Finders Keepers Losers Die

by Carolyn Scott

  "When did your dad start the agency?" Scarface asked.

  "A couple years before that I think. Mom wanted him to find a line of work that didn't involve psychopaths with guns. That's why he concentrated on white-collar crime when he started Sinclair Investigations."

  "Knight would have loved that."

  "And I think Dad liked the fact Will was a by-the-book kind of man, as you said. Anyway, he thought highly enough of him to practically hand the business over to Will five years ago when he became ill. He trusted him. He knew the clients did too. Will did okay on his own but he needed help. Luckily he hired Carl when he did."

  Scarface's phone rang. He studied the screen before answering it. "Forde. Yeah. Yeah. No problem." He hung up and stood. "Gotta go, Sweetheart."

  We paid at the counter. Actually, he paid and I ordered four coffees to go. At the door he said, "Call me if you need me for…anything." Then he kissed the top of my head and left.

  I clutched the little cardboard tray with the four coffees and tried to force my legs to stop wobbling. What did he mean, 'anything'? And was a kiss on the top of the head a sign that he wanted to keep things strictly platonic or was he just working his way down?

  Should I be even thinking that?

  Hell, yes!

  Gina waved at me from the front of her shop. Maybe she'd know the answers. I crossed the road and gave her a smile.

  "I've got a latté for you." I indicated the foam cup closest to her.

  She took it. "Thanks." She raised her brows at me, a wicked smirk on her lips. "So who was that hot looking guy you were canoodling with in the coffee shop? And does Will know about him?"

  "Firstly, we were not canoodling, and secondly, he's an old cop buddy of Will's."

  "That's not what I meant when I said does he know about him."

  "What's to know? Nothing happened between me and Scarface." I cut my gaze to the office door but no one watched me through the glass so I relaxed a little. Not that I had anything to feel guilty about. Thinking about sex with someone else was not wrong.

  "So you think he's hot?" I prompted.

  "Cat, I nearly melted all the way over here. He's got the It factor in a big way. I mean, that swagger, that ass, the scar…everything." She leaned against the doorframe of her shop. "So there's nothing going on between you and him?"

  "Nothing."

  "Sooo you don't mind if I have him?"

  "Yes!"

  She pointed a finger at me. "I knew it."

  "Hey, that's not fair. You tricked me." I batted her finger away. "And it doesn't mean anything. I just need to…sort out my feelings first."

  "For him or for Will?" Her voice had turned serious. "Be careful, Cat." She disappeared inside as a customer approached.

  "Careful is boring," I muttered as I entered the office. "I've got coffee," I called out.

  Carl and Will emerged from Will's office and descended on the coffees. "Great," said Carl, diving on the foam cups like a hawk on a mouse. "Just what I need."

  "You two been in there the whole time?" I asked.

  Will nodded as he sipped.

  They wouldn't have seen Scarface then. Phew.

  "Did you sort out Waterstone?"

  "We did," said Will.

  Carl laughed. "Will called him and told him to pay his bill by the end of the week or forget about using Knight Investigations again."

  I choked on my coffee. "You did what? Will, that's…brave." Maybe he'd found the pieces of his anatomy that Scarface had claimed were missing.

  "Not really," he said as he headed up the hallway. "We've still got Slim."

  And Roberta, if I had anything to do with it.

  "Cat, there's a stack of filing to be done by the end of today," he said before he closed his door. "And if you've got time, can you print off some more reports for me? I'll bring you a list later."

  He disappeared into his office and Carl joined me at my desk. "So where to now?" he asked.

  I looked at the files and papers Will had deposited. I sighed, seeing my day stretch into a long, dull one. Suddenly my hangover returned with a vengeance. "Filing I guess."

  "I mean with Roberta's jewelry."

  "I'll keep looking."

  He nodded and headed into his office but stopped and glanced back over his shoulder. "Cat, I'm worried about you."

  "Me? Why?"

  "Someone followed you and set your apartment on fire. Isn't that enough of a reason?"

  I was touched but didn't really know what to say. "Thanks, but I'll be fine."

