Then I looked to where she was staring and stopped dead.
Pepper Rick was lounging in the doorway to Fortnum’s. It opened onto the corner, at an angle, and he was sprawled, butt and back to the sidewalk, shoulders and what was left of his head resting against our door. He was dead, dead, dead, just like Tim Shubert except there weren’t any splattered brains.
“Jane, honey, step away from there,” I said quietly.
She was frozen still and I noticed she had her cell phone in her hand.
“Jane,” I said a little more loudly, trying to get her attention.
She jumped, her cell came out of her hand, flew end over end through the air and landed on Pepper Rick’s chest, clattering down to rest by his hand.
We both watched the cell fly, land and settle.
“Oops,” Jane said and I think I saw her make the mental decision to get a new phone.
I dug my cell out of my purse, considered who to call and settled on Hank.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“Um, it’s Indy. I hate to tell you this but there’s a dead guy lounging in the doorway to Fortnum’s.”
Silence.
Duke rounded the corner and Jane and my eyes turned to him, his face began to light with greeting, his eyes flicked down and he stopped short.
“Fuckin’ hell!” he boomed.
“Duke just arrived,” Hank said in my ear.
“Yep.”
“I’ll get someone on it, do we know this dead guy?”
“Well, I don’t have to worry about being kidnapped again.”
Hank disconnected and Duke looked at me.
“Was he makin’ a call?”
I wanted to laugh, then before that thought fully formed, I decided I wanted to cry. Seeing as crying wasn’t an option for me because I wasn’t a sissy, I decided I wanted to scream.
In fifteen minutes, the place was surrounded by cops including Hank, Dad and Malcolm and the scene was taped. Gawkers and coffee customers were being directed away by uniforms.
I stood off to the side and scrolled down my phonebook to Lee and hit his number.
“Everything okay?” he said as a greeting.
“You’ve heard from your office,” I replied, thinking the mysterious forces behind his commando cartel had already alerted to my latest adventure.
“Heard what from my office?”
Oopsie.
“Well, I don’t want to disturb you but I thought I should tell you before your office hears it on police-band. Pepper Rick’s dead body was propped into the doorway of Fortnum’s this morning.”
Silence, then, “A present.”
“What?”
“I’ll be there soon.”
“Lee, you don’t have to…” but he’d disconnected.
Jimmy Marker walked up to me and after asking a few questions he wiped his eyes with his hand.
“Indy, tell me you aren’t keepin’ anything from me.”
After Tex got shot, I told Jimmy everything at the hospital, about Rosie, the pot, the diamonds, Terry Wilcox, everything. Well, not everything, I left out my B and E, so almost everything. I had nothing left to tell and if Jimmy was getting frustrated and impatient, he should step into my shoes.
“Jimmy, I may be crazy but I’m not stupid and whatever you think, I know right from wrong. I told you all I know at the hospital.”
Dad walked up to me and slung an arm around my shoulders.
“I just want to know why you’re the focal point of all of this,” Jimmy said.
“I’d like to know that too,” Dad said.
“Well, when you find out, tell me because this is beginning to piss me off!” As I talked, my voice rose and I was screaming by the end.
Jimmy took a step back and a bunch of heads swung in my direction.
I saw an SUV double park and Lee slid from behind the wheel. His eyes were on me but Malcolm and Hank stopped him before he could make his way to me.
“I take it you know what’s going on,” I said to Dad, taking my eyes off Lee.
“What there is to know. Cops talk, you’re my daughter. Jimmy’s keeping me briefed.”
“Why haven’t you said anything?”
“I trust Liam to sort it out and I trust you to do the right thing.”
Simple as that.
Dad was cool, Dad had always been cool. Somewhere in the last couple of days, Lee had been given Dad’s blessing. Probably when I started to have certain incidents, incidents the like of which any father would want Liam Nightingale to be his daughter’s boyfriend.
I walked to the Nightingale huddle. Malcolm had his back to me, Lee and Hank were at his sides, their backs mostly to me.
As I walked up, I heard Malcolm say, “Hank, I know you use Lee to do the shit that’d get your hands dirty and Lee, I know you play the game pretty loose. I let you boys play it the way you feel you need to ‘cause, so far, whatever deal you got goin’ works. But I don’t like what I’m smellin’ and…”
Lee’s head turned and he looked at me out of the corners of his eyes.
“Indy,” he said and I think he said this more to Malcolm than to me.
All the Nightingale men turned to me and whatever was happening stopped.
Great. Whatever. Fine by me.
I walked up to Lee and stopped, though not close enough for his liking because his hand came out and curled around my neck, pulling me into his side. Hank, Dad and Malcolm moved off.
“How’re you doin’, gorgeous?” he asked me.
“I’m losing my patience. This is getting old,” I told him. “How’s your man?”
“No word, I have to get back to the hospital. I see you confiscated the Crossfire.”
“Do you mind?”
“Nope.”
I turned into him and put my hand on his stomach.
“Your man, he wasn’t doing… something… for me?”
Lee’s hand around my neck twisted and he tugged softly at my hair.
“A different assignment, nothin’ to do with you or the diamonds.”
