Microsoft Word - T108JustDesserts.doc (4 page)

as his phone rang.

Swearing, he fumbled out in the hall with his keys,

kicked open the door and grabbed for the phone. “Yeah.”

“Always a pleasure to hear your cheery tone, Sammy.”

Sam grinned at the sound of his buddy’s voice. “Gary.

How are things down at the department without me? The

place fall apart yet?”

“Nah, but the receptionists are still mourning your

departure.”

“Yeah, well. What can I say, I’m a regular chick

magnet.” Unfortunately for him, the ‘chicks’ he attracted

were more of the over-the-hill, gravel-voiced, old hen variety

you typically found manning the reception desk at most

police stations.

Gary laughed. “Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s a tough life

when you’re a sex symbol. I’ll have to take your word for it,

being a married man myself. Hey, listen. I got a possible job

for you, if you’re not too busy in the private eye biz to take

it, that is.”

Now this sounded promising. “Well, I am keeping pretty

busy.” Not exactly a lie. Hadn’t he installed this stupid DSL,

gone to the gym and visited his mother today? That was

busy. “But I’ll make time for an old friend. What’d ya got?”

“Bail jumper. 50K bond. Wanna bring him in?”

Sam let out a long slow whistle. His percentage for

bringing in a 50K bond would be a nice chunk of change, on

top of the fact tracing skips seemed a hell of a lot more

honorable than tailing cheating spouses. “Sounds right up

my alley, Gary. Give me the details.”

Sam got what information he needed from Gary, hung

up the phone and glanced over at his computer, noticing he’d

forgotten to shut it down. Hell, he’d leave it on and maybe

when he arrived home he would find an email from his

hopefully new client, Donna the feisty brunette.

For once, life was looking up, on all fronts.

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

Stepping out into the hall on his second attempt at

procuring sustenance, Sam paused as he noticed a dark

haired woman standing outside his neighbor’s door. He

moved slowly and silently backwards into his apartment and

flung open the drawer where he’d stashed his new digital

camera, yet another purchase for his new job, which seemed

to be costing more money than it was making.

After a few quick adjustments to disable the flash, he

quietly opened the door and peered around the doorframe.

Raising the viewfinder, he snapped a shot just as the guy

opened the door, smiled big for the woman and grabbed her

arm to pull her inside the apartment.

Fuck. What the hell was this guy doing cheating when

he already had that Barbie doll hook, line and sinker? This

idiot was playing two women while Sam didn’t even have

one. A man lucky enough to have a pretty woman who cared

enough about him to bug his apartment shouldn’t get away

with two-timing. With that thought in mind, Sam vowed to

email the picture to Donna as soon as he filled his

belly—provided, of course, he could figure out
how
to email

it.

The one good thing was, since this assignment had

turned out to be such a piece of cake, he wouldn’t feel bad

about it being a comp job and he could concentrate on

tracing that skip for Gary and bringing in some cash. And

he’d have time to follow up with Donna, maybe meet her for

drinks to ‘wrap up the case’. Yeah, that sounded good. This

gig might work out all right after all.

Things were looking up indeed.

20

Cat Johnson

Oh my god. What was she going to do? Donna sat at her

computer and stared at the photo of Daniel touching a

strange woman, smiling at her as she stood in her tight little

skirt and heels. Donna guessed she was decent looking, but

no prettier than Jade. And if Donna reacted this badly to

seeing the photo, how would Jade take it? More importantly,

how was Donna going to tell her?

She read the email over again. Sam Smith was good.

Better than good. He’d proved himself inhumanly fast and

efficient. A little too efficient, actually. She’d only emailed

him Daniel’s name and address that day and just hours later,

she had photographic proof of Daniel’s infidelity in her

hand, or rather, in her email. And the PI had done it for free,

writing her that the company was running a special, the first

assignment free of charge.

She hadn’t believed her good luck when reading that, but

at the moment Donna wished Mr. Smith had strung this

surveillance out a bit. It would have at least bought her some

time. Now she had no excuse to procrastinate any longer, she

had to tell Jade.

With a sigh, Donna pushed the ‘print’ command and

watched the photo slowly appear on the computer paper.

One little piece of paper and it would ruin her friend’s life.

Donna shook her head. Maybe she didn’t want a man in her

life after all. No wonder her former co-worker Maria from

the accounting firm was a lesbian. Love of penises or not, at

times like this, Donna could definitely understand the

appeal.

Photo printout in hand, she picked up the phone and

dialed Grace’s number. This revelation and the recovery

afterwards would require reinforcements. As expected,

Grace was always up for some male bashing. They agreed to

tell Jade together and then help her get over Daniel, even if it

required gallons of ice cream and dozens of tearjerker chick

flicks. Whatever it took, they’d do it together because that

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

was what girlfriends did for each other at times like this.

Donna held onto that thought to steel her nerves as she

glanced nervously at Grace, her backup, and knocked on

Jade’s door.

When the door opened, Jade took one look at their

collective grim faces and paled. “What? Oh my god, what’s

wrong?”

“Let’s sit down,” Donna suggested.

Grace reached out and hugged Jade in an

uncharacteristic show of affection and Jade really began to

look distraught.

