Frosted Shadow, a Toni Diamond Mystery: Toni Diamond Mysteries (22 page)

She smiled and stayed where she was. For the first time in her life, she wished she smoked so she could at least pretend she had a reason – other than the actual one – for standing out there motionless.

Toni had no idea how fast Luke drove, but based on the way the tires squealed as the blue Taurus turned into the hotel entrance, he could make a respectable showing at Daytona. Not that she was complaining.

He left enough room between his car and the box that he wouldn’t cause anything unfortunate to happen to it, and then got out and closed the door carefully.

She didn’t think she’d ever been so happy to see anyone as she was when he came up to her and dragged her farther away. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt dizzy. “You take threats to my life seriously. I like that in a man.”

“You okay?”

“So far.”

Henderson got out, looking leaner and hungrier than ever and stood there for a second squinting at the box.

“Bomb squad’s on its way,” Luke said. “Why don’t you wait in your room? I’ll call you when it’s safe.”

The look she sent him must have given him her opinion of that advice.

“At least stand over there.” He pointed past the hotel entrance. She obliged, so he was between her and the bomb. Or box of thank you chocolates. Or extra cosmetics one of the reps had left Toni when they checked out. The more she thought about it the more innocent that box appeared. Just because it wasn’t from her mother did not mean it was lethal.

Of course, there was no return address label, no indication at all of who had sent it, which was what had spooked her, the second she’d held it in her hands and looked at it. That, and a slight rattle.

Frank Henderson went into the hotel and stood just inside, presumably to stop anyone who wanted to walk out the front door, though the lobby was thankfully pretty empty.

The bomb squad arrived very impressively only a couple of minutes later, a regular fire truck right behind it. Two guys jumped out of the truck in suits so protected they looked ready to do a moon walk.

Luke took her arm and led her to the bomb squad truck. The back was already open and one of the guys was taking out a portable X-ray device. “Get inside,” Luke ordered.

He walked out to the front of the hotel’s drive-through to stop traffic and Toni climbed into the back of the truck, which was mostly a narrow hallway with white metal cabinets on either side. There was a fire extinguisher hanging near the door and the sight of the bright red canister made Toni shudder at the possibilities.

It didn’t take long for the bomb squad guys to return. They got into the truck too and using a laptop, were able to see into the box.

Toni maneuvered herself so she could see over the computer operator’s shoulder and nobody stopped her. The image on the screen looked a bit like that of a bag going through airport security. It was all gray and black shapes until her vision adjusted and she could see an outline of what was in the box.

Not that she knew what a bomb looked like, but this didn’t appear to be an explosive device.

Still, she shuddered. The box didn’t contain extra cosmetics, chocolates or shoes. The contents of the package looked like a mini-coffin with a mini body inside.

The guy manning the laptop hit a few buttons and then said, “There’s no explosive material in there, ma’am. Looks like someone sent you a doll.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice uncomfortably high. “Thanks. Sorry for the false alarm.”

“Don’t worry about it. A no boom day is a good day.”

She smiled dutifully. She couldn’t even imagine the kind of stress a guy like that lived under, but he calmly got out of the truck and went and retrieved his X ray screen.

He motioned Luke over and Henderson came out to join the party.

“It’s safe. Go ahead and open it.”

Henderson slipped on a pair of surgical gloves, jogged over and retrieved the box. Even though Toni knew it wasn’t going to blow up, she still suffered a moment’s suspended breath when he bent to pick up the box. But he brought it over without any problem. “You mind if we open it?” he asked her.

“You go ahead.”

He eased open the wrapping, like a kid savoring the treat of a birthday present. In this case, she knew he was preserving evidence and swallowed. Inside was a shipping box that you’d get at the post office. He slipped off the lid and revealed the contents.

“Holy shit,” said Luke.

Toni would have said something similar if she could have spoken. Even though she’d seen the X-ray, viewing what was inside that box was still a shock.

