Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries, 1)

by Camilla Chafer

  Chapter Fifteen

  Picking up my cell phone, I checked to see if anyone was nearby, but the desks were empty, my colleagues still out to lunch. Only Vincent was there, wearing his headphones. I called Lily. She was in my car when she answered. "Hey, I got the weirdest idea. Are you doing anything right now?"

  "I was going to go to the gym. I want to punch the crap out of something," she replied.

  I knew what she meant. "Can you check on something for me instead? You'll need a pen." I heard shuffling noises, then Lily said, "Shoot."

  I reeled off the twelve addresses while she jotted them down. "Can you just drive by these places and tell me if anything stands out?" I said.

  "Sure. What am I looking for?"

  "I really don’t know. It was just a hunch."

  "I feel like a private detective. Should I go home and get a disguise?" Hopefulness was hanging in her voice.

  "No. Just drive by. Call me if you see anything odd."

  I hung up and slipped my notepad and cell phone into my purse, before closing the browser. I jumped when I felt a presence suddenly behind me.

  "Only guilty people jump," said Vincent, hitching one cheek onto my desk with utter disregard for any of the papers I had strewn about. The papers didn't mean anything; I just wanted to look busy, but that wasn't the point.

  "I didn't hear you sneak up on me."

  "I wasn't sneaking. I have light feet. How would you feel about dinner tonight? You. Me. A little wine."

  "That sounds like a date to me."

  "Call it how you see it, babe." Vincent winked at me and my stomach churned. The niceness would have to stop, clearly.

  "I don't think we're allowed to date colleagues," I said as gently as I could.

  "The boss is dead. Who cares? Let's live a little."

  Wow. Cold. I backtracked, scrambling for an excuse that Vincent could actually take without wanting to screw up my timecards. "I mean temps. We're not allowed to date people we work with. It gives us a bad reputation."

  "I don't think you can get a bad reputation dating an accountant."

  He was probably right and it would also make my mother very happy. Unfortunately, the Vincent-shaped package didn't strike a chord with me. "Vincent, you're a great guy..."

  "I feel a 'but' coming on."

  I nodded. "But we can't date while we're colleagues."

  "So you would date me if we weren't colleagues?"

  "Absolutely," I lied.

  "Maybe I should have you fired."

  My mouth dropped open as my gentle let-down backfired. "No! Don't do that! I need this job," I replied, flashing indignant eyes at him.

  "If we were dating, you wouldn't need to work. I would support you. You could be a lady who lunches, goes shopping, gets her nails done."

  My mother would be planning the wedding at this point, but still, Vincent was just not appealing. He was a lowly cheeseburger, and twice this past week, I'd been tempted by filet mignon. "I like working. Besides, I'm very expensive." And there it was; I sounded like a prostitute.

  "We're all going to be out of a job soon anyway, so maybe you should think about my offer," Vincent said solemnly.

  "Seriously?" My squeaked question seemed to cover both his points nicely.

  "Yes. Be my girlfriend and I'll make sure you have anything you want."

  I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth and pulled an apologetic face. "Thanks, but no."

  "I have a lot of money."

  "How come?"

  "What?"

  "How come you have a lot of money?" I knew the concert tickets cost a lot, because the only ones left were the ones Lily and I couldn't afford. (I was seriously reconsidering accepting the ticket.) The car Vincent had set his heart on was easily a six-figure model. You didn't grow up with three motor-minded brothers and not know that. And the offer of being a kept woman? Priceless.

  Vincent shifted so he was fully perched on my desk, his feet not quite making contact with the carpeted floor. "I made some good investments this year and they're about to pay off," he said, his nostrils flaring slightly.

  "Oh, well, good for you. Hey, there's our current boss. I don't want to get in trouble chatting when I'm supposed to be working."

  I could see the words, “it's never stopped you before” forming in Vincent's mind, but he seemed to think better of it. Instead, he said, very matter-of-a-factly, "Shepherd will look a lot less appealing when he's unemployed." And with that, he stalked off, leaving me frozen at his menacing tone. I saw Maddox glance at me, then at Vincent as he stomped away with his shoulders set backwards. I swear Vincent had developed a swagger.

  Maddox looked back at me and raised his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes and shrugged, returning to the pile of filing that was dumped on my desk while I was at lunch. I locked my purse in the desk drawer, remembering to take my cell phone with me, in case Lily called, and lugged the foot-high pile to the filing room. Forty sheets of paper later, and my phone rang.

  "Hey, Jord."

  "Hi, sis. I heard you and Lily had some car trouble last night." Clearly, he knew. At least, he knew enough to know that we hadn’t blown a tire.

  "Some asshole tried to run us off the road. I'm fine, thanks for calling."

  "When we get him, I'll break his knees anyway."

