Undercover in Six Inch Stilettos (15 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Cyndi awoke the next morning to the ringing of her cell phone. Jason had made good on his promise to sleep in the den; the bed beside her remained empty all night. Voices echoed from down the hall. Jason had gotten up with Harper, so at least he had come home.

She fumbled to reach her phone on the nightstand, but finally grabbed hold of it. The clock said half past seven—way too early for Angela to be awake.

“Hello?” She wiped the sleep out her eyes as she spoke. The sun was too bright in the bedroom window, so Cyndi just rolled over and pulled the covers over her head.

“You told Jason?”

“Angela, why are you up so early?”

“I couldn’t sleep after I read your message. I can’t believe you told him!”

“I had no choice. Lola is dead.”

“Lola?”

“The young dancer at the club—the one from Hawaii.”

“Oh, damn. How did she die?”

“J.J. says it looks like murder, but nothing has been confirmed yet. I think it was the same guy who grabbed Jade.”

“But is Jade dead?”

“Don’t know. There hasn’t been a body found, but there was blood on that bag we discovered. And possibly on the tire iron the slasher left in my driveway. I guess the lab is going to work that up and see if they can find anything.”

“Wow. So, Jason knows about you dancing. What did he say?”

“He wasn’t happy, but he will get over it.”

“That’s it? There is no way Officer Jason Mills was okay with his wife working as a stripper!”

“It’s not a damn strip joint! No one strips! Why does everyone keep saying that? It is against the law in Virginia to get naked in a club. We
dance
. For mostly horny, middle-aged men with too much money and time on their hands, but
no one gets naked!
”

“Ahhh…so Jason was pissed.”

“He was a little upset, yes.”

“Just a little? Or did that vein on his neck pop out when his face turned dark red?”

“For crying out loud, Angela! Okay, fine. He was pissed. But mostly because I kept it from him…and because there was a pole. In a few days he will realize how valuable my experiences as a dancer are, especially when I show him a few of my moves.”

“Oh, please, rub it in some more that you get some, like every day, while the rest of us have normal sex lives.”

“We are normal!”

Angela sighed heavily. “Depends on your definition of normal, Cyndi. So how did it go from you pole-dancing to going undercover as a CI with the PD?”

“I told him about Lola. And then about Jade. And then I pretty much begged to be included and coerced him into letting me help catch the guy. There is just one catch…”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I have to quit the job when the investigation is over.”

“You agreed to that?” Angela sounded doubtful, for good reason—she knew Cyndi loved her job.

“I told him that if he still wanted me to quit after he saw me in action, I would.”

“In action?”

“You know, dancing. When I go undercover. Jason is trying to arrange it so he runs the operation and can be in the club the whole night, watching me.”

“Oh. My. God! You plan to do your non-strip dance thing in front of your husband?”

Cyndi snickered. “Come on, Angela, you know it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“It will be the first time with fifty strange men with their parts in their hand, getting off over it.”

“For crying out loud, Angela! No one sits there jerking off while we dance! Rafael would throw them out on their ass. We have a strict no touching policy and that means touching
anything
. Including themselves.”

“I want to help. Can Jason make me a CI too? I can dance.”

Cyndi pictured Angela in her floor length skirts and oversized tops, and smiled. Angela had a killer body, but her scruples and her husband forced her to keep it as covered up as possible. “I don’t think…I mean, J.J. said it would be hard enough to get me on the payroll. I really don’t think…”

“I can be slutty too, you know.”

If she had been eating or drinking, Cyndi would have choked over those words. “You what?”

“Just because I cover myself up all the time doesn’t mean I don’t know how to turn a guy on.”

“I’m sure you can, Ang. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I will let Jason know you are willing if he needs someone, okay?

Angela huffed a little. “Fine. Okay.”

“Hey, I have to go. I need to get out of bed and take a shower. I’m pretty sure Jason has court again this morning, and Harp’s awake.”

“You sure you aren’t just ditching me to get laid again? Seems like that’s all you and Jay do when he is home…”

Cyndi let out a little laugh. She couldn’t deny her friend’s jealousy over her active sex life.

“Thanks for calling, Ang. We are fine over here, and if anything else happens I will let you know, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. Fine.” Cyndi could almost see the dismissing wave of Angela’s hand in the air before the line went dead. Angela’s mother died in childbirth, so her minister father raised her by himself. She was modest, sweet, and a bit on the naïve side, despite her job as an emergency dispatcher. Cyndi wasn’t sure her friend would last five minutes inside Sugar Shakers, let alone undercover as an exotic dancer.

Climbing out from under the blanket cocoon she had made for herself, she left her phone on the bedside table and headed to the bathroom.

Most mornings Jason would join her in the shower, but not that day. Cyndi quickly shampooed her hair, rinsed off, and stepped out. After dressing, she joined her husband and daughter in the kitchen.

“Good morning, sweet girl.” She kissed Harper on the top of her head. Jason did not acknowledge her presence.

“Daddy made me breakfast.” Harper held up a spoonful of cereal, sending splatters of milk onto the tabletop.

“Daddy makes a good breakfast, doesn’t he?”

“Mmm…hmm…!” Harper returned to her crackling rice.

Jason still refused to make eye contact with her, so Cyndi poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table to eat. Harper finished her food and scampered away to watch morning cartoons, leaving Cyndi and Jason alone in the kitchen.

