by Bonnie Dee
“We didn’t get any money. Not much, anyway, maybe fifty bucks because the business had closed out the cash drawer. And we grabbed a couple of six-packs. It was more just messing around and seeing what we could do. That’s what I thought. But even though we’d knocked out the cameras—disabled them, I mean—don’t glare like that, Ames, we didn’t even break the cameras, for God’s sake. Anyway, the cameras there weren’t working, but Bert had a camera of his own.”
The next part embarrassed Nick, but Ames had stopped frowning. Now she just waited and watched him, so he continued. “Bert managed to take video and shots of me in the store—incriminating stuff. A day later, I got a call explaining the concept of what Bert called mutual leverage. Along the lines of ‘we’ve got your dirty secret, and that helps us feel better knowing you’ve got a couple of ours.’ It felt like crap being dicked around by a guy I thought was my friend, but I understood. This was how they’d feel safer about me. I’d made it clear since high school that I wasn’t interested in any aspect of the business, not even the legitimate side. So in a way, Bert helped me go on my own merry way.”
He turned from the bumpy country road onto the highway. “After that night, I learned my lesson. I’d go out clubbing with them now and then, but no more partying hard. No more drinking a lot. No more extracurricular activities.”
“That all sounds horrible.”
Nick tried to explain. “They could have threatened me with violence or framed me for something I didn’t do, whatever—but Bert liked to make it real.” Also, Bert enjoyed messing with people’s minds on a small scale. So did his dad, Cesar, who was far more likely to use violence to get the message across.”
“So you still stayed friends?”
“Not really. After my father unsuccessfully tried to call it quits, I broke away completely. I went to school full-time, worked a lot. I’d left that life behind. For good, I believed.”
“Until my brother.”
“Until your brother.”
“Oh, Elliot,” she muttered under her breath, and it sounded like both a prayer and a curse.
Chapter Nine
Ames slipped into the back door of the diner and headed to the break room—fast. She wished she had an invisibility cloak to shield her from curious eyes, but she didn’t, and so of course Marty spotted her and trailed after her.
“What the heck happened to you? You look like you’ve been wallowing in dirt.”
“Took a long hike in the woods. Got a little sweaty. No time to talk.” Ames grabbed her extra uniform out of her locker.
“No time to shower either? What’s up?”
“Nothing. I’m in a hurry, that’s all.” She stripped off her top and skirt and shimmied into the brown dress.
“Too much of a hurry to go home and get some clothes.” Marty stood in the doorway, arms folded, barring her way. “This has something to do with that Sam guy, doesn’t it? First you go to the movie with him, then today you go out and…what? Mud wrestle?”
Ames faced her. “Look, if anybody, any stranger comes around here asking about Elliot or me, do me a huge favor and say nothing.”
“Say nothing,” Marty repeated. “What the hell is going on? You’re starting to scare me. Is this about Elliot? Have you tracked that fool down yet?”
God, she never could keep anything from Marty, but she was going to do her best to keep the facts to a minimum. “You know Elliot. Always in hot water. Seems he may have dived in really deep this time. The less you know the better.”
“Jesus. Is this something you need to go to the police about?” Marty reached out and grasped her upper arms. “Ames?”
Good question. “No. I promise I will as soon as I can. I don’t have anything concrete to tell them, just speculation. Forget I said anything.” Before she spilled everything to Marty, she pulled away and nudged past her.
“By the way, would you be willing to cover early shift tomorrow? Or if you can’t, call Donna or Jillian for me. I’d really appreciate it.”
“Sure, I can do it. What are you going to be up—”
“I’m sorry to impose, but it’s important.” Ames hurried out the door before Marty could ask any more questions.
Nick had pulled the car around back and leaned against the side. He looked criminally hot in the jacket that emphasized his broad shoulders. He didn’t look like the guys in Arnesdale, that was for sure. More cosmopolitan or something. She gave herself a mental kick in the pants for taking even a second to think about Nick’s hotness in the middle of a crisis.
