Eeny Meany Miny Die (Cat Sinclair Mysteries) (12 page)

I held out the coffee cup. "Peace offering."

He came round the side of the desk and stood in front of me, very close. He smelled of aftershave and soap, and that delicious base scent that was all Will.

He took the cup. His fingers brushed mine, sending tiny tingles radiating across my skin and down my spine. I felt as uncertain as I did the first time I realized I liked him.

"You didn't need to do that," he said. His voice was deep and melodic like the rumble of distant drums.

"In that case, I'll take the coffee back. I might need another this morning."

One side of his mouth lifted, but it didn't touch his eyes. He sipped as his gaze traveled down to my throat. I wondered if he could see a vein throbbing there. It sure as hell felt like my blood was pumping hard.

"Cat," he said at the same time I said, "Will."

He lowered his cup and lifted his gaze to meet mine, then quickly looked down again. We'd connected long enough for me to see something in his eyes, something that echoed within me. He was as unsure of what to say as I was.

"Will? Why were you mad at me when you thought I was out all night?"

He looked relieved that I'd brought it up first. "I wasn't mad."

"You sounded it."

"Then you don't know me very well."

The truth of that stung a little. We might be sleeping together, but there was still a lot about each other we didn't know. "Were you worried?"

"No." He frowned. "Should I have been? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"No! It's just that…you overreacted when you thought I wasn't home."

"I guess I can't tell when you're joking over the phone."

That wasn't the point. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." He set down his cup and placed his hands on either side of my face. They were warm from the coffee, his touch gentle. "Let's just chalk it up to a misunderstanding on my part. Forgive me?" He blinked those beautiful puppy dog eyes.

I was a sucker for those eyes. I nodded and he drew me into a tender hug that had me sighing against the hard length of his body. It didn't matter what had upset him on the phone. All that mattered was that we were good again.

"Can I see you tonight?" he said, drawing back.

"Of course."

"I'll cook you something at my place."

I nodded and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. His arms circled me again, and I felt safe and warm and absolutely sure that whatever had happened earlier no longer mattered.

It lasted until his phone rang and we separated. I went to my office and blew out a breath to calm my raging hormones. I tried to focus on Angel Karvea's case, but it wasn't easy. My body still hummed from Will's kiss, and as much as I told myself we were good, a niggling doubt remained.

I drained my coffee and lobbed the cup into the waste basket near the door. It missed. I dragged a notepad closer and made a list of potential suspects. It consisted of Frank's ex-wife and all four members of Play Group. Angel sat at the top like a Christmas tree ornament. I wanted to add to the list, focus on others outside the group, and that meant finding out how Frank treated the people in his life.

I already knew he was an asshole to his wife, but what about his ex-wife? Sometimes divorce wasn't enough. Maybe she'd wanted to make their separation more final.

Then there was the fraud. Jenny hadn't been the only star he'd plunged into financial difficulty through shady deals. If he'd chosen the wrong person to cheat, one capable of committing murder…

My phone rang. I fished it out of my bag and answered. "Hey, Mom."

"Long time, no see," she said. "Will keeping you busy?" By the teasing way she said it, I didn't think she was asking about work.

"Mom!"

Her tinkling laugh filtered down the line. "Just trying to connect with my daughter on a shared topic."

"I am not discussing sex with you."

"Why not? We're two adults in healthy relationships with lovely men. There's nothing wrong with a little girl talk. I'm sure you discuss the details with Gina."

"She's my best friend! And you're…" Crazy. "…my mother."

"Peter says there's no reason we can't transition our mother-daughter relationship into something more suitable to our ages. We're both mature adults now."

"Wait…Peter? The guy you're seeing? Why are you discussing us with him?"

"He's a therapist."

I groaned. Great. As if my mother hadn't become weird enough since Dad died, now she was dating a man who made a living off people like her. No wonder they were together. She had enough baggage to keep a therapist in business for years.

"I hope he's not charging you for that terrible advice," I said.

"Now that's not fair, Cat. He's a good man and a good therapist. Just because you don't agree with his advice doesn't mean it's not valid. It might mean
you're
the one with the problem."

