Armed With Steele (18 page)

“Ha ha. Yeah. Hilarious.”

My mother and her big mouth. I shook my head. She must have been down here, visiting Sharon.

Jiminy Cricket perched his chipper little rear on my shoulder again and whispered, “Clean up needed at register one…”

The annoying little bug was right, though. It was time I came clean. I looked up and locked eyes with Nate. “Listen, Nate—”

“No big deal. I’m just going to avoid your place for a while—she and I both live in your neck of the woods, and she’ll be watching for my cars. She’ll cool down eventually. But right now, I don’t want to get her any more pissed off than she already is.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because when Katie gets pissed,” said someone in a husky voice from the shadows, “
look out
.”

A tall, slender man with tousled, sandy-blond hair and dark chocolate eyes stepped into view. To me, his look screamed rich bachelor: unbuttoned white oxford with a white tank underneath, faded designer jeans fraying from wear at the cuffs, and leather sandals. He walked up behind Nate and clapped him on the back. “How ya doing, man?”

Nate smiled. “Hanging in there, buddy.” He pushed off from his car and came to stand next to me. “Charlie, I’d like to introduce you to my new off-the-record partner, Jessica Hartley. Jessica, this is Charlie.”

I held out my free hand. “Nice to mee—”

Charlie broke out a long, low whistle. “
Damn
, Nate, you failed to mention that your new partner in crime was smokin’ hot.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see if some supermodel was standing behind me.

“Ah, and modest, too. Nate, you lucky dog.” He gave Nate a soft jab in the shoulder, and I came to understand why I’d been given the instructions to wait outside for him. Charlie was like the big bad wolf on two legs.

“Excuse Charlie, Jess. He spends too much time alone and often forgets his
manners.
” Nate planted a fist square into Charlie’s upper arm.

Judging by the way he flinched, I had no doubt Nate’s jab felt a lot less pleasant. He fisted both hands and rounded on Nate, then looked over at me and stopped. “Where are my manners?” Charlie said through forced smiled and gritted teeth. “So nice to meet you. Won’t you both please come inside?”

* * * *

We followed Charlie up a flagstone path that wove its way around the side-load garage toward an ornate, oak front door. Charlie opened it and stepped aside for Nate and me to enter.

“So, Jessica, did you bring one of your famous desserts with you?”

“Oh, this?” I glanced down at the bag of pastries in my hand, long since forgotten. “No, nothing in here was my doing. But one of my clients is Reem Bakery, and Mrs. Reem won’t let me walk out the door without trying to fatten me up first.”

“We wouldn’t want that.” Charlie gave me a not-so-subtle once-over as he closed the door. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Sure, whaddaya got?” Nate asked.

“The usual,” Charlie said, rubbing his sore shoulder.

Before I could ask what that was, Nate answered for us both. “We’ll take two, thanks.”

Charlie headed off to get our drinks, and I followed Nate into a large, sunken living room. What a bachelor pad! Black leather sofa, over-sized leather chair, glass-topped coffee and end tables…definitely no plans for children in Charlie’s near future. At least there wasn’t any weird, erotic artwork on the walls. Everything in frames seemed to be pictures taken of scenery, many of them featuring Charlie in hiking gear.

Nate took a seat on the couch. I threw him a dirty look.

“What?” he whispered, resting his arm on the back of the sofa and leaning toward me.

“You could have warned me that your BFF was such a
dog
,” I whispered back.

“No way,” he said quietly. “You would have never agreed to any of this if I had.”

He had a point. I set the bag of goodies on the coffee table before him and plopped down on the couch two cushions over. “So, let me get this straight. Not only do I need to be on the lookout for punk burglars and deranged Maxwell employees, but now I’m on your psycho ex-girlfriend’s hit list, too?”

Nate chuckled. “Don’t worry, she’ll cool down in time. Right now, she’s just a woman scorned. The worst she’s capable of is a good tongue-lashing.”

Riiiight. I’d seen plenty of scorned women before. Heck, I’d been there, done that, bought the freaking t-shirt. We were a lot more dangerous breed than he realized.

I crossed my arms. “Yet another reason to stay single. One less person to piss off.”

Nate said nothing, but Charlie, who walked in with our drinks, didn’t miss a beat. “Ah, even better, you picked an available one.” He crossed the room and handed Nate and I each a frosty pilsner of beer.

“Charlie,” Nate growled.

“Thanks.” I felt the tension begin to escalate between them again, and tried to think of something clever to say to try and diffuse the situation. “Mmm, nothing like a cold brew to go with…donuts.”

“Breakfast of champions,” Charlie answered with a wink and swiped a cruller from the bag. He settled into a seat catty-corner from me. Nate opted for a caramel long john, sans the wink.

Time to get down to business. “So, Charlie, Nate brought over some really cool spy gadgets for me to use if I get in at Maxwell.”

“
When
you get in at Maxwell,” Nate corrected me.

I ignored him, kept my eyes on Charlie. “Did you pick those out for me?”

“You liked my toys, did you?”

I smiled shyly, playing it up a bit. “I had no idea spy gear had gone so…high tech.”

Apparently talking shop was the way to get Charlie to stop thinking with anatomy parts below the belt, because suddenly he was off and running with spy tool tales. I listened with rapt attention to his spiels about the necklace tracking device and barrette bug. Soon Nate chimed in as well, and the tension in the room ratcheted down a few notches.

