, something that could very well destroy our tenuous partnership, let alone whatever sort of other relationship we had. Rather than continue our current conversation, I cowardly turned to the open elevator doors, motioning her inside.
I followed Izzy into the elevator with her warning rushing through my head. As we rose from floor to floor, my fear twisted to anger, and electrical current started to buzz through me, rising as we did. Growing hotter and hotter until I lost all control.
Izzy jumped back just in time, her wings only slightly singed. “Stop,” she ordered, but I couldn’t hear her over the snap, crackle, and buzzing in my brain. For a few brief moments, I was a god, an angry and vengeful one, sure, but godlike nonetheless.
And then Izzy’s hand touched my shoulder.
But rather than causing her to be knocked across the elevator by the sheer power I was emitting, her touch had the opposite effect. I winked out. I wasn’t sure what she’d done, or why it happened, but the current was gone. I staggered against the wall, using my hands to steady me. Before I could speak, to let forth the flurry of accusations inside my head, the elevator dinged, announcing our arrival.
I swallowed back every dark word, focusing on what was important, or at least what I could actually fix. The case. I could and would solve this case. My fingers tightened on the cell phone, the plastic smooth against the leather of my gloves.
“Blue,” Izzy said. “For what it’s worth ... I am sorry.”<
br />
I nodded, unable to look at her, and then exited the elevator, one goal in mind as I headed off to find my bespectacled employee Alice. Thankfully she was right where she always was, though she wasn’t quite the eager, annoyingly willing to please investigator she normally was, especially when I pulled to a stop in front of her desk. “Blue,” she said, pushing her glasses up her nose with her index finger, hiding the dark circles around her eyes. “Do you need something?”
“I need you to run a search on this phone,” I said, running my finger across the screen, surprised to see it flicker to life. Some investigator I was. I hadn’t even checked to see if it was locked. I blamed Izzy. She was too much of a distraction. I’d be better off on my own, I told myself, even though I knew it was a lie. Izzy had saved me from destitution, but also from myself. Left to my own devices, I would be dead by forty. With her around I had a few more years, as long as the life insurance policy didn’t become too tempting.
Izzy arrived behind me as I swiped my fingers over the touch screen, searching for the very last number dialed. I smiled when the New Never City area code appeared on-screen. Thankfully I didn’t recognize the phone number.
“Blue, wait—” Alice said as I pressed the send button for the last number dialed.
A resulting ringing burst forth.
But not from the phone in my hand.
CHAPTER 49
The phone rang again. Izzy and I glanced down. Alice looked up, her eyes growing three times bigger under the lenses of her glasses. I shoved her back with a gloved hand, ripping open her desk drawer with the other. Inside sat an old-style flip phone, a burner phone like James’s that was lighting up like a Christmas tree as it rang unabated.
Alice made a move for the ringing phone, but I stopped her before her fingers reached it. My hand gripped her delicate skin, leaving red glove prints along her forearm. “I swear,” she said, her voice choked, “I’ve never seen that phone before.”
“Now, why don’t I believe that?” I said, keeping Alice back with one hand while I pulled out the burner phone with my other. I tossed the phone to Izzy, who much to my pleasure caught it with one hand. “Why don’t you and I have a little talk?” I said to Alice, helping her from her seat without ever breaking contact between us.
“Use my office,” Izzy said, waving us forward.
“Please,” Alice cried. “I don’t understand any of this.”
Ignoring her plea, I maneuvered her through our busy office, past Doreen, the bitchy receptionist, toward Izzy’s office. Doreen sneered with disgust as we moved by, and for once we were on the same page. I thought of the blond hair on the pillow at James’s loft. It was Alice’s. It had to be. She was probably the one behind the mechanical call to Bo Peep, as well as the fires, while all the while looking as pure and innocent as freshly fallen snow. I’d never suspected a thing. I’d trusted her and she’d betrayed me. I was a fool.
I couldn’t begin to understand the ramifications of her betrayal. Yet one question kept repeating inside my head: Why? Once I had her locked inside Izzy’s office, I asked her as much. “What’s this all about, Alice? What do you have against me?”
But Alice had stopped talking. She just sat in her chair, her eyes as clear as day behind her thick lenses. I decided on another tactic. With great effort, my tone lost its hard edge, and I sat down across from her. “It’s okay,” I began. “I get it.”
“Get what?” She blinked like an owl.
I smiled kindly. Or at least as kindly as I could. I knew my grin had missed its mark when she flinched. “You and James,” I said, thinking back to the photograph I’d stolen from James’s frat-house room. A picture of a younger version of Alice.
How could I have missed it?
In my defense, the image was grainy and most of the woman’s face was obscured by sun glare, but it was Alice. I was 80 percent sure of it. Ninety-five when I factored in the blond hair on the pillow. She was James’s lover.
But was she also a killer?
CHAPTER 50
An hour later, exhausted and numb, I watched as Jonas and another security guard marched Alice from Izzy’s office. I felt nothing as I watched the trio disappear into the elevator. Izzy was waiting for me as I stepped out of her office, a crystal tumbler of whiskey in her hands. I took it and swallowed the burning liquor in one gulp.
