Death, Taxes, and Peach Sangria (10 page)

Her white-blonde hair didn’t hang in pigtails today. Rather, it was shaved short over
the ear on one side, the rest of it hanging in chunky clumps around her face. Not
quite dreadlocks, but close. The wide blue eyes from the snapshot were now rimmed
with black smudges, the uniformity of the circles indicating they were intentional.
Her lipstick, likewise, was black. She was thin, almost painfully so, with long, gangly
limbs, like a Tim Burton character come to life. Gone was the sailor suit, replaced
by a tight black belly top, a black leather miniskirt with white netting underneath,
torn fishnet hose, and thigh-high black leather boots.

“Boy howdy,” Nick said, giving a low whistle and turning to Josh. “That girl is going
to eat you alive.”

Josh emitted a sound like the whimper of a puppy.

Kira’s flat chest was crisscrossed by the straps of a laptop bag draped diagonally
over one shoulder and a messenger bag. She removed the laptop bag and glanced around
the room, her eyes stopping and locking on Josh. She stood there for a moment, her
head tilting first one way, then the other as she assessed him. Her eyes narrowed
for a moment. Was she thinking about turning around and walking back out the door?
For Josh’s sake I hoped not. Or maybe for his sake I should hope she would. Heck,
I had no idea what to make of her.

Finally, she stepped forward and came to our table.

“Uhh … h-h-hi,” Josh said, his voice breathy and weak as he looked up at her.

Josh’s trepidation brought an openmouthed smile to Kira’s dark lips, as if she enjoyed
the fact that he was afraid of her. In contrast to her ebony lipstick, her teeth appeared
an almost blinding white, with oddly long and pointed canines.

Kira laid her laptop bag on the table and followed it with the messenger bag. Up close,
additional features were apparent. Her belly button was pierced, as were her nose,
one brow, that little dimple under her bottom lip, and her tongue. Given all that
metal, it was a wonder her face wasn’t constantly drawn to magnetic north. She had
a small tattoo on her upper hip, the standard yellow happy face wearing a black hood
and carrying a sickle. What the hell was that? The grin reaper?

Nick and I stood, introduced ourselves, and shook her hand. Josh just sat there, his
mouth hanging open, dumbfounded.

Given that Josh was totally dropping the ball, Nick asked Kira what she’d like to
drink and set off for the bar to place her order for a double espresso. I invited
her to take a seat, giving Josh a nudge with my knee as I sat, trying to dislodge
him from his stupor.

“Nick and I work with Josh at the IRS,” I told Kira, explaining that we were special
agents who pursued tax evaders. “Josh is the department’s cybercrimes specialist.”

“A crime fighter,” she said in a slightly nasal voice, turning her gaze on Josh. “Cool.”

At her eye contact he made the puppy whimper sound again. I half-expected him to drop
to the floor, roll over onto his back, and pee on himself.

She turned to me. “He seems nervous. What’s his deal?”

“He hasn’t dated much,” I said. “Plus, he’s a virgin.”

“Tara!” Josh shrieked, turning purple with embarrassment. But at least he was talking
now.

Kira laughed. She probably assumed I was joking. She leaned across the table toward
Josh. “I don’t bite, you know. At least not on the first date.” She ran her tongue
over her lips, laughing again when Josh turned an even darker shade of purple.

Josh said little for the next minute or so while Kira and I got to know each other.
Although we clearly had totally different tastes in fashion, we hit it off, having
other things in common. We were both nonconformists with a rebellious streak. We both
thought iced coffee was an abomination. Coffee should be taken hot, the way God intended.
We were both cat lovers. She had three to my two. COBOL, Delphi, and Fortran, all
named after computer languages.

Nick returned with Kira’s espresso and the three of us chatted amiably. Josh simply
stared at Kira the entire time. She pulled an artist’s sketchbook out of her messenger
bag and showed us some of the logos she’d designed for her clients’ Web sites, including
one for a local punk rock band called the STDs. The shape of the
T
was somewhat phallic and the pink
D
was suspiciously reminiscent of a woman’s nether regions, but I suppose you have
to give the clients what they want, huh?

