The Grey Tier

by Michele Scott

  He smiled smoothly at her but as soon as she turned to walk into the kitchen with Joshua, the smile dropped off his face completely. Hmmm.

  “Great weather we’ve been having,” I said. Yeah, I know . . . lame. But at least I was trying.

  Dwight nodded, looking distracted. “Yeah. So I hear you think I murdered your friend Nick.”

  It seemed I wasn’t the only one who wanted to cut to the chase tonight. I held up a finger at him and quickly fixed myself a second drink. After taking a nice, long sip, I responded.

  “Yep. I suppose I did.” I sighed, thinking of all the folks I’d managed to upset this evening . . . wondering if I would soon be adding Dwight to the list.

  “Did?” He laughed. “You don’t anymore?”

  Another sigh, another long sip. “Honestly Dwight, I have no idea what to believe lately.”

  He shook his head and smiled at me, and for the very first time ever, Dwight didn’t seem creepy or slimy. His smile was sincere and warm, and I found myself crack a semi-smile back. Or maybe it was simply the booze going to my head. I shot a suspicious look at the glass in my hand . . . I was starting to see just how easy it was to slide into drinking. Was this how Candace and Mumbles got started?

  “I didn’t kill Nick,” Dwight said, interrupting my thoughts. “But can I ask why you would even think that? Believe it or not, I’m a pretty passive kind of guy. I don’t like violence. Not my thing. I’d prefer a Disney classic over a shoot ‘em up any day.”

  Boy did I ever peg him wrong!

  “You know, some of those Disney movies can be pretty violent. Look at Bambi, for instance. And, what about 101 Dalmations? I mean, Cruela killing puppies for a coat?! What twisted and sick individual came up with that idea?”

  He shook a finger at me, laughing. “I didn’t know you had such a good sense of humor! I guess tonight’s the night to learn some new things about each other, eh?” He winked and took another sip of his iced tea. “Enlighten me. Why would you think I murdered your friend?”

  Guess it was time for Blunt Evie to come out and play again. “For Simone.” He made a face. “You are into her. It’s obvious! And she told me she threatened Nick because she thought he was stringing me along and using me. She can get a bit possessive about her people.”

  He nodded in agreement, sighing. “True. But her bark is a lot worse than her bite. She would never ask me, or anyone else for that matter, to kill someone. And even if she did, I would never do it. As far as being into her, I am, but maybe not as much as you think. Simone isn’t one of those women you can tie down. She’s very special to me. But some day I want a wife and a family. That’s not Simone’s cup of tea, and even if it were, she wouldn’t want to go down that path with me. We have some fun together but that’s it.”

  Wow. I guess tonight really was a night of revelations. Just not the ones I expected.

  “Really? Then how come you follow her around with that look on your face?” I made a sad, puppy dog face.

  He smiled again. “Please tell me I don’t look that bad.” He tilted his head to the side. “Fact is, I worry about her. She may seem like she’s a tough cookie and in charge, but actually, she’s just a big softie on the inside and very vulnerable.”

  I laughed, thinking of the day when she’d given both Dwight and her director a major piece of her mind after the jaguar incident. “For someone so vulnerable, she sure has an interesting way of showing it!” I shook my head. “So you really didn’t kill Nick?”

  “Nope.” He set his now empty glass of tea down on the bar, glancing over at the door leading to the kitchen.

  You know what? I believed him. Maybe it was the Jack Daniels. Maybe it was the naiveté I brought with me from Brady. Or maybe I really didn’t want to believe he would have killed Nick for Simone. In any case, he was now officially off my list of suspects.

  A little while and another glass of iced tea later, Simone came out of the kitchen smiling and cheerful with Joshua, who beamed as if he’d won the lottery. In spite of my better intentions, I think I pretty much could have strangled her right then and there.

  She sat back down at the bar and leaned over the counter. “We have a deal.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. Joshua and I are officially in business together.”

  “That’s great,” I said, trying so hard to sound sincere. Actually, it was great for Joshua and I felt pretty happy for him. But still . . .

