Hot Trick (A Detective Shelley Caldwell Novel) (4 page)

Stars flashed through my mind…and then everything went dark.

“Hey, you okay?”

Groaning, I opened my eyes only to close them against a bright light. “Hey, would you please get that flashlight out of my face?”

“Well, you’re alive.”

Groaning again, I muttered, “Barely.” I should have stayed out a bit longer and gotten some of that much-needed rest. “I take it the bastard got away.”

“No one here but you, ma’am.”

Ma’am. At thirty, I wasn’t old enough to be a ma’am. I got to my feet. The process used to be easier. Faster. Maybe I
was
getting too old to chase probable offenders.

“Did you see which way he went?”

“I didn’t see anyone but you as you went down for the count.”

“The guy I was chasing hit me in the head.”

“Sorry. Didn’t see him.”

I got the feeling the officer was having trouble believing me. I looked around, swept my gaze along the riverbank. Nothing moved other than a beaver sliding into the water a few yards away.

It was as if Snake Eyes had…well, vanished.

“Want me to call for paramedics?”

Moving back the way I’d come, I looked through the trees and realized the ambulance was gone. I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

Not that I was. My head thundered and the rest of me didn’t feel too good, either. I really, really needed a shower and a bed and one of Jake’s special massages. I was determined to at least get the first.

Thanking the officer for coming after me, I made for my car. I decided to sit for a few minutes to make sure I wasn’t concussed. I checked my eyes in the rearview mirror. Both pupils looked even.

I tried Silke’s cell. No response. None at her home, either.

Then I called the CPD to find out what happened to the gang members arrested at Sebastian’s event.

“They never made it in,” I was told.

“They escaped?” Not that it was exactly a surprise having come up against Snake Eyes myself. “How?”

“We don’t know. The officers are getting checked out. They both said the same thing—they had an overpowering sleepy feeling. And the next thing they knew, they woke up with the paddy wagon in the middle of the street. The back was empty and the door had been opened like someone had a key.”

An unlikely thought entered my mind only for a brief second.

Or like magic.

That Snake Eyes had something to do with the murder seemed pretty cut and dried.

What wasn’t clear was why. Lots of whys.

Why had he been at the riverfront to witness Sebastian’s escape? Why had he used a similar method to copycat the event so quickly? And why Julie Martin?

The victim didn’t look like she had anything in common with the gang member. If he even was a gang member. That had been my assumption based on the outfits the guys had worn. Could they have been costumes? Part of the performance? Had Sebastian hired them to rob him and then, after they were caught, found a way to free them?

Again, why?

So many questions, so little time.

I hopped on the expressway and headed for home. A bit of a speed freak, I hot-footed the accelerator and opened up the Camaro. The love of speed was my biggest vice. If I got stopped by a state patrolman, I would merely flash my star and explain that I was on a case. Which I was. Nice to have a legitimate excuse to push the limit.

I tried Silke’s cell again, and when she didn’t answer, called her at home. The clock in my dash told me it was nearly one. Late but not late enough to expect someone out clubbing to give up the ghost.

As a last resort, I tried our personal communication system. I concentrated my thoughts and used psychic airwaves to jolt my sister into responding, but Silke still didn’t answer. Weird. Either she was ignoring me or she was otherwise occupied.

What could she be doing that she found more important than letting me in?

Maybe knowing would be too much information…

Once off the expressway, I slowed to legal speed. It took only a few minutes to get to my building, park, climb to the second floor and stumble down the hallway toward my apartment. I rented a one bedroom in a condo conversion. In my mind, the joy of home ownership was overrated. I liked the idea of someone else having to take care of any problems, though since I’d moved in I’d had none.

All night my adrenaline had been up and down like a roller coaster. As I unlocked my front door, I’d hit bottom. No cats came to greet me.

Alarmed, I called, “Sarge? Cadet?”

No meow.

A cold lump settled in my stomach as I went on alert. The cats always greeted me.
Always.
That they were no shows meant they were hiding.

From what?

Rather, from whom?

My pulse rushed a shot of speed through me as I wondered if Snake Eyes somehow knew where I lived.

Drawing my gun from its holster for the third time that night, I held my breath and listened intently for any sound. Nothing. Two steps inside the apartment and the door slammed behind me.

I whirled but before I could get off a shot, the intruder knocked my arm to the side and relieved me of my gun.

“And here I thought you would be
glad
to see me.”

“Jake!”

Before I could tell him off for scaring me, he shoved me against the door and covered my mouth with his. I melted against him and my exhaustion vanished as parts of my body that had been neglected for days—or was it weeks?—awoke as if an alarm had gone off. I ran my hands through his hair, my fingers brushing the earring in his right ear. A black diamond. He stroked my breast with one hand and dipped the other inside the waistband of my pants, and my head went light. Heat surged between my thighs before he even touched me there.