I felt a tremendous relief. I already had Tex’s injury, Ally’s totaled car and everyone else’s worry resting on my shoulders, I didn’t need something else. Then I looked at Lee and realized all that, plus whatever this new thing was, still rested firmly on his.
“You need to go,” I said.
“Yeah.”
I started to pull away but his hand dropped, his arm curled around my shoulders and turned me into him, full-frontal.
“With Rick out of the way, you should be safe but you need to be careful. Coxy isn’t a threat but he’s a wildcard.”
I nodded.
“I want to come home to you,” he said.
My breath disappeared. I didn’t suck it in and I didn’t let it out, it just vanished.
I did a mental shake and got myself together.
“Sorry?”
“Tonight. I’ll phone you when I’m on my way. All you need to get you into the parking garage and condo is on the Crossfire’s key ring. Even after Luke gets out of surgery, I’ve got things to do but when I come home tonight, I want you to be there.”
I only hesitated a second. “Okay.”
He looked at me for awhile, his eyes got soft and he said, “I’m sorry about this morning.”
“It couldn’t be helped.”
“We’ll finish tonight.”
Finally, something to look forward to.
* * * * *
Duke made six big posters, taping them in all the big windows, announcing Fortnum’s was closed. Hard to open with police tape stretched across your front door.
Thank God I didn’t have a mortgage.
I had the day yawning ahead of me and no bodyguard following my every step.
It felt weird.
I went to Tex’s to give him an update and help him with the cats. He’d been re-stitched and let go last night. I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be Pepper Rick’s demise, I guessed jubilation, but was wrong
.
“We live, we die,” he said.
Philosophical.
Cats fed, litter boxes cleaned, laser lights jiggled on the walls, I headed to Kumar’s to stock up on stuff for the condo and have a gossip. He wasn’t there but I had a chat with Mrs. Kumar who was behind the counter with Mrs. Salim motionless on a stool behind her. I thought, but did not say, that they might do better business if it didn’t look like a mummy was propped up behind the cash register. Then I worried if God would strike me with lightening for such a thought.
I got my bits and pieces from Mrs. Kumar and headed to Ally’s.
She made me coffee and gave me more ibuprofen.
“I know about the dead guy. Dad called Mom, Mom called me. You okay?” she asked.
“I’m getting tired of this.”
“I bet.”
“What are you doing today?” I asked.
“Laying low, I got a shift tonight.”
Ally now worked at My Brother’s Bar down by Platte River. They’d been around long enough for the wooden tables and walls to look weathered and worn, they had the best bar food in Denver, members of the symphony hung out there after performances and they pulled an excellent pint of Guinness.
“I was beginning to think you’d quit,” I told her.
“No, had a shift the night you got kidnapped but apparently it’s cool to call off when your best friend is being held hostage.”
“Good to know.”
She offered a manicure and pedicure and I took her up on it. I returned the favor by washing and styling her hair. I would have gone to beauty school if I hadn’t inherited Fortnum’s. Since I’d hit teenage status, I always gave good hair. With Ally, it wasn’t hard to give good hair, her hair was soft and thick with just enough wave, it never looked bad.
“How’re things with Lee?” she shouted over the hairdryer as I was roller brushing her hair.
“I’m totally freaking out,” I shouted back.
“I sensed that.” She was still shouting.
I turned off the hairdryer and looked at her. “He’s good at this stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“Relationship stuff. He’s a natural. It’s weird, we’re new and we’re old. I can’t get my head around it.”
“He’s shit at relationship stuff. He’s only good at it because it’s you.”
“Sorry?”
“You’re shit at it too, but only because it was never him.”
Uh-oh, Ally was on her you-two-were-meant-for-each-other kick.
I turned the hairdryer back on, subject closed.
After visiting Ally, I went home, cleaned my house, went through my mail and watered my yard and flowers. Then I watered Tod and Stevie’s. Then I went to their front door and knocked.
Stevie answered then looked beyond me in case he could see a sniper.
“I watered your flowers,” I told him.
“That’s nice.”
“I’m sorry about last night.”
“I’m not sure I forgive you, though Tod says you threw yourself on top of him to protect him from bullets so I guess I’m not so mad. Tod thought it was a blast. Says it reminded him of home.”
“The way Tod tells it, I don’t think I want to go to Texas.”
Stevie didn’t say anything.
“Anyway, it’s easy for Tod to say it was a blast, he was protected a foot deep by foam rubber.”
We both knew bullets would tear through Tod’s rubber.
I kept talking, I knew Stevie was mad and somehow couldn’t help myself.
“The dead body of the guy who started it was set in the front door of Fortnum’s this morning.”
Stevie’s eyes widened.
Okay, so now I was beginning to let the shock of it all wear through me. Not to mention, Stevie was mad at me and I didn’t like people I cared about being mad at me. It wasn’t my fault even though it felt like it was. Tears sprang into my eyes.
“Talk to you later,” I said.
“Girlie, you’re a mess, get in here.”
He yanked me inside, gave me a drink and sat me on the sofa. I let it all hang out, including the fact that even though we’d get closer each time, Lee and I hadn’t done it yet.
