Whiskey Sour (16 page)

The little bungalow sat next to an empty lot on the right and another little bungalow on the left, and it had a nice sized fenced in yard. I was just glad the house wasn’t two stories. I was tired of climbing trees.

I made my way around to each of the windows, trying to find any crack in the blinds or curtains so I could see in, but they were closed up tight. I was going to have to try the back yard. I was also tired of climbing fences, though this one wasn’t nearly the same caliber of obstacle as Natalie Evans.

“Stupid, Mike,” I grumbled, kicking at a bush as I made my way around the side of the fence that bordered the empty lot. “Nothing but trouble. Never should have gotten you that barbecue set for your birthday.”

I went to the far corner of the fence and used the posts to shimmy up the side so I could look over the top. A big yellow lab sat at the ground on the other side with its tongue lolling out and a curious look on its face. He didn’t bark a warning but he did run and go get his tennis ball and bring it back to drop on the ground.

“You’re the worst guard dog ever,” I whispered. “What if I was a burglar?”

The dog didn’t have an answer for that, so I brought my camera up so I could use the zoom lens to see if there was any activity through the back windows. The kitchen window was small but there weren’t any curtains or blinds to hamper my vision. I couldn’t see in the room without being there up close and personal. There was a set of French doors that was also open, but it was pitch black in the room they led into so I wasn’t having any luck there either.

“Damn.” I was going to have to take my chances crawling over the fence. The dog chose that moment to give a soft
woof
and I shushed him, promising I would throw the ball if he’d stay quiet. This particular event would have had a completely different ending had Rosemarie’s dogs been the one staring at me from the other side instead the golden ball of fluff.

I slung the camera over my shoulder and made a lot of unladylike noises as
I pulled myself up and climbed over the fence. I had splinters in my fingers and thighs, but I managed to drop down to the ground with passable grace and agility. The dog picked up the ball again and wiped a stream of slime across my leg.

“Right. We made a deal.”

I took the tennis ball gently and hurled it to the other side of the yard, and then I made my way around the perimeter of the fence and house until I got to the kitchen window. I’d barely gotten a peek into the lowly lit kitchen before the dog was back, nudging the backs of my legs.

“This isn’t working out for me,” I told the dog. “Run slower next time. I’ve got a job to do.” I threw the ball again and turned back to the window. The lights in the main part of the house were on, but I
couldn’t see much past the little breakfast hutch with the roosters painted on it. I’d never understood the point of decorating a kitchen with fowl.

I ducked down and crept along the wall, deciding to double check the living room windows for visual. I had my nose pressed against the window and my hands cupped around my eyes to see in when I heard the distinct sound of a gun cocking from directly behind me.

“Don’t shoot,” I croaked out, putting my hands up in the air in surrender.

“Addison?”

I recognized Mike’s voice and breathed out a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t shoot me. At least I didn’t think he would. I looked down at the dog, and gave him a dirty look. He was standing beside me holding the ball, quiet as a mouse.

“You were supposed to give me a warning that someone was here,” I said. “That’s the last time I throw a ball for you
, buddy.”

“What are you doing here?” Mike asked. “You’re lucky you didn’t get your damned fool head blown off. This is private property.” He put his gun back in his holster and put his hands on his hips. He loomed over me and was properly intimidating with his scowl, but I had justice on my side.

“Don’t you take that tone of voice with me, Mike McClean. I happen to be working. You’re the one who shouldn’t be here.”

“Working? You’re following me?” he asked incredulously.

“You have some nerve pretending like I’m the one in the wrong here. I always thought you were a good man. I never would have thought you’d have that kind of betrayal in you. You’re breaking Kate’s heart by taking up with these bimbos, and you don’t even care who knows it. Working extra shifts and making trips to strange women’s houses in the middle of the night. Just be glad that it’s me here instead of Kate. She was afraid she’d end up shooting you.”

“Kate thinks I’m cheating on her?” he whispered. I could see his face pale even in the darkness.

“Wrong, mister. She
knows
you’re cheating on her. You can’t stand here and deny it. Especially since you’ve been caught red handed.”

