1 Dog Collar Crime (14 page)

“I can’t count on them keeping quiet,” Frankie said. “They’re a bunch of old ladies.”

“We are not enlisting anyone’s help,” Lucie said.

Frankie stayed quiet. Too quiet. When he went dark like that, it meant he wanted her to think he was agreeing by not disagreeing.

“Whatever you’re thinking, Frankie, forget it.”

“Yes, dear.”

Joey laughed.

She smacked his arm. “Shut up.”

“I gotta go,” Frankie said. “Luce, I’ll call you later and we’ll talk about it.”

She rubbed her fingers across her forehead hoping to make the pounding stop. “All right. We have to finish Otis’s walk anyway.”

“
What
?” Frankie said.

“Don’t start. I’m being paid to walk these dogs. Poor Otis’s back teeth are floating he has to pee so badly. He needs to be walked.”

“Joey, don’t you let her walk that dog.”

This was it. Joey would side with Frankie. He always did. She bit down on her bottom lip.

“I’ll take care of it.” Joey hung up.

The best course of action was to start talking first. “I have to get Otis walked. I’ll do it with you or without you. I don’t care. This is my job and the Lutz’s have helped me. I owe them.”

Joey held up his big hand, and she noticed blood staining his palm. “Chill. You’ll get Princess Puff-Puff walked.”

Hold on. Did he just say what she thought he said? “Huh?”

“Can we get through the yard to the other block?”

Seriously? He’d break ranks with Frankie and walk the dog with her? A roar of affection for her degenerate gambler brother swarmed. He was siding with
her
.

“The backyard isn’t fenced. We can cut through there. Do you think it’s safe?”

“I have no idea, but your threat of calling the cops probably chased them off for now. If we take a different route, you can get Puff-Puff’s walk in and finish the other dogs.”

“You need to get that lip looked at.”

“Nag, nag,” Joey said. “Can we get this damn dog walked? I got my own business to run and these dogs are costing me.”

Lucie nodded. Suddenly, she and Joey were a team. No matter how odd it seemed, she’d get her job done. And right now, that’s all she wanted.

Chapter Eight

Lucie made Joey load the merchandise for the Sammy Spaniel trunk show into Ro’s Escalade and winced when he threw the last box of collars.

“For God’s sake, Joey. The rhinestones will be all over the bottom of the box.”

He shrugged. “Then load it yourself.”

Ro stepped off the front porch in a murderous red sheath and matching coat. “Stifle it. Let’s get moving. The traffic on the Kennedy is filthy.”

“By the way,” Lucie said. “You look fabulous. A real professional.”

After stalking by, Joey turned to check out Ro’s backside. He stared for a second, looked up at the sky and blew out a breath. Typical. Lucie peeked at her black slacks and gray cardigan. An hour ago, she thought she looked darn good. Next to Ro? Might as well be homeless.

“Ro, I need your help.”

“Anything for you, sister. You know I’ve got your back.”

“Frankie and I are going on a date tomorrow—”

“I thought you broke up.”

“We did. We’re starting over.”

“Again?”

“Har-har. I need a change. Will you make me beautiful?”

Ro clucked her tongue. “You’re already beautiful.”

“I’m not a man-killer. I don’t want people wondering why Frankie is with me.”

Ro linked her arm with Lucie’s and walked toward the car. “Anyone that wonders is an idiot and doesn’t deserve your time.”

Good response.
Excellent
response. “Blah, blah. I still want to feel beautiful next to him. Help me step out of banker mode into something sexy.”

Ro rolled her bottom lip out. “You’ve got the tits for it.”

Lucie couldn’t control the laugh. Ro, like Joey, simply said what was on her mind. “You’ll help me?”

“Of course. Even if you’ve only given me a day, this is my specialty. I’m great under pressure.”

Yes, indeed. “Am I crazy, Ro?”

“Not in the least. You’re in a rut. Why shouldn’t you want a change?”

