Jennifer Apodaca - Samantha Shaw 04 - Batteries Required

by Jennifer Apodaca

  “Cool. Hey, when I add sex toys to my line, you and Gabe can be my first customers.”

  I laughed, glad that I’d distracted her from the idea of snooping around Gabe’s house. “The first thing we are going to do is get you out of here. It’s not safe. Then we will figure out what’s going on. Like you said, investigate.”

  Some of the sparkle slid back into her gaze. “And maybe show a certain PI that you are good at investigating? Prove his new assistant unnecessary?”

  I lifted my chin, trying for a confident look. “I’ve already proved myself to Gabe.” Just as long as he didn’t see me right now, all splattered in soda and wine.

  Angel stood up. “All right, I’ll pack some clothes and we’ll get out of here. I think I’ll take Gabe up on his offer to stay at his house.”

  I had to follow Angel to Gabe’s house to show her the alarm code and setup.

  That was my story. The truth was that I was going to Gabe’s to snoop. Gabe hadn’t called me back. Why had Dee answered Gabe’s cell phone? He always took his phone with him when he went “into the field.” Sure, he set it to vibrate or left it in his truck if he didn’t want the ring to give him away. And what was that comment, “I know who you are?” How did she know? What had Gabe said? What the hell were he and his assistant doing? Maybe I’d get a clue from his office which motel they had gone to. But then, if I found the name of the motel, what was I going to do?

  We pulled up to Gabe’s house. Angel parked on the street and I parked in the driveway.

  Going up to his house, I took out the key Gabe had given me and stood under the pool of amber from the porch light. Stalling, I said, “I should have gone home and changed first.” My shirt was stiff and stinky.

  Angel stood right behind me. “You just called his house phone from your cell and there was no answer.”

  “Right. Here goes.” I stuck the key into the dead bolt lock and turned.

  The bolt slid back. OK. Then I reached down, pushed the thumb thingie on the doorknob, and leaned into the door.

  It opened.

  “We’re in!” Angel announced.

  I stepped into the tiled entryway. Gabe’s house felt empty and ominous. I hit a wall switch by the door that turned on an overhead light. Then I went to the alarm panel set into the wall behind the door. It blinked a red warning light. All I had to do was hit the correct number sequence and the alarm would deactivate.

  I reached out to the keypad to put in the code and went blank. “Oh God! I can’t remember! It’s seven, no five—” I banged my head against the wall.

  “Sam!” Angel hissed.

  Lifting my head off the wall, I stared at little red light blinking the warning. I had only seconds left! I knew the code. Gabe had given it to me a while back. Come on, don’t think, just do it!

  I reached out and hit seven—suddenly the code came back to me. I punched it in.

  The nasty blinking red light died. The alarm was deactivated. I turned around, leaned against the wall, crossed my arms over my stomach, and tried not to throw up.

  Guilt. And disgust. A grown woman does not snoop on her boyfriend. I saw that on Oprah—it was supposed to be a sign of an unhealthy relationship or something.

  Angel asked, “What would have happened if you hadn’t coded the alarm in time?”

  I straightened up. “I don’t know; I never asked. Chances are that Gabe would know, though. Somehow. And he’d rush back here and shoot me, then ask questions.”

  “Cool.”

  “Not cool! Almost getting shot once is enough for me tonight. Maybe we should leave. You can stay at my house.”

  Angel looked around. “I’m staying here.” Her mood improved with each illegal/stalking/snooping step we took. “Let’s get started looking to see if we can get any information on Mr. Pulizzi’s new assistant.”

  “This is a bad idea.” I said, then realized Angel was gone. “Angel! Where did you go?”

  She came back with two bottles of cold beer. “Would it be a better idea with beer?”

  I took one. Hell, I’d already gotten into Gabe’s house. How much more of a crime could drinking his beer be? I didn’t think he’d care about my coming into his house or drinking his beer, since he had given me the key.

  I wasn’t so sure he’d be as understanding about my snooping through his office. I twisted off the beer cap and drank a long swig.

  Liquid courage. Just like my fake boobs, I often had the need of fake courage. Trying to sound brave, I said, “All right, let’s do it.”