“The hell I can’t. I would never cheat on Kate. She’d kill me.”

“Yep, your time on this earth is limited.” I brought the camera up and took a spur of the moment photo. “I guess I’ll be going now. My work here is done. I’m disappointed in you, Mike. I always thought you were different.”

“Wait,” he said, grabbing my arm before I could leave. “I swear to God I’m not cheating on Kate. You’ve got to believe me. I need to get home and explain to her.
You can’t tell her about this until I’ve had a chance to explain.”

“She’s my best friend, Mike. I can’t lie to her if she asks.”

“That’s fine, but I’m not cheating on her. And there’s no way you have any photos of me proving I am because it’s just not true. Give me the benefit of the doubt here and let me make this right. I’d never hurt Kate. I love her.”

I sighed and wondered what the hell I was supposed to do. I knew I should have never gotten in the middle of this.
I was going to have to make an executive decision. I could give Mike time to talk to Kate. It’s not like this needed to be hashed out on my end tonight.

“Fine,” I finally said. “Go home to your wife. Stop being stupid and communicate with her. I’m going home now.”

I headed back to the gate and preparing to climb back over.

“Why don’t you just use the gate?” Mike asked.

I signed and headed towards the front gate that was clearly unlocked. “Don’t push your luck, McClean. Don’t push your luck.”

Tuesday

“
S
o where’d you go last night?” Nick asked the next morning as I made waffles.

I’d thought I’d gotten away with my sneakery since I was able to slip into bed beside him without waking him.

“How’d you know?” I loaded waffles onto a plate and put them in front of his at the table.

“I would’ve had to be
dead not to know. You make a lot of noise. You’re probably going to have to work on that if you’re serious about getting your P.I. license. I’d hate for you to get caught because you can’t keep from talking to yourself while on a job.”

I winced and thought of my experience from the night before. Technically, I’d been talking to the dog instead of myself
, but Nick was right. I was uncomfortable with long periods of silence. I wondered if Mike had actually heard me talking or if he’d just had that cop’s sixth sense that someone was watching the house.

“I was following Mike,” I told him. “Kate wants to have all the facts before she decides what to do.” I stared jealously at his stack of waffles drenched with syrup and looked down at the single one I’d allowed myself.
Life was unfair.

“Or she could just ask him out
right what’s going on,” Nick said.

“He wouldn’t be sneaking around if he wasn’t doing something wrong. And Kate knows there’s no point in trying to open communication when the other person is lying right from the start.”

“That’s bullshit. She knows he’s up to something but she doesn’t confront him? Communication is a two way street, babe.”

“Don’t you dare defend him.”

“Oh, I’m not. He’s been a dumbass for getting involved with that group, but I’m talking about their relationship.”

“It’s weird you suddenly have the urge to talk about relationships. Are you feeling okay?”

“Very funny. I’m just saying, let’s suppose I start sneaking around and you know I’m lying about it. What would you do?”

“I’d shoot you in the ass with a tranquilizer gun. But I get your point. She should have pinned him down the moment she noticed something going on. It’s gotten out of hand.”

Somehow my plate was empty and I didn’t remember eating, so I stole one of Nick’s waffles and was a little more generous with the syrup this time.

“It’s a good thing you have good metabolism,” Nick commented.
“Wonder how long that’s going to last?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Excuse me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

He grinned and licked the syrup off his fork. I was a little envious of the tines.

“Nothing. I like a little extra something to hold on to. You’ll get no complaints from me.”

“I feel like I should be offended,” I said, eating the rest of the waffle in short order. “What did you mean when you said Mike shouldn’t have gotten involved with that group? What group?”

He stared at me like I was crazy. “I t
hought you’d been following him. The fact that we’ve set you loose in Savannah is a terrifying thought. How do you not know what Mike’s involved in?”

“You should be grateful I’m not armed right now.”

“I don’t think I’d be worried if you were,” he said, smirking.

“Would you like to put a wager on it?” I asked.

“I’m not going to bet with you over whether or not you could shoot me.”