“Sexy uniform. I’ve always had a thing for waitresses.” He smirked, and she gave him a quick punch as she walked past on her way to the passenger side of the car. Okay, so they could distract each other.
The sky had darkened to a purple dusk by the time they pulled up in front of the Greely’s house. Her stomach growled at too many missed meals.
“I still think it would be better if you waited in the car. It’s not like somebody’s going to shoot me in Mrs. Greely’s kitchen.” Ames tried once more to convince Nick, but he was as stubborn as…well, as stubborn as she was. This new, very determined side of her nature seemed directly related to the strange new dangerous world he’d brought to Arnesdale—or maybe it was Nick who brought it out.
“I can play it cool. I’m new in town, so you’re being nice and introducing me to some people. Plus, I think Mrs. Greely liked me when we met last night.”
“Fine. Whatever.” She got out of the car and shut the door harder than she needed to. The problem was that she intended to flirt with Jake a little if necessary to learn whatever she could from him, and she didn’t really want to do that in front of Nick. Why was that? Did she like him a little too much?
Ames didn’t want to think about the reasons, so she stalked to the front door and stabbed the bell with her finger.
By the time Nick caught up with her, Alice Greely was framed in the doorway. “Ames! What a surprise to see you two nights in a row. What brings you here?”
“Actually, I was hoping to catch Jake at home.” She jerked a thumb at Nick. “Sam here doesn’t know anybody, and I thought Jake would be the perfect guy to introduce him around. Maybe stop by the sports bar or something.”
“Jake’s in the garage, tinkering with that old wreck of his. You go on around back.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Greely.” Ames felt suddenly sixteen again. That was probably the last time she’d been here, sent to drag Elliot home and finding him and Jake in the shed that passed for a garage. “Fixing” Jake’s rust bucket had been code for smoking pot.
The rusty vintage Mustang looked exactly as Ames remembered it from all those years ago. Unsurprisingly, Jake wasn’t tinkering with the engine but sprawled in a ratty recliner, beer in hand, eyes glued to pro wrestling on the little TV on the workbench.
He sprang up when he saw her, footrest dropping, beer sloshing. “Ames! Hi.” His gaze slid to Nick.
“Hi, Jake. How you doin’?” Ames said. “This is Sam Allen. He moved into the Old Place.”
“Oh, yeah. I heard about that.” Jake offered a hand, and the two men gave a one pump shake. So far, so good. Jake ran a hand over his thinning blond hair. “Want a beer?”
“Sure.”
While Jake went to the wheezing old Frigidaire and pulled out a pair of bottles, Nick walked to the Mustang and ran a hand over the rolled-down ragtop. “Gonna be a beauty when you’re finished.”
“Someday,” Jake agreed, handing him a beer. “So what brings you all the way to the heart of Wisconsin?”
“Heard about Arnesdale from a friend. I’d had enough of city life, and it seemed as good a place as any to start over.”
“Uh-huh.” Jake’s eyes narrowed, and Ames realized immediately that he knew something about Elliot and the trouble in New York. He didn’t seem at all surprised that a New Yorker would randomly pick Arnesdale to move to. Crap. That was bad. It meant he’d try to cover for his pal Elliot like he always had and would reveal nothing. She k
new she shouldn’t have brought Nick here with her.
Ames inserted herself between the two men and made eye contact as she accepted a beer from Jake. “I’m so thirsty. Thanks.” She licked her lips, then sipped from the bottle as suggestively as she could—anything to distract Jake from his suspicions about Nick.
“Hey, have you heard from Elliot lately? You know I’ve been trying to reach him for literally months, and I’m really starting to worry about him.” She’d already asked Jake about Elliot in passing, but this was the first time she watched him carefully for a nonverbal response.
His quick frown might signal worry or the fact that he had heard from Elliot. She wasn’t sure which.
“No, Ames. Wish I had. I’m worried about him too.” Jake started drumming his fingers against his beer bottle, and Ames had her answer. She used to play poker with Elliot and his pals sometimes, back in the day. She knew Jake’s tell.