Stevie listened, hugged me occasionally, got me tissues when the tears threatened to spill and cast no judgment. Then he took me home, snapped through the hangers in my closets, opened and closed boxes of shoes until he found what he was looking for, all the while he communicated His Plan.
While Stevie walked me to the Crossfire, he told me that Tod was at Denver International Airport, he had a flight and wouldn’t be back for a few days. Stevie was leaving late the next morning to do the same and asked me to look after Chowleena while he and Tod were gone.
“If I need to take her to Lee’s, would that be a problem?” I asked.
“Just write us a note.”
Then, like a fairy godfather (pun intended), he waved me off on my errands that would eventually end with Lee.
I went to Cherry Creek and popped into Linens ‘n Things. I grabbed a few necessities and went over to Fresh and Wild, got the stuff I needed for the night and added a few things for the morning and just in case my stay at the condo was even longer, carted it all, plus the stuff from Kumar’s store, the dress and the shoes, up to Lee’s condo.
I dumped everything in the kitchen and living room and started work. I made the chocolate cream pie first, then prepared the au gratin potatoes, topped them with aluminum foil ready to put in the oven. I trimmed the green beans ready to be blanched. I left the steak in the fridge, I could broil it in ten minutes and Lee told me he’d phone when he was coming.
I set the table and put out the placemats and cloth napkins circled with napkin rings that I bought at Linens ‘n Things. I tried to buy the most macho placemats, napkins and rings I could find, as they would be adorning Lee’s table, but they didn’t really do macho in that kind of retail.
In the center of the table I placed the high, tapered candles in silver candle holders I also bought. I arranged the flowers I got at Fresh and Wild in the vase I purchased. I got out the deep bowled glasses I’d noticed in Lee’s cupboards and, as a finishing touch, I put the expensive bottle of red wine between them on the dining room table.
I didn’t exactly need to plan a seduction but a little romance never hurt, or at least that’s what Stevie said. And anyway, Lee was running himself ragged. I knew he liked steak, au gratin potatoes and chocolate cream pie. Kitty Sue made it for him every birthday, he deserved a treat and maybe after I gave him one, he’d give one to me.
I went into the bedroom with dress and shoes and stared at the chair. Both my bags were gone. I did a check in the closet and a couple of drawers. Not only were my clothes put away, the dirty ones were cleaned, ironed and also hung in the closet or were folded in the drawers. I looked around the room and the bed was made with fresh sheets, the carpets freshly vacuumed.
Obviously Monday was a Judy the Housekeeper Day.
I did the whole girlie thing, going overboard with full, wild Tawny Kittaen hair, the front pulled loosely back in a clip and dark makeup on my eyes. I put on the dress Stevie chose, black satin, thin strapped, skimming my body in a clingy, but not obvious, way, decent cleavage but the kicker was a killer dip in the back. I put on Rock Chick sandals, high, death-defying, thin heel with so many straps, you had to wrap some of them up your calves. Subtle perfume, no jewelry because, in the heat of the moment, who wanted to waste time taking off jewelry?
It was getting late, so I slid the au gratin potatoes in to cook, even if Lee was really late, I could warm them easily enough when I broiled the steaks.
I found a John Grisham and started reading. I took the potatoes out and went back to reading. Then later, I got up and went to the kitchen, got my cell and Lee’s cordless and put them both on the coffee table so they were within easy reach and went back to reading. I settled on my side to get more comfortable and kept reading.
Then, bein
g who I was and seeing as it was late, I fell asleep.
Chapter Fifteen
You Didn’t Say Anything about Pie
My hair slid off my shoulder and fell down my back.
I opened my eyes and Lee was sitting on the couch in the cushion exposed above by my curled legs.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” he replied.
“You didn’t call,” I told him.
“It was late, I was worried I’d wake you.”
I got up on my elbow.
“What time is it?”
“Comin’ on midnight.”
I did a mini-stretch and came up a bit more. As I was doing this, his hands found my waist and twisted me around onto his lap. My book fell to the floor but neither of us went for it. He settled into the sofa and I settled into him, putting my head on his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his middle. One of his arms was around my waist, the other hand resting above my knee.
“You planned dinner,” he said. “Is it ruined?”
“I made stuff that would fit into an uncertain schedule. We can have it tomorrow or I can make it tonight. You hungry?” I asked.
“Not for food.”
His hand slid up my thigh, taking the hem of my dress with it.
My stomach did a dip.
“Are you tired?” he asked.
“I was asleep,” I stated the obvious.
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“Aren’t you tired?”
“I was, I’m not anymore.”
“Oh.”
Yikes.
His hand came up more and his head bent so he could touch his mouth to my neck.
“How’s your man?” I asked.
“Alive,” he said to the skin below my ear. “Critical but he’s a fighter.” His tongue touched my skin and I shivered.
“That’s good, I guess.”
“Do you wanna go to bed?”
“Yes,” I told him.
He lifted his head and his hand slid around my thigh, going under the fabric of my dress. The tips of his fingers glided across the edge of my panties at my leg.
“Let me rephrase that, do you wanna go to sleep?”
Was he high? Did I want to go to sleep? What kind of question was that?