After our first round of beer had been extinguished, Charlie hopped up and offered us another.

“No, thanks,” I said with a grin, “I want to be able to make it home in one piece tonight.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but not my real concern, either. Getting tipsy would only complicate things—and probably compromise my decision-making abilities. Bachelor Charlie had no doubt wooed many a woman in his day, and I wasn’t about to add my name to the list. Or Nate’s list, for that matter. “But a glass of water would be great.”

“I’ll take a water, too, Charlie. Thanks.”

Charlie headed off to the kitchen, and the room grew quiet. Whether because of the beer in my system or the fact that I’d gone without seeing Nate all week, his brilliant blue eyes seemed to be even more inviting tonight than usual. I slid off the couch and walked across the room to admire a large, scenic photograph hanging on the wall…and silently berated myself for even having that thought.

“That was the summer before last,” Nate said, close behind me. I hadn’t heard him leave the couch. “Charlie and I flew out west to visit his parents, and ended up doing some serious hiking. Two bachelors at one with nature.” He chuckled. “It was one hell of a good time.”

I studied the two men pictured: bare, tan chests glistening in the sun and large packs on their backs. At least they were both wearing shades—had Nate’s blue eyes been visible, I probably would have gone into cardiac arrest.

“It looks absolutely beautiful out there.”

“Beautiful,” he agreed.

I turned my head to peruse the picture to our right, and caught him staring at me. I looked away.

He didn’t.

The room suddenly felt too small. The air too thin. And much too filled with his now-familiar cologne.

“So.” Charlie re-entered the room, saving me. “What’s the plan, gang?”

I spun around. “Plan?”

“Which we were just discussing.” Nate turned away to resume his seat on the couch. “So here’s the deal. Jessica has an interview scheduled with Maxwell Office Solutions Monday morning. I’ll have her wear the necklace, though I highly doubt anyone will have a clue then that she’s in any way connected to Grace Sullivan.”

“Won’t their identical addresses draw a flag?” Charlie asked.

“Jess already thought of that. She listed her business PO Box on the app instead.”

“Which will work until she gets hired,” Charlie muttered into his beer.

“We’ll cross that road when we get there. In the meantime, the address is hidden and we’ve given Jess a disguise. Even if someone had seen her picture before, they’d be hard pressed to recognize her now.”

“Oh, yeah?” Charlie looked at my hair for a moment. “Let me guess. Former blonde?”

“Dishwater,” I said as I resumed my seat.

A smirk stretched across his lips. “Nate always did prefer brunettes.”

Even out of the corner of my eye I could see Nate’s gaze turn stormy.

“It was Marissa’s idea, actually,” I said in his defense.

“Sure it was,” Charlie purred, throwing one leg over the arm of his recliner. “So, you’ve got the new look, a lock on an interview…about time you meet up with—”

“No,” Nate boomed, his voice echoing off the living room walls.

“But Nate, who else could give her the scoop on everyone ther—”

“The answer is
no
, Charlie. I don’t want Jessica getting anywhere near her. It’s too risky. For both of them.”

“Her?” I looked from Charlie to Nate. “You mean this widowed cousin of yours?”

“Jesus, Nate! You were just gonna send her in blind?”

“Yes, my cousin. And no, Jessica’s not going in blind. She already has information on her future boss and coworker. From Grace.”

Charlie shook his head as he swung his leg back down to the floor. “I don’t know, man. She could learn a ton from—”

“Shut up, Charlie. No contact, and that’s final.”

I looked from one to the other. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

Nate kept his eyes on Charlie. “No.”

“But…I thought the reason you needed my help was because your cousin was a
guy
. And, and you needed someone to play the flirt.”

Charlie looked at me, wide-eyed. “He hasn’t told you much of anything, has he?”

“Charlie,” Nate growled.

The hairs on the back of my neck came to attention. “Look, somebody better start coughing up some answers or I’m walking out that door. You can find some other clueless blonde to play decoy, or whatever the hell it is you’re plotting to do with me.”

“Jess, it’s nothing. Charlie’s just—”

“Don’t you ‘oh, Jess, it’s nothing’ me, buddy.” I slid to the edge of my seat and stood. “You want my help, start talking.”

He shot Charlie a vicious look, then turned back to me. “Really, it’s—”

“I’ll give you to the count of five. One.”

“Jess, I—”

“Two.” If it worked for Officer Frank, it could work for me, too. “Three.”

Nate cursed under his breath. “Alright.”

“Four.”

“Alright!” Nate ran a hand through his dark locks and glared at the floor. “Yes, my cousin is female. But I already told you, she doesn’t work in the same area Grace did. She’s not even on the same floor. And, well, she doesn’t get along well with most of her coworkers, so she can’t do what I’m asking you to do.”

I sat back down. “And?”

Nate’s eyes met mine. “What do you mean,
and
? That’s why we need you looking for information instead of her.”

“But that doesn’t explain why I can’t meet her.”

“Because.” Nate shot Charlie another dirty look. “I don’t want her cluttering your investigation with any of her quack conspiracy theories.”

“Conspiracy theories?”

Charlie came to sit on the other side of me. “Nate’s cousin has levied several allegations against Maxwell over the years. Including, among other things, several cases of sexual harassment.”

I whipped my head around to Nate. “And you didn’t think that was important for me to
know
?”