Spies and Prejudice (14 page)

A slow song comes on and I’m relieved that Drew doesn’t ask me to dance. My dance with Tanner was a lifetime ago, but just thinking of it makes my stomach do little flips. It’s dangerous to think of Tanner this way. Things would be so much easier with Drew. He’ll leave me, but I’ll see it coming. There’s no chance of him getting too close. On second thought, Drew might be perfect boyfriend material.

I reach for Drew’s hand. “Do you want to dance?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Drew’s Cheshire smile is almost enough to make me take back the invitation.

Jason stops mid-Polonius rant and asks a silent question with his eyes. Since when is Jason the arbiter of who I date? There’s nothing inherently wrong with Drew. I lead Drew out to the middle of the floor and slide my arms around his neck.

Dancing with Drew isn’t awful.

He’s strong without making me seem weak. He holds me at a respectable distance, not too far and not too close. My feet are perfectly safe. I might even enjoy it if it weren’t for one glaring problem.

I feel nothing.

“Are you okay?”

I look up at Drew. “What?”

“You just shook your head. Is something wrong?”

“It’s fine.” I step closer to Drew, so we’re almost touching. “This is nice.”

“Nice?” Drew lowers his chin. “You know how to hurt a guy.”

“I’m sorry. What I meant to say was this is beyond amazing and I’ll die if you don’t kiss me right here in the middle of the dance floor.” I throw my head back in mock surrender.

Drew pulls me the rest of the way to him, laughing. “Don’t tempt me.”

He’s too close. Claustrophobic. Boxed in and trapped. I focus on breathing. It’s just Drew. We sway for a few beats and I try to relax. I just need to get used to the closeness. I need to find a way to let him in.

I close my eyes and try to imagine something warm, a hot summer day, a roaring fire, molten lava. It helps some. It’s kind of … nice.

“I hate to interrupt.” The low tone of Tanner’s voice startles me. I jump back from Drew, putting as much distance between us as I can.

“Sorry?” The heat that had been so elusive a few seconds ago is here with such force that my face is on fire.

The hard line of Tanner’s jaw is fixed. He conveys nothing. “Mary Chris sent me. Everyone’s waiting in the limo.”

Drew slips his arm around my waist. “We’ll be right there.”

Tanner lifts his chin in a dismissive nod and walks away.

The sinking rock in my stomach chases away the warmth and leaves me trembling as I watch Tanner’s back until it’s no longer visible in the throng of people.

Drew laughs in my ear. “I see what you mean about Tanner. He’s so much more fun when you get to know him.”

J
ason keeps everyone entertained on the ride back to Mare’s house with his near perfect impression of Donald Trump. He pushes his hair back across the top of his head and explains how we are riding in the most luxurious limo in the history of limos.

Tanner stares out the window, completely ignoring Jason. Ignoring me. He hasn’t looked at me once even though he’s sitting directly across.

I resist the urge to push Drew’s hand away from where it rests on my knee, trying not to think about how it felt when Tanner held my hand just thirty minutes earlier. A lifetime ago.

Jason kicks my shin lightly to get my attention. “You’re the tiebreaker for our movie marathon.
X-Men
or
Lord of the Rings
?”

“James Bond.” I watch Tanner. He has to look over here eventually.

“
Lord of the Rings
it is.” Jason sounds triumphant.

“That’s not what she said.” Ryan has his arm around Mary Chris.

Jason rolls his eyes. “I don’t know why you’re bothering to put up
a fight. I’m fairly certain you guys will disappear before the first movie ends.”

Mary Chris blushes.

Ryan grins. “Fine. But until then we’re watching
X-Men
.”

Tanner finally turns away from the window to glare at his brother.

It’s just what I need to remind me why I don’t like him. I don’t like Tanner Halston. I don’t like Tanner Halston.

He starts to say something but stops himself. Then he finally looks at me. For a second I see something else in his eyes that makes my heart beat faster, a primal acknowledgment.

I might like him a little.

Mary Chris’s house is dark when the limo pulls into the driveway. “Are your parents home?” Drew asks.

“They’re spending the night at a bed and breakfast on the beach.”

Drew reaches for my hand and squeezes it. All according to plan. At least I hope that’s what he’s communicating.

