Command Indecision (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (18 page)

"I knew it. What are you working on?"

"I can't tell you."

"Is it anything to do with Jillian Connor's death and her sister's disappearance?"

I gulped.

"I knew it! That vein is pulsing in your temple. What do you know?"

"What do
you
know?" I countered, thinking about Botox. Was it time to lose the
facial
emoting?
Was that how Fletcher always looked stony?

"I know that you shouldn't be anywh
ere near a police investigation!
"

"Says who?"

"Me!"

"Yeah? Well, you and whose army?" I asked, the irony clicking.

"Me and the goddamn police, that's who!" Maddox threw his hands in the air in exasperation
as he half turned away from me
.
When he turned back, he planted both hands on his hips, giving me a nice view of the gun holstered on his belt. I was fairly certain he wouldn’t shoot me.

"You're not here about Jillian's murder," I pressed. "You know the military police are handling that."

"Apparently, you do too."

"What's so interesting about
Jillian and
Roxanne
to you
?"

Maddox narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to tell you that. It's confidential."

"Fine. Though if you shared, maybe we could help each other." I crossed my arms.

"Is Solomon here?" he asked.

"Yes."
From the periphery of my vision,
I saw Ruth across the street. She looked for traffic before stepping onto the road. "In about one minute, this office is going to be full. You need to go before you blow my cover."

"Jeez! I should be blowing your cover by ordering you off base!"

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen." I smirked.

"You know Roxanne Connor was abducted at gunpoint
in Chester
?"

"Dangerous neighborhood?"

Maddox's jaw thrust forward, setting the way it did when he was
frustrated
.
Abruptly, he changed topics.
"Answer me this, what do you think was going on in that photo you sent me? The one where you said we were over?"

"I think that's obvious." I glanced over his shoulder. Ruth had disappeared from view briefly. In thirty seconds, the doorbell would ring.

Maddox stepped closer, bearing down on me, his body close enough to mine that if I flexed my fingers, I would probably touch his. I didn't want to. I wanted to. Argh. "Did it occu
r to you that I was still under
cover?" he asked.

"Yeah. Whose covers?" I snipped.

"Undercover,
undercover
."

"Yea
h, well, you looked like you were
having a pretty good time. Kissing. Hand on the thigh, wasn't it?" I looked away. I was afraid I was going to start shaking. The memory of sitting in the car, watching them like a stalker, punched me in the chest.

Maddox opened his mouth just as the door opened,
bringing in a burst of chatter.
"It's not what it looked like," he said in a voice so low, only I could catch it.

"Go away," I hissed under my breath.

"Everything okay, Lexi?" Ruth asked me as she sidled past to her desk, sliding her purse off her shoulder. She had a man with her. Dumb and blond, Denise had called him.
Otherwise known as Sergeant Hoag, Gretchen’s new boyfriend.

"Yes. All fine. Thanks!" I smiled, turning my eyes back on Maddox. He didn't wilt. "If you just follow those instructions, you'll get to the exit fine," I said, a little louder.

"Thanks," Maddox replied through gritted teeth
, but he didn’t blow my ruse
. He turned around and stalked off.

I sank into my chair, wishing I cou
ld curl into a ball as the door
bell rang again, this time announcing Maddox's exit. For all my defiant posture, and calm speech, seeing Maddox made me want to cry. "It's not what it looked like," I repeated to myself under my breath.

"What's that?" asked Ruth.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself." I flashed a smile at her and
Hoag
.

Maddox’s words echoed in my mind.
If it wasn't what it looked like to me, what was it? It had looked pretty obvious. It also looked pretty obvious to Lily when I showed her the photo, too. And it had stayed pretty obvious for the whole time intervening. Except
…
what if I'd gotten it wrong? I gave myself a mental shake. No mind games. No second guessing myself. Catching him with another woman hurt. I certainly didn't want to hear him wheedle out of it.

But a part of me still fastened on Maddox's quiet claim that it wasn't what it looked like.

What if I had gotten it completely wrong?

What if he
really
was undercover, playing a part, the same way I was playing the part of Lexi Solomon, wife, and administrative assistant?

And if that were so, what had I done by sleeping with Solomon?

Chapter Thirteen

If I thought any harder about my current relationship problems, I was either going to have an aneurysm, or had to be taken off the case. Personally, I thought an aneurysm would be less embarrassing. Delgado wouldn't ask to be taken off a case because he
slept with
the boss. He'd beat the shit out of the case and nothing more would be said about it. I was pretty sure he didn't fancy
Solomon
either, and the mental image I got of him sharing a bed with Solomon wasn't pretty.

"Fletcher's still watching the
Connor
house," Solomon told me that evening
after I’d finished informing him about the MPD visit
.

"Has he moved since you last told me this
?
"

"No." Solomon grinned. "Should I tell him he can move?"

