city of dragons 02 - fire storm (17 page)

“Well, you’re hungover,” I said. “Maybe we could take it easy today?”

“Let’s go see the brother,” he said.

“Or that,” I said.

* * *

Finn was shaking his head. “I just can’t believe you’re asking me these kinds of questions.” He was standing next to the pool at his parents’ place, holding a glass of lemonade and looking out into the distance. “Fletcher was my twin, you know.”

“But he made you angry,” said Lachlan. “The kind of lifestyle he lived. The fact that he was still going to inherit the position in your father’s company?”

“Well, it wasn’t as if I wasn’t going to be on the board of trustees,” said Finn. “I work at the company already. The position that Dad was giving Fletcher, it was technically still the highest position, but Dad had been finagling it so that the position had less power than it used to. He wanted Fletcher to have the position so that he’d be taken care of, but he was simply going to be a glorified figurehead with no real ability to make decisions. Dad was doing his best to make a bad situation better.”

“So, you weren’t angry?” I said.

“No,” said Finn.

Lachlan raised his eyebrows and waited.

Finn sighed. “Okay, maybe a little bit. Maybe… a lot sometimes. But I would never hurt my brother. I loved him. When he and I were little kids, we had this secret language that only he and I knew. I forget it now, all except for a few words, because we grew apart so much.” Finn’s face suddenly crumpled. He turned away from us.

Lachlan rubbed his forehead.

Finn scrubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hand. “I miss him so much. I miss how he was always trying to surf even when there weren’t decent waves. I miss that he used to come in the house and yell, ‘Lucy, A’m ho-oome.’ I even miss that he was a major screwup, because if he was still alive, I’d work harder to help him change. I wouldn’t want him to waste one more minute of his life hung up on all those drugs.”

Lachlan cleared his throat. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Remington, I know this has been difficult, but we do have to cover our bases.”

Finn looked up at us, sniffing. “I didn’t kill him.”

“One last thing,” said Lachlan. “Can you tell us where you were on Friday, May sixth? The last night that anyone had contact with Fletcher?”

“Um, I don’t really recall off the top of my head,” said Finn.

“Would you like to look at a calendar?” Lachlan said, offering Finn his phone. He pointed. “It was a Saturday.”

Finn furrowed his brow. “I was with my friend Joseph, I think. We were together all night, just hanging at home and playing video games.”

“Uh huh,” said Lachlan. “And Joseph will confirm that?”

“Sure,” said Finn.

* * *

Joseph Vickers opened the door only a crack to us. He was staying in a hotel room, one of the luxury suites in the Hilton. “Yeah, I was with him that night,” he said.

“Were you even in town then?” I said. “How long have you been in this hotel room?”

Joseph scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t know. Maybe two months. I know it would probably be cheaper to rent a place, but I dig the room service. And it’s not like I can’t afford it.”

Lachlan was squinting at Joseph. “You look familiar to me.”

“Do I?” said Joseph. “I never saw you before in my whole life.”

Lachlan eyed him.

“What did you and Finn do together that night?” I said.

“Uh, we played video games,” said Joseph. “We drank some beers and played. We played a couple racing games mostly.”

“Did he leave at any point?” said Lachlan.

“No,” said Joseph.

“So, he slept here?” said Lachlan.

“Uh, yeah. He slept on the couch in here,” said Joseph. “It’s really comfortable.”

* * *

“He’s lying,” said Lachlan, pulling into a parking place in front of the Purple Dolphin.

“Which one?” I said. “Joseph or Finn?”

“Well, I don’t know about Finn,” said Lachlan. “That crying act about how much he missed his brother? I bought that, so I think he’s either innocent or he feels really bad about having killed him. But that Joseph guy? He’s making that up.”

“How could you even know that?” I said.

“I don’t know for certain,” said Lachlan. “Maybe he’s just twitchy. But the way he offered up all that bit about how they played racing games and then looked like a deer caught in the headlights when I asked if Finn slept over? Yeah, he’s making it up. I think Finn asked him to lie for him.”

“Then Finn
is
lying.”