  Dwight excused himself to the restroom and Simone asked for a glass of champagne. “We don’t carry anything expensive,” I cautioned her, knowing the brands she was used

  to drinking.

  “That’s all about to change.” She reached across and grabbed my hand, squeezing it. “Isn’t this so exciting!”

  “Yes.” I nodded as enthusiastically as I could, which was not very.

  “Hey, ladies,” Joshua interrupted. “I’m going to go take that group’s order.” He turned to Simone. “Thanks so much for meeting with me and it was a pleasure doing business with you.” He shook her hand, and she actually blushed! Would miracles never cease?

  He walked away, and she abruptly turned to me and asked, “You and him?”

  “What?”

  “Are you and Joshua seeing each other, messing around, anything like that?”

  “Um, no.”

  “You like him, though.”

  Here was my chance for total honesty. “Uh, no. Definitely not.” I shook my head vehemently. Way to go, Evie.

  “You sure? Because I wouldn’t want to step on your toes.” She stared after Joshua’s retreating figure. “People like me, we don’t fall in love. We just don’t, and certainly not at first sight. But he is, I don’t know . . . I’ve never seen or met anyone like him.” She grabbed my hand again, tightly. “Now, are you sure you don’t have a thing for him? Because when you talked about him the other day, I sensed something, and I can understand why. If you do, I will back off, because I don’t do that to my friends.”

  I found myself staring at her, not knowing what to say. I couldn’t even get a handle on my own feelings, let alone describe them to someone else. I had to admit to myself there was something intriguing about Joshua . . . and if Lucas hadn’t been there, well, who knew? But at the end of the day, I didn’t have any right to stand in the way of whatever might happen between Simone and Joshua simply because I wasn’t sure about my own feelings.

  Finally, I blurted out, “He’s all yours. I’m seeing someone.”

  “What?” Her jaw dropped. “You are? Really?!” For a moment she looked hurt. “You promised you would tell me. Who is he?”

  “It’s, uh, it’s long distance.”

  “Long distance? Like from back home?”

  I paused a second. “Yes, actually, I guess you could say that.”

  Simone looked positively giddy at the news. “I’ll fly him out here for you! I want to meet him!”

  Oh, heck. “No, no. He’s super busy with work and, well, we like it this way.”

  She cocked her head to the side, a confused look on her face. “I see. Well, what does he do?”

  “He’s a, he’s a detective of sorts. Kind of a private eye, I guess.”

  “You guess?” Her look of confusion was rapidly shifting to one of skepticism. Uh-oh.

  “Hey, tell me about your business deal?”

  “No way! I’m much more interested in hearing about your guy.”

  Dwight returned about that time and Simone looked at him. “Evie has a boyfriend!”

  “You do?” he asked, looking as surprised as Simone had been.

  “From back home,” Simone said.

  I nodded again and forced a smile. “But it’s very casual right now . . . we’re taking it slow.”

  “What’s the lucky guy’s name?” Dwight asked.

  “Lucas,” I blurted, relieved there was at least one truthful thing I could say in this conversation.

  “Lucas?” Simone said, her brow furrowing. “Hey, isn’t
that the name of the rock star who was murdered at Blake’s house?”

  “Oh wow! I’d totally forgotten about that.” So much for being honest.

  I glanced back at Dwight who was watching me intently. “You should have him visit. We’d all love to meet him, I’m sure.” And then he winked at me.

  For a brief, unsettling moment, I had the distinct impression Dwight knew all about the real Lucas and me. But that was just ridiculous. So I began to wonder if he believed my boyfriend story at all . . . or maybe he thought I’d made the whole thing up to cover up my feelings for Joshua to give Simone permission to pursue him. Of course, that was as far from the truth as it could get. Wasn’t it?

  Chapter Forty-Six

  SIMONE, DWIGHT, AND MOST of the bar finally made their way to another port of call, and I started cleaning up. Joshua was in the back wiping down the kitchen. The only other person in the place was Sunglasses Man. And he didn’t show any signs of leaving.

