Finders Keepers Losers Die (19 page)

I looked at the files and papers Will had
deposited. I sighed, seeing my day stretch into a long, dull one.
Suddenly my hangover returned with a vengeance. "Filing I
guess."

"I mean with Roberta's jewelry."

"I'll keep looking."

He nodded and headed into his office but
stopped and glanced back over his shoulder. "Cat, I'm worried about
you."

"Me? Why?"

"Someone followed you and set your apartment
on fire. Isn't that enough of a reason?"

I was touched but didn't really know what to
say. "Thanks, but I'll be fine."

"Have you told Will?"

"Not the part about Roberta. I don't want
him to know. Not yet."

"Fine, but… " He huffed out a breath. "Okay,
the thing is, aren't you scared? I mean, why keep going with this
case after everything that's happened?"

I squared up with Carl and looked him
straight in the eye. "The thing about me, Carl, is that I hate
being bullied. If someone pushes me in one direction, I'll go the
other way. If anything, the fire has made me more determined to
find answers. It definitely hasn't scared me off." My outburst
surprised even me. I hadn't known I felt so strongly about
bullies.

He shook his head in disbelief. "It's your
life," he muttered. "But if you need any help, you know where I
am." He glanced up the hallway to Will's office. "I can be
discreet." He closed his door, leaving me to my filing.

By lunchtime, I'd gone to Trendz Cafe twice
more for a caffeine hit, stopped to chat with Gina about my
Will/Scarface dilemma and Googled Lou Scarletti and Barry Grimes. I
didn't know Mad Max's last name or the names of Lou's other
associates so they'd have to wait.

The only thing I found was a brief newspaper
article on Lou's arrest twelve years earlier. Grimes didn't appear
at all. Apparently the information age hadn't discovered the
over-tanned lothario. Hopefully he wouldn't discover the internet
or the women of the world would be in trouble.

After lunch, Will came to see me. "So you
haven't finished the filing." He drummed his fingers on the stack.
"Sorry, my mistake, you haven't
started
the filing. Why am I
not surprised?" He shook his head and sighed heavily. "Cat, why are
you trying to make me miserable?"

"Funny, you seemed pretty happy the other
night."

He glanced at Carl's closed door.

"It's okay. He's still out to lunch."

"In that case." He leaned forward and kissed
me oh-so-sweetly on the lips. "Come see me tonight."

I nodded. When he kissed me like that, I'd
agree to anything. Even filing.

The front door opened and we sprang apart.
"It's okay. It's only me," said Gina with a coy smile. "Hi, Will."
She gave him a finger wave.

"Gina, go away, Cat's working."

"I can see that."

He grunted and headed back up the hallway.
"I want that filing done by the end of the day, Cat. Don't
forget."

"Sure, Boss."

"And don't call me Boss. If there's one
thing I'm not, that's the boss of you."

"He got that right," Gina muttered as his
door closed.

"Gina, be nice to Will. He does like me, you
know."

"Yeah, I know, but he has a strange way of
showing it."

"That's because I give him a hard time. Now
be quick, I've got filing to do." I flicked through the papers and
screwed up my nose.

"I just wanted to know if you would be home
for dinner tonight."

"I'm going to Will's. I could be there a
while so yes, you'll have time to play with your computer
programmer."

She left with a wide grin and a spring in
her step. I spent most of the afternoon filing. Since it required
very little brain power, I started thinking about my next move.
Unfortunately everything I came up with required some input from
Scarface. Unfortunate because I got the feeling seeing him again
would seriously test my newfound loyalty to Will. But I needed to
know the full names of Lou's associates from The Grotto and what
the cops had learned about his death.

By the end of the day, I'd also jotted down
some ideas for the code number found in the box. But they were only
guesses. Hopefully learning more about Lou would bring me closer to
breaking it.

And who knew him better than his wife of
fifteen years. I called Roberta and arranged to meet her first
thing in the morning. I'd tell her about the jewelry box then and
get her ideas for the code and key.

By five-fifteen, I'd finished the filing and
was ready to leave. Will had gone to a meeting with Slim and Carl
was nowhere to be seen.

