Injury

by Tobin, Val

  Vega handed her a mug of coffee and sat in the armchair across from her. “The room is equipped with video cameras, and they’re recording.” When she acknowledged the news with a nod, he stated the date, time, and participants. Preliminaries done, he looked up and met her gaze. “All right, Miss Grayson? Can I get you anything else?”

  Dani sipped the coffee. It was okay. “I’m fine, thank you. Where would you like to start?”

  “What do you remember from the last time you saw your father?” Vega’s voice was soft and calming but firm.

  “I remember my father putting me to bed, reading me a story. It was his job to get me to sleep. My mother didn’t have patience for me.” Dani’s breath hitched at the memory of the last night she’d shared with her dad. Her daddy. She remembered a handsome, kind man, but maybe that was how every five-year-old thought of her father.

  He’d been short in stature, but young Dani thought he was a giant. A beautiful, powerful giant, with dark hair, hazel-brown eyes, and a warm smile. Gentle by nature, soft spoken, he worked hard to keep the family sheltered, fed, and clothed. His seasonal work had him laid off every winter, something Dani’s mother had resented.

  “They fought,” Dani said. “My dad was out of work. It was before Christmas, and he’d lost his job again. He worked in the construction industry, and when the outdoor jobs dried up, they let the workers go.”

  “What did you hear?”

  Dani sighed. This part of the night was clear in her memory. “Shouting. Lilli did most of the yelling. Dad was a quiet guy. Didn’t go out much—my mom saw to that. When he was working, we didn’t see him, but when business got slow, he was around more, and Lilli nagged him constantly.”

  “What was the fight about?”

  “Work, mostly. She’d pick at him about other things, too, though. Nothing he did was right. Nothing was good enough.”

  “How did your father react to that?”

  “He said he was trying his best. They didn’t have programs in place for retraining then. He’d always find something to keep us going until spring, but it took time. I think this time there were more debts, and the holidays were approaching, so Lilli wanted money fast.”

  “What happened then?”

  “It’s hard for me to remember. I was in my bed. Daddy tucked me in, read me a story, gave me a kiss, and went to watch TV. Then I heard Lilli shouting at him. After that, I don’t know. My next recollection is of coming home from school the next day and Lilli telling me Daddy left us and wasn’t coming back.” Tears rolled down Dani’s cheeks, and she held her breath, willing herself not to sob.

  Vega offered her a box of tissues from the table, and she took one and pressed it to her eyes.

  “It’s okay, Miss Grayson. Lilli didn’t tell you why he was gone or where he went?”

  “She said—” Dani’s voice broke then, and she sobbed out loud.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Grayson. Take your time. It’s important we find out what happened, and as far as I know, you’re the last person other than your mother to see Paul Grayson alive.”

  A stifled sob threatened to choke her, so Dani inhaled, held her breath for a moment, and then let it out in a burst. “Okay. Thank you.” She paused before continuing. “It’s difficult to talk about what she said. My mother was rarely kind. That day, I went to kindergarten in the morning. Lilli took me. My father wasn’t around, I recall now.”

  “Did you ask where he was?”

  “No. Not then. I got ready for school, Lilli rushing me, and we left the house.”

  “Did she rush you more than usual?”

  “Not that I noticed.”

  “Anything unusual about her that morning?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay. What happened when you came home?”

  “She met me at school and brought me home. When we walked in the door, she turned to me and said, ‘Your father’s gone, and he’s not coming back. It’s your fault. He doesn’t want to bother with raising a kid.’ She said it just like that and then turned and walked away. When I cried, she screamed at me to shut up, put my lunch on the table, and went to her room.” Dani fell silent.

  “I’m so sorry, Miss Grayson.”

  She found his sympathy reassuring. “Please, call me Dani. I’m telling you things I’ve told no one before. You may as well use my first name.”

  “Okay, Dani. Anything else you can tell me about that night or the next day?”

  “No. We carried on without my dad. If I cried in front of her, she screamed at me, so I learned to cry at night when I was alone. I missed my dad and thought about him every day after that, always hoping that someday he’d contact me.” Tears threatened again and Dani stopped talking, a lump growing in her throat.