“Seriously, Jake. If you talked to him, you’d tell me, right?” She moved closer, crowding him a little and looking up into his eyes and practically batting her lashes. It was mean to manipulate him when she knew he liked her, but desperate times…
And there it was, a flicker of something in Jake’s eyes while his fingers tapped faster. She had a strong feeling he’d talked to Elliot face-to-face. She would have bet real money that her brother had been right here in Arnesdale and hadn’t come to see her.
She followed her instinct, pushing Jake to admit the truth. “What did he say?”
“Nothing,” Jake burst out, then tried to backpedal. “I mean, I haven’t talked to him in like a year.” It was a poor performance with no conviction.
Ames glanced at Nick, who was wisely remaining in the background near the car, letting her interrogate Jake. Ames decided to let a little truth shine through in order to win Jake’s trust.
“I believe Elliot’s in some serious trouble in New York. I think he got caught up in some stuff and some dangerous people may be after him.”
Jake immediately looked at Nick. “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
Yeah, right you don’t know. What was Elliot doing, confiding in Jake?
She suppressed the wave of fury by gulping down a big mouthful of beer. “I think he could dig himself out of the situation if he returned something that didn’t belong to him.”
Jake shrugged. “Like I said, I have no idea about Elliot’s business. Wish I could help you, but I can’t.” He set down his beer bottle and walked toward the open door of the shed, signaling it was time for them to leave. “Nice meeting you, Sam. Sure I’ll see you around town.”
Amiable Jake had never sounded so icy. She’d pushed too hard and gotten nothing out of him except a certainty he knew more than he’d let on. So now what?
She dug in her heels. “Look, Jake, I’m putting all my cards on the table. I know for a fact that Elliot’s in deep, and no matter what you say, I think you’ve had contact with him. If you know anything about a…a package he may have hidden, you have to tell me.”
“Christ, Ames. Are you suggesting I’m in on some kind of criminal conspiracy? Does that sound like me?”
Had she said anything about criminals? “No. But being a loyal friend does. If Elliot came to you for help—”
“I told you I don’t know anything. You should go now.” He jerked a thumb toward the driveway.
Nick moved to join her moving in that graceful, slightly menacing way of his. He stopped in front of Jake. “Guess you’ve figured out I know Elliot from New York. We were friends in college. Trust me, I’m trying to help him too, and the only way I can is by returning what he took. So if you know anything—”
“I don’t.”
Jake stared at Nick until he nodded. “Okay, then.”
As they walked back to the car, Nick rested a hand on Ames’s back and leaned in close. “He knows something.”
“Yeah. But we can’t beat it out of him, and even if he’s talked to Elliot, he might not know where the money is. I don’t think Elliot would trust him with a bundle of cash.”
“So it’s back to searching for something we don’t even know for sure is here.” Nick voiced her discouraged thoughts.
They couldn’t both be in negative mode at the same time, so Ames brought on the positive. “We’re exhausted. Tomorrow we’ll search again. In the woods again, maybe.”
“I told you I already dug craters in that clearing you showed me. It looks like a blown minefield.” He held her car door open—the end of a perfect date. “I’m starting to think I should head back to New York and try to convince Bert I had nothing to do with any of this and that Elliot’s probably gone for good. Maybe we have enough history that he’ll trust me and let me off easy.”
“Or maybe he’ll have you whacked.” Why in the world did she keep using that word? This wasn’t some mob movie. This was the real thing. “Anyway, you think the guy’s on his way here since I tipped off his girlfriend, Sandy. Why not just wait for him and have it out here? Your turf instead of his. Plus he’ll see you’ve been searching hard and that you can’t do any more than you’ve done.”
“Maybe.” Nick looked doubtful, but it was hard to tell because he frowned a lot of the time. He closed the car door and came around to the driver’s side.
She caught a faint whiff of his scent when he slid behind the wheel, warm male and soap. Riding beside him in his car already felt completely natural, as if they’d done this a hundred times, even though they’d known each other only a couple of days.