She pulled up some of the Web sites on her iPad. Most of the others were less provocative,
though no less unique. She’d designed a cute site for a vegan restaurant that featured
a singing carrot, as well as one for a shoe repair service with a dancing cobbler.
The woman not only knew computers and HTML; she was a creative genius, too.

Josh eventually found the courage to speak. “Your sites are awesome.”

“Thanks.” She gave him another smile and this time he managed to maintain eye contact.
Good for him. It was a baby step, but it was progress.

Josh pulled his laptop from his bag and set it on the table, punching the button to
boot up the machine.

Kira noted the bug-eyed logo on the back of his screen. “Alienware?” Her brows rose
as she looked his machine over. “Wow. You’ve got some really nice equipment.”

Josh managed a small smile. “Thanks.”

I supposed to a computer geek like him showing off his expensive hardware was the
equivalent of an alpha male flexing his muscles. Kira seemed impressed, so Josh’s
strategy appeared to be working.

Kira pulled her chair up closer next to Josh and the two began to compare computers.
Just as Kira had admired Josh’s hardware, he complimented her on her software, which
ranged from an extended version of Flash, to Photoshop, to some type of moviemaking
program.

When the two began communicating in technical lingo and computer jargon, Nick and
I could no longer join in the conversation. They might as well have been speaking
a foreign language.

Nick and I eyed each other over our coffee, neither of us saying anything for a while,
not wanting to risk throwing Josh off his tenuous game. Eventually, the conversation
steered back to Josh’s job.

“So you hack into computers?” Kira asked Josh.

Now that she was looking at him instead of the computer screen, he seemed to shrink
again. He nodded.

Might as well help the poor squirt out, huh? “Josh is amazing,” I said. “He can hack
into any system.” It was true. Josh hadn’t met a firewall yet that he couldn’t break
through and he could decrypt code in less time than it took me to log on.

Nick played his part as wingman, piling on. “I don’t know what we’d do without Josh’s
tech skills.”

Also true, though I could do without his sometimes sniveling attitude.

“I’m a bit of a hacker myself,” Kira said. “Haven’t met anyone yet who’s better than
me.” She narrowed her eyes at Josh. “You up for a challenge?”

Josh shrugged. “Okay.”

Kira gestured to a businessman in the corner. “See that guy on his laptop? First one
to hack his system wins.”

“Piece of cake.” Josh grinned. “You’re on.”

The two of them began pecking away on their keyboards and running their fingers over
their mouse pads, presumably accessing the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi system and manipulating
their way into the guy’s machine. It was a geek-off.

As Nick and I watched their frantic movements, I sent him a discreet text.
Is this some type of nerd foreplay?

Nick checked his phone when it buzzed with my incoming text. A slight smile crossed
his lips.
Hell if I know,
he replied.

“Watch,” Josh whispered a few seconds later. “I’ll open his CD drive.” He punched
a few more keys and, sure enough, the CD port on the man’s computer slid open. The
man looked down, frowned, and pushed it back closed.

Nick and I exchanged glances. Knowing Josh could so easily infiltrate a stranger’s
system had me wondering what else he might have hacked into. Our banking records?
Personnel files? Personal e-mails? I’d considered him little more than a pesky twerp,
but perhaps he was much more of a threat than I’d realized.

Kira raised her hands and bowed forward to Josh. “All hail the mighty hacker, supreme
lord of cyberspace.”

Josh leaned back in his chair now, all cocky confidence.

When our cups ran dry, Josh and Kira packed up their computers and we stood to go.

Kira slid her bags back over her shoulders, the straps once again making an X across
her chest. “It was nice meeting all of you.”

Nick and I both gave Josh the eye. He took the hint.

“Um … how about a movie this weekend?” Josh asked Kira.

“That would be great,” she replied, suggesting the latest superhero flick. I knew
Josh had already seen it, twice in fact, but at least he had the good sense not to
mention it. He programmed her cell number into his phone and we parted ways.

Josh beamed as we made our way back to Nick’s truck. “I nailed it!”

Nick and I exchanged glances. If not for our early intervention, Kira probably would’ve
gone on her merry way after two seconds. But no sense ruining Josh’s newfound confidence.

“Way to go, dude.” Nick raised his hand, offering Josh a high five.

Josh slapped Nick’s palm, then pulled his hand down to his hip in a victorious fist.
“Yes-s-s!”