I sent a text message to Will to meet me at
his place at seven then I got in my car and headed to Barry Grimes'
store. I kept my distance, parking up the road. I didn't want to
push my luck. Three times in one week would definitely give him the
wrong idea and Barry Grimes didn't need any more encouragement.

I sat and waited but nothing happened. Only
one person entered his store in the first hour. My mind started to
wander to more pleasant things, like an evening of wild sex, when
another person entering the store caught my attention.

Detective Stankovic. He must be asking more
questions. My naturally suspicious side argued that Monday night
was a weird time to be investigating, but I didn't know Stankovic's
methods. Maybe it was a ploy to catch the suspect unawares.
Stankovic was a cop with over twenty years experience. He should
know what he was doing. His appearance confirmed my suspicion that
Grimes was linked to Lou's death.

About the same time, a car stopped outside
The Garden Shed two stores down but no one got out. In the fading
light, it looked like a dark-colored sedan. The hairs on the back
of my neck stood up.

I couldn't make out the number plates and I
couldn't be sure it was the same car that had followed me home on
Saturday but the uneasy feeling in the base of my stomach deepened.
So much so, I wanted to puke.

Fifteen minutes later, Stankovic reappeared.
He got in his car and left. The dark sedan's door opened and a
woman got out.

Holy crap! Roberta! What the fuck was she
doing at Grimes' store?

I
had
to find out. I got out of my
car but my phone rang as I crossed the road. The screen lit up with
Will's name.

"Hi," I said. "You at home?"

"Yep. And I'm naked."

Ooh, baby. I glanced at Doors Galore. I
could see Roberta and Grimes chatting through the window. "I've got
some business to attend to first, then I'll be there. Stay
naked."

"Don't be long. I've got pizza and it won't
remain uneaten for long."

I hung up and approached Doors Galore like a
stealthy tiger hunting its prey. A tiger dressed in high heels and
a suit. I probably looked ridiculous but hopefully darkness covered
me.

Instead of looking through the window, I hid
behind a display of doors out the front and listened. Their voices
carried on the night air.

"…taking too long," Grimes said.

"Lou dying hasn't helped her," Roberta
said.

"Yeah, even dead, the bastard's managed to
fuck us up."

"It'll be okay, Baby."

Baby?
Yech
.

"Try someone else," said Grimes. "She's
useless."

"Give her time. She's good with people. She
might find out something useful from that slut, Valerie, or his cow
of a mother."

Grimes muttered something under his breath
that I couldn't hear. Then there was a revolting kissing noise
which made my stomach roll.

Assuming it was a goodbye kiss, I dashed
back to my car and drove off. I was starving anyway and the
combined incentive of pizza and a naked Will turned me into a lead
foot.

Roberta and Grimes's conversation spun round
in my head until their words became so jumbled I couldn't remember
them clearly. But several things were pretty clear:

1. They knew each other.

2. They were lovers.

3. Roberta had zero taste in men.

4. They were talking about me.

This last point I wasn't positive on, but
the inkling just wouldn't go away. Which meant that:

5. I was being played.

Why, I didn't know. To find the jewels
probably. Worse still, Grimes thought I was useless. This coming
from a man who ran a door store right next to a massive hardware
warehouse where doors were sold for half the price.

When I arrived at Will's place, he swept me
into his arms and kissed me full on the lips. When he finally set
me down, my heart was beating so fast I saw stars and my libido had
overridden my hunger pangs.

I tore at his shirt (he'd lied when he'd
said he was naked) and ripped it off. Kicking the door closed, he
picked me up and carried me to the couch.

In a frenzy, we stripped and made feverish
love in the living room.

"Hello," Will said when we'd caught our
breaths.

I grinned up at him. He looked all
disheveled and relaxed and sexy "Hello to you too. Now where's my
dinner?"

"First you jump on me as soon as you get
here," he said with a crooked smile, "then you want to eat straight
after sex. Patience isn't one of your strong points, is it?"

"You kissed me first, remember. I was
willing to wait until after dinner."

