Secrets and Lies Read online

  She moaned, just thinking about that moment was like another slap in the face. How could she have been so stupid?

  “Are you okay?”

  “Um…yeah. I was just thinking about something.” She hurried out the door. The sooner she got to her car, the sooner she could leave with whatever remaining dignity she had.

  “Would you like to talk about it? It seems to be greatly disturbing you.”

  She was never any good at disguising her emotions. Jade, her friend and former hair stylist, had told her she wore her heart on her sleeves; sadly, she did.

  “No; it’s not important. It’s just history picking a bad time to haunt me.” It wasn’t important at all, and she really couldn’t think of why she allowed herself to mentally time travel at a time like this…when she needed every measure of strength and focus to try not to look as mortified as she felt.

  He put his hand on her shoulder as if she was his kid sister and he was trying to provide some measure of comfort. Startled, she dropped her handbag. Without thinking twice she stooped to pick it up at the same time he had and they bumped heads, hard.

  “Ouch.”

  “Sorry;” he continued to reach for her purse as she tried to stand up. She didn’t have her head past the window of her car when the first shot rung out and the window shattered. Thomas grabbed her, pulled her down to his squatted position and pushed her head down.

  She was thankful for his actions, but did he have to push her head between his legs. From his squatted position she fit perfectly. Anybody passing by would think she was giving him a blowjob. She tried to move, to change her position to a less risqué one, but he applied more pressure on her head and held her down.

  “Stay down,” he barked the order. She tried to tell him to let her up, but he didn’t seem to hear her. Why would he? With her face pressed against him in such a manner she was sure her voice was as muffled to him as it was to her.

  She heard him asking for police assistance, which assured her he had managed a phone call because he was giving their location and a detailed assessment of their situation.

  She mumbled again and wiggled against him trying to get his attention.

  “What did you say?”

  He must have looked down when he didn’t understand her words because he released her enough to allow her to move out of their not so delicate position.

  “I was saying that you needed to let me up at least a little.” With one big sweep of her hand through her hair she pushed her hair back from her face. Jeeze, the man was dense. Or maybe she was. There was no way her mind should have gone to sexual activity when someone had clearly just taken a shot at her. But how could it not? Her head in his lap, mouth pressed against something considerably hard while her curly hair fell around her face…who could think of anything but sex in a position like that? Well, obviously he could because he had enough presence of mind to call the cops.

  “Stay down,” he ordered again. “Can’t believe I left my gun up there.” He seemed irate, maybe more with himself for not being prepared than with her for putting him in a situation that could get him killed.

  “That’s twice,” she said absently. “Maybe the third time will be the charm.”

  “The hell it will,” he snapped. “You’re not dying on my watch.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not on your watch. You’re looking into my mother’s case remember? I’m sure that man, or woman for that matter, will have plenty of time to try again.” She leaned against the car for support. She might not be good at masking emotions, but she was good at weathering a storm, and right now she was dead smack in the middle of a tempestuous storm of conflicting, feral emotions and chaos. She was well aware that her voice probably had a tone that made him think she wasn’t taking things seriously, that she didn’t care what happened to her, but she was taking things seriously and she did care. She just couldn’t fall apart right now. When she got home, took a hot shower and hung out in her steam room then she could fall apart, but for now…for now she had to be strong.

  She heard the sirens blaring, getting closer, and she knew the cavalry was on the way. Thank goodness for a quick response time or they would be sitting ducks long enough for whoever had the gun to come at them again.

  “Stay down until it’s clear,” he ordered again.

  “I really need you to find out what happened to my mother…soon. I need to know before I—”

  “You’re not getting yourself killed. Do you understand me?”

  He nearly barked those words at her as if he were giving orders on the battle field. Was he insane? Last she checked she was paying him to work for her. He didn’t have any right to order her around.

  “I said do you understand?”

  The look in his eyes was ferocious, as if he were ready to rip somebody’s head off—probably hers if she didn’t answer him. She nodded hesitantly.

  “What was that? I didn’t hear you.”

  He didn’t hear her because she hadn’t said anything, but he had seen her nod her confirmation. “Yes, okay, all right…Jeeze,” she snapped in her most exasperated voice. Men! Alpha male may have been sexy in the suspense-romance novels, but it was not sexy in her world. Oh, who was she kidding? With hands like that the man could turn on a doorknob. His confidence was alluring, not offensive. She imagined he needed that level of confidence to do the jobs people hired him to do. A man who didn’t believe in his skills, in his ability, couldn’t do what he did.

  She looked him over once. If there were a picture next to sexy in the dictionary it would be Thomas’ picture. The man was brazen, handsome, confident…sexy, and he had nice hands too—very nice hands. He had hands she wouldn’t mind feeling against her bare skin.

  “This is so not good,” she moaned. Somebody had just tried to kill her. She shouldn’t be thinking about sexy men—especially not this sexy man.

  “What’s not good?”

