Ultimate Concealer, A Toni Diamond Mystery: A Toni Diamond Mystery (Toni Diamond Mysteries) (5 page)

“Help,” she screamed, already pushing open the car door, thinking to run into the restaurant. Even as she moved, the door to the restaurant opened and Marlene came out, followed by the owner.

In the slow motion horror of a dream she saw that scene from a bad thug movie get played out in front of her. The two guys stalked forward.

“Come on, guys,” Dwayne said. Then, “Grant!” before thug one grabbed his arms and thug two slugged him in the gut.

As he doubled over and his legs buckled, he cried out, “Not the face. Please. I gotta perform tonight.”

Chapter Four

“There is nothing safe about sex. There never will be.”

— Norman Mailer

Luke showed up at Toni’s that night with a pizza and a bottle of red wine. There were times in a woman’s life, Toni mused, when a man with a pizza box under his arm was a very welcome sight. Especially when the man was Luke Marciano.

He’d obviously stopped off at home to change, and when he pulled her in for a kiss, she could tell he’d showered. His hair was still a little damp and she could smell his shower gel.

“How are you holding up?” he asked.

“I’m okay. As much as I would like to slowly strangle Dwayne right now with one of his prized bolo ties, he is her father. He’s not going to let anything happen to her.”

Luke’s mouth twisted in a hastily suppressed grin. “Seriously? Bolo ties?”

She patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I have better taste in men now.”

“Obviously.”

He followed her into her the kitchen and while she served pizza onto her pretty pale green plates, he opened and poured the wine.

They settled on the couch in the den. Not even the cloud of testosterone hanging around Luke like a swarm of mosquitos could tone down the femininity of the room but he didn’t seem to mind.

While they ate, he filled her in on Dwayne’s whereabouts. “You couldn’t find him because he’s got no address.”

“He can’t be homeless.” Even Dwayne wouldn’t invite his own daughter to go live with him under a bridge.

“No. The house is registered to a numbered company.”

“Not his?” Unless the number was zero.

He shook his head. “It’s a CPA who owns the house. Brent Hodgkin. I’m guessing your ex rents a room. But it’s in a respectable part of town,” he said, answering the question he must have known she’d ask first.

She nodded, knowing she wouldn’t be happy until she’d seen Tiff for herself and urged her to share a hotel room with her for a few days while she got to know her dad. If Tiff had made up her mind she was going to spend some time with her father, well, she was going to do it. Toni had spent some time thinking today and decided the best thing she could do was to stay in Las Vegas herself until Dwayne inevitably lost interest in chaperoning a teenaged daughter around and broke her young heart.

“What’s your plan?” Luke asked.

“I’m going to play it by ear. So long as I know she’s safe I’ll try not to be too hard on her.” She pressed her lips together for a moment then let them go. “I think I’ll stay in a hotel for a few days with plenty of room so she can stay with me if things aren’t as rosy as Dwayne’s pictured them.”

“What do you think the chances of that are?” his dark eyes regarding her.

“Oh, I’d guess about one hundred percent.”

“Poor kid.”

“Yeah.”

He pulled a computer print-out from his pocket. “This is the address where Dwayne lives. I’ve also added the contact info for my buddy. If you need anything, or Dwayne pulls any kind of crap you don’t like, well, my friend’s the kind of guy who can let a man like Dwayne Diamond know that messing with you, or your daughter, is a bad idea. All off the record, of course.”

She smiled. “Thank you for this.”

He nodded briskly but didn’t meet her gaze. She watched him for a second. He might have a truly excellent cop face, but she knew this man pretty well. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s nothing. Dwayne’s not unknown to the cops down there, that’s all.”

Her stomach did a swan dive. “Define not unknown.”

“He made free and easy with a woman’s credit card to the tune of a few grand. She was going to press charges and then next thing you know, claimed it was all a mistake. A lover’s quarrel.”

“He always did make fools of women.”

“She’ll be okay,” he said again, knowing she was thinking of Tiff.

“Yeah. She will.”

“You need a ride to the airport?”

She shook her head. “My mom’s driving me. But thanks.”

“Then I guess there’s not much more I can do.” He leaned forward, his dark eyes teasing and mesmerizing. “Unless I can help you take your mind off your troubles.”

She nodded and he took her hand and led her to the bedroom where, for a few hours, if he didn’t make her forget that her only daughter had run away from home to visit her deadbeat dad, at least her cares were pushed to the back of her mind for a while.

In the morning, Luke headed out early, kissing her on his way out. “Call me if you need anything.”

She watched him head out the door. “Hey,” she called as he opened it.

He turned.

“Thanks,” she said.

Since Toni had spent the afternoon the day before canceling all her appointments and reshuffling her responsibilities to other members of her team, she had nothing to do this morning but pack. The task didn’t take long since she was scrupulously organized, and she’d packed plenty of times for conventions and business trips. She estimated she’d be in Las Vegas for four days and packed clothes for six just in case. Her traveling makeup bag was always packed with this season’s colors and because she never, ever, left the house without promotional items, she packed the smaller of her sample bags. By nine she was fully made-up, her hair done and she was ready to go. She’d dressed casually in a pair of jeans with a pattern of rhinestones on the butt, her leather boots, a blue shirt and a light jacket. She hesitated over her jewelry. Normally, she liked to display the gorgeous rings she’d won over the years for sales performance. The bling not only reminded her every time it flashed before her eyes that she was meant to sell Lady Bianca, but the jewelry also reminded every woman who sold Lady Bianca cosmetics, or who might one day sign up to sell them, that there was money to be made.

However, her personal financial success was not something she wanted to broadcast to her lowlife ex.

It cost her a pang to lock up the best of her jewelry, but she still had enough sparkle about her that she could live with herself.

