Shame on Him (5 page)

“Do you know anyone who might have had a grudge against your husband? A business associate or a friend whom he might have wronged?”

“I went over all of this with the detective who stopped by yesterday. Dallas, I think he said his name was. He was so nice—he took me out for drinks,” Stephanie says with a sniffle.

Oh, I’m sure Dallas was very nice at helping you forget by trying to get in your pants.

“Anyway, I just realized that I forgot to tell him last night that he should also question Richard’s old business partner, Andrew Jameson,” Stephanie tells me, crossing her legs and leaning back against the love seat.

Well, at least one good thing came from Dallas being a man whore last night: he was so busy feeding her alcohol and making her “forget,” that I know something he doesn’t.

“I don’t know everything that happened between them, but I know that they didn’t part on the best of terms when Andrew decided to leave the company. Are you going to put all of this in the article you’re writing? I don’t want Andrew to know I’m pointing fingers at him or anything.”

Oops, the article!

“Um, no, don’t worry about that at all. I’ll make sure to keep your name out of it,” I lie.

Stephanie looks relieved at my answer and continues. “I don’t know how many times I heard Richard on the phone with Andrew arguing. Richard was offering him quite a lot of money to buy him out, but Andrew felt like it wasn’t enough. Their arguments were just horrendous. They disrupted my chakras and I just couldn’t seem to get my life force back on track after that. My herbalist had to cleanse my aura three times a week just so I could sleep.”

Oh, my God.

I don’t want to seem rude, but I need to get out of here right away and get to this Andrew Jameson’s house before Dallas finds out about him. Or before Stephanie wants to cleanse my chakras.

“Stephanie, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today. I have a prior appointment I need to get to. Would it be okay just to chat on the phone if I have any more questions?” I ask as I rise from the couch.

She walks me to the door. “Absolutely. I’ll do anything I can to help Richard’s killer be brought to justice. If you don’t mind my saying, you seem to have a very gray aura about you, Lori. That usually means you’re troubled by something or you have deep secrets. People with gray auras are usually struggling to find balance.”

Seriously? Is this a joke?

“I’m going to have my herbalist put something together for you. In the meantime, the best cure for a gray aura is love. You should get some love in your life, Lori.”

I thank her without laughing and as she closes the door behind me, I wonder what color
her
aura is. Is there a color for mentally insane?

Rushing down the stairs, I see a 1965 black Mustang pull into the circular drive and park a few feet behind my car. I’m instantly filled with longing when I see it. I always wanted a car like that when I was a teenager, but my father thought it was impractical. There was a girl in my high school who had a car just like it. She was wild and fun and I wanted to be just like her.

I stop in my tracks and groan when I see who steps out of it. Of course
he
would own my dream car.

“Well, fancy seeing you here, Lawyer,” Dallas says with a smirk as he saunters around the front of the car and walks up to me. “Are you having fun speaking to someone I already questioned?”

Folding my arms in front of me, I glare at him. “Questioned? Is that what they’re calling it nowadays? Did you come back today to apologize to the widow for getting her drunk and taking advantage of her?”

Dallas leans in close to me. I can feel his breath on my face and see tiny specks of blue in his gray eyes. My heart rate picks up when he leans down and his cheek brushes against my own, and I wonder if he’s going to whisper a secret in my ear. He smells like soap and there’s a tiny hint of cologne mixed in that makes me feel warm all over.

“Careful there, Lawyer.” His lips graze my ear when he speaks quietly. “You almost sound jealous.”

I let out the breath I was holding when he moved in so close to me, noticing he didn’t correct me when I accused him of taking advantage of Stephanie. Taking a step back to gather my wits, I roll my eyes at him. The heat I felt from moments ago disappears into thin air when I see the cocky smile on his face and realize he probably did sleep with her to get the answers to his questions.

“You’re delusional.”

“And you’re in over your head. You can’t handle this case. Go back to your courtroom and stop trying to be something you’re not,” he informs me.

I’m so tired of people assuming they know what I can and can’t handle. All people see when they look at me are three-piece suits and a brain, not someone who can solve a murder and kick Dallas Osborne’s arrogant behind.

“You have no idea what I’m capable of, you smug bastard.”

Shouldering past him, I make it to my car and slam the door closed behind me. I let myself fall apart just a little when I see that Dallas is no longer watching me and is already ringing the doorbell. My hands shake and I swallow past the lump in my throat. All my life someone has been trying to tell me what to do and I’m sick and tired of it. First my parents and now Dallas. I’m tired of being the woman who does as she’s told. And on top of all that, now I have to worry about Dallas informing Ted that I was impersonating someone from the media to get close to a suspect.

Pulling my cell phone out of my purse, I make a call to my secretary at the law firm.

“Candace, I need you to pull up a case the firm handled about ten years ago for the Bay Corporation. I need an address for one of the members of the class-action lawsuit. His name is Andrew Jameson.”

As I wait on the line for Candace to search through the archives on the computer, I try not to think about the fact that I’m doing something illegal right now that could compromise everything I’ve worked for over the last seventeen years. I’m crossing a line.

Candace gets back on the phone and tells me she’ll have to call me back because it’s going to take her a while to find the file, which ends up being perfect.

My next call is to Paige. Right now, her help is equally important.

“I’m coming over. I need to borrow some clothes.”