  Gabe had a one-story, four-bedroom house. It was a pretty standard, southern California layout. From the front door, a living room and dining room opened on the right. The fourth bedroom-turned-office was on the left. Past that was an archway that led into a kitchen/ family-room combo and a hallway that opened to a bathroom and the three remaining bedrooms. Berber carpet and white tile covered the floors, the walls were white, and the furniture was standard.

  But every time I came into Gabe’s house, I felt another root sink into the floor, anchoring me to him and his life. Cripes, I was overwrought. I turned and went into Gabe’s office, heading around the massive desk to his big leather chair, and I turned on the fancy green lamp.

  Soft light filled the room. The wall across from Gabe’s desk held framed portraits of him as a uniformed cop getting accolades, shaking hands with the mayor of Los Angeles and other VIPs. There were more recent photos of Gabe with a few TV stars.

  Gabe did a little consulting on scripts that had private investigators, bounty hunters, or cops in them. It was a sideline of his PI work. Truthfully, Gabe did need an assistant.

  I felt a germ of guilt wiggling in my gut. I smothered that sucker with a drink of beer.

  If Dee hadn’t been rude to me on the phone, maybe I wouldn’t have been compelled to snoop.

  I looked down at the surface of his desk while Angel headed first for the door to the walk-in closet on the far wall. She put her hand on the doorknob, but a single twist proved it locked. Then she moved to the filing cabinet in the far corner of the room. “Locked. I think I can open both of them.”

  I glanced over at her.

  She started digging around in her purse.

  Uh-oh. The last thing I needed was to have Angel breaking the locks on the closet and the filing cabinet. I wouldn’t be able to explain that. Besides, Gabe’s cases were private, just like my clients’. Well, Gabe saw all my clients’ information because he ran the security check.

  Enough. I was making myself more crazy than usual.

  “Angel, leave the filing cabinet and closet. Come here and help me.”

  She put a bobby pin back in her purse and came around the mahogany desk. “Nice computer. Let me see if I can boot that up while you look for papers and stuff.”

  Before I could answer, Angel found the hard drive and turned the computer on. I got up out of the chair and let Angel sit there. The computer would keep her busy and out of trouble. I turned my attention to the stacked horizontal set of files on the right of Gabe’s desk. I started there. The first shelf had bills and stuff. Boring.

  I went to the second shelf and pulled a stack of papers down. A fax from Blaine of the permission sheet from Fireman Bob to do a background check. A few other pending items that meant nothing to me. I put those back.

  The third shelf had a large envelope. A note on the outside said, “Mr. Pulizzi, please find the lease agreement inside. Thanks.” What lease agreement? Stunned, I turned over the envelope and looked at the flap.

  Sealed.

  Damn. What now? I couldn’t open it without Gabe’s knowing. What lease agreement? This wasn’t about Dee. Was Gabe looking to open an office for his PI business? He hadn’t said anything to me.

  At least not since I had been avoiding giving him an answer about working with him. God.

  “Gabe’s computer is locked up tight.”

  Taking my attention from the envelope in my hand, I turned to look at the computer screen and rea
d Enter Password. “Bet Grandpa could crack it.”

  Angel sat up in the chair. “Want me to call him?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “Angel, we can’t break into Gabe’s computer. He’s running a business that might have sensitive information. Let’s just look for information on Dee.” I dropped my gaze back to the envelope in my hand.

  “What’s that?” Angel started to shut down the computer.

  “I don’t know. Says it’s a lease agreement. I don’t know anything about it.”

  After shutting down the computer, Angel picked up her beer and took a drink. In the soft light of the green lamp, her green eyes glittered. “Let’s open it.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, when we both heard a noise. The sound of a key in the front door, then the door swinging open.

  Omigod! Fear, guilt . . . Gabe was going to kill me! I started to move, to stuff the envelope back in the filing shelf. But I didn’t move fast enough.

  “What are you doing?” a female voice demanded.

  I snapped my gaze up to the doorway. A woman. Swear to God, she looked like a bad copy of Catwoman. She had a black capelike coat on over black leggings and a black tank top.

