I could feel his muscles bunch and flex beneath me as he marched across the snow-packed parking lot. He smelled fresh and clean and manly. I shut off my senses and focused on how mad I was as he tossed me unceremoniously in his car and practically did a donut, he was driving so fast out of the parking lot.
“But my rental,” I wailed, staring back through the tinted window.
“I’ll send someone back for it.” He looked straight ahead, not hesitating in the least.
“Where are you taking me?” I whined.
“Like I said, I’m taking you in.” His face showed no emotion, the rat. “Maybe locking you up would do you some good.”
“You can’t be serious,” I yelled. “You are
not
taking me back to the station again. I won’t allow it. And you have no grounds to lock me up.” I yanked on the door handle, but the door wouldn’t open.
“I tried things your way, but you never called me back,” he pointed out in a calm, irritating manner, as though he were talking to a child. “I meant it when I said we needed to talk. Maybe doing things my way will get some results.”
“I want a lawyer.” I set my jaw and ground my teeth.
“Fine.” He paused, his eyes meeting mine for a brief moment as he dropped the bomb. “I’ll call your mother.”
I gasped, and a satisfied smirk settled over his face.
“I’m sure she’d love to know what you were doing with Sasquatch in the Song Bird as much as I would.” He looked back at the road. “Last I checked with her, she said you told her you had a meeting with me tonight to discuss the case.” He jerked his head to the side. “Basically I’m just following your wishes.”
“My wishes do not involve metal bars and a key,” I spat out sarcastically.
“Did Sasquatch know that? He looked like the kind of guy who was into metal.”
“Ha, ha. You really have no clue what you interrupted. I was on the verge of something big, but you had to go and ruin it.”
“No you weren’t, and no I didn’t. Hell, I saved your scrawny behind.”
Finally, a bit of emotion. “I highly doubt that.” I snorted. “It’s more like I saved your big ole behind from getting pummeled. If you hadn’t noticed, that guy was huge.”
“Bigger doesn’t always mean better, babe.” I opened my mouth to give him another scathing comeback, but he cut me off. “If you would have called me back, we could have avoided all this.” He clenched his teeth, and a muscle in his jaw right below his jagged scar pulsed. “Quit being so damn stubborn and independent, Tink. We’re supposed to be working together.”
“Exactly!” I threw up my hands in frustration. “But someone kept me out of the loop. You left me no choice but to venture out on my own.”
“And you leave me no choice now,” he said, back to being calm and in control. “You’re a danger to yourself and to others.” He hesitated and chewed the inside of his cheek as though trying not to laugh. “I heard you sing.”
“Oh, you make me so mad, you overgrown arrogant . . . turd.”
“Turd?” A deep V formed on his forehead. “That’s the best you’ve got?”
I crossed my arms and looked out the window, refusing to let him bait me anymore. The man made me want to pluck every black hair out of his oversized head.
Finally he said, “Okay, fine. I won’t lock you up in jail if you agree to talk to me.”
I made him wait for several minutes, and then I jerked a shoulder. “Fine. Where?”
“My place.”
“Oh, joy.” House arrest with Grump-o-liscious . . . hot but ornery as hell.
“Take it or leave it, Tink. I don’t trust your place.” He shuddered. “You’ve got backup.”
“Someday, you’re going to appreciate that backup.”
“Maybe in another lifetime.”
“That can be arranged,” I couldn’t help adding.
His eyes cut to mine. All he said was, “Don’t even think about it, or I’ll haunt your dreams.” He pointed his finger at me.
The scary thing was, as much as I hated it, he already did.
“It’s time to pony up and come clean, Tink. It’s the only way we’re going to solve this case. Why were you at the Song Bird tonight?” Mitch asked, handing me hot chocolate and taking the chair across from the couch this time.
Still, it was a little too close for comfort. The last time I’d been inside his apartment, we’d drunk hot chocolate and coffee, creating a mocha kiss I’d never forget. I squirmed, adjusting his tiger fleece over my legs.
I finally started talking. “Fine. Anything to get this night over with. After I bugged Pendleton’s car, I—”
“You what?” Detective Stone’s hand paused halfway to his slightly parted lips.