  “It must be hard for you. Did anything happen in the days and weeks that followed to indicate something wasn’t right with Lilli?”

  Dani almost laughed at that. “Nothing was right with Lilli, Detective. Nothing was ever right with Lilli. She was as mean as ever. I don’t know why she didn’t get rid of me, too.” The lump in her throat threatened to strangle her, and her chest was a tight band of hurt. “I’m sorry. That’s all I remember.” Her voice was a whisper.

  “Here’s my card. If you think of anything else, please call me.”

  It appeared in front of her face, and she tugged it from his fingers and shoved it into her purse.

  “I’m sorry you have to deal with this.”

  “Thank you.” Dani expected him to tell her she could leave, but the silence dragged on while she sipped coffee. She looked up to find him staring at her, his face red.

  “Dani.” He stopped.

  Fear lanced through her, and she felt the blood drain from her face. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m sorry. Nothing.” Vega set his mug on the table and stood. “I was wondering if I could get your autograph. My wife and kids would be thrilled.”

  Dani exhaled, relieved. “Of course. I’m sorry, but I haven’t any photos with me.”

  He jumped up and rushed to his briefcase. After rooting around in it, he yanked out a glossy sheet and handed it to Dani.

  It was a black-and-white still from Injury. Dani had an FBI badge pinned to the lapel of her designer suit and aimed a gun toward the camera. Her hair framed her face in a dark halo, and her lips curled into a sly smile. “I’d be happy to. To whom should I address it?”

  Vega gave her a face-splitting grin. “Aaron,” he replied.

  Chapter 7

  The driver slammed the door, shutting Dani into the limo’s dim light and air conditioning. She opened her carry-on bag, which she’d insisted on hanging onto when he’d stowed her luggage, and pulled out a bottle of vodka.

  What a hellish four days it had been. She was glad to be back in the States, back in LA. Almost breaking a nail in the attempt, she struggled the wrapper off the top of the bottle. Fingers shaking, she pried up the plastic-topped cork stopper and tried not to spill while she poured it into a martini glass she’d found in the limo’s bar.

  Dani glanced out the window and realized the car was heading to the freeway, back to her apartment. Why not? The driver would’ve been instructed to do just that, and it made sense she’d want to head home after a trip out of the country.

  She slid down the panel that separated them while trying to remember his name. Cope. Yeah, that’s it. Short for Copeland, but he preferred just “Cope.” Dani couldn’t remember his first name. “Cope, I don’t want to go home.”

  “Where would you like to go, Miss?”

  “Somewhere I can get some air, and no one will harass me. Do you know anyplace like that?”

  “Sure. It’s a long drive, but it’s a nice view. I go there sometimes to get away. Will that be acceptable?”

  “All right.”

  “I’ll let Mr. Madden know.”

  Dani frowned and gulped her warm, Sahara-dry martini. “John asked you to call him when I was in the car.” It wasn’t a question. There
was a time when she’d have found John’s controlling nature comforting.

  “He wants to make sure you arrived okay.”

  “Yeah, and he wants to make sure I go home and not to a bar.” Dani held up her drink so Cope could see it in the rear-view mirror. “Cheers.”

  He nodded but didn’t speak—not to her, anyway. He used the voice-recognition on the limo phone to call John. The conversation was brief. Dani could tell John was happy to hear she was back safe and sound, but suspicious that she wasn’t heading straight home. Cope assured him they weren’t heading to a bar and didn’t rat her out about the martini.

  They drove in silence for an hour, Dani sipping her way through three martinis. By the time Cope parked the car, she was flying high and tipsy enough to have wiped out the memory of the visit to her mother in prison. It had been a painful disaster, and, in her mind, the meeting with Detective Aaron Vega had been unproductive. Worse yet, for the last three nights, the same nightmare had haunted her and made her terrified to go to sleep.

  In the dream, Dani was five years old and alone in her room. Lilli stormed in as she had done many times over the years Dani had lived with her.

