Checkered Thief (A Laurel London Mystery Book 3) (4 page)

The humidity pressed through the open screen door. It was going to be a hot one today, which wasn’t going to do anything for this hangover. I pushed the bottom open with the toe of my flat, careful not to spill my coffee.

Brittany stood up from the rocker. The rocker swung back and forth behind her.

Her long brown hair tumbled around her face. Her thick brows were shaped perfectly over her blue eyes. Her lips were plump and pouty pink. She was gorgeous. She wore a gold speckled short-sleeved top paired with white shorts and a gold pair of gladiator sandals. Her big toe on her foot was bandaged.

“Ouch.” I pointed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” She gave a forgiving smile.

“Listen,” I walked around her to sit down in the other rocker. If I didn’t, I just might have passed out on her. I gestured for her to sit. I put both my hands on my hot cup and steadied it when I sat down. She sat down and started to rock. “Please stop rocking. Or I might, you know.”

“Yeah, sure.” She immediately stopped.

“I’m sorry. It isn’t about me wanting Derek or anything. It’s me not knowing about you that threw me off.” I was eating a big piece of crow and it didn’t taste good with a hangover.

“I know. He talks about you all the time,” she said. “He said you were a little protective over him, which I get considering your pasts. And I totally forgive you so no need to apologize anymore.”

“Great. Now that we got that settled.” I got back up. I could respect her for coming here and saving me the trouble of finding her and it wasn’t like I had to keep her here because we clearly weren’t going to be best friends.

“That’s not really why I’m here.” She bit her lip. She looked anxious as she looked around as if someone were watching us. “Derek mentioned you are really good at figuring things out that most people can’t.” She gulped. “Like hacking things and doing some illegal things.”

“Did he?” I eased back into the rocking chair and took a sip of the coffee.

“I need your help.” Her words hung between us. I nearly choked on my coffee.

It was one thing for her to be dating my best friend and me not know about it, but it was another for me to team up with her.

The morning breeze skimmed along the wooden floor of the open porch, sending chills up my legs. I did a shimmy shake as goose bumps made their way up and out of my body—knowing the warm breeze wasn’t the culprit of the goose bumps. Something told me something was off. . .way off.

“Listen.” My words had to be chosen wisely. I was a bit of a hot-head and I was so tempted to let her know that I was not happy with the situation. “Derek and I go way back, but I’m not in any position to help you out. I understand he talks about me and you want me to quietly slip into the shadows so he can focus on you, but you can’t break our bond.” Once I got started, I just couldn’t stop. Some days I wished I were like one of the windup toys—start full speed ahead and run out of juice. Not me. I just kept going and going, crossing a line of no return. “Sure you are cute and dress all nice. And there is no one around here like you.” I pulled my coffee back up to my lips and blew on the steam before taking another sip. “I’m not sure why you are here or what you do, but like I said, Derek and I have a bond that won’t be broken by you or anyone else. Now if you came here for an apology, I did that because I don’t want Derek to be upset.” I stood up and took a deep breath to get some good air in my lungs and get my head straight. I needed a good greasy breakfast and The Cracked Egg had just what I needed. “I’m sorry I acted up last night. I can promise you it won’t happen again.”

I took a couple of steps toward the door and passed her before she spoke up.

“I’m not here for your help with Derek,” she said in a resigned tone.

I stopped, held my cup with both hands close to my chest and squeezed my eyes closed. The chills crossed over my body and I glanced up at the wind chime Trixie had hung on a metal hook near the screen door and it was as still as a graveyard.

“I’m in a little financial trouble. Derek doesn’t know and I need your skills to help me out. On the down low.” The rocker she was sitting in swung back, smacking the front of the house when she got up. “Derek can’t know.”

“What?” I spat and turned around. Suddenly the hangover took over and sent my into a tailspin making the porch twirl and whirl. I tried to focus on Brittany, but the slow rock of the rockers made me lose all balance causing me to drop my cup, shattering it all over the porch.

“What happened?” Trixie’s voice spilled out of the house. The pitter-patter of her feet got closer and closer. She flung the door open, she had her wooden stick in her hand lifted in the air and her foil hat perched askance on top of her head. “Are they here?”

“Who is here?” Brittany eyes nervously darted back and forth between Trixie and me.