“Maybe,” said Lachlan. “Can’t know for sure. But I’m going to do some digging into that.”

“You need help?” I said. “I can help dig.”

“Nah,” he said. “Go do hotel-owner things for the afternoon.”

I cocked my head at him. “You sure?”

He pointed at me. “Do not kill any more vampires, all right?”

I laughed. “All right.” I put my hand on the door to the car.

“Hey, it’s not funny.”

I rolled my eyes. I opened the car door and started to get out.

“Um, Penny?”

I turned back to him.

He took off his sunglasses. “It, uh, occurs to me that we have never gone out on an official date, and after everything that’s been going on between us, I thought maybe…?”

I grinned. “You’re asking me out?”

“Yeah.” He grinned back. “Not tonight, because I’m still hungover as hell, and I need to recover, but tomorrow, maybe? Like a dinner thing. You pick where.”

“Really?”

“Or maybe I should pick?” He looked worried. “Is it the man’s job to choose the restaurant?”

“I’ll pick.” I laughed.

“So, that’s a yes?”

“Of course it’s a yes.” I raised my eyebrows. “You really think I was going to say no?”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“A date,” I said.

He tugged me across the car and kissed me.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Lachlan and I walked out of the Mama’s Cantina, a little Tex-Mex place I’d been meaning to try, but hadn’t had the opportunity until Lachlan asked me. It was Friday evening, and we’d had a very nice, normal-seeming meal with a delicious magaritas. The only downside of this little restaurant was that it had no parking, so we’d had to park on the street a few blocks up.

We headed back up the sidewalk together, walking next to each other, Lachlan on the outside and me inside.

I felt happy.

He looked at me, grinned, and put his arm over my shoulders, pulling my body against his.

Shivers of goodness shot through me.

The sun was sinking in the horizon, staining the sky shades of purple and pink.

Lachlan smelled like aftershave and wine. I pressed close to him as we walked. In that moment, everything seemed very good again. I didn’t know if I’d felt quite this happy and full of hope in a long time.

He didn’t let go of me until we got to the car. And then he opened my door gallantly.

I giggled, getting inside.

He went around the other side of the car and got in next to me. “So,” he said.

“So,” I said.

“You want to come back to my place for a drink?”

“Okay,” I said. I didn’t want the night to end.

He started the car, and we drove back to his place. I’d only been there once, and I hadn’t been very impressed. But I figured, if he were inviting me back there, he must have made some improvements, like acquiring furniture.

I was wrong.

The living room was still completely empty. There was nothing in the kitchen except a card table and a single chair.

Lachlan opened the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of beer. “Sorry this place is so, uh, sparse.”

I accepted the beer. “It’s only that there’s nowhere to sit.”

He pointed. “I have a porch. It’s screened in. There are chairs there.”

The screened-in porch was more luxurious than the rest of the apartment. There were two potted plants out there, one that was at least four feet tall and gave the place an almost tropical ambiance. There was an outdoor couch swathed in sheets and cushions. And two outdoor chairs flanking a metal table. They were nice quality.

He shrugged. “This is what I got during the divorce.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“She knew I liked the outdoor furniture, so she made me take it. She wanted to give me more stuff, but I didn’t want any of it.” He settled in one of the chairs. “We never used this stuff, anyway, so it doesn’t much remind me of her. Or of Hailey. So…” He looked at his shoes.

We were quiet.

“Well, it’s nice,” I said finally. “The furniture.”

“Thanks,” he said.

I sat down next to him. I took a drink of my beer.

“I should maybe get some furniture,” he mused.

“Maybe,” I said.

“It’s only that I don’t really spend much time here. I just go to work and then crash.”

“I know that,” I said.

“And I guess we could always go hang out at your place, so maybe it doesn’t matter.”

“It would be nice if you at least had a couch,” I said.

“I have a bed,” he said. “Not that I’m implying that we would… use it.” He shut his eyes, shook his head, and took a drink of beer. “Forget I said anything.”

I snorted. I tried to hold the laugh back, but I couldn’t. It tumbled out, and it came through my nose.