Tanner sits up straighter. “Your parents are out?”

“Yeah,” Mare says. “You don’t look happy. Do you need a chaper-one?”

“Not me.” He stares at my hand in Drew’s.

It’s not like I’m cheating on Tanner. We’re not even together. So why do I feel like I’m no better than the men I spy on?

Everyone piles into Mare’s family room and stakes out a spot on the large couch. I hang back, a nervous twinge fluttering through my stomach. For the first time tonight, I focus on the reason I’m here in the first place. I’m really going to do this. I’m going to break into my best friend’s father’s office and find out what my mother was doing before she died.

Once the movie starts, it’s Drew who gets up first. I give him five minutes before I follow. No one seems to pay attention. Not even Tanner, who hasn’t glanced at me once since we came inside.

Drew stands outside Mr. Moss’s office. “You sure you can do this?”

I pull a bobby pin from my small purse and set to work on the lock. I fumble for a few minutes as I search for the slot in the back. “Stop staring. You’re making me nervous.”

Drew leans closer. “I can’t help it. You look kind of hot when you’re breaking and entering.”

“Get over it.” The pin finally catches, and I give it a twist until the lock clicks over. The knob turns easily in my hand.

We slip into the office. A small desk light illuminates the room just enough to see. Drew shuts the door and locks it.

“What are you doing?” I try to ignore the prickle at the back of my neck. It’s normal to be nervous. Drew is harmless. He’s here to help.

“Making sure no one comes in.”

I don’t waste any time on the loose papers on the credenza. I go straight to Mr. Moss’s desk. The bottom drawer is locked. I kneel down and slip the bobby pin in the lock while Drew flips through the documents on the desk.

“What are we looking for?”

“The letterhead will say ‘Caroline Fields.’ ”

“That’s your mother, right?”

“Was.” I’m not sure why it’s important for me to correct him, but it is.

The lock under the desk is smaller, and it takes me longer to find
the indentation inside the locking mechanism, but eventually I do. The door pops open as soon as the lock clicks.

My mom’s letterhead sits right on top.

The air disappears from the room. I thought I was prepared to see it in person, but seeing her name in bold green font makes everything seem so real. She might be dead now, but she had lived. She had been a mother, a wife, a psychologist. She touched this paper.

My hands shake as I lift the pages out of the drawer. The letter is addressed to Michael Moss.

“What is it?” Drew kneels down next to me.

I shake my head as I fumble for the scanner in my small bag. I press pound, nine, nine and watch the face of the phone light up. I hold it over the letter, listening to it whir and click as it reads the first page in an instant.

Drew leans over my shoulder.

“Back off, okay?” My hands still shake as I flip through the pages and scan them as fast as I can. I catch a few words here and there. Enough to see it’s some kind of report about a study she was doing involving some new drink.

It’s just a work letter.

Mr. Moss may want to keep the information secret, but it’s not me he’s hiding it from. It’s just work. So Mom worked for Mr. Moss before she died. That tells me exactly nothing about how she died.

I slide the letter back in the drawer exactly where I found it and click it shut.

“We should go.” I don’t bother keeping the disappointment from my voice.

“Wait a few minutes. You’re upset.” Drew puts his hand on my shoulder and lets his hand trail down my arm. “It’s going to be okay. You need to know.”

Needing to know and finding out are two very different things. “What if I never find out the truth?” The possibility is suffocating. “What if there’s always this hole inside of me?”

Drew slides his hand down to my own. “Let me help you.”

“How?”

He leans and rests his forehead against the top of my head. “Let me in.”

I close my eyes. “I want to.” I do. I want to let Drew hold me and tell me everything is going to be okay. But that’s all. It’s not fair to either of us when it’s clear that Drew wants to take this somewhere I can never go. I am just not girlfriend material. “But I can’t.”

Drew doesn’t move. “Give it time, okay? I’ll wait.”

“Until you move back to San Jose in December?” I mean for the words to hurt him, but it doesn’t make them any less true.

He sighs into my hair. “Until you’re ready.”

The click of the lock on the door is soft, but unmistakable. “Someone’s coming.”

Drew grins. “I guess this means you have to kiss me.”

