Tahoe Blues (19 page)

David shook his head. “If Cara didn’t give her consent to be recorded
, no matter what’s on the video we can’t use it.”

Hunter grinned from ear to e
ar. “Here is the brilliant part. Beth slipped the consent clause into their rental agreement. Cara signed it without reading it.”

David blinked
. That was one hell of an oversight. “What’s your feel about the best friend Cara lived with before she moved out? That I get, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that if my wife ever left me she’d be on the next flight to Hawaii where her best friend lives. The two of them would sit on the beach drinking Mai Tais and bash me for weeks.”

Hunter nodded. “Now that I think of it, that’s what Dakota’s mom did when she left us. She moved
in with that bitch Maria. That woman hated my guts.” He chucked David on the shoulder. “I guess they don’t run home to mama anymore.”

David wondered how much more abuse his body could take. Hunter was a physical kind of guy. When he was upset
, he would pound a table or the nearest wall, and every small achievement earned David a slap on the back, a punch on the arm, or the occasional bone crushing bear hug. “I’m going to check with Martin and see if he has any office space available. Who knows what’s on that footage. I can’t run the risk of my kids walking in at an inappropriate moment.”

Hunter looked at his phone and grinned. “Text from Beth Rainey.” He slid his finger across the face of the phone. “I got the password. Get on the horn to Martin
, and I’ll tell Dakota that we are going to be late.” He held his hand out to David. “Fork over some cash daddy-o. The kids are having pizza tonight.”

David pulled a couple of twenties out of his wallet. “Tell her to have it delivered fr
om the joint on Tahoe Boulevard, and that Jack and Sandy will only eat pepperoni.”

Hunter’s arm sw
ung in for another affectionate punch, but David was fast. He quickly side stepped to the left, and Hunter’s fist connected with nothing but air.

Chapter
Nine

Leah brushed her short dark hair out of her eyes. Nate Waters watched her movement with little to no interest. The two were exhausted. They had been talking non-stop since they arrived at her place, and Cara Greene’s best friend had not revealed anything incriminating.

Knowing he had wasted an entire
night, Nate rose from the sofa and made his way to the bathroom. He did his business, washed his hands, and splashed some water on his face. It was time to go. Leah was cute, but he was finding it difficult to keep up the flirtatious charade. Leah’s interest in him seemed to be waning and cutting his losses seemed to be the best move.

He walked back into Leah’s living room and picked up his coat.

Leah glanced at him and asked, “You’re leaving?”

Nate leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Ye
s, I’m tired and I have to be back at work soon.”

She closed her eyes when his lips touched her skin. “Drive careful.”

He flipped the lock on her front door and closed it tight.

With every ounce of energy drained from her body, Leah collapsed into the sofa and mumbled, “thank god,” into an orange throw pillow.

Ten hours later
, Apollo, the mythical god of truth and light, refused to be ignored any longer. He was starving and Leah had not filled his bowl in a long time. Apollo brushed his tabby paw against his queen’s nose. His ears twitched, and for a fleeting moment he considered raking his claws across her skin. History had proven that to not be an effective strategy. If he hurt her, she would pout and run off to look at the injury in the mirror, the can would not be opened, and he would not be fed. Apollo wisely retracted his claws and gently batted Leah’s nose.

Leah opened her eyes and petted her affectionate little Tabby. Apollo was her buddy. She rubbed her hand over the distinctive striped pattern of his brown and black coat. Apollo purred and snuggled against her neck. “Hey, big guy,” she cooed. “I bet you’re hungry.”

Apollo jumped off the couch and began to meow loudly. With his
tail straight up in anticipation, he trotted excitedly over to his dish. He paced anxiously back and forth around the bowl as he waited for Leah to fill it.

“Settle down A-man. I’ll give you a bit extra for being so patient and letting me sleep.” Leah picked up the dish and filled half of it with kitty kibble
, then stirred in some moist canned cat food. Apollo rubbed against her leg and purred. She placed the dish on the matt and Apollo attacked his meal. Leah ran her hand down his body and up his lithe tail. “So what is your opinion of that hot cop that was here last night?”

Apollo’s face was deep in
the dish and all Leah heard in reply was the sound of the kibble crunching in Apollo’s jaws.