  8

  I stood in Gabe’s home office, holding the large envelope I’d picked up while snooping through his desk, and stared at the Catwoman clone. Why was there another woman in Gabe’s house? How many women had a key to his house? She obviously had the alarm code, too.

  What the hell was going on?

  Finally, the woman moved, lifting her hands to her face, and said, “Samantha Shaw. Caught snooping.”

  A flash blinded me. “What . . .” I blinked and saw dancing black spots. That flash had to be a camera. “You took a picture? Who the hell are you?” I shoved the envelope into its file slot.

  Catwoman grinned. “Oh yeah. I’m going to download it onto the laptop and show Gabe just what his girlfriend is doing. Gabe is a man of few words who respects privacy.” Over Gabe’s desk, she ran her gaze down my shirt and back up. “Do you always wear stained clothes? Tacky. Gabe will notice; he notices everything.”

  Angel started to stand up. I put my hand on her shoulder, pushing her back into the chair. The bitch had to die, but Angel wasn’t going to be the one who killed her.

  And I knew who the bitch was; I recognized her voice from our chat on the phone earlier at Angel’s house. “So you are Dee.” I sized her up. Under the capelike coat, she had white blonde hair cut in a Meg Ryan style around her face. Her black heeled boots took her to about a five eight height, same as Angel. Nervous energy kept her twitching and shifting.

  She looked a tad younger than Gabe was. Which made her more than a tad younger than me. “What are you doing here, Dee? Where’s Gabe?”

  She checked the picture in the viewing screen of the camera, practically bouncing with joy at what she saw. “Waiting for me, of course. He needs his laptop. He’s teaching me how to write up the report for the client.”

  “Uh-huh. So Gabe’s on the stakeout and sent you home to get his laptop.” I squeezed Angel’s shoulder to keep her from leaping over the desk and smacking Dee into next week. Then I let go and walked around the desk. “Translation: you were getting on Gabe’s nerves, so he sent you on a fool’s errand.” That’s what I wanted to believe. That Gabe tired of her and sent her away.

  Dee sucked in her full cheeks and glared at me.

  I pushed harder. “Does Gabe know you were answering his cell phone, Dee? Did you give him the message that I called?”

  She narrowed her eyes and protectively clutched the digital camera she held against her flat stomach. “You can’t threaten me. I’m getting the laptop and I’m going to show Gabe what you really are.”

  I turned and sat my butt on the desk. God, I was sore. “Go ahead,” I waved my hand at Dee.

  Her mouth fell open. “Huh?”

  “Get the laptop. Run back to Gabe. Show him your evidence.”

  Her smile faltered, then spread as her confidence returned. “I will.” She pulled her black shoulder bag around, stuffed the camera in it, and pulled out a key. Watching Angel and me with a sharp stare, she made a point of moving close to the wall and as far away as possible from where I was sitting on the edge of Gabe’s desk. She made her way to the closet door that Angel had tried to open earlier. She pulled out a key ring and unlocked the door, then left the key in the lock and reached inside for the light switch on the wall, flipping it on.

  I watched this, amused as hell.

  OK, pissed as hell, too.

  Dee studied the interior of the walk-in closet. It was lined with shelves, and there was a gun safe in there. I would have bet my last dollar that Dee didn’t have the combination to Gabe’s gun safe. She found the laptop in its carrying case right away.

  But she seemed to be looking for something else.

  I slid off the desk. Quickly, I looked over at Angel.

  Her grin practically lit up the night.

  “What are you looking for, Dee?” I was two steps away from the closet.

  She glanced back at me. “Batteries. Gabe was very specific. He said, ‘Always have backup batteries on a stakeout. ’ ” She turned back around to scan the shelves while muttering, “Batteries, batteries . . .”

  I had ahold of the door. “You have a cell phone, right, Dee? And it’s charged?”

  “Yeah.” She spotted the extra batteries deep in the closet. She took a big step in, reaching up to snag them. “Mission accomplished!” she announced.

  I slammed the door and turned the key still sitting in the lock. Without the key, Dee couldn’t unlock the closet from the inside.

  Angel clapped. “Well done, Sam!”

  I turned around and looked at Angel. “She sure can scream, can’t she? Gabe should soundproof that closet.”