“It’d be better if you had something to offer him, wouldn’t it?” Ames thought aloud. “And we know Jake knows more than he’s saying. Maybe we should, I don’t know, stake him out or something.”
“Bug his garage? Trace his calls? Put a GPS on his car? Believe me, I wish I knew how to do any of that stuff.” Nick pulled the car away from the curb without talking about where they might go next.
“Look, I think we should…” She paused, not even really sure what they could do next. Her head swam.
“Not right now. You’re right. We’re both worn out. We need to get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll make some decisions.”
“Will we have that much time?”
He sighed, tapped the steering wheel. “Maybe not.”
Chapter Ten
Ames argued that they should go to her place, but he put the kibosh on that idea. “We can’t go to your apartment. Period. Not gonna happen. Sandy knows your name.”
“The house isn’t much better. They’ll track you down,” she said. “You’re using an alias, but everyone in town knows you’re a New Yorker.”
He shook his head.
“It’s true,” she protested.
“Yeah, I believe you. I just can’t imagine living in such a small world.”
“I like life here.” She sounded defensive, but then she shifted in the passenger seat and gave a breathy sound of amusement, or disgust. “Well, I like it except when I hate it. Then I want to run away to a place no one remembers the time I set my mother’s living room curtains on fire.”
“You did? Tell me that story. I could use a little distraction at the moment.”
“Nuh-uh. You’re maybe the one person in the world who doesn’t remember it. No way I’m going to ruin that. You see me as an adult, right? Let’s keep it that way.”
“Yeah, I see you as an adult, all right.” Thinking of all her adult parts was a more interesting distraction than any stories of her past.
She made another, breathier little sound that told him she’d understood his implication. She squirmed on the seat, leaning toward the window. Away from him. “Nick, seriously. The fact is these bad guys from New York will track you down at the house soon.”
Back to live action in the real world. “How can they manage that now? Who’re they going to ask once Arnesdale closes down for the evening?”
“True. That’s a point. I guess we have until tomorrow sometime. The Back Porch closes soon for the night, and I suppose the
kids who work at the fast-food joint at the edge of town probably won’t know about you. They couldn’t care less about grown-up business.”
He was just imagining what they could do with the rest of the night—he wanted to see if he could make her moan again—when her stomach gurgled.
“Speaking of fast food,” he said. “Let’s detour to a drive-through. What do you want?”
“I couldn’t care less. Food.”
They went to the drive-in restaurant where an actual roller-skating kid served them. They wolfed the food in the car, looking out over the nighttime parking lot inhabited by groups of teens perched on car hoods under the tall lights or skateboarding around the darker spaces.
Nick had been living on fast food for weeks. He rubbed a french fry in ketchup and wished he could take Ames to the Afghan restaurant near his apartment. They’d sit on the big pillows and eat with their fingers. “Have you been to New York before?” he asked.
“No. I kept meaning to visit Elliot, but life around here…” She took a bite of the burger and stared out the window. “Take away ten years and that’s me out there. I haven’t come very far. Fifteen feet or so from my high school days. ”
He wiped his fingers with a napkin and shoved it and the last couple of bites back into the bag. “This is temporary. As soon as we figure out how to handle Bert and his father, we’ll head to the city.”
“We?” She put down her burger—more than half of it remained. Either Ames was a slow eater, or she was still nervous.
He started the car and backed out of the spot. “Why not? I’ll take you on a tour of my town, and you can spend hours with your head tilted back saying, ‘Wow, the buildings are so tall’, and I’ll laugh at you. Sound like a plan?”
She lost her distracted frown. “You bet. Thank you. I’d love to take you up on it. Thank you.”
“Why thank me twice?”
“You’re trying to make me feel better. I appreciate that. And you’re helping me find my brother.”
“I’m trying to find him for my own reasons. But okay, you’re welcome.” He risked resting a hand on her thigh for a moment. “I hope he’s all right.” And that he hasn’t spent all the damn money.