“How long are you going to ignore me?”

“Kind of annoying when someone you love doesn’t talk to you, isn’t it?” Jason replied without looking up from the morning paper.

“Are you serious, Jason? You are acting like such a child!”

Jason shrugged. “I may be childish, but at least I am not a liar.”

Cyndi rose from the table, fuming. “I am not a liar! I just wasn’t totally honest about where I was going. Obviously for good reason too! Look at how you are behaving!”

“How I’m behaving?” Jason dropped the paper and sat back in his chair. “I’m not the one who—oh just forget it. You know what you did was wrong.”

“Wrong? What exactly did I do that was so wrong? I mean really unforgiveable?”

Jason rose from his seat and stood in front of her, cop mode full on. “If I have to explain it to you, then maybe we need to re-evaluate our marriage.”

He turned and strode from the room. Cyndi just watched him go with no desire to stop him. His words stung.

The front door opened and closed again, followed by the sound of Jason’s patrol car starting and leaving the driveway.

Cyndi set about her daily chores, Harper in tow. Four hours, clean floors, three loads of wash, and a sink of dirty dishes later, the phone rang.

“Hello?”

The only response was a slight shuffling noise. “
Hello?
” she demanded into the receiver, but there was nothing more than dead air and the echo of her own voice that answered her.

“Is there anybody there?”

Gooseflesh rippled along her arms. There was someone there, she could feel it. It was
him
, of that she was certain, even before the she could make out the heavy sound of breathing on the other end of the line.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to sound as threatening as possible. “I don’t know who you are or what you want from me, but we will find you, and you will pay for what you did to Jade and Lola.”

Laughter filled her ear. Evil—straight from the bowels of hell—laughter. She slammed the phone down against the counter. It immediately rang again.

“What the hell do you want?” Cyndi yelled into the phone, her voice cracking on the last word.

“Damn, Cyndi. What’s your problem?”

“Jason?” She dropped into a chair and exhaled. The hand holding the receiver trembled as the adrenaline levels in her blood bottomed out.

“Everything all right?”

“Y-yes. I am fine. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” Her voice shook as violently as her hands.

“You don’t sound fine. What’s wrong?” When Jason started to turn on his cop voice, she always felt compelled to do what he said, no matter how hard she tried to resist. This time was no different.

“I-I’m sorry. The phone just gave me a start.”

“There is something you aren’t telling me.” He was right about that. Cyndi weighed her options as to whether she should tell him about the call, or wait until he was home, but she finally decided to just tell him. “I just had another phone call. Right before you called.”

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know. But he laughed a lot.”

“Like a clown?” Jason sounded confused.

“Like the devil.”

There was silence for almost a full minute before Jason spoke again. “Do you think it was the guy who gave Harper the necklace?”

Without a doubt. “Yes.”

“Lock the doors and set the alarm. I will be home in twenty minutes.” She could already hear him starting his car.

“All right. I’ll go do it now.”

“Be there soon.” She was about to hang up the phone when she realized he was the one who had called her.

“Jason?”

“What?” He sounded exasperated. She suspected it was because he hated to drive and talk on the phone, and at that moment he really wanted to drive.

“Did you call for something specific?”

“Yeah. The chief said okay.” It was her turn to be confused.

“Okay for what…? Oh, wait. Are you serious?” Cyndi whooped so loud Harper came running into the room. Cyndi waved her over and gave her a big hug. Her daughter squealed.

“Yes. But we need to talk about it more when I get home. Go lock up now and don’t open anything for anyone who isn’t me.”

“All right, but don’t speed. We are fine.” She knew the request was in vain. Jason only knew two speeds—stop and fast. At least he didn’t sound as angry at her as he had earlier.

“I never speed. I just reach appropriate maximum velocity proportionate to the surroundings.” He chuckled unexpectedly, and she couldn’t help but smile. There was hope for them after all.

“Well, then just keep your maximum velocity reasonable.”

Jason laughed, surprising her. “I promise I will.”

This time when she hung up the phone, it stayed quiet. She checked the doors and keyed in the code to set the alarm. She dragged Harper to the living room, setting the little girl on her lap, and flipping through television channels mindlessly.

“Mommy, can I get down now, please?”

“No. You have to sit with me until Daddy gets home.”

True to his word, Jason arrived exactly twenty minutes later. He let himself in, reset the system, and met them in the living room.

“Daddy!” Harper jumped from Cyndi’s lap and ran to her father. Jason scooped the girl up in his arms and planted a huge kiss on her forehead.

“How’s my girl doing?”

“Good! Mommy and me were watching TV. You want to watch too?”

“How about you go play in your room for a bit? I want to talk to your mom for a few minutes. When I am done, you and I will go out in the backyard and play tag or something.”

“Okay!” Harper skipped off toward her bedroom.

“I was going to take her to the park today but we never made it—had so much laundry to do. There’s only three of us, so I have no idea where it comes from.”

“So tell me about this phone call.” Jason stood in the center of the room, arms folded across his chest. He was definitely in cop mode again, but with no sign of that morning’s anger. She remained wary anyway. Jason held a grudge better than anyone she had ever known.

“There’s nothing to tell. The phone rang. I said hello. No one answered, but I heard someone breathing. I hung up, and then you called.”

“Did you check the caller ID?”

“I was in the kitchen, J.J. That old rotary phone doesn’t have caller ID.”