"Funny man." I hope
d he was kissing. Dammit!
Kidding
. I hoped he was kidding. See? There was my problem. Too much of the good stuff on the brain and not enough of the surveillance. "So what's happening there?"

"Not a lot."

Far be it from me to suggest we switch and give him some time out.

“No sign of Roxanne?”

“None. Flaherty is working his MPD buddies and nothing’s doing there either.
I have a lead I want to check out," said Solomon. "You coming for the ride?"

"Much as I'd love to, I have orders from my mother to show myself for dinner or she's sending out a search party." A search party to my mother meant putting it out on the police band. In an hour, every cop in Montgomery would be looking for me. I'm ashamed to say it's happened twice before.

Solomon shuddered. “How are you getting there?”

“Well…” I gave him an apologetic grin.

"Guess I'm taking you," he said.

"That would be appreciated."

Solom
on pulled up outside my parents’
house
in his borrowed car, the Lexus currently in what I assumed was a car hospital,
and shut off the engine. He sniffed the air. "Something smells good," he said.

"My mother's cooking is the best." I tried sniffing the air. Nothing. What was he? A human bloodhound?

"Let's go." He unsnapped his seat belt.

"Huh?
"

"Dinner. Your family. Let's go."

"Um... are you sure you want to do this?" I asked him.
“Don’t you have a lead to check out?”

He
tilted his head and
raised an eyebrow. Guess not.
"I'm assuming it's the fastest way to get you in and out so we can get on with the case.
My lead isn’t going anywhere.
"

This was probably true. Despite my mother having five children, two daughters-in-law, one soon to be ex-son-in-law, and Lily, who had long ago acquired special status, plus six grandchildren to choose from, she was fairly indecisive about which one got the most attention. She preferred instead to squeeze us altogether and make us beg for it. By the looks of the cars crowding the driveway and road, we would make the full sixteen tonight. I had a brief moment of feeling sorry for Solomon before deciding he'd probably been in more dangerous situations. Plus, he did invite himself.
All I requested was a ride.

"A man's life is at stake," I agreed
, choosing not to argue as I
climbed out.
Solomon beeped the car locked and followed me along the driveway.
"Mom?" I called as I opened the front door. "It's not too late," I hissed to Solomon, while crossing
the threshold
. "You can escape now."

"Or just climb out the bathroom window," said my dad, sticking his head into the hall. "That's what Lexi used to do."

"Did not," I sa
id, suddenly lost in a bear hug as my nose was pressed into my dad’s cable knit sweater. He smelled like the garden, and roast potatoes. He smelled like home.

Dad released me and ran an appraising look over Solomon. It was the kind he used to give each of us as kids when he suspected some wrongdoing. Usually, he followed it up with a silence that was so uncomfortable, we just made something up. I presume he used the same thing on criminals back in his crime
-
fighting days. Clearly, he was losing his touch as he asked me, "Who's this?"

"My boss, John Solomon." I paused as they shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. "Hope you don't mind an extra. We're on our way to work."

"Catching criminals? Putting fraudsters behind bars?" asked Dad, hopefully.

"Freezing our butts off, watching empty houses," I countered and Dad gave a soft sigh of remembrance.

"I hear you were
on the force
, sir," said Solomon, and away my dad went with his years
in the MPD
, leaving me free to find my mother after wading my way
between
relatives.

"I hear you brought someone," said Mom as I entered the kitchen. "I haven't seen Adam in a while."

"
How did you know? We only just got here. Anyway, i
t's not Adam," I told her, pausing to kiss Victoria on the head and give my sister a quick hug.
Victoria burped loudly and Serena rolled her eyes.
"I brought my boss."

"Your boss? You should have called ahead. I would have used the good china."

"I don't think Solomon cares about good china."

"I do!
Do you think it's too late to change?" We both looked at the dining table, fully extended and just about breaching the doorway into the enclosed sun room, a recent addition to the house, given that it strained at the seams every time my parents hit the jackpot and got a full complement of Graves.

"Yes," said Serena and I.

"Never mind." Mom
shrugged as she handed me a bowl of vegetables, inclining her head towards the table.

"How come I always serve?" I asked as I carried it through, returning for the platter of meat. It looked like Mom had gone to town on two roast chickens and some beef. Not that it mattered how much she cooked. The Graves could pick an entire cow apart, leaving nothing but bones.
We were like vultures, but with flatware. Not a pretty picture, but true.

"You're always late," came my mother's reply. "It's penance."

Fair enough, if I
were
late, but I wasn't. I just happened to arrive after everybody else. As everyone knows, that's completely different. I suspected
my brothers and sister
arrived early just to grab the most comfortable seating anyway.

Solomon was parked next to me for dinner, and funnily enough, we got the central leaf of the table, right in prime
eyeballing
distance of everyone.
To his credit, h
e didn't even seem to notice the surreptitious glances from my siblings and sisters-in-law, though Traci kept nudging me with her foot and winking. Finally, I took advantage of the moment by stealing her last roast potato and taunting her before eating it. Solomon, meanwhile, kept my dad engaged by asking him about his police days.