“As much as I like the sound of that right now, I’m talking more of a friendly competition. Kate said I had to get my concealed to carry license before she could hire me full time. This is a good chance to practice.”

“Kate is out of her damned mind,” he said, shaking his head. “But it’s probably better you practice with me there than some poor unsuspecting fool.”

“Then it’s a bet,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
“What does the winner get?”

“I’d like my every sexual fantasy fulfilled.”

“You haven’t gotten that yet?” I asked, eyebrow raised. “We’re running out of options as far as unexplored territory. If you’re bored, it’s probably not a good sign for our future.”

“Bored is the last thing I am since I met you. And believe me, baby, there’s a lot we haven’t done yet. Once I win
, I’ll show you.”

“You’re going to be eating those words when I’m crowned champion. I hope you’re prepared to do some manual labor. My new house has a nice big yard that needs to be mowed, and I’d like some planter boxes built under the windows. I’ll make you a list.”

He smiled and got that challenging look in his eyes that would mean good things for me later, but I wasn’t going to be distracted from my original topic of conversation.

“
Are you going to answer my question?” I asked. “Who is Mike involved with? Kate hired me to prove he was cheating on her. That’s all I was looking for whenever I followed him around. I assume by the look on your face that I’ve missed something important.”

“Mike wouldn’t cheat on Kate,” Nick said. “He’s too scared of her, which is why he’s sweating bullets all the time now. Mike has been known to enjoy gambling. He sticks mostly to the races and the fights, but he’ll bet on anything in a pinch.”

I knew this about Mike. I’d never seen a man in my life yell at a horse at the track like he could.

“His habit turned into a problem along the way and he ended up losing more money than he had. Unluckily for him, Big Sal Angelo was there to bail him out. Now he’s paying a hundred percent interest on his debt to Big Sal so he doesn’t end up with his kneecaps being extracted through his asshole.”

“Holy shit,” I said. “Kate is going to go ballistic.”

“Which is why you should officially stay out of this from now on.”

“I told him last night I’d give him a chance to explain to her before I talked to her.”

“He caught you following him?” Nick said, laughing. “I bet that went over well.”

“He knew he didn’t have room to bargain with me.”

“You’re lucky he didn’t shoot you and bury your body.”

“Mike would never do something like that.”

“Men that desperate will do a lot of things, sweetheart. Remember that. Which is why you need to keep you distance from Savage. That man wants you bad.”

“I don’t have any more room for lunatics in my love life. You’re all I can handle at the moment.”

He leaned over the table and kissed me, licking along the bottom of my lip before he explored the inside.

“Mmm, syrup,” he said. “Very sweet.”

“Too bad you’ve got the movers scheduled to come at eight. We could fool around for a little while if we weren’t moving boxes.”

“Sweetheart, I’m multitalented. We can do both with plenty of time to spare.”

***

By nine o’clock, I was as relaxed as pudding as I watched the movers. They stacked my boxes in the back of their truck next to the furniture they’d retrieved from the storage building I’d rented. Dating a cop had its advantages apparently, or maybe Nick just had inspiration to bribe them to move quickly, because within the next hour they’d unloaded everything in my new house and put it in the appropriate rooms.

“This is a good space,” Nick said, looking around. “Lousy security. You’ll need to change all the locks on the doors and add a deadbolt.”

“Thanks, daddy. I’ll make sure and do that.”

He raised his eyebrows at me. “Kinky. But I’m willing to play along if you are.”

“In your dreams.”

We set my bed up and put on fresh sheets because Nick insisted that was the most important thing, but
everything else was going to have to wait until later.

“I’ve got to start getting ready for my appointment at The Green Door.”

Nick checked his watch and nodded. “You okay with doing this?”

“I don’t really have much choice. And I get a spa day out of it. As long as I don’t wet my pants in fright I should
be able to muddle through somehow.”

“That’s the spirit,” he said as I went to shower. “But maybe you should take an extra change of clothes just in case.”

