Intrusion (20 page)

Lucian took my hand and gently squeezed it. Candy chose her normal coping mechanism. She closed her eyes, curled up in a ball, and rocked back and forth, chanting some unintelligible mantra. The tragedy of losing our friend was compounded by the taint of other murders and their stunning implications. Damn Tommy and his arrogance! He had confronted a murderer alone and sealed his own doom. How many times had he walked away from disasters, leaving me to soothe outraged professors or shaken customers. I was sick and tired of cleaning up his messes.

“No wonder he sent us that list,” I said.
“Typical Tommy.
His version of a scavenger hunt, a lethal one.”

“But why not name the murderer?” Lucian asked. “He could always amend the tape if he got it wrong.”

Candy emerged from her cocoon with something approaching a grin.
“Proves you didn’t really know him.
Tommy was scrupulously fair. He would never say something that damaging without proof, even if it endangered him. He was just that kind of guy.”

“At least we now know what that disk meant.” I replayed it in my mind.
“Seems like he underestimated the murderer.
Tommy always thought he could charm the birds out of the trees.” I filled our glasses with more wine. “Funny thing was
,
he usually could.” I caught myself snuggling up to Lucian and hastily drew back.

You pick some weird times for romance, Lizzie Mae. Does danger excite you?

I turned and faced him, disregarding that sexy smile he wore. For all I knew Lucian Sand might still be the murderer. He had means, opportunity and tons of
motive
. Cop shows always stress that. Was he Mr. Outside?

“You have to tell us, Lucian. Who sent you the disk? At the very least it can help us exclude someone at CYBER-MED.”

“Yeah,” Candy chimed in. “Stop screwing with us. Betts or I might be next on the hit parade.”

He let go of my hand and slowly sipped his wine, seemingly untroubled by a dead man’s words. Lucian was either very cool or very guilty. I watched anxiously as Candy gripped her glass like a baseball and lobbed it at his head.

“Hey! Are you crazy? Stop that shit.” I was prepared to slap her, if necessary.

“What’s the matter, Betts? Afraid I’ll hurt your boyfriend?”

I shivered as the lamplight glistened on the crystal shards. Candy’s aim was as bad as her taunts. She had missed him by a country mile and splattered wine all over my wall.

“I’m concerned about that Baccarat,” I told her with a tight smile. “We got it as a wedding present. Empire … they’ve retired that pattern, you know.”

That made Lucian smile. “I’m honored that a fine French crystal was used to assault me.” He nodded pleasantly to Candy. “You win. I will tell you what you seek.”

His language grew more formal, and his accent more pronounced, as he spoke. Hurrah! We were finally reaching the imperturbable Dr. Sand.

“I did it myself,” he said. “It was child’s play. I planted recorders in the offices of the principals at CYBER-MED and waited for something to happen. They had no suspicions. The security at that place is laughable, as you yourself have observed.”

“What? You’ve violated at least two state statutes that I can think of offhand and probably a federal one, too. Are they still there?” I didn’t like Lucian monitoring my private conversations, even though they were innocuous.
Boring.

“Alas, no.
I had everything removed when I learned of Tommy’s murder.” He answered the question before I could ask it. “You know I am
persona non grata
at CYBER-MED, but a friend, someone totally removed from the process, retrieved the equipment for me.”

“How convenient,” Candy snapped. “Well, tell us. What else did you learn, Mr. Snooper?”

“Nothing germane.
Office relationships hold no charm for me, even the salacious ones.” Lucian’s face betrayed no emotion.

Whatever his shortcomings, at least Lucian was a gentleman. I’m sure his tapes had caught the moans and groans coming from Drs.
Rao
and Cahill. Candy didn’t need to hear about that.

“
Yo
, Betts.
You still with us?”
Candy started her toe tapping routine. “We have to decide. Take this stuff to Andrews or keep it quiet. We know what Tommy wanted, and Kai would have hit the roof if you played detective.”