She sat on the floor and ran her fingers absently down Apollo’s hea
d. Rubbing behind his ear, she continued her deliberation. “It started out so promising, then more and more it felt like I was being interrogated.” Leah looked down at her pet demolishing the food in front of him and scrunched her nose. “I think Nosy Nate was trying to gather some incriminating information about Cara and our alleged money laundering scheme.” Leah shook her head and frowned. “I really wish he hadn’t turned out to be such a jerk.”

The runway music from Leah’s last fashion show radiated from her cell phone in a series of clicks until the strings joined in at the refrain. It
was the special ringtone she set up for Cara. Leah picked it up and replied to Cara’s unasked question. “My shop was kept closed. I didn’t open anything for the cop. All we did was sit on my sofa and talk. The longer it went on, the more I felt that all he was interested in was trying to gather evidence against you and maybe me. It was kind of hard to tell after the seventh or eighth hour.”

“You closed your shop?”

Leah chuckled. “Not my dress shop, my shop is almost always open, whether I’m there or not, but I did not let Officer Waters into my―” Leah couldn’t believe Cara didn’t get her euphemism. She shook her head, it wasn’t worth the trouble. “What’s up?” she demanded.

“I want to hear about your date with Officer Waters. He seemed really into you. I can’t believe he was only trying
to prove our collusion in this fictitious caper. There should be a law against that.”

Leah furrowed her brow. There was something up with Cara.
She could hear it in her voice. “I already told you. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

“No, I need more details. You spill it.”

There was zero amount of enthusiasm in her friend’s voice and an understanding light bulb went off in Leah’s head. “Are you holding back because of what I said at Rosie’s? Are you trying to be a good friend? If you are, knock it off and tell me what happened.”

Cara sighed and cried out, “I broke
off my relationship with Tanner until we know who planted that bogus evidence in my home. I didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice.”

Leah’s first instinct was to tell Cara she had made the wrong decision. That Tanner James Reed, high school hottie and faithful husband to Kate until death they did part, would nev
er betray her trust, but like Apollo earlier, she retracted her claws and showed her friend some love. “That must have been hard to do. I’m proud of you.”

“I think it’
s time to call my parents. Except for you and my paid help, I’m all alone.” Cara choked back a sob. “I have never felt so isolated in my entire life, even Mrs. Grimes is avoiding me. I was going to have to cool it with her too, but it doesn’t look like that will be necessary. She has already cooled it with me.”

Leah didn’t know what to s
ay. Cara was under house arrest. It wasn’t supposed to be a walk in the park, but Leah was pretty darn sure the apartment was a million times better than being held in the slammer and that the judge had shown her a huge amount of leniency.

The silence between the women droned on longer than what was considered comfortable. Determined to put a positive spin on the situation
, Leah finally said, “At least you’ve had time to brush up on your cooking.”

Cooking?

Cara wanted to laugh, but it was just too sad of a
statement to dignify with any type of response.

In the end she couldn’t hold back and a chuckle slipped out. “That’s all you got?”

“I’m in a mood. Spending so much time with Nate the Neanderthal and realizing I was the target of an undercover op was draining, but at least Apollo is being nice to me.”

Cara
understood the feeling. She was also in a mood. A whiney mood that wasn’t appealing in any way. She needed to wrap up this conversation before they ended up exchanging words again. “I’m going to let you go so I can throw a few casseroles in the oven. I’m sure the moment I call the folks, they’ll be coming in for a visit. You get some rest. I’m sorry your date with the cop turned out so badly. I thought he was a nice guy.”

Cara could almost feel Lea
h nodding her head. “Tanner is the nice guy. I’m sorry you had to put a halt to your budding romance, but I guess we don’t always know who the good guys are. At least with Duncan you knew what you were getting yourself into.”

Anger flashed red hot in Cara’s eyes. She
hadn’t had any idea what her life would become when she married Duncan Alexander. He swept her off her feet. The man had literally promised her the moon, and she had fallen for his spiel hook, line, and sinker. She believed him when he told her he loved her, and she loved the picture he painted of what their life together would be. She didn’t want to believe she’d been impressed with his money and power, but it was hard to deny. He portrayed himself as a prince with her as his princess. Duncan was every little girl’s fantasy man. He was a dream come true until the day she woke up and discovered it was all a lie, and that the rising tide had washed away her sandcastle.

