Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 3) (19 page)

The resort staff filed out but before Alana could close the door Detective Prather entered the suite.

“Detective, what can we do for you today? Caroline is asleep so if you want to talk to her you’ll have to wait.” Alana pointed to the resort hallway. “Somewhere else preferably.”

Martin stood to join Alana inside and Travis and Aubrey followed, wanting to show support for their friend. It was a cluster the way Prather was conducting this investigation as if everyone was guilty as hell and it was up to them to prove themselves innocent. It was Prather’s fucking job to find the guilty party, but he seemed unable to look past the fact that all the suspects were rich as hell.

Prather’s eyes narrowed as he took in all of them enjoying their breakfast on the patio. “Actually, Mrs. Guinness, I’m here to speak to your husband. Mr. Guinness, have you ever seen this before?”

The detective pulled a plastic bag from his pocket that contained a small cufflink, black onyx with a diamond solitaire. Travis’s gut tightened. He’d seen that cufflink before.

“It’s mine.” Martin reached for the bag and Prather let him take it to examine the piece more closely. “How did you get this?”

The detective smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m glad you asked that question. This cufflink was found underneath Bruce Livingston’s body. We didn’t have any idea who it belonged to until we found a picture of you on the Internet wearing this same pair. Do you have any explanation for that?”

“This has to be a mistake,” Alana stepped forward and protested. “I’m sure there are other people with the same set. It could be anyone.”

“Except that you were at the party,” Prather replied. “Did you bring this set of cufflinks with you, Mr. Guinness? If these don’t belong to you, can I see yours?”

Martin had been still but he came out of his reverie, shaking his head and ducking into the bedroom, calling behind him. “I’ll get my set and you’ll see that those aren’t mine.”

Aubrey’s fingers curled tensely around Travis’s arm and he didn’t blame her a bit. They could hear Martin fumbling through drawers and a curse word here or there. It was hard to stay optimistic at the moment.

Martin stepped back into the living room, his mouth a grim line. He held up a single cufflink. “I can only find the one. The mate seems to be missing. I’m sure I’ll find it.”

“I think we already have,” Prather stated flatly.

“I didn’t do this. I would never take the life of another human being,” Martin protested but Travis could see it wasn’t going to work. The detective had made up his mind. “I wasn’t even wearing those cufflinks the night of the party. I was wearing a different pair.”

“Martin Guinness, you are under arrest for the murder of Bruce Livingston.” Prather’s recitation of Maranda rights was drowned out by Alana’s shrill scream and she slumped against Travis, her eyelids fluttering and her lips trembling with the shock. Aubrey immediately stepped forward to comfort the weeping woman, helping Alana over to the couch so she could sit down.

The detective managed to finish informing Martin of his right to remain silent which it appeared the billionaire was availing himself of, his own skin a pale ashy gray. “You may want to phone an attorney, Mrs. Guinness.”

Alana didn’t look capable of doing anything at the moment. Her hand was over her mouth as tears ran down her unlined cheeks, the mascara streaking her face. As Martin was cuffed he turned to Travis.

“Call Barry for me, will you? And get Caroline to sit with Alana. I’ll be in there until they can set bail.”

“Will do. Don’t worry about us out here,” Travis assured his friend and mentor. “We’ll have you out in no time.”

Travis hoped. It was a murder charge and bail might or might not be an option. The best action would be to prove that Martin was completely innocent.

This case wasn’t over.

*     *     *

Aubrey sighed as
she clicked through photographs from the party on Travis’s laptop. Somehow he had managed to charm the official photographer into giving him a thumb drive with all the pictures from the night Bruce Livingston was murdered. There were literally hundreds to go through and every one had to be checked. They were hoping to be able to prove that Martin had been wearing different cufflinks just as he said.

“None of these photos of Martin show his wrists. They’re either from the shoulders up or he’s turned in the wrong direction.”

Travis was at the dining table looking through the file on Bruce one more time. Snapping it shut, he came to sit next to her, his arm across her shoulders. “If you’re tired and need to give your eyes a break I can take over. You’ve gone above and beyond today. This is my fight, not yours, sweetheart.”

He truly believed that and she needed to disabuse him of that notion as quickly as possible.

She perched on her knees so she could cup his jaw in her hands and look directly into his eyes. He needed to see she was sincere about this. “If it’s your fight then it’s our fight. We’re a team now—at least I thought we were. When you talk about your future am I just there for decoration? I want to be a real partner to you. I want to share everything and that means the work and the struggles, not just the fun and the wealth. If that’s not what you have in mind then tell me, because when I picture us together it isn’t me spending my days getting my nails done and shopping. It’s loving you, being with you, helping you.”

His hands caressed her spine and his expression softened, filling with a tenderness that took her breath away. “Sort of like for better or worse? Is that what you mean?”

Heat filled her cheeks at his intimation. She’d never presume to bring up a commitment like that this early in their relationship, but he just did and bravely too. She couldn’t let him twist in the wind out there all by himself.

“Yes,” she breathed softly, butterfly wings fluttering in her abdomen. “Kind of like that. But we’re talking about the future, remember?”

His brow quirked and a smile spread across his handsome features. “So this is practice?”