***

There was something about the wealthy that was just hard to explain. Maybe it was the way they carried themselves, or the air of authority
they used in nodding their head at the help. All I knew was that they recognized their own. And I wasn’t it.

I figure me walking in
to The Green Door was the equivalent of Oliver Twist asking for more scraps from the table, and I was surprised no one tried to rush me back out into the street once I passed through the infamous green doors.

A cool rush of air and an immediate feeling of calm swept over me as I stepped inside. There was a certain scent in the air that made me want to lay flat out on the floor and take a nap and the sound of rushing water seemed to come from all directions. The décor was a mix of Return to the Blue Lagoon and
a Japanese massage parlor that offered happy endings, but it seemed wrong for me to judge too harshly since they’d obviously made a success of themselves.

“May I help you?”

The voice coming from behind a sleek bamboo counter belonged to Minnie Mouse’s long lost twin. And if I’d been brought up wealthy, I’d have probably been schooled on how not to show a reaction when faced with something out of the ordinary.

As it was, I gaped
into the face of a dragon beast of a woman with drawn on eyebrows and a beehive that added another foot to her already substantial height. She had to be well over six feet tall and she filled out the pale grey scrubs she wore without much room to spare. She wasn’t fat. She was just big. And I hoped to God she wasn’t the one who’d be giving me my massage. I liked my vertebrae exactly where they were.

“I have a one o’clock appointment. Addison Holmes is the name.”

She pursed her lips and typed my name into her computer. “Yes, your treatment has already been paid for. My name is Jasmine. Come with me. I will give you a tour.”

I barely contained a nervous snicker at the mention of her name. She looked more like a Helga or a Beelzebub.
I was about twenty minutes early for my appointment. I wanted to have plenty of time to get a lay of the land, and I wanted to already be in position when Becca Gonzales arrived.

Savage had assured me just before I’d come in that Becca was about ten minutes away. He’d had a man
keeping watch on her.

I followed Broom-Hilda through a heavy wooden door that had to weigh a ton, because even she strained under the pressure of getting it open, and she led me through an arched hallway where there were artfully placed bamboo arrangements and paintings depicting Japanese women at various stages of their bath.

“This is our changing room,” she said, narrowing her gaze at me as she sized me up from head to toe. I had to stare at her just to make sure that squeaky voice really was coming out of that body. It was damned weird.

She opened a large cupboard and handed me a brown rob
e from a neatly folded stack, a small package of disposable underwear and a pair of flip-flops. My arms were piled high and I followed her further into the bowels of the place where there were dark paneled lockers in rows and full-length mirrors every time you turned around. The mirrors were especially exciting to me because I’d always wanted to see myself naked from every direction in unflattering light.

“You can put your belongings in a locker. Once you’ve changed, just follow the golden path into the relaxation area.” She pointed to a shiny golden swirl that started just beyond my feet and grew wider like the yellow brick road.
“I hope you find your time at The Green Door gives you serenity and balance.”

“I hope that too,” I said, nodding in agreement. “I could use a little balance in my life.”

Jasmine left me to my own devices in the locker room, and I stared awkwardly at the slender Asian woman sitting in a director’s chair in the corner of the room. She looked scared as shit, and I was willing to bet she was the tech who owed the FBI a favor.

I wasn’t really sure about the protocol. Should I strip down and
treat the woman like invisible help, or should I strike up a conversation and pretend like I got naked in front of strangers all the time? It was a quandary to be sure, and I decided to err on the side of caution.

“Is there a restroom close by?” I asked.

“Right over there,” she whispered.

“Thanks.”

The bathroom doors were built to look like they were part of the walls and it took me a minute to figure out how to open it, but once I was inside I realized I’d found the perfect solution. If I stood just right I could see out into the locker room area.

I got undressed quickly and donned my paper underwear and
flip-flops, tying the robe tight around me. I heard the squeaky voice of Jasmine welcoming Ms. Gonzales back to The Green Door, and I held my breath as I got my first up close glimpse of Becca Gonzales. She was a paler version of Eva Longoria, though with a little more bust and a lot more volume to the hair. She dumped her purse into one of the top row lockers.