  Lilli grabbed Dani’s arm and shrieked, “I’ll bury you.” Her mother stuffed Dani into a coffin, slamming the lid closed, locking her inside the satin-lined box. When clods of earth hit the top of the coffin, and Dani realized she was being buried alive, she’d wake up drenched in sweat and stifling a scream.

  That dream killed her sleep no matter what time of night or early morning she woke from it. As a result, Dani had had only ten hours sleep over four days.

  Aware the car had stopped, Dani glanced up when Cope opened the door and offered her his hand. She took it, stepped out onto dirt, and immediately regretted her choice of footwear.

  Her spike-heeled sandals— no—her come fuck me shoes, would be a problem on the soft earth of the cliffs ahead. Dani swayed and tossed her empty martini glass back into the car. It landed on the seat and bounced off. Through an alcohol fog, she noticed it didn’t break.

  Cope put one hand under her arm and the other around her shoulder. “Not the best idea to bring you here.”

  Dani giggled though she found nothing in her situation funny. “Shit. We’re here. Let’s go for a walk. I’ll take off the stupid shoes.”

  Cope eased her back into the car, and she slipped off her heels. He leaned across her and took a bottle of water out of the bar fridge, uncapped it, took a swig, and handed it to her. “Your turn.”

  Dutifully she chugged some water. She could feel it going down, and it struck her then she hadn’t eaten that day. Dani braced for the coming attempt at standing.

  Cope gripped her arms and helped her up. The car door slammed shut behind her, and Cope locked the limo.

  “Wait.” Dani put a hand on his arm. “Leave your cell phone here.”

  “I can’t do that, Miss Grayson. I need to stay in contact with dispatch.”

  “Please? I need quiet, and I don’t want anyone to know where I am.”

  “It’s on vibrate.”

  “I’d rather you turned it off. You can check for messages. Will that be okay?”

  He agreed, reluctantly, turned off the cell phone, and clipped it to his belt.

  Dani gazed around. They stood on a field that stretched out twenty feet in front of them, ending at the edge of a cliff. She heard the ocean below. Behind them, the road, lined with palm trees, branched off in two directions. In the distance stood a large, white house.

  “Where are we?” The place looked somewhat familiar. Had she partied around here before?

  “My parents’ place is over there.” Cope motioned toward the house in the distance. “It’s quiet here. Private. No one will bug you. It was the one place that wouldn’t be crawling with paparazzi. We can walk to the beach using the trail along the side.”

  He led her to a dirt path, and they followed it, Cope guiding her steps and supporting her.

  “You live there?” Dani was surprised. That place was worth millions.

  “No. I have an apartment in Pacific Palisades.”

  She arched her brows. That wouldn’t be cheap either. It was where her apartment was. “On a chauffeur’s wage, or do Mom and Dad give you a hand?”

  Cope pressed his lips together in a tight line, and his eyes narrowed. Maybe she’d struck a nerve.

  “I’m sorry. That was rude.” She took another sip of the water.

  “It’s okay.” He sighed. “Yes, they helped me out with the down payment. But I’m saving to start my own limo service soon.”

  “How old are you?”

  He looked away, and just as she thought he wouldn’t answer, he said, “Twenty-eight.”

  Three years older than she was.

  Cope pointed to the bottom of the trail, which ended in a rocky scree, and beyond that, the beach. “That’ll be hard on your feet. I’ll carry you over the rocks, if that’s okay.”

  Dani nodded and slid her arms around his neck. He lifted her effortlessly, and she leaned her head on his shoulder, relieved to stop walking. Cope picked his way across the rocks, and she molded to his chest, fatigue making her eyelids droop. He smelled of fresh air and a hint of spicy soap, and she breathed it in, finding it comforting.

  When he set her on the sand, she stumbled. Cope gripped her arm again and steered her toward the shoreline. “The sand’s not too hot on your feet, I hope. I didn’t think this through.”

  Dani shook her head. “It’s warmer than I’d like, but not burning.” She chugged more water. Suddenly, she had enough of being drunk and wanted to wash the alcohol out of her system.