"We're glad you're all here because we have an announcement," said Jord, rising to his feet, his hand holding Lily's as she beamed up at him.

"Shit, a speech," muttered Daniel, yelping when Alice smacked his hand.

"Language," she muttered, nodding towards the children.

"It's okay, Mom," said Ben, her oldest. "We know what shit means. It's the stuff that hits the fan."

Daniel spat his beer into the glass. Alice winced.

"Fantastic," said Dad
, beaming.

"No, it's not a speech," snipped Jord,
picking up
a roast potato from his plate.
He threw it, waiting as i
t bounced off Daniel's head and hit the floor.

"Five second rule," said Ben, picking the potato up and dumping it on his plate.

"No such thing," said Alice, removing it.

Jord cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said loudly. Pausing for effect, a big, goofy smile spreading across his face, he continued, "Lily and I are getting married."

My mother screamed and pretty much threw herself across the table to hug Jord and Lily, while my Dad went to get the emergency champagne, which was stored in the refrigerator next to the emergency vodka. The cork flew, glasses were raised, congratulations given and I wondered what the hell Solomon made of the dinner-slash-celebration he'd inadvertently walked into. When I looked over at him, he just smiled. His plate was clean. He didn't look perturbed at all.

"Bridesmaid?" Lily said, escaping from my family's clutches as we returned to our seats, breathless and excited.

"Stylish?" Always best to get the terms ironed out first.

"You bet."

"Yes, please!
"

After the congratulations died down, Jord dropped his second bombshell. "It'll be in a couple of months before Lily starts showing," he said, dropping the emphasis on the final word. My mother fanned herself with a napkin.

My jaw dropped. "You did
it
with my brother.
That’s disgusting!
"

"Only the once, I swear," Lily said, crossing her heart. "I didn't even inhale."

I hugged her again. "You never said. When did you find out?" I asked as my mother swallowed her glass of bubbly in one swallow.
She blinked and hiccupped.

"We only found out this week. It was kind of a surprise."

"I'll say," interjected Jord. "I have the best swimmers. Her egg didn't stand a chance."

"Eugh," I said, snorting as my mother cuffed him upside the head.

"I can swim," said my youngest nephew, Sam
, his face proud
. "I'm a great swimmer too. But I don't like eggs. Or girls."

"Someone make a note of that," said Dad. "I want to remind Sam of that before he goes to college."

"Yes, you are an excellent swimmer, honey," said Traci, sticking her tongue out at Jord when she was certain Sam couldn't see her.
The other side of her, Garrett choked on his beer.

"Don't worry," said my mother, leaning across the table to pat my hand. "Your time will come. It's okay that you're last."

"Thanks, Mom!" It was a good thing my gun was at home, locked in a drawer. I might have damaged someone. Or myself. I looked at my shiny dessert spoon and wondered how long it would take me to dig an escape tunnel under the table and crawl away. As I ponde
re
d my flight, my mother beamed hopefully at Solomon. It hadn't been too long ago that she was giving Maddox the same hopeful look. "I don't want to get married. I'm not interested!" I continued to protest weakly as she sized up Solomon
and probably wondered what his progeny would look like
. I also didn't have a boyfriend so, whatever. I had a lover. Possibly.
And a detective who really wanted to talk to me. Probably in between mashing lips with his cover story.

"Sure you are," said Mom, her voice consoling as she patted my hand again. "And you can only be a bridesmaid so often
before it gets embarrassing
."

"What's this about wilderness skills, Mom?" I asked, remembering her
text
message
earlier
,
reminding me about her latest rec class,
and eager to avoid the subject of the wedding she mentally planned for me, apparently with interchangeable grooms.

My mother dropped her knife and fork onto her plate and grabbed a brochure from the counter
top
, passing it to me. "The instructor was stranded in a forest for three weeks and had to survive on nuts, berries and the fish left behind by bears. Now he's going to teach us all those skills so we can survive too."

"There aren't any forests nearby," I pointed out. "Or bears."

That didn't faze my mother. "What if you're on a plane and it crashes
?
How will you survive?"

"Eat my fellow passengers?"

Lily nodded
, like I’d just said something wise
. "Just like the movie."

"You could eat Lily's eggs," said Sam, his little, helpful face beaming up at me. "Unless Uncle Jord ate them all."

"He didn't mean those kind of eggs," said Patrick, the teenager. "He meant..." He stopped
and weaved
as his mother
made to
cuff him. "What?"

"You know what," said Traci, sternly.

I grimaced, and turned to my mother as she exclaimed, "Lexi! Be serious. You'll know which nuts and roots you can eat. We'll
l
earn how to make campfires, read maps and finall
y, we'll camp o
ut at night in the park wit
hout any modern conveniences
to test our survival skills."