Cat 'N Mouse (4 page)

“Are they the same nightmares you used to have after your mother died?” Mimi’s arms tightened around her. “Those were something awful. Your daddy thought for sure you were going mad.”

“No,” Alexandria shook her heard. “Those were of mom lying at the bottom of the stairs in a pool of blood. They were on and off over the years, but they stopped when I moved out.”

She remembered the first night she moved into her condo six months ago and how nervous she’d felt. But she had slept through that night up until a month ago when she felt like someone was watching her. Then she was thrown back into the nightmares all over again.

“You okay, Sweet Pea?” Mimi asked when Alexandria lapsed into silence.

“These nightmares…they’re different.”

“How so?” Mimi looked down at her, eyes clouded with concern.

“They’re flashbacks. More violent. I see someone standing in the shadows behind mom.” Mimi’s gentle soothing stroke stopped. “He pushes her over the banister and then he starts walking toward me but I wake up before I see his face.”

After her mother had died, her father had remodeled the house, tearing down the old wooden banister and replacing it with marble and brass. Everything that had belonged to her mother was thrown away. It was as if her mother never existed. The only person she had was Mimi.

“You know your mother’s death was an accident. Push that rubbish from your mind. Besides, I thought you were coming to talk to me about…what do you young people say…the ‘hunk’ that got your blood boiling this morning. You couldn’t even finish your breakfast.”

“Good gracious!” She lifted her head up to look at Mimi. “You can’t be talking about Samuel O’Malley.”

“I never mentioned his name, Sweet Pea.” Her eyes lit up with a smile.

“Subtlety is not your strong suit, is it? The man is a thief.” She remembered the dark eyes that condemned her. “Not even if he was the last man on earth would I—”

“A thief?”

“He stole my phone.”

“Yes, but he’s a handsome thief.”

“You’re in it with daddy, aren’t you? One way or the other that man is going to be in my life and make me miserable. He looks at me as if I’m beneath him or something,” she said, remembering the way he sneered at her after the accident, and then snatching her phone away.

“But he has your blood boiling. When my Gerald was alive he used to make my toes curl in bed.” Mimi’s husky laugher filled the room. “I know you’ve never met him. He died just before I came to work for your father.”

“I remember you used to talk about him. That was the only time you were sad. I always thought that it was so nice that you two had a happy marriage.”

“Happiness doesn’t begin to cover it. Ever had your toes curl, Sweet Pea? What a ride. Mmmm.”

Alexandria had never had anything curled by any man. All they wanted was her father’s money.

“I don’t want to talk about Samuel O’Malley or toes curling.”

“Pity. Samuel O’Malley is the only man I’ve ever seen stand up to your father,” Mimi chuckled, “and walked away from your father at that too. I thought he would have a stroke when he stormed into the house. Imagine having Mr. O’Malley on your side, Sweet Pea, or even in your bed.”

“Mimi!”

She yawned. Mimi touched her face and smiled. “Sometimes I forget that you aren’t the twelve year old that used to jump into bed with me.” Mimi’s eyes were sad. “You look so much like your mother.”

“She didn’t love me, not the way you do.”

Alexandria couldn’t remember her mother ever hugging her. She was always crying, always sad.

“Oh, Sweet Pea, she loved you. She just didn’t know how to express it because no one showed her how.”

“You did. You loved me and showed it every day.”

Mimi shrugged, “I’m French.”

Alexandria shifted so her head was on the pillow. She heard Mimi’s soothing voice and felt like twelve years old again. Whenever her parents started to fight she would always escape to Mimi’s sanctuary. In Mimi’s room she couldn’t hear them. She felt safe. Tonight she felt safe. Whoever was following her couldn’t hurt her.

“Do you want me to tell you the story of how I met Josephine Baker?”

Alexandria smiled. She’d heard the story a million times as a child and yet every time she heard it, it was almost as if she was hearing it for the first time.

“Yes, please.”

“Josephine was given a few nicknames—the “Bronze Venus”, the “Black Pearl”, and the “Créole Goddess”—and she deserved every one of them. I was in a quaint little club called…”

S
am turned toward the bedroom door when he heard the front door open. Reaching for the gun on top of the duffle bag, he crept slowly toward the bedroom door.