  “Did I just say that out loud?”

  “Yeah, you did.” He looked over the car just a little.

  “The situation,” she said instead of what she was actually referencing. In actuality she was thinking it wasn’t good that she barely knew the man and already she was thinking of being naked on top of him—or under him—either way she wanted to be naked with him.

  An officer finally approached them to let them know the shooter was gone. At that point she was able to get off the ground. Her stockings now had a long run streaking up the front; her skirt was still in tact, that had to be a plus. She looked down, surveying the damage and then she looked to the officer before them. He had a grin on his face and his eyes were low. She followed his gaze and then realized what he was looking at. Her lipstick had left an outline of her mouth on Thomas’ pants, right in an area where she was sure anybody would assume something else—something sexual.

  She turned a shade of red, she was sure of that because she felt heat pool in her cheeks. She cleared her throat trying to refocus the officer’s attention. Thomas looked at her and then looked down.

  “When did that happen?”

  “Um…when you were trying to keep me from getting shot you…well, you…so not important right now.” She shook her head.

  The officer continued to grin as if he had already created a scenario he wasn’t ready to relinquish no matter what either of them said.

  “Did they find any shell casings?” Thomas ignored the blatant implication the officer was making and conducted business as usual. Sure, he could do that because for him it was probably like a trophy or something. For her, having the officer think she had been…that was so not a good thing. Not that she wouldn’t mind spending some time getting to know that area of his body just a little better. He was big and hard, she could feel that from the brief time she had spent with her head in his lap. The significance of that seemed important. Unless he got off on danger—which he probably did. Or maybe that was Thomas at his relaxed state…in which case, the man would probably rip her apart if he ever did decide to get insid
e her.

  She felt more heat rising to her cheeks—and everywhere else for that matter. These were not thoughts she should be having right now.

  “I can’t discuss that with you, sir. Besides, I don’t really know anyway.”

  Thomas shrugged. He didn’t seem to care that the young officer didn’t share. Perhaps he didn’t care because he had his own ways of getting information.

  When the officer walked away Thomas looked down at her and said, “Don’t worry. I still have friends on the force and I’ll get the answers I need.”

  “I’m not worried,” she assured him. “You don’t strike me as the type of man to take no for an answer.”

  He smiled at her. He actually smiled. That was the first smile she had seen from him. Every other time he looked so serious and professionally focused. She liked his smile; it was sexy and warm, comforting and inviting. Seeing the curve of his lips made her want to smile too—despite present circumstances.

  She looked around him and exhaled slowly. “How long do you think this will take?”

  He shrugged. Although she was sure he had an idea he seemed to be refraining from telling her about it. “Are you in a hurry to meet somebody?”

  “No,” she sighed. “I just wanted to be in the house before dark.” She shivered. The thought of being out at night was starting to scare her. People could hide in all sorts of places in the dark. On the other end of that, it was still daylight and somebody had just shot at her so clearly the level of visibility wasn’t a factor.

  “I’ll see you home.”

  “No, it’s okay. My car is fine to drive—I think.” She hadn’t actually seen the other side. There had been two shots fired. One shot definitely hit her window, which knocked out both the driver and passenger side windows. The other shot—she wasn’t sure. Maybe it hit her car in a manner that wouldn’t allow her to drive it. Even if the car was drivable she would have to get the glass off the front seat or she would get glass in her behind—that would hurt…big time.

  “I’m going to see you home, Thena.”

  “You were getting ready to go somewhere I really don’t want to inconvenience you.”

  “I’m going to see you home,” he reiterated. She surrendered. What was the point of arguing with the man when he seemed determined to make sure she made it home all right?

  “Okay then,” she shook her head. “If you’re not going to listen to me I don’t see a point in trying to make you.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Look, Thomas…I appreciate you saving my life. I do, really. But the reality is I really need you working my mother’s case. I really need those answers.”

  He wrapped his big hand around her arm as if preparing to guide her some place. “And you’ll get those answers. I can work two cases at once, Thena.”

  She started to protest and he held up his hand to halt her speech.

  “I think it’s all connected. So let me work this the way I see fit. I’m the professional here, and I know what I’m doing.” He started walking with her.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’m taking you inside, where you’re not an easy target.” He guided her into the entrance of his office building making sure to keep her away from the windows and doors. The downstairs was closed off, but if he ever wanted to expand there would be room for more offices down there—unless those closed rooms were where he stored his case files.