  "Have you told Will?"

  "Not the part about Roberta. I don't want him to know. Not yet."

  "Fine, but… " He huffed out a breath. "Okay, the thing is, aren't you scared? I mean, why keep going with this case after everything that's happened?"

  I squared up with Carl and looked him straight in the eye. "The thing about me, Carl, is that I hate being bullied. If someone pushes me in one direction, I'll go the other way. If anything, the fire has made me more determined to find answers. It definitely hasn't scared me off." My outburst surprised even me. I hadn't known I felt so strongly about bullies.

  He shook his head in disbelief. "It's your life," he muttered. "But if you need any help, you know where I am." He glanced up the hallway to Will's office. "I can be discreet." He closed his door, leaving me to my filing.

  By lunchtime, I'd gone to Trendz Cafe twice more for a caffeine hit, stopped to chat with Gina about my Will/Scarface dilemma and Googled Lou Scarletti and Barry Grimes. I didn't know Mad Max's last name or the names of Lou's other associates so they'd have to wait.

  The only thing I found was a brief newspaper article on Lou's arrest twelve years earlier. Grimes didn't appear at all. Apparently the information age hadn't discovered the over-tanned lothario. Hopefully he wouldn't discover the internet or the women of the world would be in trouble.

  After lunch, Will came to see me. "So you haven't finished the filing." He drummed his fingers on the stack. "Sorry, my mistake, you haven't started the filing. Why am I not surprised?" He shook his head and sighed heavily. "Cat, why are you trying to make me miserable?"

  "Funny, you seemed pretty happy the other night."

  He glanced at Carl's closed door.

  "It's okay. He's still out to lunch."

  "In that case." He leaned forward and kissed me oh-so-sweetly on the lips. "Come see me tonight."

  I nodded. When he kissed me like that, I'd agree to anything. Even filing.

  The front door opened and we sprang apart. "It's okay. It's only me," said Gina with a coy smile. "Hi, Will." She gave him a finger wave.

  "Gina, go away, Cat's working."

  "I can see that."

  He grunted and headed back up the hallway. "I want that filing done by the end of the day, Cat. Don't forget."

  "Sure, Boss."

  "And don't call me Boss. If there's one thing I'm not, that's the boss of you."

  "He got that right," Gina muttered as his door closed.

  "Gina, be nice to Will. He does like me, you know."

  "Yeah, I know, but he has a strange way of showing it."

  "That's because I give him a hard time. Now be quick, I've got filing to do." I flicked through the papers and screwed up my nose.

  "I just wanted to know if you would be home for dinner tonight."

  "I'm going to Will's. I could be there a while so yes, you'll have time to play with your computer programmer."

  She left with a wide grin and a spring in her step. I spent most of the afternoon filing. Since it required very little brain power, I started thinking about my next move. Unfortunately everything I came up with required some input from Scarface. Unfortunate because I got the feeling seeing him again would seriously test my newfound loyalty to Will. But I needed to know the full names of Lou's associates from The Grotto and what the cops had learned about his death.

  By the end of the day, I'd also jotted down some ideas for the code number found in the box. But the
y were only guesses. Hopefully learning more about Lou would bring me closer to breaking it.

  And who knew him better than his wife of fifteen years. I called Roberta and arranged to meet her first thing in the morning. I'd tell her about the jewelry box then and get her ideas for the code and key.

  By five-fifteen, I'd finished the filing and was ready to leave. Will had gone to a meeting with Slim and Carl was nowhere to be seen.

  I sent a text message to Will to meet me at his place at seven then I got in my car and headed to Barry Grimes' store. I kept my distance, parking up the road. I didn't want to push my luck. Three times in one week would definitely give him the wrong idea and Barry Grimes didn't need any more encouragement.

  I sat and waited but nothing happened. Only one person entered his store in the first hour. My mind started to wander to more pleasant things, like an evening of wild sex, when another person entering the store caught my attention.