Waiting.

After chasing that car outside the apartment last night, he had a whole lot of questions and no answers.

First and foremost, why was he being followed? Did it have anything to do with her
Royal Highness
? Had to be, since he noticed the tail after he left the estate. Why would anyone want to hurt her?

Footsteps on the hardwood floor clunked down the hall, definitely male, moving toward the bedroom. He cocked his gun just as the…

“Jesus, Matt! I almost put a bullet in you. What are you doing here?”

“Ahh… I live here,” Matt said, tossing the newspaper folded under his arm onto the bed. Since there was nothing in the room but the king-sized bed, it was a dumping ground for everything. He eyed the gun while running his hand through his sun-bleached hair. “I didn’t expect to get shot in my own house. Point that elsewhere, if you don’t mind.”

“You said you were staying at the executive suite.”

Sam put the gun in the duffle bag and zipped it up. Matt grabbed a clean white shirt and dark slacks from the closet. That meant one thing. He would guess that Matt had a date last night that had just ended and he needed to be in tiptop shape before he headed back to the corporate tower. After all, one can’t show up with a five o’clock shadow and red eyes at corporate headquarters.

For Matt, it was all about the show, putting the best foot forward and making the money. Sometimes he wondered about his friend. How far would he go for the money?

“I thought you already left for the estate.”

“I’m on my way out,” Sam said grabbing his bag off the bed. “You can have the place to yourself at least for the next week anyway for your excursions if she’s not welcome at Prescott’s executive suite.”

Sam’s comment was meant as a joke but it wasn’t received that way.

“I had a date last night. The condo is closer. Changing here is more convenient,” Matt explained. “Look, I know you don’t like Prescott and that’s fine. Whether you like him or not you’re in his employment for the next seven days so if I were you, I’d reign in that temper of yours. For the record I love my job at the corporate tower.”

The warning edge in Matt’s voice stopped Sam in mid stride at the bedroom door.

“No need to preach to me. I was joking.”

“No you weren’t. You used to know how to have a good time. Now all you do is complain. Despite what you think, the world doesn’t revolve around you. Whatever is eating at you, deal with it. And if this is about Melanie Daniels, you need let it go before it pulls you under.”

Sam hadn’t told Matt the whole story regarding his quick exit from Boston to the Sunshine State, but apparently with all of Matt’s connections, he had already found out enough to put two and two together.

He’d messed up his life and had no one to blame but himself. He was a good cop, even made detective at Boston Police Department. Then he got shot and Demerol became his best friend. Once that friendship developed it was hard to let go, but he’d made the break.

There were consequences regarding his friendship with his drug of choice. He’d made some bad decisions. One of which was him messing up his relationship with his girlfriend. He figured since she had her eyes on the long white dress, the perfect colonial house with children thrown in the mix it was best that she’d left. He wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment.

His job was another story, and that had played out like a soap opera. When he’d gotten the opportunity to fix his mistake, he’d tried to make it right. But although the department had acknowledged that there were extenuating circumstances for his actions, it wasn’t enough. He had to take responsibility for his prior actions. What was left to do but leave town after that stirring speech.

Matt was right. He should deal with his issues, do the job he was hired to do and quit complaining.

“Are we cool on this?” Matt toed off his shoes pausing outside the door of the adjoining washroom waiting for his answer. Matt needed things to be okay before moving forward.

“Yeah, we’re cool. By the way,” Sam said injecting some humor back into the conversation. “I met Elvira yesterday and haven’t seen her since.”

“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?”

“It’s a lizard.”

“Shh.” Matt put his finger on his lips, grinning. “Don’t let her hear you.”

Sam shook his head and laughed. “You know it’s a reptile, right. I swear, your eyes just glazed over. I’m starting to worry about you.”

“No need to worry about me. There is someone else besides Elvira. It’s just not the right time yet for us.” Matt stepped in the washroom and just before he closed the door said, “Check out the story on the front page of the paper. Some nut job broke into an animal blood bank, which supplies blood to animal hospitals for surgery. Who knew? Anyway, a whole lot of blood products were stolen.”