I noticed Nick check his watch as he drove Josh and me back to our cars at the office.

“Late for dinner?” I asked. Nick had lived with his mother since he’d returned from
Mexico, though lately he’d been making noises about finding a place of his own.

“No,” he said. “I’ve got another date.”

“Another date?”
Sheez.
That made two nights in a row. Nick was a man slut! A hot flare of anger lit up in
me. “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

Nick shot me a meaningful look. “I’ve wasted quite a bit of time, Tara.”

I wanted to tell him that his time spent waiting for me to make up my mind had not
been wasted. That I had come around. That as soon as I could get Brett alone and have
a heart-to-heart with him, Nick and I would be free to explore our relationship. But
I couldn’t very well do that with Josh sitting next to me. I didn’t want the entire
office knowing our business.

I was worried, though. I’d seen those girls on the Big D site. All of them were attractive.
Some were younger than me; many were prettier. All of them had bigger breasts. Not
hard to outdo a 32A. No doubt a few of them might be interesting to a guy like Nick.
The angry flare in me blazed into rage-fueled fear.

“You trying someone new tomorrow night, too?” I spat.

“Nope,” Nick replied.

Good.
“I’m sure your mother will be glad to have you home for a change.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t have a date,” Nick said. “I just said I wasn’t trying someone
new.”

I shot him a questioning look.

His eyes locked on mine. “I’m having dinner with my fiancée tomorrow night.”

“
Ex-
fiancée,” I corrected.

He shrugged and looked away, as if the “ex” were irrelevant.

Damn!
I needed to move fast or Nick might reconcile with the woman. Things just kept getting
worse!

As Nick pulled into the lot, I dug in my purse for my keys. My fingers brushed against
a cool piece of plastic the size of dice. It was Josh’s GPS device that the three
of us had used on a recent case. I’d been meaning to return it to Josh but kept forgetting.
Things tended to get lost in the deep recesses of my purse. For all I knew, the Holy
Grail was down in the bottom somewhere, along with that Perfectly Plum lipstick I
couldn’t seem to find.

I closed my fingers around the GPS and, as discreetly as possible, eased it from my
purse. I reached my hand behind me and shoved the gadget into the crevice between
the seat and backrest. I might not have been able to sabotage Nick’s venture on the
Big D Dating site, but I’d find a way to sabotage his date tonight. I had to. I couldn’t
risk losing Nick before I even got a chance with him.

I climbed into my car, started the engine, and drove out of the parking lot, giving
Nick and Josh time to leave as I circled around the block. Once I verified they’d
left the lot, I pulled back in and parked. I scurried into the building and up to
Josh’s office, where I searched through his box of spy gadgets until I found the instructions
for the GPS device. I loaded the app on my cell phone and programmed in the unique
code for the unit.

I supposed I should have felt guilty. Following Nick and trying to ruin his date would
be a horrible, rotten, no-good thing to do. But I needed to buy myself some time.
Besides, all’s fair in love and war, right?

I wasn’t sure whether this was love, but it was definitely war.

chapter ten

Operation: First-Date Flop

I arrived home to find Alicia lying prone on my couch. She was dressed in her usual
sophisticated office attire, which she hadn’t bothered to change out of. Her black
silk blouse was wrinkled, as were her gray linen pants. The pumps she’d kicked off
lay at haphazard angles on the floor next to the couch.

Also crumpled on the floor was the gorgeous Monique Lhuillier wedding gown she’d scored
for a mere seventy-five bucks at a resale shop. I’d dragged her to the thrift store
when I needed some cheap undercover outfits. At first, Alicia had been appalled by
the idea of secondhand clothing. But when she realized what amazing deals she could
get on barely worn designer items she’d gone nuts, filling her entire trunk with bags
of bargains.

Alicia’s eyes were closed. She didn’t bother to open them when she heard me come in.
She simply sighed loudly to acknowledge my presence and to alert me to her mood, which
apparently hadn’t changed since she’d moved in with me the night before.

The pitcher of sangria sat on the coffee table, mostly empty, only a few orange and
peach slices left in the bottom. Next to the pitcher was a glass with a half inch
of reddish liquid in the bottom. Alicia hadn’t wasted any time getting wasted.