I bit my lip so hard it bled. The answer was laughably clear. Turn CYBER-MED, the tape and everything else over to the cops. My conscience wouldn’t allow anything else.

“This time I agree with Tommy. We can’t take the chance that someone might die while we screw around. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop digging, though. Someone killed Tommy, and I won’t forget it.”

Seventeen

Lucian stared
quizzically at me but said nothing. I’m not a vengeful person. Not really. I accepted Kai’s death, even though I’d felt like dying myself. Murder was different. Tommy’s death unleashed a primitive rage so intense it threatened to consume me. Lizzie Mae, Warrior Princess, was a new role, one that I embraced. Somehow I would avenge my friend and find his killer. The weapons in my arsenal weren’t tempered steel and gunpowder. I would use the skills that had distinguished me in school and business to bring down this coward: brains, tenacity and imagination. Mercy and compassion weren’t on the agenda. Leave that to the Lord.

“Let me try Andrews’ number.” I checked the time on Grandmother Buckley’s ormolu mantle clock. You could always set your watch by that beautiful hunk of bronze. Like Kai, the clock was artfully constructed and devastatingly accurate. I doubted that either Andrews or the perky
Francie
Cohen was still on the job. No blowing police overtime to unmask Thomas Yancey’s killer, no sir.

“Wait a minute,” Candy said. She thrust Andrews’ card under my nose. “He gave us his cell and home number. Try those first.”

She was right, of course. Andrews answered his cell without hesitation although his vigor faded when he heard my voice. I brought out the big guns, forcing him to arrange a meeting with Candy and me the next day. He complied reluctantly and with poor grace.

“There’s nothing new I can tell you, Mrs. Buckley.”

“OK, but there’s something important we can tell you, Sergeant.”

He didn’t bother to mask a yawn. “If it’s about that disk …”

“This is new evidence, a video made by Mr. Yancey. Some might call it a dying declaration. That has probative value in most courts.”

“Let me be frank with you.”

Uh oh.
When anyone starts a conversation like that, bad news is sure to follow. I gave Andrews my best business school line.

“I applaud candor, Sergeant, especially when it concerns my friend’s murder.”

“We’re inclined to think it was some joyriding kid who stole that old lady’s car, hit Mr. Yancey and panicked. Those cases are hardly ever solved.”

“Interesting theory,” I said. “I’m afraid I can’t accept that. Ms.
Ott
and I will see you tomorrow morning at nine.”

“Wait a minute,” Candy whined when I hung up. “I have plans tomorrow.”

“Tough.” I gave her the evil eye. “Personal plans aren’t important. This is Tommy we’re talking about.”

Lucian kept silent until Candy prodded him.

“What do you think, Dr. Sand? Set Mrs. Buckley straight, please.”

We faced off from opposite ends of Kai’s leather couch. “Andrews is looking for an easy out,” Lucian said. “Otherwise, he risks stepping on some very big toes. You can hardly blame him.”

“Wait a minute. I can blame him, and I do. It’s his job to investigate no matter where it leads him or to whom.” I forced myself to remain calm, using logic rather than emotion. I’d worked in the land of men long enough to know the power of a cool, articulate female.

Lucian’s face looked grave. “I’m afraid for you. This killer is ruthless, willing to take chances. You’re so vulnerable at CYBER-MED.”

I knew he was right, but I’d never admit it. Remember the saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living”? Socrates hit a bull’s-eye with that one. Tommy’s murder had catapulted me into the real world again, forcing me to re-evaluate everything in my life. Lucian was right. I was vulnerable at CYBER-MED, but I was also at risk as I had been, living my soulless existence,
waiting
for death to reunite me with Kai.

“I’ll be careful,” I said. “If Andrews follows the leads we give him, I won’t have to worry. We’ve made some good contacts that might help him. I still want to chat up Ian Cotter’s wife somehow. She’s the most vocal one.”

Lucian raked his fingers through his thick, wavy hair. “I can help you with that. Mrs. Cotter trains at the same gym that I do.”