“Not that. Dating Frankie. We’ve broken up and gotten back together so many times, I’m not sure what we’re doing anymore.”

Ro stopped next to the driver’s side door of the Escalade and turned to Lucie. “You love him. You got lucky because the sex is hot
and
he’s dependable.”

That was certainly all true. “Well, sure.”

“Love like that is all-consuming. The extra benefit with Frankie is you never have to worry about him screwing around, or walking out when you need him. Finding both at once is special.”

Lucie didn’t understand. There hadn’t been any men in her life that came close to what Frankie meant to her. Wasn’t it always this way when two people loved each other? “So, I’m crazy if I let it go?”

Ro tilted her head. “Didn’t say that. I’m saying you need to be aware of what you’re risking. Most people don’t get an inferno of passion
and
the security.”

A snaking feeling curled inside and whispered that she and Ro were about to discuss something they, unbelievably, had never explored. “Did you?”

Please say yes
.
Let me believe in happily ever after
.

Ro smiled and it was one of those smiles that carried the edge of regret. “Not at the same time.”

Lucie took a tiny step back.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Ro said. “Tommy is the guy I want to spend my life with. He’s a man I know I can come home to and he’ll take care of me. He’ll be kind and respectful and that’s what I need. At some point, the security became more important than the constant adrenaline rush. The adrenaline guy tore me to shreds, and I’d had enough of that.”

Lucie must have been brain-fried, because for the life of her, she couldn’t think of a damn thing to say. There had been a lot of men in Ro’s life, and Lucie flipped through her mental file trying to determine who the shredder was.

“You chose security?”

“Yep. And I don’t regret it. Not for one second. I’m happy with good sex and stability. It beats off-the-charts sex and no stability.”

The damn mental file in Lucie’s head was empty. Not even a hint. “Who shredded you?”

Ro glanced toward the house. Probably checking on Joey Big Ears. “I never told you.”

No. And Lucie couldn’t believe it. Weren’t they best friends? She thought so, and the ache in her chest couldn’t be ignored. Why the secrets?

“I had good reason.”

“What was it?”

Ro shifted her gaze to it before blowing out a breath.

God, please don’t let it be Frankie
. If it was Frankie, Lucie would…she’d…she’d…hell, she didn’t know what she’d do, but vomiting could be at the top of the list. Right below that would be pulling a Lorena Bobbitt on Frankie and tearing out Ro’s hair. Brutal punishment. For both of them.

“Joey,” the soon-to-be-hairless one said.

Tension left Lucie like a blown tire.
Thank you
. “My brother Joey?” Lucie’s gaze shot to the front door. No sign of her brother. Good. She might have to kill him.

Ro stared up at the sky, ran her gloved hand down the long column of her neck and breathed deep. Ro looking wistful. Over Joey. Go figure.

“Yep. You were in graduate school. We were together for all of two months. It was two months of exquisite torture.”

“What happened?”

“Insanity is what happened. We got together one night. Every night after that became a mad rush to get into bed. He’d show up, we’d find a place to go, have crazy hot sex and do it all over again the next day. After eight weeks, I needed more. I wanted to go to the movies or to dinner, and all he wanted was to hang out with his friends.”

“That shithead.” Lucie’s voice was louder than she’d anticipated and she slapped her hand over her mouth.

Ro laughed. “Nah. He cared about me. I saw it in how affectionate he was. Even when the sex was a little adventurous, there was always trust. But that can’t sustain a relationship. I needed more. I needed him to grow up. Not right then, but eventually, and I was smart enough to know that Joey would always be a wildcard.” She stared back at the house.

Joey and Ro? Adventurous sex? Definite
ick
factor. And yet, her obnoxious brother kept this from her. From everyone, really, otherwise Lucie would have heard about it.

“And I was right. Can you picture me married to your brother? One of us would be dead.”