  Angel arched an eyebrow. “Screaming stopped. Guess she figured out to call her boss on her cell phone. Good thing you practically drew her a map.”

  I smiled. “Checkmate. There’s no way Gabe hired that,” I jerked my thumb to the closet, “to train as a PI. Damn it, I fell for it. Telling me about Dee, giving me a key, practically giving me an engraved invitation to snoop. He’s just making a point.”

  Angel laughed. “I believe you made an excellent counter-point. How do you suppose he knew we were coming here right now?”

  Good question. I thought about it for a second. “He probably guessed it wouldn’t take us long, after Dee wouldn’t put my call through.” Gabe knew me pretty well. But that was a risky way to time it. Gabe didn’t take those kinds of risks. I looked around. “Gabe is a security specialist. House and business alarms, that kind of thing. He set something up to notify him when we got here.” Hell.

  She thought about that, then asked, “So how far away do you think he is?”

  I shrugged. “Let’s get out of here.” Quickly, I set the key to the walk-in closet down on his desk, got my purse, and winced at the banging on the closet door.

  Angel glanced at the door. “Hey, are you sure Gabe will get her out? I mean, what if he doesn’t show?”

  The phone on Gabe’s desk rang.

  I looked up at Angel. “He’ll get her out, Angel. Gabe’s hero streak runs too deep to leave a woman, even Catwoman, locked in a closet.”

  Angel picked up her purse and laughed. “This is fun.”

  “Or insane.” I made sure to set the alarm before we left.

  We got into our separate cars. I smiled as I pulled out of Gabe’s housing tract onto Grand Avenue. Gabe was trying to manipulate me into making a decision about working with him and getting my PI license. Using that Catwoman clone. He’d think again about playing with me when he had to leave his stakeout to rescue Dee.

  Of course, Gabe would get even with me.

  My cell phone rang. Pulling the phone out of my purse, which was on the passenger seat, I debated answering it. It could be Gabe. A very pissed-off Gabe.

  I took my eyes off the road to glance at the caller ID. I was
safe—it was Angel. As I put the phone to my ear, I glanced in my rearview mirror.

  She wasn’t behind me.

  My stomach flipped and I said into the phone, “Don’t you dare go back to your house!” Zack and his gun could show up again.

  “I’m not. I’m going to drive by Hugh’s house, then go stay at my mom’s place.”

  Relief settled my stomach. “Chicken.” I put the phone on my shoulder and used both hands to turn my T-bird into the dirt parking lot in front of our house. “You don’t want to be around, in case Gabe shows up for a little game of revenge.”

  She laughed.

  I parked the car and then took hold of the phone. “Why are you spying on Hugh?” I knew part of it was Angel’s restless energy. She should be safe enough at her mom’s house for the night, so I wasn’t worried about that. With her mom and my mom on the cruise, she’d have the place to herself.

  “I don’t trust him. Hugh’s up to something. He practically burst a blood vessel screaming at me last Friday. I think Brandi left him and he’s desperate.”

  I bit back a sigh. “Angel, Zack’s out there somewhere and he’s got a gun. Hugh’s not your biggest problem right now.” Much as I detested her sniveling weasel of an ex-husband, I didn’t want Angel distracted. She needed to stay focused to stay safe. “We need to think about what we’re going to do tomorrow if the police don’t find Zack.”

  Silence. Then, “Still, a girl’s got to have fun.” She hung up.

  Crap. I thought I had hurt her feelings. I laid my head on the steering wheel. It had been a long day. In the last two days, I’d thought Angel had been kidnapped, dealt with a crazy romance fan, stumbled onto Angel being threatened by a man with a gun for unknown reasons, and locked my boyfriend’s new assistant in the closet. Now I had hurt my best friend’s feelings and was probably going to be dealing with my pissed-off boyfriend very soon.

  “What a day.” Lifting my head from the steering wheel, I looked at the muted yellow light coming through the front window of Grandpa’s small house and consoled myself with having gotten the best of Gabe. Now he had to leave his stakeout to rescue his assistant. That would teach him to hire Catwoman. I got out of the car and stomped up the steps.