“Why isn’t that woman in jail?” Candy asked. “She’s a nut.”

“Meg got the charges dropped,” I said. “She’s one cool customer, let me tell you. Meg, that is. When Andrews accused her of having an affair with Ian, she laughed in his face.”

“How tight are you with this Mrs. Cotter?” Candy asked Lucian.

He shrugged. “We speak.” His soft azure eyes twinkled.

I’ll just bet they did. Lucian Sand in workout attire was a tasty prospect that any warm-blooded woman would respond to, even a bereaved widow.

“Don’t tell me you trained with Ian Cotter, too.”

Lucian’s connection to yet another CYBER-MED casualty made me uneasy. Talk about six degrees of separation. There were far too many coincidences in this case.

I tried to laugh it off. “Pretty soon you’ll be telling us that you knew Judge Arthur, too.”

His silence spoke more eloquently than words.

“You palled around with the Judge?” Candy squealed. “My head is spinning. I’d better go get my beauty sleep if we have to see Andrews tomorrow.” She yawned.

“Wait a minute. You didn’t even have dinner yet,” I said. “I can grill the fish in ten minutes.”

She gathered her things and shook her head. “No, thanks, I’m exhausted. Plus, maybe I’ll lose a few pounds by starving. Della can come home with me tonight. That way I won’t feel scared. Come on, Sweetness, your auntie needs you.” She snapped on Della’s lead and walked swiftly out the door.

“I should leave, too,” Lucian said touching my cheek. “You’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

An unexpected wave of loneliness swamped me. Kai, Tommy … I felt so isolated. I yearned for comfort, the kind I’d found in Lucian’s arms.

“Don’t go,” I said. “Stay with me tonight.” I led him slowly into the guest room, dousing the outside lights.

“I can just hold you if you want to sleep,” Lucian said. His fingers filtered through my hair like a mountain breeze.

“Not tonight,” I whispered. “Please. Make me forget all this pain.”

The bedside lamp cast soft pink shadows on his face.
Such a handsome face, with strong Gallic features framed by luxuriant curls.
He touched me gently as if it were the first time.

“My beautiful Elisabeth,” he murmured. “Do you still distrust me?”

“Forgive me,” I said. “I’m so confused. You came from out of the blue, saving me like some guardian angel. I still don’t understand your connection to all this. Before we met I never missed … that is, I never thought about another man. Kai has always been with me.”

“And now?” he asked, stroking my cheek. “How is it now?” Lucian brushed his lips down my neck, making me shiver. His fingertips were magic as they grazed my breasts. I felt limp, oblivious to everything but this man’s touch. He raised my sweater over my head, folding it neatly on the side table. His tongue found every part of me that ached, teasing me until I yielded to him. The faint scent of Creed captivated me as it always had.

Our kiss seemed
neverending
as we melded into a sensuous union that felt so right.

I closed my eyes, willing my battered senses to take control of my body. As he entered me, filling me with the familiar pleasure, I said a silent prayer of thanks.
I love you Kai, love
you
so much. Please forgive me.

~

I awakened the next morning in Lucian’s arms, listening to his gentle snores. Kai had snored too, even though he wouldn’t admit it. Lucian didn’t stir as I slipped out of his grasp and found my robe.
Maybe we should
have used my bedroom
. But no, that was out of the question. Kai inhabited every square inch of that room from his bathroom to the perfectly appointed closet housing his clothes.
 

Someday, I’ll be ready. Not right now.

I got dressed in record time, just in case there was another interruption. Lucian had seen enough of my skin to last him all week. I chose a sober black suit and brushed my hair into a twist. Sergeant Andrews wouldn’t notice no matter what I wore. That man was all business. In deference to Candy, I swiped my mouth with lip gloss and dabbed on green eye shadow and mascara. Redheads look dead without some kind of color. Police stations had surely seen worse, but I didn’t want to be measured against a corpse.