Whiskey Rebellion (Romantic Mystery/Comedy) Book 1 (Addison Holmes Mysteries) (21 page)

Nick took over at that point because I was trying to deal with the fact that my principal had been stalking me for months and I’d never caught on. How could I be that clueless?

“And so you found your brother’s diary and the pictures of Ms. Holmes and you sent them to her because you blamed her for your brother’s death.”

“Yes,” he said, barely audible. “I wanted her to see what she looked like through another’s eyes. How she should be ashamed for the way she acts and dresses.”

“And did you kill a man in cold blood because of your own obsession with Ms. Holmes?”

“No, no, I swear,” Robbie said. He got up and paced the floor, agitated. “And I didn’t make any phone calls either. I taped one photograph to her car window and I left a manila envelope full of pictures at her apartment a couple of times. Those were all of them. I don’t have any more. And maybe I followed her around some, but it was just so I could prove that she really was responsible for Bernie’s death. I’ll take a lie detector or do whatever, but I swear I didn’t kill anyone.”

Nick looked at me, and I looked at the pitiful man that was back to sobbing
in his recliner. I knew Nick was waiting for me to decide how I wanted to proceed. I didn’t really want to press charges against someone who was obviously having a difficult time dealing with the death of a loved one.

“I won’t press charges against you if you can promise that you’ll leave me alone,” I finally told him.

“I told you I already gave you all the pictures. As far as I’m concerned I never want to see you again.”

“As far as
the murder goes,” Nick said. “I suggest you find someone who can verify you were at home yesterday. I don’t suppose you still have your brother’s diary, do you?

Robbie shook his head. “I burned it in the grill on my patio. I couldn’t take the chance that anyone else would see it.”

“Convenient,” Nick said. “I don’t suppose you’d mind if I took a look at your grill.”

“I don’t care. Just leave me alone,” Robbie said.

“Mr. Butler,” Nick said, his voice serious and expression grave. He waited until Robbie looked him in the eye before speaking. “It might be a good idea to contact that attorney after all.”

Nick put his hand in the small of my back
and led me out a set of French doors that opened onto a large deck in the back yard. The deck stretched across the length of both brothers’ houses, combining the two properties. They also shared a large swimming pool and an enormous stainless steel grill.

Nick pulled a pair of latex gloves from his pocket, slipped them on and lifted the grill lid. I stepped back as he pulled the grates out, one by one, and ash floated into the air.

“Is it in there?” I asked.

“There’s something in here.” He sifted through the ashes and held up a tiny piece of black leather inscribed with gold. “Bernard Ulysses Butler,” Nick read. “This must be what’s left of the famous diary.”

“God, I hope so.” I watched as Nick bagged the tiny piece of leather and a handful of ashes from the bottom of the grill. We left through the side gate, which was fine with me since I had no desire to ever run into Robbie Butler again.

“So w
hat do you think?” I asked as we got back in his truck.

“I think he’s probably telling the truth, but I’m going to put a couple of plainclothes officers on surveillance out here. I don’t want him to leave town.”

Nick called in and requested the police surveillance on his cell phone.

“Come on, Jezebel,” Nick said. “I’ll buy you lunch and then I’ll help you out with that case you were having trouble with. I’ve got nothing better to do on my day off.”

“Gee, thanks. As long as you realize this doesn’t count as a date.”

We grabbed lunch at a Mexican restaurant before heading back to Whiskey Bayou. I was uncomfortably full of enchiladas and queso, and I knew it had been a mistake to take part in the all you can eat buffet. I was going to have to do a few sit ups once I could get my pants buttoned again.

“Tell me about this case you need help with,” Nick said.

“It’s not that I’m having trouble with it,” I said primly. “It’s just that I’m not exactly sure how to go about catching him in the act.”

“Is this another adulterer?” Nick asked.

“Insurance fraud. Eddie Pogue is his name. A real jackass.” I filled him in on the rest of the file while he drove.

I was a little uncomfortable in the silence that stretched between us. It
was weird to sit next to a man that had seen me naked but left me unfulfilled. Of course, that pretty much described my entire relationship with Greg, but my brain kept telling me I hadn’t known Nick long enough to keep making reckless decisions. My body, however, was saying “Go For It.”

I sighed loudly and looked out the window as we turned onto Magnolia Street.

“What was that sigh for? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Oookay. You know, I have to say I don’t really believe you. I’ve been married before, and in my experience, when a woman says there’s nothing wrong it means you’re in deep shit.”

“You’ve been married before?” I asked, my voice only a tiny bit shrill at the news.

“Of course I’ve been married before. I’m thirty-two years old. Do you think I just hatched a week ago when we met for the first time? Besides, I’m a cop. We all get married at some point. It’s just staying married that seems to be the problem with most of us.”

I was
surprised to find I was a little bit jealous of that nameless woman who had shared a life with Nick. My gloom intensified and I sighed again.

“Look, if you’re going to be all depressing I’m not going to help you out. I bet I know something we could do that will perk you up,” he said with a wink.

“I think that’s what’s depressing me, so no thanks.” I turned and faced him in defeat. “Did you love your wife?” I asked.

“Hell, Addison. Is this going to be one of
those
conversations?”

I rolled my eyes and sighed a
gain. “You’re right of course. We barely know each other, and we certainly don’t have anything going on between us.”

“Like hell we don’t,” Nick said between gritted teeth. “I was married for about six months eleven years ago right after I got out of the Army. It was a mistake all around, and no hearts were broken. Is that good enough for you?”