When her mother pulled up in front of the house, she said, “I’ve got wonderful news.”

Since Tiffany wasn’t sitting in the passenger seat of her mother’s boat of a car, she couldn’t imagine the news could be all that wonderful. “You’ve heard from Tiffany?”

Her mother’s bright expression faded. “No. I haven’t. But the good news is I don’t want you facing Dwayne Dipshit Diamond by yourself.” She beamed. “I am coming with you.”

“But, are you sure—”

“Yes. I’ve booked the flight. They had space. We’re going to get our baby back.”

Toni couldn’t imagine her mother was going to be a huge help. On the other hand, she didn’t have a lot of time to waste trying to convince her to stay put. “One rule, mother.”

“What rule?”

“You are not allowed to shoot Dwayne.”

Her mother put her well-powdered nose in the air. “I’m not even bringing a gun.”

“Good.”

And they set off.

When they arrived at McCarran Airport, the first thing Toni did was turn on her phone. The first thing her mother did was to head to the slot machines with a squeal of delight.

There were three missed calls on her cell phone from Dwayne’s number. Three voice messages. As she was attempting to retrieve the messages, the phone rang again. Dwayne. She answered immediately, an unpleasant constriction squeezing her chest. “Dwayne? Where is she? Tell me she’s okay.”

“Mom?” Tiffany sounded panicked.

“Tiff, what’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure. But I think Dad might be in trouble.”

If Dwayne wasn’t in some kind of trouble that would be news, but Toni didn’t say that. Instead, she said, “Where are you?”

“I’m at Dad’s house. Mom, I know I screwed up and shouldn’t have left without telling you, but could you please do something for me?”

“What is it, honey?” Though, in her heart, she knew what was coming because she knew Dwayne and she knew her daughter.

“Could you come to Vegas and help Dad?”

“Already on it,” she said.

She collected her mother from the slot machines and they went to fetch the rental car she’d booked. They could take taxis but where Dwayne was concerned, she wanted to know she could always get away.

With her mother navigating using her cell phone app, they soon found the house. “You’re sure this is it?”

“It’s the address you gave me.”

The house was a surprise. Clean and modern, with a big garage out front and enough windows upstairs that there must be at least three bedrooms, it looked like something a suburban family would live in. It was close to downtown and she imagined the rent must be reasonable for Dwayne to live here.

She parked in the driveway in front of the closed garage door and they approached the front door. “You let me do the talking, Mom. Okay?”

“Uh-huh.”

She rang the bell and in no time at all, her daughter opened the door.

“Mom!” she cried and threw herself into Toni’s arms the way she’d done when she was much younger.

“Oh, Tiff,” she said, hugging back fiercely. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”

“You gave us quite a scare, honey.”

“Gran!” And then Tiff was hugging her grandmother. “Come on in.”

She was going to ask where Dwayne was when she stepped into the house and glanced around. Her senses were immediately overloaded. All she could say was, “Oh, my.”

Tiffany giggled. “I know. It’s like you walk into the world’s most boring looking house and step into the Arabian Nights or something.”

A tart’s boudoir was the term on Toni’s tongue but she kept her mouth shut. The wall colors were vibrant jewel tones and when Tiffany led them into the living room off the front hall, she almost expected to see Mae West reclining on the red velvet chaise that held pride of place in the room, asking some young man to peel her a grape.

The walls were purple with gold molding framing the ceilings, and the arm chairs and sofas were upholstered in rich damask. The walls were covered with movie scenes and advertising from the ‘20s and ‘30s. A rich white shag rug covered the floor, but as though a big area of white were too dull, huge red and gold silk cushions offered extra seating.

“I think my eyeballs need a nap,” Linda said, after glancing around.

“And your father lives here?” Toni asked.

“He says it’s temporary. But the owner’s really nice. You’ll like him.”

“Where is your father?” Toni asked, refusing to be sidetracked.

Tiffany put a fingernail to her mouth, a habit she’d broken a couple of years earlier. Toni noticed that her black nail polish was nearly all scraped off. She took her hand away from her mouth before she got to chewing her nails. “He had to get his car fixed,” she said.

“You didn’t call me in a panic because your dad’s car needed a tune-up. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but I think he’s in trouble.”

“Now there’s a shocker,” Linda said, seating herself on the divan. With her platinum ringlets and cleavage-baring red shirt, the black trousers and gold heels, she fit right in.

“Sit down and tell me about it,” Toni said, drawing her daughter to the couch.

“These guys crashed into Dad’s car yesterday afternoon.” She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned forward, almost unconsciously assuming the crash position on an airplane. “Then two of them came over and punched him.”

“Hmm. Now the jealous husbands are buddying up.”

“Mother!”

“Sorry.” And Linda made a lip-zipping motion.

“Were you there?”

A miserable nod.

“Oh, honey, were you hurt? Do you have whiplash? Have you seen a doctor?”

“No. It wasn’t a big crash, it was more like they wanted to scare him.”

“With his daughter in the car?” Toni wanted to scare her ex-husband a little herself. With her bare hands.

“They didn’t know I was his daughter. Obviously.” Anyway, when he got back in the car, he was pretty shaken, but he said it was a misunderstanding, and then he had to perform last night.” Tiffany glanced up at her mother’s face and then down at the glass and gold coffee table as though riveted by the copy of
Glamour
that lay atop it. Toni noticed that the
Texas Today
magazine that had caused Dwayne to call her out of the blue was tucked beneath
Glamour
.

“Did he take you with him?” She could imagine Dwayne wanting to show off for his daughter, but the thought of him letting a sixteen-year-old girl sit in the audience unattended was enough to get her chewing her own nails. Fake diamonds and all.