Donna waited until Jade shakily took a seat on the couch

and then handed her the photo. A picture was worth a

thousand words, after all.

Jade took the photo and held it with visibly trembling

hands. Her breath came in shallow gasps as she stared at the

scene on the paper. Donna waited for the tears, but they

never came. Instead, she saw a side of her friend she’d never

seen before, Jade angry.

“Bastard. That fucking bastard.” Jade stood and stomped

to the closet. Donna cringed as she watched Jade rip her

favorite cashmere coat from the hanger, leaving the wooden

object swinging empty from the rod. “I’m going over there.”

Donna reached out to touch her, but thought better of it

last minute. “I don’t think you should do that now while

you’re mad.”

Grace frowned. “Why not? No time like the present. Let

the asshole know he’s been found out.”

Donna scowled at her supposed backup. “I agree she

needs to eventually confront him, but do you really think she

is in any state of mind now? She should calm down first.”

Jade interrupted the debate when she opened the front

door and said over her shoulder, “You two can stay here and

argue if you want, but I’m going.”

There was no question Donna and Grace were going,

too. Jade at least agreed to let Donna drive and the three

piled into her car and headed for the scene of the crime,

22

Cat Johnson

Daniel’s apartment.

Darkness had fallen by the time they arrived and entered

through the still broken front door of the building. Grace

didn’t do stairs so although Jade was nearly bouncing off the

walls in anticipation of the confrontation they all stood and

waited for the elevator to arrive.

“Maybe you shouldn’t go in there accusing him. He

might have an explanation for the photo. Maybe she is his

cousin or something,” Donna suggested once inside the

jolting elevator car.

Grace and Jade both sent her looks of disbelief and she

sighed. “Never mind.”

The doors opened on Daniel’s floor and Jade, moving

faster than should be humanly possible in boots with three-

inch heels, was down the hall in a flash and pounding on the

apartment door.

Donna cringed and hung back slightly, they should have

a little bit of privacy, no? Grace had no such inhibitions and

was right up next to Jade, helping her by kicking at the door

with her clog. Staying out of it seemed no longer a viable

option so Donna rushed into the fray.

“Shhh. Remember. That undercover cop guy lives here.

We don’t want to be arrested for disturbing the peace or

something.”

Face twisted, Grace said, “You worry too much.”

No, she did not! She only worried when her friends were

in danger of going to jail, but she didn’t have time to defend

herself because just then, the door directly next to Daniel’s

opened and an elderly woman with her hair in curlers

popped her head out.

“What is going on out here?” She didn’t sound very

friendly, not that Donna blamed her.

Shooting her friends a look that said, ‘see!’, Donna

stepped forward. “We need to speak with the man who lives

in this apartment. It’s…uh…urgent.”

The blue-haired lady shook her head. “He’s not home. I

saw him leave about an hour ago with a woman. Pretty, dark

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

hair.”

Jade’s hand flew to her stomach as if she was about to be

sick. Donna laid a hand on her arm as she said to the older

woman, “Thank you. We’ll catch up with him later.”

When the door closed again, Jade let out a shaky breath

and the anger apparently seeped away. “God, it’s definitely

true then. I guess deep down I expected to confront him and

be mad for a bit, but he’d have a good explanation and then

I’d forgive him and we’d make up.”

Donna frowned. She knew Jade. She doubted she’d

believe Daniel even if he had a gold plated alibi, but she

didn’t mention that.

Grace shook her head. “Well, there’s nothing we can do

now. Come on. It’s still happy hour at the Hogs & Heifers.”

Jade nodded. “Yeah. That sounds good. I could use a

drink.”

One of Grace’s favorite single-girl haunts, the former

meat packing plant turned bar sported buffalo heads

mounted on the walls and a vast collection of donated bras

on display. Scantily clad female bartenders wielded attitude

but still attracted a vast male clientele, as did the fact that

ladies were encouraged to dance on top of the bar. The

clientele ranged from businessmen to tourists, frat boys to

Hell’s Angels. Something to satisfy every girl’s taste buds.

Two for one beers and shots and hoards of men…this

would either cure Jade or kill her. Either way, it would be

memorable.

~

Sam pulled into a space curbside in front of his building

just as three girls flew out of the front door. One skinny and

blonde, one curvy and brunette and one full-figured with

black hair—something for everyone’s taste he thought to

himself. Personally, his eyes zeroed in on the brunette, his

comp client Donna. Her straight hair bobbed around her

shoulders as she swung her head to talk to the other girls.

They looked like women on a mission as they all piled

into a baby blue convertible VW Beetle and zipped into

24

Cat Johnson

traffic. It took him barely a second to make up his own mind.

Glancing over his shoulder to check the street, he pulled out

two cars behind them. He told himself it was good ‘tailing’

practice. Since he’d found the skip Gary wanted him to bring

in today and lost him just as quickly in the city traffic, he

obviously needed the practice. His following Donna had

nothing to do with the fact that he had been thinking things

about her that had his cock standing at attention far too often

over the past day.

It was soon very apparent where they were going. Sam

smiled as he watched them circle the block around Hogs &

Heifers and head for a parking lot.

He’d spent a few quality nights in the place himself.

He’d even assisted a lady—well maybe not a lady, but a

female—in divesting herself of her bra so she could donate it