  The strong, salty breeze refreshed her. “This is wonderful.” She sucked deep gulps of sea air into her lungs. Dani let go of Cope and faced the setting sun. Eyes closed, she absorbed the warmth and light. The sound of seagulls crying and ocean waves crashing on the shore soothed her. She opened her eyes and caught him staring.

  Cope grinned, which made him look boyish. He removed his jacket and set it on the sand. “Have a seat.”

  She shook her head. “Your jacket.”

  He stared at her, puzzled. “It’ll dry clean.”

  Dani sat, looking out over the ocean, avoiding his eyes. What must he think of her? “How long have you been driving me around, Cope?”

  “Three months this time, Miss Grayson.” He was always polite, deferential. “Though I sometimes drove for you before that.”

  Dani couldn’t believe she knew nothing about the man who’d been driving her around so long. Granted, John had done the hiring, but she’d always treated Cope like a servant. She hadn’t thought about him having a personal life independent of chauffeuring her around.

  He’d always been there when required, followed her instructions, and looked after her when she needed it, which was more often than she cared to admit. Cope had always made sure she arrived home safe, no matter how drunk she was, or how late the party ended or bar closed.

  “Call me Dani. Miss Grayson sounds so formal.” She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

  Now that his jacket was off, she took a long, lingering look at his chest and noticed the muscles under his shirt. An attractive man, Cope’s chestnut hair, deep brown eyes, nice lips, and ripped bod made him a great package—too bad he wasn’t older.

  She put her head in her hands. Knock it off, Dani. He’s your fucking driver. That reminder made her relax. She didn’t have to be on with him. He’d seen her puking drunk—more than once. Dani patted the spot next to her. “Please, sit with me? I promise to behave.”

  Cope sat, partly on the jacket, partly on the sand.

  The sun hovered near the horizon. There was a pleasant mix of lingering warmth from the setting sun and body heat from the man next to her. Dani sipped her water and let peace infuse her.

  They sat together, talking about nothing important, just enjoying the fresh, cool air and the soothing atmosphere, while the sun sank lower beyond the edge of the ocean.

>   Intimacy claimed Dani, and she reveled in it. “Tell me about yourself, Cope. Where did you go to school?”

  He told her about his years at college, and she listened, envying him the ability to live a normal life. His parents sounded demanding, but in a way that Dani thought showed they cared though Cope said he resented their intrusions into his decisions.

  “No one ever told me how to run my life. My mother ... ” Dani choked on the words and shook her head, unable to continue.

  “It’s okay, Dani.” Cope said. He put an arm around her, and she leaned into him relishing the touch.

  Commotion from above made them both look toward the limo parked at the top of the bluffs. A man and woman in security uniforms made their way along the steep incline down which Cope had carried her. He leapt up and went to meet them. Dani’s heart sank. The couple was from the limo service, and the anger on their faces was directed at Cope.

  Chapter 8

  Unable to hear what the newcomers said to Cope, Dani stood and swished through the sand toward them. Raised voices swept by on the wind, garbled and unintelligible. She quickened her pace and finally got close enough.

  “I have my cell phone. It’s off.” Cope pulled the phone from the clip on his belt and turned it on. A series of staccato beeps heralded the incoming messages.

  The man, a hulking giant who looked like his uniform might burst at the seams if he exerted himself too much, frowned. “Call in, Cope. We’re glad you’re both safe, but this won’t go well. You went against company policy.”

  “I’m sorry. I was accommodating the client.” He indicated Dani with a wave of his hand. “I meant to check my messages, but I forgot.”

  “Call it in, Cope.” The woman’s voice sounded less angry than the man’s, but her tone was worried. “They’re concerned and tracked you using the GPS on the car. It didn’t look good that the car was parked at the top of a bluff, and we couldn’t reach either of you.”

  Cope called the office and talked to his supervisor. The explanation he gave sounded flimsy even to Dani, and he was silent while the man at the other end of the phone ranted seemingly without taking a breath.