I should have recoiled at her lecture, but I smiled instead. She was back to being Mom again, telling me what to do and think. I wasn't ready to become best friends with her, and her huffiness proved that she wasn't ready either. Our relationship was just the way I wanted it to be: mother and daughter. Not that I'd tell her that.

"Mom?"

"Yes?" she said snippily.

"Can I come over after work?"

"Sure." Her voice softened and she sounded like she was smiling. "Stay for dinner."

"I can't, Will's cooking for me."

"Ahhhh, that's nice. I suppose you'll be staying the night for some sexy time afterward."

"Mom! Look, I've gotta go. See you later." I hung up and grabbed my bag. Time to do some work, and that meant talking to Jen and her friends again.

I threw my coffee cup in the waste basket and opened the door. Out in the reception area, Will was leaning on Faith's desk. They spoke in low voices. Or rather, Will spoke while Faith looked up at him with big, round eyes like everything he said was pure gold and she didn't want to miss a word of it.

I cleared my throat and she quickly turned back to her computer, a blush rising to her cheeks. Will stepped away from the desk and came up to me. There was no sign of guilt on his face.

"We got interrupted before," he said.

My gaze slid to Faith, tapping away at the keyboard within hearing distance. "Not here," I whispered.

The look he gave me was all smug amusement without actually smiling. "I was going to ask you about the case, Cat."

"Ah. That. Yeah. Ask away."

"What's happening now that Frank's dead? Does Jenny still want you to look into the fraud?"

The old me would have lied through her ass, because she would have doubted Will would let her continue with the case now that murder was involved. The new me believed he trusted me to stay out of trouble.

Actually, that wasn't true. The new me knew that Will wouldn't dare take me off the case if he wanted to continue to have regular sex.

"She wants to drop it for Angel's sake, but I'm going to see her about it now. I think following up on the fraud will, um, help me solve the murder." His eyes narrowed. "Jenny asked me to find out who really killed Frank," I added. "She doesn't think Angel did it. She's going to pay me, and since it's a high-profile murder case, I thought we could charge extra."

I felt a little guilty for adding the last part. Jenny was not only my friend, she was also having financial difficulties. Hopefully Angel would come to the party and pay the fee like Jenny promised.

Will didn't say anything for a while. The
tap tap
of the keyboard didn't so much fill the silence as make it feel thicker. I took a step closer so that we were almost touching. Heat radiated off him, enveloping me, keeping me rooted to the spot as tightly as a pair of arms. If he wore a tie, I would have pretended to straighten it, but since he didn't, I placed my palm on his chest. The strong beat of his heart vibrated all the way up my arm.

"Okay?" I asked softly.

"Okay." He looked a little dazed, and blinked as if surprised to hear his own voice.

I gave him a smile. He didn't smile back. His eyes darkened and he stepped away, as if remembering he was at work and I was his employee. My hand dropped to my side and I closed my fist because I could swear I still felt his heartbeat on my palm.

He dragged his fingers through his hair and I knew he was already regretting his 'okay.' I suddenly wanted to be childish and tell him it was too late to change his mind.

"Have you thought about who's going to pay you for your time if Angel is guilty?" he asked. "Or Jenny for that matter?"

"Angel can't be guilty. Not even Scarface thinks she's a threat."

"Forde?" That earned me a piercing glare. "Have you seen him? What's he got to do with this?"

"He's working homicide now. Frank Karvea's death is his case. I spoke to him about it this morning."

He looked like he wanted to explode, but to his credit, he just pressed his lips together and took a deep breath. And another.

It was my cue to leave, before he said anything he'd regret like 'You're off the case.'

"See you later," I said with a wave. Louder, I said, "Bye, Faith."

"Bye, Cat," she said back.

I closed the door and left before Will could change his mind, give me a lecture, or do anything else that would only end in us arguing.

***

Jenny was like the Energizer bunny, all bouncy and excited to see me. She must have gotten some sleep, because she looked refreshed. There was no trace of the red lines that had streaked through her pretty eyes earlier that morning.

