D is for Drunk (9 page)

“Auntie Sofia swims?” Violet asked. “I know some good underwater moves. How to punch a shark, things like that.”

Sofia stared at the ring right where Jaxon and the horses had bowed to her. Horses had never bowed to her before.

“Quite the talented animal, that horse,” said Aidan. “Both horses actually.”

Tex punched him on the arm. It must have hurt, because he reached up to rub it.

Everyone was quiet during the rest of the show. Sofia relaxed into it, breathing in the smells of horse, sawdust, and popcorn. The performers were amazing. They must have rehearsed for hours to hit every mark so perfectly. What if she’d been cast in a horse show, instead of a detective one? Would she have ended up in a show like this instead of in a detective agency?

Life had just happened to her. She’d tagged along with Emily for the audition for
Half Pint Detective
because she was too sick to go to school that day and her mother hadn’t wanted to leave her home alone. The casting director had seen Sofia, probably high on cold medicine, trying to pry open a window to let out a moth beating itself to death against the glass and insisted she audition, too.

The moth’s dusty scales had left marks on the glass. The window was painted shut, she’d never have been able to open it, but she’d still regretted she hadn’t freed the moth before she got dragged off to run lines. When she came back after her unscheduled audition, the moth was gone. She always wondered what had happened to it.

So, her whole career came down to a lost insect. If she hadn’t been standing on the chair struggling with the window, the casting director probably wouldn’t have noticed her. That’s how random her life was. Maybe how random everyone’s life was.

If she hadn’t seen that surfing documentary and decided to go swimming yesterday, Jaxon might not have a life. He might still be hanging from his surfboard by the leash, his eyes closed, and his skin gone cold.

“Are you OK?” Aidan whispered to her.

“Fine,” she answered, but she wasn’t sure. She concentrated on the performance again, but it was mostly over. The actors and horses were coming in and taking their bows. The crowd roared for Jaxon, and he caught her eye.

“Backstage?” he mouthed.

She looked from side to side.

“All of you,” he mouthed.

She nodded, and he bowed.

CHAPTER 14

J 
axon’s assistant, a dark-haired boy who looked about eight, came up to them after the show.

“My name is Sage,” he said. “I’m supposed to take you backstage.”

“How long have you been working with fire?” Violet asked. “At what age exactly did you start?”

“When I was five or six, I guess.”

Violet vibrated with outrage and glared at her mother.

“Is that a katana embroidered on your jacket?” Sage asked. “It looks cool.”

“My mom did it for me,” Violet said grudgingly. “It’s a weapon I get to work out with at the dojo on Saturday, if I’m good. The practice one is only wooden, but it’s still fun.”

Sage and Violet led the way down the aisle and over towards the back of the tent talking about martial arts.

“That Sage is one to watch,” said Tex.

“Auntie Sofia will be too busy watching Jaxon,” said Van. “She blushed.”

She blushed again. What was up with that?

“It’s hot in here,” said Emily. “That’s all.”

“That Khal Drogo raised the temperature in the whole tent,” said Tex. “I thought I was having a hot flash.”

“He’s not Khal Drogo, that’s from Game of Thrones,” said Van.

“What do you know about Game of Thrones?” Emily asked him.

“Jake at school watches it. He says a lot of people die, and a lot of people get naked.”

“Which one is Jake?” Emily asked.

Sofia slipped through the back tent flap and entered a different world. Horses of every color and size milled around, tended to by performers in and out of costume, and attendants in jeans and t-shirts. It smelled of horse and hay. She liked it.

“Hey!” called a familiar voice.

Jaxon stood between two large black horses. One rested its muzzle against his bare shoulder.

“Glad he didn’t put on a shirt yet,” murmured Tex.

Sofia hoped Jaxon hadn’t heard.

“Hello,” Sofia said. She quickly introduced everyone.

“If it isn’t Action Jaxon, the professional surfer,” said Aidan.

Jaxon quirked his mouth into a half smile. “Horses are easier to ride than waves.”

Violet tentatively stroked the nearest horse. “What’s her name?”

“Inky. Wanna sit on her back?” Jaxon asked.

“Yes.” Violet actually sounded a bit worried.

Jaxon lifted her up with one arm and deposited her on the horse’s back. Violet clung to the mane and smiled.