  I walked over to him and said, “Last call.”

  He took off his glasses (finally!) and looked up at me with light hazel eyes. “Evie Preston.” It was a statement.

  “Yes?”

  He took a business card out of his wallet and tossed it down on the table, nodding his head at it. “For you.”

  If this was a pick-up line, the guy seriously needed to work on his moves. However, I picked the card up in spite of myself and quickly scanned it. One side simply read: Kane Richards: Executive Producer. On the top of the flip side, it read: Kane Records. It took me a few seconds to process. But finally it clicked. Kane Records was a major record label based in New York City.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Richards.” I rubbed my hand against my jeans, trying to wipe off the sweat that had suddenly appeared.

  “Please call me Kane.” He gestured to the seat across from his. “Have a seat.” I did. Kane looked at me for a long moment. “I was a friend of Nick’s. I’d been scheduled to come out to LA a couple of months ago and had to cancel. Nick and I tried to get together at least a few times a year. Anyway, he called me about you.”

  I felt elated and then very, very sad. Nick had been telling me the truth about his big time producer friend.

  “I cancelled my last trip.” He shook his head. “Family matters. Wish I hadn’t. I was so sorry to hear about Nick. He’s been a good friend.” Kane stared down at his hands, regret clearly etched across his face. “I was so disappointed I couldn’t make his service. As I said, I’ve been dealing with some stuff at home. One of my kids got mixed up with the wrong crowd. That kind of thing.” He waved a hand in front of his face. “Anyway, I had to come out on business this week, and I decided to stop by in and see if you were still playing.”

  “I am.”

  “I’m grateful for that . . . because you are as good as Nick promised.”

  I felt a happy blush spread across my cheeks. I was speechless.

  “I’d like to have you come out to New York and speak with some of our people. I’m interested in doing what I can to help you launch a career.”

  “Seriously?” I could barely contain my smile.

  He nodded. “As a heart attack.”

  “This is amazing! Yes! I’m in!” I resisted the sudden urge to launch myself across the table and hug him. I was that excited.

  He grinned and clapped his hands together. “Great! Let me get your contact information and I will be in touch. I’m heading off on vacation for a couple of weeks, but when I return, let’s look at our schedules and see how we can make this work.”

  We both stood at the same time and he shook my hand. His grasp was firm and warm. But that’s not all. Instantly, I received a vision of Kane and the blonde man from my bad dream. The man was threatening him in some way. I had no idea what it meant, but I removed my hand as if it were on fire.

  Kane Richards looked at me with an odd expression. “Okay. We will be talking soon.”

  “Yes,” I uttered, not sure if I had even said the word out loud.

  He left the bar soon after and Joshua waltzed out from the kitchen as if on cue.

  He put an arm around me and pulled me into a half hug. “Thanks for introducing me to Simone. I’m going to have an amazing restaurant and bar, and . . . Who knows? Your dreams could be next.”

  Yes, they could. But at what price?

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  AFTER MAKING FAST WORK of closing up the bar, I made it home earlier than usual and Cass greeted me at the door with a wagging tail. I sighed. After a long, complicated night, there was nothing quite like a happy dog to ease tension. Mac padded up behind Cass and began meowing pitifully.

  “My goodness, you guys act like you haven’t been fed in weeks!”

  I went to the cupboard and took out their food, emptying it into their respective bowls. Mac looked down at his bowl and then up at me with a you gotta be kidding me look.

  “Sorry, big man, I have to put you back on a diet.” I swear he rolled his eyes at me. “Okay. Fine. You can have a little cream on top.”

  I got the cream out of the fridge along with some lunch meat to top off Cass’ meal. I started to grab a Coke, but decided the caffeine probably wasn’t a great idea considering how late it was. I eyed the bottle of Chardonnay I kept in the fridge in case Simone dropped in. Frankly, I’d spent too much on that bottle of wine, but I knew if Simone did show up unexpectedly and I had cheap wine or, God forbid, no wine at all, I’d be screwed. I debated for a minute, weighing the pros and cons of opening the bottle now, and finally decided to live a little.