  “I do trust you to do your job,” she felt the need to say. She did trust him, and it wasn’t because he was cute. She may have just plucked him out of the phone book, but she was usually good at reading people. If their first meeting had left her with any doubts she wouldn’t have agreed to pay the fee he wanted. She would have politely excused herself to find somebody else. But she didn’t have any doubts. She could tell he was confident. He must have been doing something right because she could see the license on his office wall, and in the waiting room he had a copy of an award the mayor had presented to him. She didn’t have any doubts. He could do the job she needed done, which is why she hired him, even though she knew the cost alone was going to tax her resources. She didn’t like to dip into either company fund to pay non-company expenses, so she was going to have to come up with the money out of her own savings. The cost of his services could quickly turn into something she wasn’t prepared to pay—at least not out of her own savings. She would use up her savings first—after all, she couldn’t exactly take it with her when she died. Then she would dip into her emergency home fund. Her expenses for her house were limited. She owned the home and the nearly four acres of land free and clear. She just had taxes, insurance and the usual utility bills. She did have one vice—cable. She only had that because she liked watching the home shows. If she had to let go of the cable bill she would. She would cross that bridge once it was built. For now, she had enough to pay him without putting a strain on her finances. If he didn’t have answers in a few weeks, then she would have to worry about tapping the other resources.

  Another officer came to speak with them. He wanted to know if she could find somebody to come take her home.

  “Is there some reason I can’t drive my car?”

  “Well there’s a flat tire, two of them actually.”

  “I have a doughnut and a full spare in my trunk, it’s not a problem.” She knew how to change a tire.

  “Well I think the officer in charge wants to try to get the bullet out of the second tire. It must still be in there.”

  She peeped around the officer to look out the window. He was right; the passenger side back tire was now flat. She hadn’t noticed that before. “Can’t I just take the tire off and give it to you all?”

  “Well…um…” The officer stammered.

  “She has a ride home, officer.”

  The officer, obviously feeling as if he had been saved from an argument, quickly fled the building.

  “I can drive myself home. I don’t need to ride you to get there.” He smirked, he actually smirked. “What’s so funny?”

  “I think you meant you don’t need to ride with me to get there.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “No; it’s not.” He laughed. “Come on. I should get you home before you have any more of those Freudian slips.”

  She looked up at him. He was still smiling. What could she possibly have said that was so funny? She played the words over in her mind trying to think of how she could have messed up the sentence. It wasn’t until he had her seated in the car that she realized what she must have said. She moaned. “Brilliant, Thena.” She mumbled before he got in the car. Clearly she had left out the crucial word, “with”, in that sentence. Could she embarrass herself any more today or was this it? God, she hoped that was it.

  “Are you okay?” He started the car, the engine purred smoothly.

  “What about my car?”

  “It’ll be fine.”

  “I need my car for work.” She had a Moped, but she rarely drove it anywhere. She only had it because while she was in college it was easier to navigate the campus area in that than in her car. In the winter she took the train, and in the summer she used her Moped. She hadn’t brought herself to sell it—although she really should have. She hadn’t driven it in months. Maybe she should be glad she still had it because, provided it was still working, she would need it to get to work. She tried to think if she had to meet with any clients within the next few days. She hoped not, otherwise she was going to have to pull up to the meeting on her Moped—that didn’t seem confidence provoking.

  “I can get you to work it you need a ride.”

  “That’s crazy. It wouldn’t make sense for you to put yourself out. I’ll figure it out.” Besides the Moped might still work. If it did still work then maybe she could take it to where Kyle was working and borrow his truck for the day in order to meet with clients. She would rent a car, but she was going to need every penny she had to pay Thomas’ bill.

  “Rent a car,” he suggested. “I c
an take you to the rental agency now if you want.”

  “No.” She answered so quickly that she startled herself. “I mean, no, that’s okay. I really have it figured out. Not to worry.” She sighed as she turned her attention to the view out the windshield. “Oh, turn right at the light.” She was thankful for the break in conversation. “It’s shorter this way.”

  “Do you take the shortcut often?”

  “Depends on which direction I’m coming from. When I come from my office then I take the shortcut. My office is actually about fifteen minutes north of your office, which generally means with traffic it’s about forty-five minutes.” The traffic in the city was murder in and of itself. “If I come from a work site it just depends on where we’re working. Right now we’re working south of my home so I don’t need to avoid the freeway to get home.

  He avoided the turn off she had advised him of taking. She pointed out the window as he breezed by his turn. “You were supposed to turn right there.”

  “You shouldn’t get used to taking the same route home so often. You never know who’s following you, or waiting for you.”

  “Waiting for me?”

  “How do you know somebody won’t figure out your travel pattern and wait down the least busy road of your route for you to come driving along? Anything can happen then. A flat tire, an arranged car accident, anything. And then you’re screwed.”

  “With my pants on,” she added before cupping her hand over her mouth and shaking her head. She was batting a thousand today and unfortunately the home runs she was hitting were leading her straight to the home plate of humiliation. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be.”

  Chapter Three

  Digging for answers always had a way of yielding results. Unfortunately the answers Thomas received weren’t always the truth.

  “So where’s the body, Dustin? Did it just get up and walk away?”

  Dustin slammed his fist down on the cold slab in front of him. “That’s what I’d like to know. I put the body back in there. I went to lunch; I came back and she was gone. I mean gone! If I hadn’t checked I wouldn’t have even known.”