  "You're the perfect big brother. Tell me you're not using a phone at the station."

  "No, I'm at home. No witnesses. How's Lily? She okay?"

  "She's fine."

  "Not injured?"

  His casual tone didn’t fool me one bit. "You could have called her, you know."

  "Oh, I don't know about..."

  "Chicken," I interrupted and made clucking noises.

  "Maybe I'll call her just to see if she's okay."

  "She might need help with the insurance forms. You'd be doing her a favor. And then she wouldn't have to call the desk sergeant who gave her his number this morning."

  "Who the fu..." Jord spluttered and I held back a giggle. Teasing him was fun. "What's his name?" he asked calmly.

  "I don't know, but I'd call her soon."

  "Maybe I'll call her up, take her to dinner, take her home and make very loud love to her all night," threatened Jord. He knew my bedroom was right over hers; but I also knew what jealous sounded like.

  "Do it," I said. "Lily will probably pay me to stay at a hotel. I'll get room service."

  "I gotta go."

  "Need to take a cold shower?"

  "Need to glue a desk sergeant to his chair. Not that I care," Jord added quickly. "Lily can date whomever she likes."

  "Sure. Whatever. Thanks for checking that I'm alive." Just as I slid my phone back into my pocket, it rang again, Lily's picture flashing onto the screen. "Hey," I said. "Jord just called."

  "Did he ask about me?" was the first thing she wanted to know.

  "Yeah. I told him you got the desk sergeant's phone number and he got all pissy."

  "I didn't get his number!"

  "Jord doesn't know that. He said he'll call you later. Ask him to help you on your insurance forms. He likes being needed."

  "Awesome. So, I drove past those addresses and I did see something odd."

  "What?"

  "Seven of the addresses are just average houses, but they were all in foreclosure. On the others, three were rentals and two were empty."

  "I knew it!"

  "You want me to check anything else out?"

  "No, that's it. Thanks."

  I clicked off and rested against the filing cabinet for a moment, wondering if it was a very good idea to let Lily use my car. On the other hand, there was no way she could be mistaken for me. I mused over our conversation as I began filing.

  Every policy needed an address and it stood to reason that the fake ones were empty. Even so, I didn't think it could be that simple. A fraudulent damage claim wouldn't pay out much money. The bigger payouts would be in burglaries or fire damage, but that would mean having paperwork falsified at the poli
ce and fire departments. Maybe realtors were being paid off so the properties could be used. I had a horrible feeling the insurance fraud ring was more widespread, and there were a lot more people involved, than I guessed. I wondered if Maddox already knew. I wondered what Solomon investigated when he wasn’t rescuing me and if he had any leads.

  Despite feeling like I was barely part of the investigation, I was looking forward to going home because I thought I might have something to work on with the notebook. I felt certain it was connected to the fraud somehow, and the particular addresses Lily noted had given me another idea. I might have found a reference point to work from.

  Halfway through my filing pile, Bob stuck his head around the door. "Adam is letting us all go early," he said, adding, "on account of Martin's death."

  "It was very sad."

  "Yeah, I'm devastated. I'm going to O'Grady's to drown my sorrows. Want to come?"

  "I think I'll just head home."

  "As you like. See you tomorrow." Bob nodded and ducked out.

  "Bright and early," I called after him cheerfully. I slid the filing on top of the cabinet, ready to pick up tomorrow. My work ethic might have bucked up lately, but I wasn't prepared to stay if I'd been given a free pass. Plus, I could almost certainly still claim the time on my timecard. After I got back to my desk, everyone else had already cleared out. I craned my head around to check Vincent's desk, worried that he might be hovering, ready to ambush me.

  "Don't worry. He's gone."

  I jumped at the sound of Maddox's voice. "I hate it when people sneak up on me."

  "Sorry. I'll give you a ride home, then I have some stuff to do."

  "Thanks."

  I decided not to tell Maddox about Lily's and my snooping. So far, it was just bits and pieces, not enough to go on. And okay, I was a little worried he was going to laugh at me.

  "Your brother got in touch with me," he said.

  "Garrett?"

  "Yep."

  "He said he would." I gave him a surreptitious once over for injuries and saw none. That was positive.

  "He's pretty mad."

  "I know."

  "He thinks I've put you in danger."

  "Have you?" It wasn't an accusation and I didn't think he was putting his career before my safety because I thought there was more to Maddox than just a career detective. I remembered what Garrett said about Maddox’s “puppy dog eyes.” Maddox struck me as a stand-up guy, but having it confirmed was fine by me.

  "Maybe. For my career? No." He looked sincere. He was breathing deeply like he wasn't sure if I believed him, but he wanted me to.

  I nodded my acceptance. "Good to know," I said, feeling relieved.