One little part of my mind wanted to let go, to let Jake do me as only he could, but I didn’t have time to let him have his way with me tonight. Jake had become well-versed in Tantric sex before we’d ever met, and believe me, he was a marathon man in bed. Or out.

Hmm, maybe I could get some shut eye while he did me?

Even as I was imagining one inventive position of which I was particularly fond, crawling skin at the back of my neck was followed by a buzzing in my brain.

Great. Two hours of trying to connect with my twin and Silke chose this moment to respond.

Horrified that she might be eavesdropping on my extracurricular activity, I shoved my hands between us, pushed at Jake’s chest and tore my mouth free.

“Silke,” I gasped.

Use my land phone.
I shouted at her over our psychic airwaves.

Groaning, Jake collapsed around me even as the phone rang.

“Sorry.” I wiggled out from under his arm. Hot from the contact, I tore off my jacket and tossed it on the couch. “I have to talk to her.”

“Of course you do.”

I gave him my best
I’m sorry
expression as I picked up the phone. And then I focused on Silke. “What took you so long to get back to me?”

“I had my cell off.” Her words were nearly swallowed by blaring hip-hop music.

“Your brain too?” I asked, referring to the psychic link.

“I knew you were calling me. I got back to you as soon as it was…convenient.” Silke punctuated the statement with a giggle.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Of course I’ve been drinking. I’m at a club. I’ve been dancing, too, with Sebastian until he left.” Silke sighed. “So what’s so important that you couldn’t wait until morning?”

“A murder. The victim drowned. In the Chicago River.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Silke gasped. I could hear her take a big breath before asking, “What does that have to do with me?”

“The woman was tied up in a trunk like Sebastian was. A car trunk, but you get the similarity.”

“Not really.”

“Silke, this is not the time to be in denial.” Or dense. “The car was driven into the river in the last couple of hours, sometime after Sebastian escaped his trunk. Only the Martin woman didn’t escape hers.”

“Well, it’s a little weird but I still don’t see why you think it’s all connected. Sebastian would never hurt anyone!”

Surprised that she was defending her new employer so vehemently, I wondered if Silke had feelings for him. I told her about Casey Brogan and how I’d thought the supposed banshee’s warning was connected to Sebastian. “Surely you can see why I have to check this out. By the way, the victim’s name is Julie Martin.”

“Sorry, it doesn’t ring any bells for me.”

“Maybe it will for Sebastian, but I have to be able to talk to him to find out.”

“I’m sure he would want to help.”

“Good. Then you won’t mind giving me his phone number or address.”

“I wouldn’t mind if I had them.”

She didn’t have contact information for her employer? “How do you call him?”

“He calls me.”

“And you don’t know where he lives?”

“Someplace in Humboldt Park.”

Wow, that narrowed it down to a couple of square miles. “What about a studio?”

“What studio?”

“Where does he keep his props? Let me guess—you don’t have the address. What about rehearsals?”

“Tonight was the first time I worked for him, Shell.” Annoyance laced Silke’s voice. “When I met him at a coffee shop, he told me what I had to do and said I needed to improvise and to follow Oriel’s lead.”

She’d interviewed for a job in a coffee shop rather than in an office? Why was I not surprised?

“Oriel…” I said, grabbing on to the name. “Are you still with her?”

“Yeah, she’s on the dance floor.”

“See if she has Sebastian’s address or phone number and get back to me.”

When I hung up, I realized Jake was holding my jacket to his face as if smelling it. I stared for a moment, my stomach twirling. Undoubtedly his sour expression came from the scent of riverbank all over my clothes.

“Something wrong?”

He dropped the jacket on the couch. “You tell me.”

For a moment I stood mesmerized by the beauty of the man—all six feet of him, athletically built, with dark hair and smoldering good looks. Even the fine scar cutting through the beard stubble on his left cheek turned me on. And then I told my hormones to go on hold for a little while longer.

“Of course something’s wrong. A woman has been murdered. But that’s not what I meant.”

“This Sebastian… I’ve heard of him. Was he as good as his publicity would indicate?”

“Better.”

Jake’s eyebrows arched. “Really. In what way?”

If I didn’t know better, I would think he was jealous. “Listen, I need to take a shower, and now while Silke’s trying to get me that information seems like the right time.”

I headed into the bedroom where I got clean underwear, tan slacks and a white cotton shirt. I looked under the bed right into Sarge’s wide, slightly panicked eyes. Cadet was directly behind Sarge, as if using him for protection. She meowed pitifully.

“Come on. You guys know Jake. It’s okay. He won’t eat you or anything.”

But I wasn’t very convincing, because both cats stayed put. I wasn’t sure if their reluctance came from having so little contact with men before Jake…or if they sensed he wasn’t quite all human. Sighing, I got to my feet. Jake leaned against the doorway, watching me intently. His expression was hungry. And not for food.

Heading for the bathroom, I said, “If Silke calls back before I’m out, would you write down the address for me?”

“I would rather give you more personal attention. I could get you really clean.”

