Read 04 - Shock and Awesome Online

Authors: Camilla Chafer

04 - Shock and Awesome (31 page)

BOOK: 04 - Shock and Awesome
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"Yes, I do," Ben agreed, with a sexy wink.

 

 
   
"Do you think they caught the guy yet?" I asked, toying with the stem of my glass.

 

 
   
"The guy?"

 

 
   
"The thief?" I reminded him. How could he forget?

 

 
   
Ben shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it was Claudia all along." He smiled and raised his eyebrows with a suggestive flicker.

 

 
   
"Oh really? You think she masterminded the whole thing?" I was feigning interest. Not that it was hard; any perspective on how the thief could get away with a theft like that in a crowded room was intriguing.

 

 
   
"I wouldn't be surprised."

 

 
   
"I think we'll have to disagree. I think it was a criminal mastermind." I sipped my drink. Delicious. I would miss cocktails with Lily for the forthcoming months. Perhaps Ben would... no, I couldn't think like that. Even if Ben were off the hook, I still couldn't date him. Everything about me was a lie, designed to lure him. Once he knew the truth, it would be over. Besides, a third man in my confused mind? No.

 

 
   
"In Montgomery? Do criminal masterminds take the time to come out here?"

 

 
   
I thought about all the cases I worked so far, ever since the day I slipped in the blood of my dead boss's corpse. "You'd be surprised," I told him, "at what happens in Montgomery."

 

 
   
Ben leaned in, close enough that I could smell his shower gel. "Now you sound like a woman with secrets."

 

 
   
I pressed a finger to the center of my chest, coincidentally tapping the top of my cleavage. Ben's gaze drifted down and lingered. I bet that was a coincidence too. "Woman of mystery."

 

 
   
"Maybe I should be suspicious. Perhaps you are the great jewel thief of the night," Ben teased. He took a sip of his cocktail and placed his glass on the table. A bead of liquid lingered on his lower lip and I concentrated hard, restraining myself from leaning over to lick it off.

 

 
   
Then I leaned in and pressed my lips to his.

 

 
   
What? Willpower isn't my strong point. It's not even in my top five strong points.

 

 
   
Before I could pull away, Ben's palm rested against the back of my head and he pulled me closer. I slid further around the velvet banquet table until our thighs bumped together. His other arm encircled me. My hands brushed over his shoulders and around his neck and my tongue meshed with his. His hand stroked the back of my neck, grazing the clasp of my necklace, which, unfortunately, reminded me why I was here. This wasn't a date. This was all a ruse. Ben might be a millionaire, but I was not the heiress he thought I was. No matter how attractive and charming, he was still a suspect until someone said otherwise. No matter how good he kissed, or that he lit a fire in my belly, this was going nowhere.

 

 
   
I pulled away, gently. His hand remained on the back of my neck as his eyes burned into mine.

 

 
   
Maybe I should just have one more little kiss?

 

 
   
Just to make sure.

 

 
   
I blinked. No. I had to be professional. I had to... Oops! Was Ben kissing me again? Damn, no one could blame me for this one!

 

 
   
"Mmm," I murmured as we drifted apart one million fantastic minutes later. Ben's thumb stroked the nape of my neck, playing with the catch of my necklace...

 

 
   
My necklace.

 

 
   
Where was Ben when Claudia's necklace was stolen from her throat?

 

 
   
I was certain that he was standing next to me, but now when I thought about it... I just couldn't be sure. We weren't holding hands, or standing with linked arms. In the dark and distraction caused by the bubble of panic, he could easily have slipped away, and returned just as the lights came back on.

 

 
   
Yes, Ben had ample opportunity to steal Claudia's jewels. At least, he had as much opportunity as Lord Justin, or anyone else in the room who was near her.

 

 
   
What if I'd gotten it wrong? What if I sent Solomon and Delgado after the wrong guy while I played tongue tickle with the real thief?

 

 
   
Thing was, I couldn't possibly work out how Ben could’ve gotten the necklace out of the venue? He'd been searched, and I had to assume thoroughly by Fletcher, though he didn't appear to be violated in anyway. Eww, I didn't want to pursue that thought. Maybe if Ben was the culprit, he stashed the jewels somewhere, ready to retrieve later. But where? And how?

 

 
   
"Something on your mind?" asked Ben.

 

 
   
"Just my hair," I said, stroking a stray lock behind my ear. Ben laughed, but the tension I felt didn't disappear. Instead of feeling relaxed, I was on high alert; like on the verge of breaking the case. It felt like it was within fingertip's reach and I could grasp it at any moment.

 

 
   
"You seem tense."

 

 
   
"I guess I'm a little tense after the theft. The thief must have real temerity to snatch those jewels from amongst all those people." I shook my head as if to show my real dismay.

 

 
   
"Worried it could have been you?" Ben's finger moved from my clasp, under the slim chain and lifted the pendant. "Pretty little thing," he murmured, but I don't know if he was talking about the necklace or me.