“You gonna let me finish or not?” I waited all calm and patient-like. Hey, I could play this game, too.
“I can’t believe you went through my stuff. I was wondering where that went,” he grumbled and then took a sip of his coffee. “Go on.” He waved his hand and sat back. “I can’t wait to hear the rest.”
“As I was saying, after I bugged Pendleton’s car, I placed a nanny cam in the office of the library.”
“Wait.” He wrinkled his forehead. “I don’t have a nanny cam.”
“I know.” I wrinkled my nose at him. “This one was all mine.”
“Where the hell did you get it from?”
“Morty.”
He gaped at me. “Your cat?” He cursed. “What else can that thing do?”
I held up a hand. “You don’t want to know. Anyway, we don’t have time for that.”
I rubbed my hands together and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I tried to remember everything I’d discovered. “Okay, so we already know Pendleton, Gladys, and Carolyn are working together to make the library deal go through. Pendleton wants that bookstore bad, and Gladys wants the hotel to be her national landmark. I thought Carolyn wanted money to pay for her Home Shopping Network addiction, but now I’m not so sure anymore.”
“Why do you say that?” He studied me as though seeing me in a whole new light. Good, maybe he’d finally realize I had something to offer in solving this case.
“I’m pretty sure Lucinda is the mystery woman who is a hard nut to crack. She doubled her gift to the library and swayed the vote toward keeping the library in return. Then there’s Holly Smith. She snagged the new librarian position, so you’d think Carolyn would be furious with her, right?”
“Makes sense to me.”
“Then why did my nanny cam show all three together, locked in the office, talking about something almost being over and everything being okay? Holly voted the way Lucinda wanted her to in favor of keeping the library open.” I sat back and finished my hot chocolate. “I swear Carolyn is working with them on something, but what and why, I don’t know.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you were at the Song Bird with Sasquatch,” Mitch grumbled, setting his empty cup on the coffee table between us.
I gaped at him in shock and then threw his words back at him with pleasure. “You’re jealous.”
His look pierced through me straight to my core. “Am not,” he returned the favor, and we stared each other down.
“Whatever.” I looked away first, feeling suddenly warm and kicking off his tiger fleece. “Anyway, Holly said she’d heard Amanda met with Pendleton at the Song Bird before she died. And Sasquatch, whose real name is Cole by the way, sang a love song that was so touching. You could tell he was really sad. He’s a local. I think he might have overheard Amanda and Pendleton’s conversation.” I beamed, thoroughly proud of myself, thinking,
Top that, Grump-a-dump!
“Wrong.” Mitch looked bored.
“Excuse me?” I sputtered.
“I said you’re wrong, Tink. W-r-o-n-g.” He punctuated each word as though I really were a dunce. “I didn’t tell you about Lucinda earlier because I didn’t have all my facts yet, but it appears you won’t stop causing trouble until I come clean.”
“It appears that way, doesn’t it?” I sat patiently, hands folded in my lap, fluttering my lashes and waiting.
He rolled his eyes. “Lucinda Griswold and Holly Smith are cops,” he said point-blank, and it was like getting hit with a bullet to the chest.
I reeled back. “Crazy Detective say what?”
“You heard me. That’s why I said not to worry about Lucinda, that she was fine. When you saw us laughing and talking so easily at Smokey Jo’s, it was because we were reminiscing about my old department in the city. We know a lot of the same people even though Griswold and Smith are FBI.”
“No way!”
“Yes way.” He made a funny face and a set of air quotes. “I’m not sure what they are doing here, but I
am
sure they want to keep it undercover.”
“So that’s why Holly gave me a back-off look. I really don’t know what she wanted me to back off on, though. And Carolyn must be working on the inside with them. But I still don’t get something.”
“Really? Seems to me you know everything.”
“Funny.” I smirked. “Seriously, though, what was up with the librarian meeting Pendleton at that karaoke bar? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“My guess is the FBI knew you planted the nanny cam, and so they sent you on a wild-goose chase to throw you off.”
I gasped. “Oh my God, Lucinda did look straight at the camera at one point.” I wrinkled my brow. “But what about Cole? He is a local, and he certainly looked sad. Maybe he was sad to hear Amanda was murdered when he possibly could have stopped it if he’d gone to the police.”