The plastic fashion doll sported lots of blonde curly hair. The doll wore the fashion doll equivalent of a business suit in purple, with matching purple plastic pumps. And, in pursuit of a verisimilitude which Toni found particularly cruel, they’d added a chunk of play dough to the doll’s nose to make it bigger.

But the most striking feature of the doll was the toy dagger sticking out of her chest; it looked like something from a kid’s pirate game, and surrounding the dagger a starburst of red felt pen spread from the hole in the torso.

“I’ll get it straight to forensics,” Henderson said.

Luke held onto Toni’s arm. She wasn’t sure she needed him to, but she was scared to pull away in case she collapsed to the ground.

“Can you grab a ride back with these guys?” he asked Henderson.

The pale eyes glanced from his partner to Toni and he nodded. “No problem.”

“Come on,” Luke said, pulling her along with him as though he knew her legs might not hold her up much longer.

Toni drew in a lungful of hot Texas air. He opened the passenger door of the unmarked car and she climbed in. As they headed out onto the highway she said, “That was from the murderer wasn’t it?” Of course it was a stupid question, but she needed to say the words. And hear the answer.

“Yeah.”

“Nobody’s ever hated me that way before.” She loathed the way her voice trembled, so she swallowed and tried again. “I’ve had people mad at me, like Nicole was that last day— But this—” She couldn’t finish. Everything she wanted to say sounded melodramatic and contained the word evil.

But it was evil. She’d been murdered in effigy.

She stared at the dusty plastic dashboard in front of her. There was a smell of stale coffee in the car, but the vehicle was neat enough.

“We’re going to get that bastard,” he said with a suppressed savagery.

“This was different from the note. Doing that to the doll was so vicious.” Toni tugged the seatbelt to give herself room to breathe. It was tight as though it had permanently formed itself around Henderson’s emaciated frame and was now too lazy to give any extra slack. “I can’t believe they did that thing with my nose.” She touched the feature in question with her fingertip as though he might doubt to which nose she was referring. “That was beyond cruel, picking on my worst feature like that. I would have figured that was supposed to be me, without the big nose.”

He glanced at her sideways. “I like your nose.”

“No one could like this nose.” Even her mama had never been able to come up with anything better than to tell her it had character. As she liked to retort, so did Jimmy Durante.

“I do. It’s an I-take-no-crap kind of nose. Larger than life. Like you.”

She was sure he was lying through his teeth in order to take her mind off the fact that some psycho had made a Voodoo fashion doll in her image and then stabbed it to death, but Toni felt ridiculously complimented.

When she turned to look out the passenger window so he wouldn’t see her smile, she realized she had no idea where they were going.

“Where are you taking me?”

“I want you away from the hotel for a while. It’s not safe. I plan to bully you into getting out of here and going home and I can’t concentrate if I’m worried you’ll be attacked.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Strictly speaking, there are no real substitutes for sexual satisfaction. —
Dashiell Hammett

“Can I make a request?”

He glanced at her, looking wary. “Sure.”

“I really need a drink. Somewhere with people, but anonymous, you know?” What she most needed was all the stuff that goes with a drink. Social interaction, a convivial atmosphere, feeling anonymous.

“I think I can find someplace.”

“Okay then.”

They pulled up at a small Italian restaurant, the kind every big city has, where it’s almost a secret among locals to keep the tourists out.

The place was busy and noisy but not loud, in the way the best restaurants are. She felt better the second they walked in. The smell of garlic and rich tomato sauce was comforting and the atmosphere was relaxed, intimate. Even better, there was not a Lady Bianca rep in sight.

Adjoining it was a bar, a cozy area of tiny tables and stools against the granite slab.

“This okay?”

“Perfect.” He led her to a quiet corner and they sat down. The table was so small their knees bumped and they quickly rearranged themselves.

“What’ll you have to drink?”

“Truth is I’m a lightweight drinker. Normally I’d order a glass of wine, but I’ve been stabbed to death in effigy. More than overripe grape juice seems required.” She glanced up at the blackboard where the drink specials were listed. “A martini, please.”