  Detective Stankovic. He must be asking more questions. My naturally suspicious side argued that Monday night was a weird time to be investigating, but I didn't know Stankovic's methods. Maybe it was a ploy to catch the suspect unawares. Stankovic was a cop with over twenty years experience. He should know what he was doing. His appearance confirmed my suspicion that Grimes was linked to Lou's death.

  About the same time, a car stopped outside The Garden Shed two stores down but no one got out. In the fading light, it looked like a dark-colored sedan. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

  I couldn't make out the number plates and I couldn't be sure it was the same car that had followed me home on Saturday but the uneasy feeling in the base of my stomach deepened. So much so, I wanted to puke.

  Fifteen minutes later, Stankovic reappeared. He got in his car and left. The dark sedan's door opened and a woman got out.

  Holy crap! Roberta! What the fuck was she doing at Grimes' store?

  I had to find out. I got out of my car but my phone rang as I crossed the road. The screen lit up with Will's name.

  "Hi," I said. "You at home?"

  "Yep. And I'm naked."

  Ooh, baby. I glanced at Doors Galore. I could see Roberta and Grimes chatting through the window. "I've got some business to attend to first, then I'll be there. Stay naked."

  "Don't be long. I've got pizza and it won't remain uneaten for long."

  I hung up and approached Doors Galore like a stealthy tiger hunting its prey. A tiger dressed in high heels and a suit. I probably looked ridiculous but hopefully darkness covered me.

  Instead of looking through the window, I hid behind a display of doors out the front and listened. Their voices carried on the night air.

  "…taking too long," Grimes said.

  "Lou dying hasn't helped her," Roberta said.

  "Yeah, even dead, the bastard's managed to fuck us up."

  "It'll be okay, Baby."

  Baby? Yech.

  "Try someone else," said Grimes. "She's useless."

  "Give her time. She's good with people. She might find out something useful from that slut, Valerie, or his cow of a mother."

  Grimes muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear. Then there was a revolting kissing noise which made my stomach roll.

  Assuming it was a goodbye kiss, I dashed back to my car and drove off. I was starving anyway and the combined incentive of pizza and a naked Will turned me into a lead foot.

  Roberta and Grimes's conversation spun round in my head until their words became so jumbled I couldn't remember them clearly. But several things were pretty clear:

  1. They knew each other.

  2. They were lovers.

  3. Roberta had zero taste in men.

  4. They were talking about me.

  This last point I wasn't positive on, but the inkling just wouldn't go away. Which meant that:

  5. I was being played.

  Why, I didn't know. To find the jewels probably. Worse still, Grimes thought I was useless. This coming from a man who ran a door store right next to a massive hardware warehouse where doors were sold for half the price.

  When I arrived at Will's place, he swept me into his arms and kissed me full on the lips. When he finally set me down, my heart was beating so fast I saw stars and my libido had overridden my hunger pangs.

  I tore at his shirt (he'd lied when he'd said he was naked) and ripped it off. Kicking the door closed, he picked me up and carried me to the couch.

  In a frenzy, we stripped and made feverish love in the living room.

  "Hello," Will said when we'd caught our breaths.

  I grinned up at him. He looked all disheveled and relaxed and sexy "Hello to you too. Now where's my dinner?"

  "First you jump on me as soon as you get here," he said with a crooked smile, "then you want to eat straight after sex. Patience isn't one of your strong points, is it?"

  "You kissed me first, remember. I was willing to wait until after dinner."

  He picked up his torn shirt. "Yeah I can see that." He tossed it aside and strode to the kitchen in all his splendid nakedness and returned with two plates, napkins and the pizza box.

  "Speaking of honesty," I said coyly, "where were you Saturday night?"

  He leaned over and nibbled my ear. "Want me to remind you?"

  I gently pushed him away. "Before you met me at the office."

  He sat back. "I was working. Why?" He didn't take his eyes off the TV as he bit into a pizza slice. Guilty as charged.

  I fought my disappointment. I don't know what I expected him to say, but one thing I hadn't counted on was caring so much about the answer.

  "I ran into Tanya the other day. She said she had dinner with you on Saturday night."