“The aliens.” Trixie’s eyes narrowed. Her head slowly slid from right to left as she scanned the landscape.

“No,” I bent down to pick up the broken coffee mug. “I dropped my mug and broke it.”

“Aliens?” Brittany gently tugged on my arm. Her eyes bugged out of her head and her mouth dropped.

“You can go on in and finish your show.” I encouraged Trixie to get inside. Brittany had my interest up. Financial problems? That caught me off guard.

“I’m your gal when the aliens invade.” Trixie pointed her bony finger toward herself.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Brittany did her best to keep up her appearance of the polite girl dating Derek.

Trixie moseyed back toward the door, put her hand on the screen door and walked in the house.

“Say,” Trixie said through the screen. “Why don’t you come over tonight for dinner and bring my boy.”

Trixie referred to all of us orphans as her kids and Derek was her pride and joy. It was true that most of the orphans that came through our orphanage did their time and got out of Walnut Grove. Most of them ended up in jail or became bums. Derek had that something special; he had a strong work ethic that most teenagers didn’t have.

Trixie got him a job down at the Gas-N-Go when he was sixteen. Derek loved to fiddle with cars and Clyde Yap had an eye for Trixie so he did her a favor and talked Baxter Thacker into giving Derek a job. By the end of our senior year, everyone took their cars to Derek and he even opened up his own mechanic shop while going to the police academy. Derek was a catch and Brittany knew it. That was why she needed my help.

“That sounds great.” Brittany’s voice perked up a bit. “I’m sure Derek will love it. I’ll have him call you.”

I smiled, thinking maybe Derek wouldn’t enjoy dinner with his precious, innocent Brittany.

“Good.” Trixie turned back around and disappeared into the house.

“Now that we have dinner settled.” Brittany put her cup on the table next to the rocker and rubbed her hands together. “I need to know I can count on you. Derek’s life depends on it.”

“Whoa,” I put my hands up in the air. “What do you mean Derek’s life depends on it?”

“I’m not sure if you are going to understand my predicament.” She looked toward the door. “Is Trixie listening?”

“No.”

“I’m not really Brittany.” She paced the length of the porch that spanned across the entire house.

I knew it. My nose curled. It took everything I had not to growl and claw her like Henrietta did to the field mice.

“I’m Bethany, Brittany’s identical twin sister.” She continued to talk and I eased back down into the rocker.

“Okay?” I was a bit confused. “Why did you tell Trixie you are Brittany?”

Not only was Brittany a little sketchy, so was her sister.

“Are you going to help me or not?” Bethany asked.

“It depends on what you mean by Derek’s life depending on it. Is Brittany going to hurt him by breaking his heart and you are on some sort of mission to help him?” I wasn’t following what was going on. It had to be the booze that had clouded my head.

“The outcome will determine whether Derek lives or dies.” Her eyes hooded like a hawk.

Life or death? Bethany had my attention.

“Trixie,” I grabbed my bag off the counter. “Can you feed Henrietta? I have a Drive Me client and I’m going to be late.”

“Sure thing, honey.” Trixie waved her hand in the air as if she heard me, though her eyes were glued to the TV.

Her gesture was enough for me to accept that she’d feed my cat. Besides, Henrietta would drive her crazy if someone didn’t feed her soon.

On my way out of the kitchen, I noticed there was some extra Bloody Mary left over in the blender Trixie had used to mix up the cocktail. I grabbed a cup, poured the leftover in it and popped the lid off the vodka sitting next to it, giving myself an extra little pour. I could see I was going to need it to numb what Bethany was about to tell me.

“Where are we going?” Bethany asked from the passenger side of the Belvedere once we were on the road. She gripped the door handle like I was driving the Indy 500. “You aren’t taking me to see Derek are you? Because if you are, I’ll lie,” she warned.

“If Derek knows anything about Brittany, he will know you are a fake.” I zoomed down Main Street until I got into the edge of town.

“I’m not kidding. They will kill him.” Her words were like daggers going straight to my heart.