“I told you, you don’t have to explain. I’m not looking for a relationship at the moment, so you can get that panicked look out of your eyes. And besides, you and I would never suit. The passion would never last and we’d end up killing each other. No, I couldn’t care less about your past. I’m just re-evaluating my life.”

Nick slammed the car into park and I could tell he’d like nothing more than to lean across the seat and throttle me. I gripped the door handle, preparing to escape, when he grabbed my arms, hauled me across the seat and kissed me. 

“You drive me crazy,” he said, depositing me back in my seat. “But you’ll have to re-evaluate some other time because we’re here.” 

I was still a little bemused by the kiss when I noticed that we were parked in an alleyway about a block away from Eddie Pogue’s address.

“Why are we so far away?”

“Because it’ll look more believable to the neighbors if people just see a nice looking couple out for a Sunday stroll. We don’t want to tip him off.”

“Oh, good idea.”

“I get one every now and then,” Nick said sarcastically. “You won’t need your camera today. We’re just going to canvass the area and see if we can get a clear shot into his house. We’ll come back another time and try to get it on film.”

I thought the plan through and felt better about catching Eddie Pogue than I had about anyone else. This was going to be smooth sailing. All I needed was a mentor. I’d hyped myself up pretty good until I realized what Nick was doing.

“Holy shit, Nick, we’re not going into the O.K. Corral. I thought we were just doing surveillance.” 

I watched as he strapped on his shoulder holster and put a backup piece in the lower part of his back. Man, I was getting hot just watching him. I shuddered to think what would happen if I actually got to see him in uniform.

“The first rule is to blend in. The second rule is to be prepared.”

“Wait a minute. These are different from the rules Kate gave me. Is there a book I can buy with all this information?”

Nick smiled and grabbed my hand. “Come on, we’re just a happy couple strolling hand in hand down the street.”

“Get real. No one would ever believe we’re a happy couple.”

“What’ll be hard about it? Just look at me like I’m a god and drool a little like you usually do.”

I gave him the finger and made a mental note to myself to stop trying to picture him naked. He was obviously very adept at reading the female mind. 

“Let’s go,” he said.

I followed at a less than enthusiastic pace, considering I was still full of Mexican food.

The alley was little more than gravel, and an eclectic mix of houses lined each side. There was a run down trailer on the corner, a ranch-style house next door and a two-story Colonial at the end of the block. This was truly a neighborhood for everyone. The good thing was that tall trees and overgrown shrubs ran the length of both sides of the alley, so there were plenty of good hiding places.

We stopped behind a modest, one story brick home with a good size back yard. A chain linked fence closed in the yard and an overgrown garden sat unattended in the middle of the lot. There was a detached garage at the back of the house and the skeleton of a storage building being constructed sat next to it. There were no cars in the garage.

“Can you believe this?” I said outraged. “How is it that John Hyatt will give a putz like Eddie Pogue a home loan, but he insists on giving me nothing but trouble?”

“Probably Eddie Pogue didn’t have to overcome Veronica Wade,” Nick said. “All right, time to act lovey-dovey.”

“Umm—w
hat exactly am I supposed to—” 

The breath was knocked out of me as Nick backed me against the fence. He kissed me like he was searching for the lost city of Atlantis and all I could do was open my mouth in surprise and try to keep oxygen flowing to my brain.

“Move slightly to your left,” he said, biting my earlobe. I could hear the click of the camera on his iPhone as he got off several shots of the back of the house. “I don’t see him anywhere on the premises, but he’s left all of his tools out, so it’s likely he won’t be gone long. We’ll have to come back so we can catch him in the act.”

The jerk was working. The kiss had no effect on him at all, and I was a pitiful puddle at his feet. I shifted slightly and made sure my foot connected with his shin in the process.

“Ouch, dammit, what the hell was that for?” he said, slipping his phone into his back pocket.

“I don’t like being used as a distraction.”

“Geez, what’s the big deal? It’s not like you didn’t like it.”

Men.
The fact that I liked it was beside the point, though I wasn’t going to ever admit it out loud.

“Let’s just get out of here. I’ll have better luck catching Eddie Pogue when you’re not here to stick your tongue down my throat.”

Monday

I smelled the fresh aroma of coffee before I noticed the alarm blaring in my ear. I looked at the time and didn’t care that
I was running a few minutes behind. School was out and all I had left was one lousy teacher workday. What were they going to do? Fire me?

I threw on some jeans, a
T-shirt and my Nike Shox because I had to get my room packed up for the summer. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and cursed the bangs I’d thought were such a great idea.

I’d gotten my books packed away and most of the things off the wall by ten o’clock, and I was ready to say to hell with it and not bother with the rest. Rose Marie came in just as I’d decided to sneak out for the day. My eyes crossed at the zebra print top she was wearing, so I busied myself by stacking boxes on a dolly to wheel out to my car. 

“Hey, I heard what happened at the Officer’s Gala between you and Veronica,” she said loudly.

“Everyone’s heard about what happened at the Officer’s Gala. I got a call from Rudy Bauer at the Gazette asking if I had any comments to contribute to the article that would be in Thursday’s paper. All I could tell him was that Veronica’s tits were fake and she wasn’t a natural blonde, but he t
old me he already knew all that.” 

I thought about the surprise on Veronica’s face as I ripped out a chunk of her bleached hair. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.

“She’s not here today,” Rose Marie said. “Word has it that you ruptured one of her implants while y’all were rolling around on the floor.”

I gasped in surprise, pulling my arm close to my body to protect my own breasts in an involuntary movement.