Igniting Lucie’s temper had become a favorite pastime for Joey, but he had never once made a crude remark about her best friend. “Wow.”

“Don’t be mad, Luce. Joey and I were okay with it, and when you came home, we didn’t want anything to change. It nearly killed me for a while because every time I came over, all I wanted was to curl into that big body of his. My heart was gutted.”

Gutted.

Joey?
Ick.

“And then you met Tommy?”

Ro smiled at the mention of her husband. “Yep. He saved me. He’s everything I wanted Joey to be, but without the drama. I wouldn’t change anything. That’s me though. You have to know what you want. If Frankie is the hot sex guy
and
the stability guy, then you’ve hit the mother of all jackpots.”

Doubting that was a waste of time. Frankie affected her in ways she’d never experienced. She thought about the implosion inside when his hands slid over her skin, or when he talked dirty in her ear. The idea of that happening with anyone else seemed impossible. She didn’t want it with anyone else.

But they needed different things.

Lucie glanced at the row of houses packed into the block and the cars parked bumper-to-bumper on the street. Two houses down, Mrs. Frasier had put her garbage can in the vacant spot to save it for her son, who worked odd hours, and nobody had moved it. This neighborhood had a flow to it, an unspoken set of rules no one dared to break.

Frankie wanted this neighborhood. She didn’t.

“I can’t let go of him,” Lucie said.

“If it’s because you love him, then it’s a start. But don’t hang on to him because it’s comfortable. You both deserve better.”

“It’s more than comfort. When I think about my life in five years, I’m with him. I just don’t know how to get there.”

“Maybe you should stop thinking and just let it be.”

Could she do that? Not chart out her life? All she’d done for the past ten years was set a course and follow it. She had wanted a respectable job—got that—and to get out of Franklin—got that. And yet, years later, all that planning had simply returned her to the place she’d started.

She closed her eyes and absorbed the fact that planning wouldn’t guarantee her what she wanted.

“Luce,” Ro finally said. “Give yourself a break and stop analyzing. Let’s get you some smoking hot clothes and drive Frankie crazy.”

An already shaky budget flashed into Lucie’s mind. “I can’t spend a lot.”

“We’ll go see a friend of mine. He’ll give us a good price.”

“His stuff didn’t fall off the truck, did it?” All she needed was a stolen dress to go with the diamond.

Ro shrugged. “I don’t think so, but you never know.”

Dealing with anything stolen would put Lucie over the edge and she didn’t want to risk it. “After the trunk show, let’s go to Macy’s. We’ll find something there.”

* * *

The ride downtown to Sammy Spaniel took longer than they had hoped and a steady drip of sweat wormed along Lucie’s spine. Damned Kennedy construction. Would it ever stop? Being late on the first day would hardly be a good start to a business relationship. It was so not Lucie’s style.

They arrived at the store with only fifteen minutes to spare before opening. Thankfully, Jeanette had cleared a corner for them and had already set up a long, rectangular table.

Ro whipped out a white tablecloth and spread it on the table. The banner with the newly made Coco Barknell logo came next, and she hung it over the front of the table. They had a logo. A cute one with a winking poodle wearing a diamond collar. How incredibly sassy.

Coco Barknell
.

“You like?” Ro asked.

Lucie’s throat swelled. “You did great, Ro.”

“Thanks. I think I’m pretty good at this doggie thing. We’re a good team.”

“I guess we’ll know after today if we can make this a side business or not.”

Ro waved her off. “Forget side business. I’m thinking Fortune 500.”

“That’ll be the day.”

Ro handed her an empty box. “You’ll see.”

But Lucie wasn’t sure she wanted to see. As a banker, she wanted to see mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and credit facilities.
That
’s what she wanted to see.

The two of them worked in tandem with Lucie unloading and Ro artfully arranging the coats, collars and leashes on the table. Ro had even picked up steel necklace stands to display some of the collars. A nice touch.