“No one will lay a finger on Derek Smitherman. That I can promise you.” I warned and brought the car to an abrupt stop and took a big swig of Bloody Mary from the cup. “I need food. I’m not sure if it’s lack of nutrition that is making your words not make sense or if you are screwing with me.” I wiggled my finger between us. “I’m taking you to The Cracked Egg and we are going to have a nice long discussion over breakfast.” I sucked in a deep breath. “But first you have to tell me if Derek is okay right this minute.”

“He is fine for now.” She bit her lip. “That is all I can promise.”

My jaw clenched. I squeezed the wheel with both hands and pushed on the gas. My gut instinct told me she was exactly who she said she was and something bad was going down.

I found a parking spot across the street from The Cracked Egg. Bethany and I got to The Cracked Egg just in time for the last booth in the far back corner where it was the most private.

“This is charming.” Bethany looked around at the café from the booth. She pushed all the buttons on the old music player on the table.

“They don’t work. It’s just décor.” I looked around the diner, hoping to get Gia’s attention for a coffee.

The diner was a replica of the old fifties and sixties diners with the café tables dotting the middle of the diner and booths positioned around the perimeter. The long counter had stool seating and you had to get there extra early to grab a seat because the old men of the town met there every morning to help solve the world problems. They were almost as bad as the women of town with their gossip.

“Where the hell have you been?” Gia rushed over. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun. “Dad is furious with you. And we are slammed.” She glared at Bethany.

“What are you talking about?” I asked searching for a plausible explanation as to why Mr. Chiconi would be upset with me.

Gia grabbed my arm. “I wrote it on you in black marker.” She flipped my arm over and it was clean as a baby’s butt. “Geesh, Laurel. I wrote that you needed to work here this morning. You told me you didn’t have any Drive Me appointments. Dad is pissed.”

“I’m sorry. You honestly think I was in any shape or form to remember anything from last night?” I growled back. I helped out in the diner every once in a while, which was turning into a lot of the week because of the casino. Mr. Chiconi was too damn tight to hire anyone. “Jax didn’t even come home last night.”

“Yeah, he wasn’t too happy when he came to the bowling alley and you were practically calling her every name in the book.” She nodded toward Brittany. “Right, Brittany?”

“Umm. . .” Bethany gulped, grabbing the glass of water on the table and taking a drink.

“I guess you two kissed and made up.” Gia laughed. “Now, I’m going to get you something to eat and then you have to get to work.” Gia turned back toward Bethany. Her eyes lowered to the floor and then she drew them back up to look at Bethany. “I’m glad to see you aren’t limping.”

“Ibuprofen.” Bethany smiled with uncertainty across her face. “Works wonders.”

Gia walked away but not without giving an uncertain glance over her shoulder. Bethany and I didn’t say a word until Gia was out of earshot. I was fully aware Gia was watching. Not only because Bethany seemed suspicious, but Gia knew that I wasn’t one to forgive and forget so quickly. If I could play it off to be a favor for Derek maybe she’d fall for it. That was a big maybe. A huge maybe.

“What the hell is going on?” I leaned over the table.

“I’m Bethany, Brittany’s twin.” She played with the edge of the napkin in front of her.

“That part we have established.”

“Let’s just say that I’m the free spirit of the two of us,” she said, referring to her sister. “Brittany works at the casino. That is where she and Derek met a month ago when he was there with some of your buddies.”

I recalled the gathering she was talking about. We had just won a game of bowling and the Here For The Beer members went to the casino to celebrate our win, plus they wanted to try out the buffet. I didn’t go because Jax had the night off and I wanted to spend some time with him. Now I was regretting that I didn’t go.

“Brittany is always getting me out of a jam and I got into a debt jam with a few gambling sharks at a casino up in Cincinnati.” She looked around and shifted in her seat. “They found out my sister was floor manager at the Glitz and Glam. They kidnapped me last night and drove me here. They kidnapped her here.” There were tears in her eyes.

My heart pounded and my adrenaline took away my hangover. It was working much better than Trixie’s Bloody Mary.

“And?” I coaxed her to go on.

Before she started to tell me the rest of the tale, she took another look around the diner and leaned a little closer.

In a soft voice she spoke, “They told me I had to take the money I owed them from Brittany’s job to pay them or they were going to kill her and her cop boyfriend. These people aren’t joking around. They will kill them both. I know you don’t care about her, but you love Derek. I know you will do anything for him.”