Leah punched Cara in the gut with her callousness. Her best friend truly believed Cara’s eyes had been wide open, but they had been clouded with love. The kind of love she thought would last forever. Cara bit her tongue to keep from screaming her innocence and blasting Leah for not being able to see how completely she had been
fooled. She had to get off the phone and she had to do it now! “The water is about to boil over on the stove. I have to go.”

Sarcasm dripped from every word
, but she successfully hit end and stopped their conversation.

Cara
stormed around the living room. She picked up a potted plant, but just as she was about to smash it against the wall, she realized she would end up with a mess, which she had no desire to clean.

After s
he returned the plant back to the counter she gave the eyeball door a once over. It was solid and sturdy. She would never be able to break the gawking peeper. It was just what she needed to let off some steam. She opened it and slammed it shut. It felt good, so she opened it wider and slammed it with such force the peephole fell out.

Infuriated that the all-seeing atrocity wasn’t able to keep its iris intact
, Cara banged the door closed one last time, and leaned down to pick up the broken piece off the floor. She cocked her head confused. It wasn’t like any peephole she’d seen before. She didn’t even remember having a peephole. Puzzled, she examined it closer. The mechanism was small and had a disc type battery attached to it.

Cara
had never heard of a peephole which needed a battery. It was something you looked through, no power was necessary. Her first instinct was to call Tanner. She sighed knowing that wasn’t possible. Her second was to go over to Mrs. G’s and see if she had any knowledge of the device, but since it wasn’t Tuesday that too was out of the question, besides, Cara was under orders not to fraternize with her neighbor until she had the all-clear from either Martin, Hunter, or the detective she had yet to meet, David Crandall.

Th
at left only her defense team to turn to. Stepping over to the cork-board on the wall near the kitchen, she pulled out the tack which held Hunter Henderson’s business card. Cara flipped it over to get the number for David Crandall. Mr. Henderson had directed her to call the lead detective on her case if anything more had come to light.

David Crandall scrubbed his face. Six hours of watching Cara moving
the boxes Brett Boden hauled into the apartment wasn’t exactly Oscar material. The most riveting scene he’d seen so far consisted of a pizza being delivered and the duo clinking the long necks of a couple of brewskies before they dug into the chicken, artichoke delight.

Cara must have placed the order. No man would call that thin crusted, vegetable laden concoction a pizza. Watching Brett and Cara sitting on the floor and shove
ling a slice in their mouths made his gastric juices start to grumble, and he realized how long it had been since his last meal. “Henderson,” he barked out commandingly. “Order us a pizza. I’m in need of a thick-crusted, mega-meat monstrosity.”

Hunter nodded appreciatively and picked up his cell phone. “I’m on it
, boss.”

David raked a hand through his
light brown hair and shook his head to stay awake. Just as he turned back to the computer screen and the mind numbing never ending reel of everyday life, his phone chimed. No name popped up on the display, but he picked it up anyway, grateful for the distraction. “Hello,” he answered absently, expecting a telemarketer of some type.

“Mr. Crandall, this
is Cara Greene. I believe you’re working on my case with Martin Langley. Hunter Henderson gave me your number and told me to call if anything came up.”

Hunter
was seated at his own computer with his back towards him. David’s deal with Martin was that he wouldn’t have to speak to the client, yet Hunter found a way to make that very thing happen. “Ms. Greene,” David voiced loudly in order to get his devious partner’s attention. “What can I do for you?”

Hunter’s square shoulders began to shake with silent laughter. David shook his head and sighed. He knew he had to get back in the saddle at some point. Their clie
nt didn’t care that he was recovering from a disastrous event. It wasn’t Ms. Greene’s fault the shooting had caused his partner to lose the use of his legs, or that the death of a client had forced David to have to kill a man. The lovely young woman on the other end of the line was completely unaware that he alone was responsible for uprooting his entire family and bringing them to the Tahoe Basin.

David had no desire to
speak one-on-one with Cara Greene, but since he found himself at the intersection of Suck It Up and Move On, he reluctantly sighed and sucked it up, but before he moved on, he planned on giving Hunter an ear full!

Cara’s voice was wobbly and nervous. “I just found something I think you should be aware of. I slammed my front door a few seconds ago
, and something that looks like a recording device popped off. I don’t know what to make of it.”

David cringed. They had neglected to inform Cara about the camera. In the rush to view the footage
, it completely slipped his mind. He turned his phone on speaker so Hunter could hear about their blunder. “I’m sorry, Ms. Greene. We should have told you about the camera.”