It’s our cover. Mr. Moss is going to think I’m some kind of boy-crazy kissing fiend. It’s only slightly better than him finding out I’m spying on him.

I lean forward, but before I can touch my lips to Drew’s, the door swings open and Tanner’s voice fills the room. “Don’t bother. I know why you’re really here.”

I
step away from Drew and clutch my purse behind my back instinctively as I move away from Mr. Moss’s desk.

Tanner walks forward with his hands in his pockets. “Let me guess. Drew convinced you to help him get into Michael’s office by telling you the information could save a lot of people. Sounds noble, but I bet he didn’t tell you that his employer is planning to use the same information to create its own version of the drink.”

“What are you talking about?” I wish this dress had pockets. I consider shoving the small purse down the V at the back of my dress, but the fabric clings to my skin and the purse will just look like an alien growing out of my spine.

Tanner stares at Drew. “You didn’t tell her?”

I look between them. “Tell me what?”

Drew leans back on Mr. Moss’s desk. He looks slightly amused that Tanner busted in on us. “Yes, tell her what?”

“Guess that’s a no.” Tanner holds his watch to his mouth and talks into it. “They’re in Moss’s office. Get in here.”

“Is that like a walkie-talkie? Who are you talking to?”

Before Tanner can answer, Ryan comes into the room with Mary Chris close on his heels.

Mary Chris looks from Drew to me and back again. “What’s going on? How did you get in here?”

Tanner’s icy eyes zero in on Drew. “Ryan and I work for a corporate security firm. Someone broke into Moss Enterprises and stole some information a few months ago. They didn’t get what they were after, but they got a taste, so we expect them to try again. It’s not uncommon for an operative to try to get close to family members or their friends to get inside. We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Make sure what doesn’t happen?” I watch Tanner’s face, but he gives nothing away. He looks so angry and perfect and better than the rest of us.

“Him.” He points to Drew. “We’re here to make sure no one uses you or Mary Chris to gain access to Moss’s secrets.”

“Are you kidding me?” Mary Chris backs up a step, wide-eyed. “Ryan?”

Ryan looks down at his sneakers. “We’re trying to help.”

Mare’s face goes white. “You’re here to spy on me?”

I want to kill them both. I’ve been trained better than to believe in coincidences, yet I’ve ignored them all because Tanner Halston and his stupid smile set me on tilt. Of course Tanner and Ryan didn’t just happen to approach us at Sconehenge during my stakeout. They didn’t randomly show up at McHenry and worm their way into Mary Chris’s good graces. They didn’t happen to be at the park
last Saturday or nearby when Drew set up the meeting with Heather Marrone. They’re here to spy on us.

Tanner’s wearing a smug expression that makes it easy for me to remember why I hated him in the first place. “Let me get this straight. The reason you’ve tried to hang out with me is because you wanted to keep an eye on me?” I look over at Ryan, who won’t look at any of us. “And you. Was this all a game to you?”

Ryan finally looks up. He looks terrified. “It’s not like that.”

Drew steps up beside me and puts his arm around my waist. “It’s exactly like that. You two have been taking advantage of Mary Chris and her friends from day one, right?”

Mary Chris looks like she’s going to throw up.

“We’ve been protecting them from people like you.” Tanner finally takes his hands out of his pockets. They’re balled into fists.

Drew laughs. “Thankfully, the make-out police are on the scene.”

Tanner’s face turns beet red. “Don’t bother denying it. You sent Berry into this office last weekend to do your dirty work for you. And when that didn’t work, you convinced her to break in for you. You’re sick.”

I shake my head violently. Tanner has it all wrong. “You just broke the number two rule of investigations. Never jump to conclusions. Haven’t you ever heard of confirming your facts?”

For the first time since he came in the room, Tanner looks less than confident. “I was here, remember? You were snooping around for him. You used me as cover when Michael walked in.”

Okay, it’s weird that Tanner calls Mr. Moss “Michael.” “Please tell me you’re not some thirty-year-old pretending to be in high school.”
Please tell me I didn’t kiss some old guy and like it. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

At least there’s that. “Well, super sleuth, guess again. Drew has nothing to do with this. Searching Mr. Moss’s office was my idea.”

A squeal comes from across the room. Mary Chris covers her mouth with her hands. Her eyes are huge. Hurt.