 

 
   
"Isn't everyone worried?" I countered. "Aren't you?"

 

 
   
Ben dropped my pendant and lifted the edge of his sleeve, flashing a Rolex and a bright pair of gold cufflinks. "I'm good."

 

 
   
"I see that. Speaking of which, did you see anything that happened? Anything at all?"

 

 
   
Ben shook his head. "Nothing. It was too dark. Maybe I should eat more carrots," he joked.

 

 
   
"Maybe." I took a sip of my drink, taking my time, before adding casually, "I thought you were closer to Claudia than I." Ben arched his eyebrow and I backtracked, scrambling for the right words. "I mean, closer geographically, not closer physically. Not that I'm implying you got close to Claudia physically at all."

 

 
   
"She would eat me alive." Ben laughed, politely ignoring my fluster. "I really didn't see a thing. I was next to you the whole time the lights were out. Weren't we holding hands? And I think you were closer to Claudia, but I don't really remember."

 

 
   
"I don't think so..." Actually, I was almost certain we weren't holding hands. I'd just dropped my purse and Ben stooped to pick it up off the floor. I had my wine glass in my other hand.

 

 
   
"Huh. I wonder whose hand I was holding!" Ben laughed at his own joke and I stashed my concern away to address later. If I probed any further, Ben would think I was suspicious, and that would just spoil the evening.

 

 
   
I set my suspicions to one side by the time I caught a movement from the corner of my eye. The shape was too familiar for me to ignore, unlike the many other people who passed our table in the hour or so since we arrived. Casually tossing my hair, I looked around, pretending to be interested in the crowd, until I found him.

 

 
   
Solomon.

 

 
   
He sat a few tables away, side on to us, his back to the wall. I knew he would have surveyed the room already, and I knew he would be looking at us, even if his face pointed to his companion. Opposite him sat Delgado, looking a little uneasy at being in a bar, though a lot
suaver
since he lost his jacket and tie and simply wore an open necked shirt. Perhaps he wasn't the party type. Solomon, meanwhile, seemed to look at home wherever he was. He had that kind of presence.

 

 
   
With a hint of annoyance, I saw
he
hadn't gone unnoticed. A group of women at the next table were each checking him out. Not that he seemed at all interested, he didn't even seem to see them. He barely even noticed when one stupendously long-legged woman rose from her chair, sashayed towards him, and "accidentally" bumped his chair, pretending to be flustered and apologetic, probably saying that she wasn't watching where she was going or something equally inane. Solomon gave her a disinterested smile, said something, and turned away, dismissing her.

 

 
   
I watched the woman wrinkle her nose in surprise before turning to her friends, and giving them a little shrug. Insensitively, I wondered if she planned to literally throw herself over him on the way back from wherever she was going. The bathroom, I suspected, when she walked past the bar, slipping from view behind a boxy pillar.

 

 
   
I turned my attention back to Solomon, wondering what he said to Delgado, who nodded, turned his head, turned back, and nodded again. I searched the crowd to see their newest source of fascination and found... Oh... What? Maddox. Great. What was he doing here?

 

 
   
The pretty, but annoying, Detective Blake wasn't with him, so I thanked my sweet blessings that it was just the annoying men in my life who seemed to be following me, rather than waiting out in their cars somewhere for me to flip the safe word before charging in to rescue me. The only thing worse would be if my three brothers amazingly decided that tonight Bar Raphael was their new drinking joint. Somehow, I felt safe; between their respective wives, and Lily, and the MPD drinking hole of choice, O’Grady’s, I didn't think Bar Raphael stood a chance.

 

 
   
I started to rise. "Will you excuse me a moment? I have to powder my nose."

 

 
   
Ben got to his feet like the perfect gentleman. "Shall I order more drinks?"

 

 
   
"Please."

 

 
   
His eyes lingered on me for a moment before he turned to get the cocktail waitress's attention. He raised one finger, then slid back into the booth. I walked purposefully towards the bar, turning to look at Ben just as I passed Solomon. Ben's eyes were on me, and he flashed me a confident smile, as he turned to the approaching waitress. I took a right at the bar and headed towards the small corridor leading to the restrooms. Instead of entering, I waited, and a moment later, Solomon was beside me.

 

 
   
"What are you doing in here?" I asked. "You'll blow my cover."

 

 
   
"Rafferty has never seen me, and I doubt he'll recognize Delgado. We're good."

 

 
   
"You don't know that for sure." Solomon gave me an offhand shrug that said he already weighed the situation and thought it was fine. I guess I had to bow to his superior judgment, though a knee in the nuts would have been more satisfying. "Okay, shoot. Why
are
you here?"

 

 
   
"Keeping an eye on my employee," Solomon told me without a trace of interest in my luscious female wiles. Instead, he made it sound difficult to keep his employee “property” safe from harm.

BOOK: 04 - Shock and Awesome
11.43Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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