“Good girl,” she said.

“What’s the other horse called?” Van looked longingly at the second horse.

“Clyde.” Jaxon boosted him atop the other horse.

“Like in Pac Man?” Van asked. “After the ghosts?”

“Exactly,” Jaxon said. “Most people don’t notice.”

Van puffed up with pride.

“The show was great!” Sofia said.

“If you’d told me you were bringing the whole family, I would have left out more tickets,” Jaxon said. “But I’m glad you liked it.”

“We loved it,” said Emily.

“Especially the part where the horses bowed,” said Aidan. “Very subtle.”

“Aidan’s an old family friend.” Emily put her hand on his arm. “The kids love hanging out with him.”

“Can you train these horses to do anything?” Violet asked. “Like battle?”

“I wouldn’t want these two big babies going into battle.” Jaxon stroked their muzzles. “But horses have been trained to go to war as long as there’s been war and horses, so it would be possible.”

“Can you train them to make noise? Or poop?” Van asked.

That was actually a useful question. Had Grigoryan’s neighbor trained the horse to poop right in his car?

“Sure.” Jaxon grinned again. “A lot of horses are trained to go pee when you whistle.”

“Not a bad skill to learn, huh, Sofia?” asked Aidan.

Jaxon looked puzzled. Maybe he was the last guy in Los Angeles who hadn’t seen the video of her peeing in the Big Rock Rehab parking lot. It made her like him more.

“Inky and Clyde,” she said. “I like those names.”

“Blinky and Pinky are back at the ranch. They work with cows, not this kind of trick riding.”

“Is Blinky red, like the ghost?” Van asked. How did he know the names of video game ghosts from the eighties? “What kind of horse are they?”

“American quarter horses,” Jaxon answered. “Blinky is a red dun and Pinky is gray. I got them all at the same time.”

Clyde sniffed Sofia’s hair. His breath felt soft and moist against her scalp.

“He likes you,” Jaxon said.

“I like him, too,” Sofia said. “I haven’t ridden in a long time, but I used to love horses.”

“She had horse posters in her room,” Emily said. “And she went riding every chance she got. She loves horses.”

“Would you like to go riding on Tuesday? The show isn’t performed on Tuesdays, so the horses are free to get some exercise on their own.” Jaxon flashed that smile again.

“I could come after work,” Sofia said.

“Tuesdays are busy days at work,” Aidan piped up. “I don’t know.”

“I do,” Sofia said.

Tex threaded her arm through Aidan’s. “Why don’t you take me over there to look at that giant Percheron, Aidan?”

Before he could answer, she’d tugged him away. Aidan went unwillingly, like a dog who was barely leash trained.

Jaxon walked the horses around with the kids on the back, Sofia and Jaxon exchanged phone numbers, and then it was time to go.

While Emily was dusting off the kids and frisking Van to make sure he hadn’t discovered some kind of tool that would be used to take apart the minivan, Sofia got a moment alone with Jaxon.

“I really enjoyed your show,” she said. “The horses. The acrobats. The costumes. Just great.”

“Your friend, Aidan, didn’t seem that impressed.” Jaxon glanced over to where Aidan fidgeted next to Tex. She hadn’t let go of his arm since she’d dragged him away. “Did you two used to go out?”

“Aidan?” Sofia laughed. “Not ever. We’ve known each other since we were kids, and we both work for his father now. We’re just friends. Work colleagues. Barely that.”

“Good,” said Jaxon.

CHAPTER 15

A 
idan was quiet the next morning. Sofia arrived one minute late, and he didn’t hassle her. She got her coffee in peace and was sitting down at her desk to write up her report from yesterday when Aidan’s phone rang.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” she asked.

He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it. “I don’t recognize the number.”

“What if it’s one of your online dates?”

“More reason not to answer it,” he said. “Besides, they always text.”

Sofia snatched the phone off him. “Aidan’s phone!”

She had to jockey around the room to keep away from him as he tried to get his phone back.

“Umm...it’s Taylor?” The voice sounded familiar.

“From Marmalade?” Sofia asked.

“How’d she get my number?” Aidan stopped chasing her.

“Hold, please.” She pressed the hold button. “I gave it to her.”