“Repetition is the key to mastering a skill,” she teased. “I think if we practice and get good at this for better or worse won’t seem like much of a task at all. Can you share all of that with me, Travis? Can you open yourself up to showing me every part of your life?”

For a moment she saw indecision in his eyes and she actually felt a moment of relief. It meant he was taking this seriously and really thinking about what she’d asked him. It wasn’t a trivial moment in their relationship and he realized it.

“I can do that.” Travis nodded and pulled her closer. That one fleeting moment of insecurity was gone and all she could see in his face was happiness. “I want to do that.”

“Good.” She pressed a quick kiss on his lips. “Now let’s get back to work. Notice I said you and me.”

They were quiet as they paged through the photos, enlarging a few to see if they could get more detail. Somehow she had migrated to sitting between his legs, his back against the arm of the couch and the laptop propped on her knees. He nipped at her neck and earlobe, his arms tightening around her waist.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but I’m not sure what for.”

There was a silence and then he whispered to her, his breath warm on her cheek. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

She smiled and giggled but didn’t turn around, simply settling back against him more comfortably.

“I hope that’s a good thing.”

“It’s a very good thing. The best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Her heart skipped a few beats and she had to remind herself that this man wasn’t like the others she’d known. He believed what he said. He wasn’t saying it to get in her pants or because he thought it was expected. He said it because he felt it and that meant more than anything she could name.

“You too.”

Her hands were on the laptop keyboard and he placed his much larger ones on top of hers before winding their fingers together. “I guess we need to stop making cow eyes at each other and get back to work. But how about we go see a movie tonight? There’s a theatre not far from here. I think we could use the break to get our minds off everything.”

Sitting next to Travis in the dark with popcorn? Yes, please.

“Do I get to pick the movie?”

Travis laughed and she could feel the rumble from his chest against her back. “Yes, princess, you can select the movie. I suppose you’re going to want junk food too?”

“You bet. Lots of it.”

“Then we better get back to work. We have to find some evidence that exonerates Martin. I don’t believe for a second that he did this. It just isn’t in his nature.”

Aubrey hoped Travis wasn’t wrong.

‡

T
ravis and Aubrey
were returning to the resort about midnight after a late movie when he saw flashing lights just up ahead. By the time the taxi pulled under the canopied entrance Travis had counted at least three patrol cars and a fire and rescue unit.

“This can’t be good.”

Quickly paying the driver, Travis and Aubrey hopped out of the taxi and rushed into the lobby. There were a few clusters of people here and there but he clearly heard the words “pool” and “drowning.”

“Let’s go outside.” Travis put his arm around Aubrey and led her out the back entrance and down the stone path to where a group of people had gathered around the edge of the large swimming pool. He was about to ask one of the gawkers what was going on when he saw Shane standing at the perimeter. Rounding the crowd, he nudged his cousin to get his attention.

Shane dragged his gaze back to Travis. “About time you got here. The shit has really hit the fan. Let’s go up to the room.”

Travis pointed towards the uniformed cops. “What’s going–”

“Just trust me,” Shane cut in. “I’ll tell you what I know when we get upstairs.”

Nodding, Travis placed his arm around Aubrey and they skirted around the edges of the crowd. When they reached the far side near the entrance the people parted for a moment and Travis could see a body on the ground covered with a blanket.

Shit, another body.

Remembering how upset Alana was earlier when Martin was arrested filled Travis with a sense of dread as they quietly slipped into the hotel and up the elevator. When they finally entered the suite Travis couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

“Was it Alana? Goddamit, Shane. What the fuck happened? We were only gone for a little over three and a half hours.”

Aubrey grabbed his hand and squeezed his fingers, giving him “the look”. “Give Shane a chance to answer, babe.”

Shane rubbed his chin and exhaled noisily as if not sure where to begin. Or maybe he was just trying to drive Travis fucking insane. Either one could be the case.

Shane walked over to the bar and retrieved a beer from the refrigerator. “I got back from NYC about an hour ago. Cab dropped me off and there was already a few people gathered at the back of the hotel. Not as many though so I had a good view of things. The body belongs to Iris Perry. It looks like she might have fallen into the pool and drowned. Maybe accidentally. Or maybe not. They’ll know more after the autopsy.”

Aubrey gasped and sat down on the couch, her eyes wide with shock. “Iris? Oh my God. She’s dead?”

“Quite dead.” Shane also sat down on the couch and stretched his long legs out to rest his feet on the coffee table. “The question is did she kill herself because her lover is dead? Did she kill herself because she felt guilty about murdering that lover? Or…and this is the question I like…did someone help her drown? And did that person have something to do with Bruce’s death?”

Travis raked his fingers through his hair and groaned. “Shit. What in the hell is going on here? Two murders in less than a week. That has to be a record for this establishment. Do Caroline and Alana know yet?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen them. I only took a few minutes to bring my bag upstairs and then I spent the rest of the time out back.” Shane gulped down the last of his beer and slapped the bottle on the coffee table. “What are you thinking right now?”

Another good question.

“That I’m stunned by the turn of events and haven’t quite wrapped my mind around what’s happened. Iris’s death brings up many more questions than it answers, I’m afraid.”