“Gin or vodka?” he asked, thereby slicing through her patina of sophistication faster than the booze would sluice through Toni.

“I have no idea.”

He seemed amused by her. And not for the first time. “Never had a martini before?”

“Not that I can remember.”

“Okay.”

He came back with two. They looked lovely, clear and cool and coma-inducing. Liquid Valium. Exactly what she was going for. “I got one of each. You can decide which you like better.”

“Cool. Thanks.” Toni sipped the first one. It tasted like iced poison.

She reached for the second. Sipped that. It tasted like iced poison.

“Well?”

“Which one’s the vodka?”

“That one.”

“Okay. I’ll have the vodka.”

“Like it?”

“Delicious.” She sipped her liquid Valium thinking next time she’d swallow the pill.

“You’re a bad liar.”

“And a cheap drunk.”

“I’m going to get us a table for dinner. The food here’s great, and you don’t want to be back at the hotel right now.”

“That is true.”

After a few more sips her martini tasted less poisonous and its medicinal qualities were kicking in. She settled back and started to think how weird this was having dinner alone with Luke without ever having been asked.

“So, you don’t have like a doctor-patient thing?”

He looked at her like she might be an olive short of a complete martini.

“I mean, you’re allowed to fraternize with,” she had no idea how she would term herself in relation to his world. The best she could come up with was, “civilians involved in your investigations?”

He’d appeared relaxed, leaning back in his chair, but she sensed he’d never totally relax when he was out. Especially if he was with someone who’d been threatened in a rather creepy Voodoo Barbie way. “Is that what we’re doing? Fraternizing?”

His eyes were so dark. He wasn’t good looking exactly but the man had animal magnetism enough to attract every other animal for miles. He was certainly attracting her.

She sipped again. It was like drinking an icicle, sharp and cold going down.

“Are you seeing anyone?” Not that they were declaring undying love, but she liked to know about a man’s romantic status before she got romantic with him.

“Not at the moment. You?”

She smiled as she replied. “Not at the moment.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

And that was pretty much all they said. Somehow, it was all that needed to be said.

Dinner was fantastic, not only because the food was truly good but because Toni wasn’t at a table of ten women in a banquet room of a couple of thousand eating the kind of food that gets served to banquets of two thousand people. She didn’t have to listen to a motivational, informational or inspirational speaker. In fact, in spite of the truly freaky doll thing, just being out of the hotel was like taking a little break from the bad stuff.

Toni ate ravioli that had pumpkin and some kind of cheese in it, a salad that tasted fresh, and Luke ordered some wine. Italian, of course.

They talked like normal people, about normal things. They didn’t talk about the case, until the end of dinner when she said, “I can’t believe it. I’ve been with you for several hours and you haven’t bullied me to go home.”

“Would you go?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll save my energy to catch that sick freak.”

When they returned to the hotel he didn’t drop Toni off out front but drove into the parking garage.

“Are you going to check my room for monsters again?”

He hooked his hand underneath her hair and rubbed her neck in a way that was both soothing and arousing. “Yes.”

She reached for her wallet and pulled out one of the two room key cards the hotel had given her on check in. “Here. It’s still early. I don’t want the gossip. Give me five minutes.”

Then she got out of the car and headed for the hotel entrance. By skirting the convention floor completely, Toni was able to get to her room without having to make small talk. And if anyone else had been murdered she didn’t want to know.

Once in her room, she slipped off her jacket, then headed for the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She pushed some of her jars and bottles to the side in case he needed counter space for anything.

She fixed the lighting so one bedside lamp cast a nice glow over the bed. A few minutes later, the second key card slid home and the door opened.

“It’s dark in here.”

“I could turn on another light.”

“Don’t bother.”

He crossed the floor and took Toni’s face in his hands, looked into her eyes and then kissed her. Hot, possessive, somehow sweet. She tasted red wine and pasta sauce and hot, hot Italian man.

She curled her arms around his neck, pressing against him. His gun holster bumped her and she sucked in a breath. Somehow his job was never far from her consciousness.