“I can’t talk to her. I don’t know anything about her.”

She pressed the hold button again. “He’s right here, and he’d love to talk to you.”

She slapped the phone into Aidan’s palm.

“Hello?” he said.

She couldn’t hear Taylor’s side, but Aidan laughed.

“More like a meddling little sister,” he said.

Brendan came out of his office. “Good morning!”

Aidan gave him a two-finger wave, and Sofia walked over to Brendan. “I started on yesterday’s report.”

“Give me the highlights.”

Jaxon was the highlight, but she limited herself to the inspection of the Grigoryan house where no leaks were detected, and the arrival of the police car. “No way was the music too loud.”

“Neighbor feud,” Brendan said. “Maybe there’s something to Mr. Grigoryan’s allegations. Maybe his neighbor is stealing his water.”

“I had to lie to Mr. Grigoryan to de-escalate the situation,” Sofia said. “I told him the cop was leaving to cite his neighbor for a spurious noise complaint. Was that OK?”

“Lying to the client,” Aidan was suddenly right behind her. “A big no-no.”

Nice to know he had her back.

“It might have been justified in this instance,” Brendan said. “Sounds like Sofia was saving the client from himself.”

“I was,” she said. “I totally was.”

“I’d like you two to head over to the neighbors’ house today, see what you can find out from Annabelle and Marcel Befort. Don’t say who you’re working for,” Brendan said.

“We can be wine tasters,” Sofia said.

“A nice young couple looking to join the wine community,” Brendan said. “Think you can manage that?”

“A couple?” Aidan groaned.

“I can manage,” Sofia said. “I’m an actress, after all, so I’m good at pretending the most ridiculous things are true.”

Out in the parking lot, she headed for the Tesla.

“We’re taking my car,” Aidan said.

“But I’m driving,” Sofia said. “So we get there while we’re still young.”

“Fine.” Aidan tossed her the keys.

The keys practically hit her in the head, she was so surprised, but she reached up at the last second to catch them. Good thing, too, as Aidan’s keychain had a tiny flashlight on it. That thing would leave a mark.

The Porsche was super loud compared to the Tesla, but it had good acceleration. Aidan didn’t seem to notice as she peeled out of the parking lot and onto the highway. He was typing furiously on his phone and muttering.

“Whatcha doin’?” she asked.

“Research. Watch the road.”

She ignored him and dedicated herself to his car. It was hard to believe it could be so fun to drive, since she was usually in it with Grandpa Aidan.

She passed Grigoryan Vineyard and headed over to Befort Vineyard. The grapes were ripe here, too, purple and green balls bright against the leaves. The vines were arranged pretty much the same as the Grigoryan’s were, but the house was completely different.

The Befort house was huge, but built into the contours of the hill, instead of lopping off the top. Where the Grigoryan’s castle was rounded and ostentatious, everything about the Befort house was square and minimalistic. It probably cost as much.

“We’re here, Phone Boy,” she said. “Ready to go taste some wine?”

Aidan shoved his phone in his pocket. “Why’d you give that waitress my phone number?”

“I thought you two might hit it off. I saw chemistry.”

“Why did you think that? Exactly.”

Before she could point out that the waitress seemed nice and had left him her number and sometimes it wasn’t any more complicated than that, a woman called out. “Welcome!”

Sofia turned toward her. A black dress clung to the woman’s pencil-thin body, and when she walked, her heels clicked against the driveway like castanets. Her lipstick was a red slash and her bangs were cut at an angle. It wasn’t a look most women could pull off, but this one could.

In her slacks and Oxford shirt, Sofia suddenly felt underdressed.

“My name is Annabelle Befort.” The elegant woman had a very slight French accent. If Sofia were playing a Frenchwoman, she’d want to copy it.

But she wasn’t. She remembered their roles—Young Couple Looking for Wine—and took Aidan’s arm. He looked startled.

“I’m Sofia and this is Aidan. We’re here for a drop-in tasting,” she said to the French woman. “A friend of ours sent us. He has a restaurant in Beverly Hills, and he raves about your wine.”

“Does he?” Annabelle smiled. “Then you must come to taste it for yourselves.”

Aidan tried to pull his arm free.

“We’re a couple,” she said, under her breath. “Remember?”