  I was twisting the corkscrew down into the cork when one of the kitchen lights flickered. At first I got excited because I thought it meant Lucas might show up. He didn’t, and the light went out. I popped out the cork, poured a glass of wine, and set it down, heading into the hallway to get a new bulb.

  The house had originally been built in the ‘30s, which meant it was filled with several interesting nooks and crannies, like the row of four cupboards lining one side of the hall. Instead of opening from the side like most cabinet doors, these opened from the top by pulling the knobs down. I think at one time they were meant to hold kitchen and bath linens. They were about four-feet wide, a foot high, and a foot or so deep. Now they held items like light bulbs, extra candles, and a bunch of random stuff like a deck of cards, some jacks, and old, empty picture frames. There were also a handful of photos.

  I grabbed a stack and idly flipped through them. The one common denominator they had was a handsome guy with grey-blue eyes and a healthy tan. He was between thirty-five and forty-five and could easily have been featured in one of those “Visit California!” ads I kept seeing everywhere. In the photos, he was always with one or several women, or what appeared to be a group of friends.

  Strangely, I felt like I knew him. I began looking closer at the group photos and I gasped when I recognized Lucas’s face. The picture had been shot in this very house in what appeared to be the kitchen (I could see the pool sparkling in the background). I studied the blonde guy again. Could this be Blake, the owner of the house? It seemed likely. This was his home, and he was in all of these photos. I wished I could ask Lucas. I really don’t know why it mattered, other than the very strong sense I’d seen Blake before. I placed the stack of photos back into the cupboard and continued my search for a light bulb.

  Finally, after a good five minutes, I located a box of bulbs and went back into the kitchen to fix the light. That finished, I decided to take my wine glass and head up to bed. Mac, who had finished his dinner in record time, jumped up on the bed and immediately curled up on my pillow. Cass, my little guard dog, was doing her post-dinner rounds. She’d come upstairs eventually.

  I changed into a nightshirt and sat down in front of the vanity where I kept Hannah’s feathers. I closed my eyes, thinking about her, wishing she would come through the portal to visit me. Or, even better, wishing she would come through the door—alive.

  I could sense the light dim in the room. I opened my
eyes and saw the candles on my desk were lit again and the flames fluttered gently.

  Lucas!

  He stood next to me, very close. I wanted to talk to him. Ask questions. Get answers.

  But what he was doing made me forget about talking completely.

  His hand grazed the back of my neck as he lifted the thick ponytail off my back and slowly loosened the tie. I closed my eyes at the wonderful feeling of his long fingers combing gently through my hair. A surge went through my body, moving like a wave from the middle of my spine up into my chest and out through my head. I could feel him bend close to my ear.

  His fingers moved over my scalp and around to my collarbone while his other hand grazed my cheeks. He turned my chair around to face him. We stared at each other for a long, breathless moment.

  “Lucas,” I whispered. There was so much I wanted to say.

  He picked me up, and my legs wrapped around him. I felt lightheaded with excitement, lust, need. He set me gently on the bed and raised both his arms straight up, whispering something. As before, the tips of his fingers began to emit a pale, pinkish glow. He waved his hands around us, creating the luster.

  His dark hair shone brightly in the glow. Lucas moved in towards me, positioning his body over mine. He placed his hands over mine, clasping them tightly, pushing them into the mattress. I could feel his desire as much as my own. My back lifted into an arch and a soft moan escaped my lips. I desperately wanted him closer, wanted his body on mine.

  He pulled one hand away and, agonizingly slowly, traced the outline of my lower lip with his finger, gazing into my eyes. The purple in his eyes deepened.

  “I never needed anyone when I was alive. Not like this. But here I am. And I’m not supposed to feel this way,” he said, shaking his head slightly, not taking his eyes from mine. “But you’ve done something to me, and I can’t stop it. I don’t know how.”