“He should be sad. That’s Cole West. Why do you think he hangs out at the Song Bird instead of Smokey Jo’s?”
“I was wondering that myself.”
“His wife died in a motorcycle accident a year ago, and he was the driver. Hasn’t driven one since, and he pretty much keeps to himself these days. Local bars just remind him of what he lost.”
“Oh, poor guy.” My heart went out to him. “Well, I feel like a total idiot.”
“Don’t,” the detective stated matter-of-factly. “You probably gave him more entertainment than he’s had in a long time. I can’t believe you took the stage and sang like that.”
“Like what? I love karaoke.”
“Were we in the same room? You had to have heard and seen the reaction from the crowd. Trust me, Tink. Karaoke does not love you.”
“You’re all crazy.” I refused to believe I was that bad. I had ears.
“If you say so,” he responded, then added half under his breath, “but I’d get my hearing checked if I were you.”
“Whatever.” I shook off my irritation with him and focused. “What do we do now?”
“We figure out what Lucinda and Holly don’t want us to know.”
“Sounds like a plan, partner. So are we good now?”
His eyes met mine and held. “Yeah. We’re more than good.”
My stomach flipped. There was a world of meaning in that one sentence. The question was, what was I prepared to do about it?
Turned out I didn’t have to worry about it. Mitch’s cell phone went off. He answered, gave me a sharp look, and then said, “I’ll be there in a minute.” He stood.
“No, we’ll be there,” I pointed out, standing as well.
“No, I’ll take you home, and then I’ll be there. Grab your coat.”
“But you said we were good.” I grabbed my coat and joined him by the door. “What’s up,
partner
?”
He slipped his jacket back on and grabbed his gun. “You’re going to follow me if I take you home, aren’t you?”
“Now you’re catching on.” I patted his chest.
“Fine, let’s go, you pain in my unmentionables. But you’re staying in the car.” He harrumphed and opened the door. “Pendleton got pulled over for a speeding ticket as he was headed out of town. He freaked out, took the officer hostage, and is spouting off something about a conspiracy and big brother watching him.” He gave me a pointed look.
I bit my lip. “You think it had anything to do with him finding the bug I planted?”
“Gee, not at all. I repeat, let’s go before you cause any more trouble.”
He didn’t have to ask me twice. I jogged to his car and climbed inside as he locked up his apartment and joined me in seconds.
When we arrived at the scene on the side of the road, Lucinda Griswold III and Holly Smith were already there, looking nothing like a rich socialite and mousy library manager. They were fully armed and ready to rock and roll as they used their car as a shield from Pendleton.
“Stay put,” Mitch barked at me as he got out of the car.
Of course I followed him.
“What’s the status?” Mitch asked as he arrived by their sides in the standoff and then growled when he spotted me. He shoved me down behind the car and pointed a warning finger in my face.
I nodded and crossed my heart in a signal promising I would behave. Too bad he didn’t see the other fingers crossed behind my back. I was desperate enough to do anything at this point if it meant solving this blasted case.
“Pendleton was making a run for it,” Lucinda said.
“Why? Didn’t he just get stopped for a speeding violation?” I asked, feeling vulnerable and wishing I’d bought that handgun from Eddy right about now.
“Not quite,” Holly answered.
“What the hell are they doing here?” Pendleton shouted. “This isn’t a freak show.”
The officer he held at gunpoint said something to him that seemed to calm him down for the moment.
“What’s really going on, Agent Griswold?” Mitch asked.
“We’ve been watching Alex Pendleton for years for money laundering. The bookstore would have been a front for his biggest site yet. Only this time we have proof.”
“What proof?” Mitch asked.
“The bug Ms. Meadows planted. He spilled everything in detail. That’s some partner you have there,” Holly said.
“Assistant,” Mitch mumbled. “She’s been demoted.”
“Hmmm, well, all I can say is she does good work,” Lucinda added. “He smashed the bug, but that didn’t erase all the conversations recorded on the audio device we found in her living room.”
“You broke into my house?” I sputtered. “Are you crazy? You didn’t let my cat out, did you?”