My insides tumbled and I groaned. “Don’t tempt me, please. Sounds great, but not tonight. Not when—”

“Not when you have detecting to do,” he finished for me.

“Yeah, you know the drill. Really, I’m sorry.” I was already backing into the bathroom. “Can I have a rain check, though?”

“Always.”

Always
…a word that both excited and frightened me. I couldn’t imagine sharing “always” with one man…but neither could I imagine being without Jake.

Silke snapped the cell phone shut. She had a weird feeling about this murder, more so than one of Shelley’s normal cases.

Maybe it was the mention of the supposed banshee—that’s what Shelley had called this Casey Brogan, who’d predicted someone was going to die.

What if he really
was
a banshee?

Her party mood deflating as quickly as a balloon, Silke started through the crowd, back toward the dance floor to look for Oriel.

As smart as her sister was, Shelley was too focused on what she could see, hear, smell, touch, taste. She didn’t look for the things other than her everyday five senses. She’d never trusted or tried to develop her sixth sense the way Silke had.

Shelley didn’t exactly approve of her delving into things beyond what the average person could understand—like magic—even though Silke’s bare-bones knowledge had helped get them out of supernatural hot water with that vampire case. Shelley had lectured Silke to stay away from dangerous pursuits, then her pragmatic sister had done her best to forget about anything that didn’t have a simple explanation.

The thing that ticked off Silke most was that her sister wasn’t any more “normal” than she was. Shelley was a sensitive and could find her own power if only she put her mind to it, but she simply pretended not to know. Blending in had never concerned Silke, and she’d always gone her own way.

Like tonight.

Music pounded in her ears as she got to the edge of the dance floor and spotted Oriel before the blonde was swallowed by the rhythmically thrusting dancers. It had been difficult to keep track of one another since they’d arrived. In addition to the large crowd, the dark atmosphere and the occasional special effects interrupted the club-goers’ vision.

To the uninitiated, Illusions was just another dance club, one with magic symbols woven into the decor. But to those in the know, it was a place to hook up with others with special interests, special abilities.

If Shelley knew what she was really doing here, Silke thought as she dived into the sea of wriggling bodies, she would probably freak.

Silke elbowed her way toward Oriel, while concentrating on sending her a silent SOS. As if she could hear, the other woman whipped her head around, and Silke gave an urgent wave. Oriel left her dance partner who simply turned and made a threesome with another couple.

“What’s up?” she gasped, a little out of breath. Her voluptuous curves were barely covered by a spandex mini and a couple of strips of gauzy material over her breasts. Her tanned flesh shone with sweat. Silke felt nunlike in her own bohemian skirt and flounced cami.

“Let’s go somewhere we can hear.”

Silke led the way to a far bar where the music wasn’t piped in. The cozy area decorated in dark blue with touches of silver was mostly filled with couples or singles hooking up. A wave of envy washed through her. For years she’d given her sister a hard time about being dateless, but her personal life wasn’t much better. Not that she didn’t have occasional dates, but it wasn’t like having a man of her own.

Would she ever find someone she wanted to be with long term?

Even as she thought it, the way Sebastian had looked earlier, after the escape, flitted through her mind. Her pulse thrummed, but she quickly shook off the uncomfortable reaction.

Taking a stool at the end of the bar, she told Oriel, “Something happened tonight.”

“What? You met someone? Cool.”

“Not me. It’s bad, Oriel. A murder. A woman was tied up and locked in the trunk of a car and drowned in the Chicago River.”

“Oh, that is bad.” Oriel seemed puzzled. “But what does that have to do with us?”

“My sister the cop thinks it’s too much of a coincidence that the murder was so similar to Sebastian’s escape. She wants to talk to him.”

“Shelley thinks Sebastian did it?” Oriel’s eyebrows shot up but she seemed more intrigued than shocked or horrified. “Oh-h, re-e-al-ly…”

“Well, it’s some coincidence, don’t you think?”

“Right, too bizarre,” Oriel said, an odd note to her voice.

“You know where he lives, right? I mean you have the address.”

“Yeah, sure. Sebastian and I are solid.” Oriel grabbed a napkin and a pen from the bar and scribbled down the address, then gave it to Silke. “Here. You have to promise to tell me everything, though.”

“If I know anything. Shelley doesn’t necessarily share her work with me.”

“Are you kidding? Your own twin would hold out? I thought the two of you were close.”

“We are close, but Shelley is first and foremost a cop.”

“I don’t have a twin, but my brother Del and I used to share everything.”

Silke caught how Oriel’s voice thickened. Undoubtedly she and her brother were on the outs.

“I’m sure Shelley will tell me what she can. You do realize if anything comes of this, if Sebastian or someone connected to him had something to do with the woman’s death, we could be out of a job, right?”

“Oh.” Oriel frowned. “With our talents, we’re bound to get another job with no trouble at all.”

Silke knew Oriel didn’t mean show biz talent but the
other
kind practiced by patrons of this club.

Making her wonder just how talented Oriel was.