  He took another bite of pizza, chewed slowly then swallowed. Finally, he looked at me, just as my patience began to dry up. "Okay, I'll come clean. I did have dinner with her, then I came home to work. So I never lied."

  "You just didn't tell the entire truth, right?" I snorted softly and shook my head.

  He turned and faced me fully. "Look at it from my point of view, Cat. When should I tell you I had dinner with my ex? Before or after sex?"

  I shrugged, tears welling despite my attempt at hardening my heart. Damn it.

  "I like you, Cat. I have for…well, ever since you breezed into my office and decided to drive me crazy with your attitude and sexy body. So ruining my chances of getting you into bed beforehand wasn't an option. Telling you afterwards seemed tacky. And unnecessary."

  "Keep going," I said. For the first time since I'd known him, he was actually saying the right thing. I was happy to hear more of it.

  "There's nothing between Tanya and me. It wasn't a romantic dinner. It was work. I wanted to confront her about the missing money."

  "I thought you didn't want to see her again."

  "I changed my mind. I hate being taken advantage of and it annoyed the shit out of me that she'd done it right under my nose. I didn't want the money back, I just wanted her to know that I knew. And to ask her why."

  "What did she say?"

  "She denied it." He leaned forward and kissed me. "Okay?"

  I shrugged one shoulder. "So did you have sex?"

  "No! It's over between her and me. It ended a long time ago."

  Someone should tell Tanya. Again.

  "So, you're definitely okay?" he said again.

  "Sure. It's no big deal anyway." I looked away because his dark eyes unnerved me. "You're a single man. You can have dinner with whoever you want."

  "Yeah, right." He turned back to the TV. A re-runs of Friends was on but he didn't laugh. "As long as we're cool."

  I was so cool I had to hug my knees to stem the goosebumps creeping up my legs.

  CHAPTER 11

  Will and I ate in silence and watched TV then curled up together on the couch. He tucked me against his side and I leaned into his warmth, feeling drowsy. Whatever had happened with Tanya that night, he was with me now. That was the most important thing.


  "Cat," he said, rousing me some time later. "I've been thinking."

  "Call the Church, it's a miracle."

  "You can work on the Scarletti case on company time."

  I sat up with a jolt and rubbed my eyes. "Are you really Will Knight?"

  "Cat, I'm serious."

  "Or are you an alien invading the body of my boss, because the Will Knight I work for is—"

  "Inflexible?"

  "Um, yeah, that's what I was going to say." Actually, I was going to say mean but his word worked just as well. "What about your policy against domestics?"

  "Lou's dead so technically it's not a domestic anymore."

  I wasn't convinced. He was under the impression I'd given up Roberta's case a week earlier, so why re-open it? Maybe he wanted to cash in. Lou's murder had hit the papers. If Roberta's jewels had anything to do with the death, then Knight Investigations would have free publicity if we found them and solved the murder.

  Will's fingers stroked my thigh. "I thought you might as well investigate on company time instead of sneaking around using Knights resources and pretending to file."

  So he knew all along! "Hey, I'd never—"

  "Yes, you would." He kissed my forehead. "It's okay, Cat, I'm not going to fire you again. I might, however, have to give you a good spanking."

  I reached up and hugged him. "Thank you, Will. You won't regret it. I'll be a better investigator than secretary."

  "That won't be hard."

  I thumped him lightly on the arm.

  "But we have to lay some ground rules," he said. "First, you keep me informed at all times. Second, if you find out the missing jewelry has anything to do with Lou's murder you're off the case. Got it?"

  I nodded solemnly, wondering when would be the best time to tell him I'd found the jewelry box. "It's not looking like the two things are linked." I mentally crossed my fingers and hoped that was a good enough substitute for the real thing.

  "Third, stay away from Forde. You haven't seen him lately, have you?"

  "Who?"

  "Harrison Forde."

  "Nope. Haven't seen him since the morning of Lou's murder." I did my best to ignore the rhythm my pounding heart made against my ribs. It sounded strangely like liar, liar pants on fire.

  "Good. Stay away from him. He's a loose cannon."