  He waited while I gathered my stuff and turned off the computer. We left the building and headed towards the parking lot. When we climbed in the car, Maddox reached into a compartment under the seat and pulled out his gun, strapping it to his waist. I thought about my own order for the SIG and said nothing. We easily slipped through the afternoon traffic, Maddox steering his car into the empty space in front of my building, now that Lily's Mini was in the shop. He shut the engine off. "You going to invite me up?" he asked. His eyes were smoky. Even if he asked for tea right now, it would probably sound filthy in my mind.

  "Sure. Come up."

  I let myself into my apartment and within a few steps, I knew something was wrong. I froze, causing Maddox to bump into me as I held up a hand. I looked around. My jackets on the coat rack by the door seemed rumpled, and my shoes, that I hadn't put away, were out of their neat rows.

  "Someone's been here," I said.

  Behind me, I heard a rustle as Maddox drew his gun and stepped past me. "Wait here," he said. He pushed the bathroom door open and scanned inside. Then he stepped into my bedroom, searching. From the doorway, I saw him drop to his knees and check under the bed. I cringed inwardly and hoped I hadn't kicked any used underwear there. I heard him open and close my closet doors, and held my breath, waiting for an assailant to jump out. Instead, Maddox closed the doors and stepped out, taking a cursory look into the kitchen before moving onto the living room. He walked around checking the windows, then opened the apartment door and peered at the lock.

  "It's all clear. But you're right. Someone's been here. See these scratches around the lock?" Maddox pointed to light scratches before shutting the door.

  I followed him into the living room and looked around. Someone had ransacked the room, but were careful about it. If I weren't such a neat freak, I might not have noticed the way the couch cushions were pulled out, or that the pillow zippers weren't quite zipped all the way up. I might not have noticed the drawer of the desk slightly out of its slot, or that my laptop wasn't square with the corners of the desk. But that wasn't what captured Maddox's attention. He was looking at the bunch of flowers on the table.

  "They left me flowers?" I squeaked. “Someone broke into my place and left flowers?”

  Maddox just stared at the yellow blooms. "You didn't have them before? Maybe Lily brought them up?"

  "She didn't say anything when I saw her earlier, but I guess it's possible."

  "Call her and ask."

  I did, keeping my fingers crossed while I asked her. Lily was in the gym and hadn't seen any flowers. Moreover, she left the house as soon as her car was towed and hadn't been home since.

  "That narrows the timeline a lot."

  "This is creepy," I said, entering my bedroom. I felt sick when I saw my underwear moved around in the drawer and the lid not quite back on my favorite perfume. I imagined the burglar poking through my things, a lascivious expression on his face, and I made a mental note to go lingerie shopping. “This is creepier than the dead flowers.”

  “Say what?”

  I explained and Maddox ran a hand through his hair, his face growing angrier. I skipped the before and after parts of that evening, along with the bits about Lily and I scaring ourselves stupid, obviously, and he didn’t ask.

  "I hate to say this, Lexi, but you can't stay here anymore," said Maddox, looking up from the flowers and fixing his attention on me as I returned to the living room, trying not to shake.

  "It could just be a random burglary," I protested.

  "You see anything missing?"

  I looked around. My television was still there, along with the DVD player. On my desk stood an iPod dock, with my iPod still in place. There was my laptop along with some loose change in a dish and my car keys; Lily had the spare set. They were the most valuable things in the apartment. My wallet with all my cards and cell phone were in my purse.

  "No," I conceded, "I don't."

  "You nearly got ran off the road last night, and someone's been inside your house. This isn’t the freakiest warning I’ve ever seen, but it’s creepy. If I were a betting man, I'd say someone had you under surveillance."

  "The killer?" I asked, gulping.

  Maddox nodded. "We knew it was a risk letting you carry on your life as normal, but obviously someone suspects you know something. Even if we keep you under a twenty-four hour watch, things can still go wrong."

  Double gulp. "What are you saying?"

  His voice dropped to a whisper. "We need to discuss putting you in a safe house."

  "Like witness protection?" I asked, just as quietly. My knees felt weak and I sat heavily onto the sofa. Witness protection was the one thing I wanted to avoid. Call me crazy, but I liked my life. Sure, maybe it wasn't an exciting, glamorous one, but I had an apartment I liked, a big family who loved me, and a job that I... could tolerate. I wasn't about to give all that fabulousness up for a life on the run.

  Maddox knelt beside me, his hands resting on my legs. "It won't be for long. Just a couple of weeks," he said softly. "We'll catch them. Then everything goes back to normal. We do this all the time."

  "If you catch whoever is responsible for this," I said, because that was the stipulation Maddox should have included.

  "We're going to catch them," Maddox assured me. "But I'm not pre
pared to leave you as bait. I don't want to find you..."

  "Dead," I finished. Me neither.