I ignore her squeal of delight through the phone line and remind myself that I’m doing what I need to do to make it as a private investigator.

Hopefully I don’t regret it.

CHAPTER 6

W
ill you hold still? I can’t get the eyeliner on right if you keep moving,” Paige complains as she comes at me again with the black eye pencil.

“Is all of this really necessary? I just wanted to borrow some jeans and a T-shirt,” I complain.

Paige ignores me and finishes up with my eye, taking a step back to admire her work.

“Dallas is going to be eating out of your hand when he sees you in this.”

I roll my eyes at her and stand up from the edge of her bed¸ making my way over to the full-length mirror hanging behind her door. “Is he a horse? I don’t want Dallas eating out of my hand. I couldn’t care less if I ever see that jerk again.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. I thought the same thing about Matt before I first met him,” Paige replies with a smile.

I pause in front of the mirror and my jaw drops open.

“It’s okay; you don’t have to thank me. The look on your face is payment enough. You should go to dinner at your parents’ house looking like this. Maybe then they’ll take you seriously about not wanting to be a lawyer anymore.”

I couldn’t even speak if I wanted to. I look like Kennedy—like I could beat up a stranger in the street and not give it a second thought. Since Paige and I are roughly the same height, her skinny Seven jeans fit me like a glove. She gave me a pair of knee-high black Gucci boots with silver buckles on the side, a white low-cut T-shirt, and a body-hugging black leather jacket.

My normally poker-straight brown hair has been curled into gentle waves that frame my face and the smoky eye makeup she artfully applied makes my boring brown eyes pop.

The best part is, I don’t feel like a fraud in this outfit. I feel confident and sexy and like I could take on the world. And by the world, I mean my parents.

“Could you imagine if I showed up to dinner in this? They would have a heart attack,” I whisper.

“Now all you need are a few tats and a nose piercing,” Paige jokes.

My cheeks immediately redden at her words. A few weeks ago in a moment of complete self-pity and defiance, I got my first tattoo. I didn’t tell anyone, not even my best friends. I was driving home from the courthouse, exhausted and frustrated after a phone call with my father where once again he had asked me what I had done so wrong that the firm hadn’t announced me as partner yet.

The red neon sign for a tattoo shop caught my eye at a red light. When the light turned green, I stepped on the gas, cut across three lanes of traffic, and rushed inside.

It’s Paige’s turn to stare at me with her eyes wide and her mouth dropped open. “Oh, my God. Lorelei Warner, did you get a tattoo?”

My cell phone beeps loudly on Paige’s side table and I rush over to grab it, rescuing myself from having to explain. It’s a message from Candace with the address for Andrew Jameson.

“I have to go. I just got the address I was waiting for,” I tell Paige as I shove my cell phone into my bag. Before I walk out the door, I quickly grab on to her and give her a hug.

“Thank you for this,” I tell her softly before pulling away.

“It’s just a little makeup and different clothes. It won’t solve this case for you, but it sure as hell will give you some confidence. You look hot. And if you see Dallas, tell him to suck it,” she says with a laugh.

Dallas makes me feel small and insignificant, just like my parents. I don’t care how much he makes my insides flutter—if I never see him again, it will be too soon.

Paige’s voice stops me as I reach her front door. “Oh, and Lorelei, you better tell me all about this tattoo when you’re finished.”

Double-checking the address in Candace’s text and the location on my GPS, I stare at the house I’m parked in front of.

This can’t be the right place. Andrew Jameson was the CEO of Richard’s company. This house, if you can call it that, has boarded-up windows, a lawn that hasn’t been mowed in years, and pieces of blue tarp covering holes in the roof. I reach over to my glove compartment and pull out my Taser, checking to make sure it’s fully charged.

As I step out of my car, I glance around nervously at the neighborhood. I should have borrowed another vehicle to come here. My Mercedes sticks out like a sore thumb and I’m hoping it will be okay and still parked here when I come back outside.

I make my way up the rickety front porch steps and I forget about my car and just hope
I’ll
be okay when I come back outside.

Knocking on the door, I quickly stash the Taser in my back pocket. This isn’t the best neighborhood, but Andrew lives here and if I want him to answer my questions, I don’t want to offend him right off the bat by showing him I’m carrying a weapon out of nervousness.

The door swings open and a man wearing ripped jeans and a stained sweatshirt stands there glaring at me. His hair is greasy and he’s got the facial hair of a mountain man. This does not look like the former CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company.

“Andrew Jameson?”

The man grunts and brings a can of beer up to his mouth, taking a swig before belching with abandon.

“Who wants to know?”

I clear my throat and remind myself that I’m dressed to kill and get to the bottom of things. I stand up taller and take a deep breath.

“My name is Lori Wagner. I’m writing an article on the recent death of Richard Covington. I understand the two of you were friends and that you used to work together. Do you have a few minutes to answer some questions?”

Andrew crushes his empty beer can and tosses it somewhere behind him. “We were never friends. And as far as I’m concerned, that asshole got what was coming to him. I was there from day one. I helped him develop that fucking heart catheter tool, and after he marries that whore, he suddenly decides he doesn’t need me anymore. Every idea I ever came up with while I worked for him, Richard got the credit for. And it was okay with me at the time; I was making good money. Thirty years of my life and all my good ideas I gave him and what’s the thanks I get? A twenty-thousand-dollar severance package. I told him he could take his money and shove it up his ass.”