“Hey,” she complained. “I was drinking that.”
“Not fast enough,” I countered. “Izzy, I think it’s time we—”
Clark popped his head out of his office, cutting me off. “I still can’t believe it,” he said. “Not one, but two employees plotting to kill you. It boggles the mind.”
Izzy smiled. “Not after you spend enough time with Blue. I’m actually surprised it took someone this long.”
“Funny,” I said, thinking it was anything but; in fact, a part of me took my employees’ betrayal very personally. I vowed that the next time we hired anyone, they’d have to sign a waiver promising not to attempt to murder me no matter how much they’d like to. I suspected Izzy might balk at the idea, but I was pretty sure she’d come around.
Eventually.
Which was why I didn’t immediately fill her in on my plan.
I had one. No doubt about it.
Whether it would work was a whole different story.
Izzy snapped her fingers in front of my face to gain my attention. “Blue,” she said sharply, “Clark asked you a question.”
“Oh.” I blinked a few times. “What’s up?”
Ever the gracious gentleman, Clark smiled brightly. His smile had to be fake. His teeth were too straight and white to be anything but veneers. Probably ones he’d had since birth. “I asked if you’d like to join Isabella and myself for dinner.” He paused as his eye roamed over my expensive suit, but it wasn’t nearly as ritzy as his own. “We’ll go somewhere more casual. Unless you’d like to change?”
I shook my head, suddenly beyond tired. “I’ll pass.” Though it killed me, I added, “You two have fun, though.” What I really wanted to say was, I hope you die of food poisoning, Clark. I instantly felt bad for my dark thoughts. Clark was an okay guy.
Hell, I still hoped a mild case of VD on him.
“If you’re sure?” Izzy asked, her eyes filled with concern.
I nodded.
She leaned in, her lips ever so slightly brushing my cheek. A spark shot between us, but she didn’t move away. “Good night, Blue,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”
A chill puckered my flesh like an omen at her softly spoken words.
A cold drizzle fell from the sky, soaking through my suit jacket. I shivered, pulling the collar against the back of my neck, both to keep the rain out and to keep Right and Left from realizing they’d been ditched again. Whatever Izzy was paying them was obviously too much if they couldn’t keep their target in sight. I grinned as I slipped past Right without a second glance.
Two blocks up, I searched the shadows for a dark-colored sedan parked at the curb. Peyton had left it for me after I called him a few hours ago. I had no idea where he’d gotten it, nor did I really care. I had more important things on my mind.
I made my way to the car, a smile lining my face when the driver’s side door offered no resistance. I ducked inside, nearly breaking my leg, as the seat was less than a foot from the dashboard. “Damn it,” I yelped, throwing the seat back so it fit my six-foot frame.
Once I was finally settled, I started the engine and pulled into traffic, narrowly avoiding a passing ice cream truck. I slammed on the brakes in time, but my heart continued to pound in my chest for the rest of the trip to Alphabet Soup City.
As I crossed the bridge into the land of Avenues A, B, and C, the gentle aromas of tomatoes and broth tickled my nostrils. Not unpleasant, but it did make me hungry. Over the growling of my stomach, I lit a cigarette, a sad replacement for a four-course meal, but it would have to do. It would be a long time before I enjoyed more than a stale bag of chips.
I
thought of Izzy and Clark seated in some fancy restaurant, waiters hovering to anticipate their every need while mounds of delicious food were piled on the table. Tonight Clark would make his move. He’d say something witty and Izzy would laugh, letting her guard down. Clark would press his advantage, pouring her more and more wine, until her defenses were completely down and she was his for the taking.
The very thought killed my growing appetite. My hands tightened on the wheel until the woven pattern on the steering wheel cover was etched into the leather of my gloves. I took a deep breath, relaxing my grip.
Since I didn’t have a license, I stayed well below the speed limit, my phone giving me vague directions to my final destination in a snobby tone. Half an hour later I pulled to the curb and parked. The windshield wipers screeched across the pitted windshield, so I turned them off before the sound drew attention to the guy in the driver’s seat.
I hunkered down in my seat, my breathing the only sound. Apparently people other than old men with large bumps on their heads had a dislike for the soggy weather. The normally packed streets were empty. The red, yellow, and green of the stoplights reflected in the rain puddles, pulling me into a hypnotic trance. I blinked a few times, trying to keep from falling asleep.
Hell, I’d been waiting for only twenty minutes.
With a yawn, I rubbed the growth of blue whiskers on my chin as I counted up to a thousand and back down again, by sevens, to keep awake. A feat a hell of a lot harder than it sounded. The passenger side door of the car opened, sending a swift, cold burst of air around me. I glanced up. “Took you long enough,” I complained to the woman now seated next to me.
Alice pushed the rim of her glasses up her nose with her middle finger but didn’t comment. Instead she tossed a stack of files in my lap. I gazed down at the top file, Izzy’s name emblazoned across the top. “Any trouble getting them?” I asked.
The Lady in Pink - Deadly Ever After 2 Page 17