He laughed too. “I guess what I’m saying, Penelope Caspian, is do you want to go steady?”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, only if you promise to let me wear your class ring with yarn wrapped around the back of it.”

“I’ll go see if I can dig that up.”

“What? You have no couch, but you have your high school class ring?”

“I think so,” he said. “Oh, I was big man on campus back then. Go Bronchos.”

“I can’t even imagine you in high school.”

“I was mature for my age back then,” he said. “Now, I’ve just gotten lax.”

“Yes,” I said.

“Yes? What?”

I smacked him. “Yes, I’ll go steady with you. Or are you taking it back?”

He rubbed his arm where I’d hit him. “Ow. I’m not taking it back.”

“Did I hurt you?”

“Yes, very badly.” He gave me mock puppy dog eyes.

I got up. “Let me see.”

He pulled me into his lap.

My stomach felt fluttery. I let out a giggle. “What are you doing?”

He threaded a hand into my hair and held my head in place while he kissed me.

I shut my eyes.

He pulled back a little, gazed into my eyes. “This is going to be good. We can do this.”

“Of course we can,” I murmured.

And he was kissing me again.

* * *

I woke up cold, and I felt around for Lachlan in the bed. But I couldn’t find him, so I opened my eyes.

The bed was empty. His room itself was depressingly bare, containing nothing but the bed, which was covered in a black comforter and had only one pillow, which he’d let me use, to his credit.

Where the hell was he?

If he had abandoned me in his house and decided to take back everything that he’d said the night before…

But the door to the bedroom burst open and Lachlan came in carrying a brown paper bag and a drink container with two coffees. “Breakfast,” he said. “I don’t have anything in the house.”

“Thank you,” I said, grinning. I shouldn’t have worried.

He knelt down and set everything on the floor. He handed me the coffee.

“What’s in there?” I gestured at the bag.

“Egg sandwiches,” he said. “That okay?”

“Yum,” I replied.

He handed one over.

We ate half on the bed and half on the floor. I wore one of Lachlan’s t-shirts, and it felt kind of like camping out in a house. If he wasn’t so damned charming, maybe this would have bothered me.

But he would grin at me, and he’d dazzle me with his eyes and his dimpled chin. I couldn’t be bothered.

“So, what are we doing today?” I said. “More digging on Joseph?”

“I ran into a brick wall with that,” he said. “I’m not even sure what I’m looking for.”

“Oh,” I said.

He chewed on a big bite of egg sandwich, and then swallowed. “Look, we might as well get it over with.”

“See, I was afraid you were going to say that,” I said.

“I don’t want to see him either. But maybe he’ll have a rock solid alibi or something, and we’ll just cross him off the list, and it’ll all be over,” Lachlan said.

“Maybe,” I sighed.

“The truth is,” said Lachlan, “we’re never going to be ready to see Alastair.”

“No,” I said quietly. “We’re not.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I was sincerely hoping that Alastair would look less attractive to me than usual. After all, I’d had sex (twice) with Lachlan, so that should mean that I had made a clean break, and that Alastair was cleansed from my system.

No such luck.

If anything, it was worse. I was tender in all those just-made-love-to spots. Certain muscles that I wasn’t used to using were sore. Overall, I walked into the room and looked at Alastair, and my whole body felt like it was starting to catch fire.

There was a smoldering in all my secret places.

I took in his powerful arms and broad shoulders and tanned skin. He stood in the doorway to his house, and he looked at me with a mixture of disgust and desire. I knew the feeling.

“Penelope,” he said in a low voice. “Pardon me if I’m not happy to see you.”

“Trust me,” said Lachlan, “we’d be happy if we never saw you again either, Mr. Cooper. We’re just here about a case.”

I peered around the door into Alastair’s place. There was a surf board leaning against the dolphin mirror in the foyer. I focused on it because I wanted to focus on anything that wasn’t Alastair. I couldn’t handle looking at him, because the arousal in my body was starting to gather like a storm, and I desperately wanted my lips on his skin, my hands tangled in his hair, my legs wrapped around his narrow hips. It was horrible. It was even worse feeling that while standing next to Lachlan.