We sat on the couch in the living room of her Carleton Hotel apartment. It wasn't as large as Angel's, but was fitted out with the same stylish furnishings and had the same view from the floor-to-ceiling windows.

"We can't
wait
for her to come home," she said to me. "Well, not home exactly, but back here to the hotel." She looked at Corey, standing by the counter top, his phone to his ear listening to what the other person was saying.

Taylor was at the door, accepting a tray of food from the pimple-faced delivery guy. We'd rung for room service because the three of them didn't want to face the media circus milling out the front. I'd had to elbow my way through reporters and paparazzi to get inside. None of them recognized me, and I allowed myself a self-indulgent pout. I'd been all over the news a few weeks ago when Carl had been arrested, but fame really was fleeting and my fifteen minutes were used up. It was about fourteen minutes more than I'd had in Hollywood, where a few bit parts didn't make a girl interesting. Renford was a little more desperate to claim one of its own as a celebrity, but only until the next one came along.

Jenny and the other members of Play Group had decided not to face the media just yet. "We'll do it together when Angel gets back," Taylor had said when I arrived.

He closed the door and carried the tray like someone who'd once waited tables. He set it down on the coffee table just as Corey hung up.

"That was Harrison Forde," he said, joining us.

Jenny giggled. "I still can't stop laughing at his name. It's so weird that he was named after THE Harrison Ford."

"I'm not sure his parents did it deliberately," I said, trying to figure out Scarface's age and when Han Solo made his first appearance. "And I wouldn't laugh at him to his face if I were you."

"So what did he say?" Taylor asked, handing Corey a toasted sandwich.

"That she just left and will be here soon."

Jenny clapped her hands. "Yay."

Taylor beamed at her. Corey sat back heavily in his chair and blew out a long breath. "Thank God," he muttered.

I wanted to remind them that it wasn't over, but I didn't want to shatter their happiness.

"We should have a party for her," Jenny said.

Taylor's face lit up. "Excellent idea, Darling. She'll love it."

"Not tonight," Corey said. "She'll be tired."

"Good point." Jenny peeled the top layer of bread off her sandwich and set it on the side of her plate. "She'll need all her energy for tomorrow's show too."

"You're still going to do it?" I asked.

"Of course. It's what she wants."

"We're professional entertainers, Cat," Corey said. "We have to perform even when we don't want to."

"Not that we don't want to," Jenny added quickly.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant. You explain it, Taylor. You're better with words than me, and with Angel coming home soon, I'm finding it hard to think."

Taylor patted her arm. "I know, Darling. It's been a tough time on us all."

"It's all right," I said. "You don't have to explain anything to me."

"You're a gem, Cat." Jenny smiled. "That's why you're going to come to Angel's freedom party. Isn't that a great theme? Freedom."

"Yeah, great. When is it?"

"Tomorrow night?" She looked at her friends and they both nodded. "We only have the one show and if Angel's still tired, she can sleep before the party. I'll ask the hotel manager if there's a room we can hire."

"Sure, I'm free. I'd love to come."

She clapped her hands again. "I'm so pleased you're the one working on Angel's case, Cat. You're such a good friend."

I was glad she'd brought it up. I hadn't wanted to dampen their enthusiasm, but there were some things that needed to be discussed. "Speaking of the case, can I get your thoughts on who you think did it?"

I expected them to exchange glances, or maybe seem a little surprised by the question, but I was presented with nothing but blank faces. If I had to guess, I'd say they'd already talked it through before I arrived.

"Angel won't like us mentioning her," Corey said.

"Who?" I asked.

"We have to," Jenny told Corey. "Taylor, what do you think?"

It was obvious from the way Corey and Jenny looked at him that they considered him the unofficial leader in Angel's absence and needed him to make the decision for them. I was a little surprised, but that could have been because I didn't know either Corey or Taylor very well. Admittedly, Corey hadn't shown himself to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, and I knew Jenny wasn't. She was also needy. Back in L.A., as soon as one relationship ended, she found herself another boyfriend within the week.