•  •  •

“Good morning, Mr. O’Malley…or should I call you Samuel,” the woman asked when she opened the door, wiping her hands in the red apron tied around her waist. “We’re very informal around here.”

“Only my mother called me Samuel. She’s dead.”

The Prescott household had given her permission to call everyone by their first names, big deal. He was in no mood to chitchat with a nosey housekeeper and he didn’t want to be on a first name basis with her either. He made a note to get a background check done on her. With that man outside the apartment last night, he wasn’t taking any chances.

“My name is Mimi,” she said extending her hand toward him. “I’ve always found the Irish so well-mannered. Mr. O’Malley it is then. Perhaps you’re Irish in name only.”

Sam has never considered it one way or the other. When he looked into the mirror it wasn’t an Irish man looking back at him. He blended into the two cultures, but his Caribbean heritage seemed to emerge as the strong victor even though he’d developed a taste for Irish beer.

Mimi stepped back from the door as he entered and leveled him with a look of either intrigue or disapproval. He was leaning toward disapproval. One thing was for sure, she wasn’t about to be put off by him.

He had every intention of taking Matt’s advice about managing his anger. That flew out the window as soon as the cab dropped him off at the front door. It was the haves versus the have-nots and that line was clearly drawn in the sand.

“I’ll show you to the salon. Mr. Prescott and Alexandria will join you shortly.”

Salon? He didn’t know what a salon was but followed Mimi anyway. It took a lot to impress him but the salon sure did. It was an oversized sitting room. Everywhere he looked was marble, glass, crystals, and artwork, which he was sure, were originals. No dogs playing poker hanging over the fireplace.

“They’re just things, Mr. O’Malley,” Mimi said watching him closely. “At the end of the day, they mean nothing.”

“I guess that’s what people say when they don’t have anything.”

“I’ve all I need. Do you?”

He didn’t get a chance to respond. The fireworks that erupted outside the salon door took care of that.

“Daddy, you can’t be serious?”

Sam knew that voice. He had been trying to get that voice and face out of his head since their encounter yesterday, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. He was here because of Prescott’s plea for help. The rich man wanted something from him and had come to him begging. Swallowing his pride that got stuck in his throat, he came to the conclusion that he needed the money. Why not do both? Earn money and protect the Princess.

There was still something eating away at him. Of all the people Matt knew, why hire him? It’s not like he was high on Prescott’s list of favorite people. He didn’t buy that ‘I trust you bit’ from Matt either, at least not one hundred percent. Maybe he was being too cynical.

“Princess, be reasonable,” Prescott said, with a hint of impatience in his voice. “Someone tried to hurt you.”

“What can your rent-a-cop do other than be a thorn in my side?”

Sam was a hired hand and now he was a thorn. Great. Not only didn’t he want the job, Princess didn’t want him around either. Rent-a-cop? Chaperoning Princess was going to be about as fun as a root canal.

“A thorn is better than dead.”

Game, set, and match for daddy. Sam was enjoying their heated exchange way too much. He wondered what her come back would be. He didn’t have to wait long.

“How do I explain him? He’s my latest what? Lover.”

That pissed him off. The disgust oozed from her voice. What? He wasn’t allowed to walk on the same planet as Princess. He grunted.

This garnered a chuckle from Mimi just as Alexandria and Prescott entered the salon. Princess’s eyes popped wide open when she saw him. Guess she didn’t know he’d arrived. And he took great pleasure in that.

“I’ve never had to be explained before,
Princess
, morning or night.”

Sam came face-to-face with eyes burning with anger. She was almost shaking. For some reason he enjoyed goading her. Princess started rubbing her hand against her leg, balling it into a fist and he knew what she wanted to do. Oh, why not the devil sitting on his shoulder egged him on.

“Go ahead, Princess.”

Alexandria looked over at Mimi who shook her head slightly and smiled. Then she turned to her father for help.

“Daddy, please—”

Prescott’s cellphone rang and his forefinger went up to silence Princess. Like father like daughter.

“Excuse me. Hello? No, Colin, that’s not acceptable,” he said and left the room. “Bring everyone back to the table. I’m not putting up any more money. That company is not worth the dirt it’s standing on,” Prescott’s voice drifted from the hall. “Mimi, bring my breakfast into my study.”