He picked up his torn shirt. "Yeah I can see
that." He tossed it aside and strode to the kitchen in all his
splendid nakedness and returned with two plates, napkins and the
pizza box.

"Speaking of honesty," I said coyly, "where
were you Saturday night?"

He leaned over and nibbled my ear. "Want me
to remind you?"

I gently pushed him away. "
Before
you
met me at the office."

He sat back. "I was working. Why?" He didn't
take his eyes off the TV as he bit into a pizza slice. Guilty as
charged.

I fought my disappointment. I don't know
what I expected him to say, but one thing I hadn't counted on was
caring so much about the answer.

"I ran into Tanya the other day. She said
she had dinner with you on Saturday night."

He took another bite of pizza, chewed slowly
then swallowed. Finally, he looked at me, just as my patience began
to dry up. "Okay, I'll come clean. I did have dinner with her, then
I came home to work. So I never lied."

"You just didn't tell the entire truth,
right?" I snorted softly and shook my head.

He turned and faced me fully. "Look at it
from my point of view, Cat. When should I tell you I had dinner
with my ex? Before or after sex?"

I shrugged, tears welling despite my attempt
at hardening my heart. Damn it.

"I like you, Cat. I have for…well, ever
since you breezed into my office and decided to drive me crazy with
your attitude and sexy body. So ruining my chances of getting you
into bed beforehand wasn't an option. Telling you afterwards seemed
tacky. And unnecessary."

"Keep going," I said. For the first time
since I'd known him, he was actually saying the right thing. I was
happy to hear more of it.

"There's nothing between Tanya and me. It
wasn't a romantic dinner. It was work. I wanted to confront her
about the missing money."

"I thought you didn't want to see her
again."

"I changed my mind. I hate being taken
advantage of and it annoyed the shit out of me that she'd done it
right under my nose. I didn't want the money back, I just wanted
her to know that I knew. And to ask her why."

"What did she say?"

"She denied it." He leaned forward and
kissed me. "Okay?"

I shrugged one shoulder. "So did you have
sex?"

"No! It's over between her and me. It ended
a long time ago."

Someone should tell Tanya. Again.

"So, you're definitely okay?" he said
again.

"Sure. It's no big deal anyway." I looked
away because his dark eyes unnerved me. "You're a single man. You
can have dinner with whoever you want."

"Yeah, right." He turned back to the TV. A
re-runs of
Friends
was on but he didn't laugh. "As long as
we're cool."

I was so cool I had to hug my knees to stem
the goosebumps creeping up my legs.

CHAPTER 11

Will and I ate in silence and watched TV
then curled up together on the couch. He tucked me against his side
and I leaned into his warmth, feeling drowsy. Whatever had happened
with Tanya that night, he was with me now. That was the most
important thing.

"Cat," he said, rousing me some time later.
"I've been thinking."

"Call the Church, it's a miracle."

"You can work on the Scarletti case on
company time."

I sat up with a jolt and rubbed my eyes.
"Are you really Will Knight?"

"Cat, I'm serious."

"Or are you an alien invading the body of my
boss, because the Will Knight I work for is—"

"Inflexible?"

"Um, yeah, that's what I was going to say."
Actually, I was going to say mean but his word worked just as well.
"What about your policy against domestics?"

"Lou's dead so technically it's not a
domestic anymore."

I wasn't convinced. He was under the
impression I'd given up Roberta's case a week earlier, so why
re-open it? Maybe he wanted to cash in. Lou's murder had hit the
papers. If Roberta's jewels had anything to do with the death, then
Knight Investigations would have free publicity if we found them
and
solved the murder.

Will's fingers stroked my thigh. "I thought
you might as well investigate on company time instead of sneaking
around using Knights resources and pretending to file."

So he knew all along! "Hey, I'd never—"

"Yes, you would." He kissed my forehead.
"It's okay, Cat, I'm not going to fire you again. I might, however,
have to give you a good spanking."

I reached up and hugged him. "Thank you,
Will. You won't regret it. I'll be a better investigator than
secretary."