Pretty Dangerous (31 page)

“I refuse to answer on the grounds it may
incriminate me,” Jazz murmured rapidly and gave them a crooked
grin. “Now go before Nairoby gets too jumpy.”

MiMi read Nairoby’s cryptic “I’m here” reply
then dropped the phone back into her pocket and zipped it shut. She
gave them a thumbs up signal and went back down the hall to the
elevators. Lana appeared when MiMi rounded the corner leading to
the elevators. She frowned, suspicion.

“I thought you’d gone up already.” The
manager studied MiMi.

“I took a wrong turn, and then I answered a
text,” MiMi answered smoothly. The soft ping announced the arrival
of the elevator.

She disappeared inside and pressed the button
to close the doors. All the while she prayed Lana wouldn’t get on
with her at the last minute. MiMi let out a long sigh of relief
once the doors slid together and she was alone. Seconds later she
arrived on the third floor. The thump of loud music came from one
of the rooms. The Days Inn had seen better days. Maybe Nairoby had
chosen it because it was cheap. Still it appeared clean. A burst of
raucous laughter made MiMi jump. She increased her pace to find the
stairwell exit. After a whispered confirmation that Willa and Jazz
were on the fifth floor, MiMi again concealed the cell phone. She
found room 502. At first she knocked discreetly. The noise forced
her to try again, this time banging hard.

Nairoby jerked the door open. “You want to
make more noise. Maybe the entire world didn’t hear you.”

“You picked a...” MiMi didn’t finish because
Nairoby yanked her inside and shut the door.

“Were you followed?” Nairoby dragged MiMi
with her to the window and looked out.

“You lost your mind?” MiMi twisted her wrist
until she had freed her arm. Then she stepped back.

“I know you brought your little ghetto
friend, whats-her-name, and her gang. Am I right?” Nairoby moved
from the window quickly and into a defensive stance to face
MiMi.

“We’re not the ones you have to worry about.
We need each other.” MiMi hoped she sounded as cool and confident
as Jazz would be.

“Yes, little spoiled American princess. You
want the money.” Nairoby’s worried expression eased into a
smirk.

“Get to the point so I can help you get back
to the DR even faster,” MiMi snapped. “Or maybe you don’t want to
go home.”

“Where I go is none of your concern,
princess,” Nairoby shot back. Yet the smirk melted from her pretty
brown face.

“Fine, tell me about Jack’s money and if you
know anymore about Roderick,” MiMi said. She was as eager to be rid
of the troublesome woman as Nairoby was to leave.

“First things first. What have you told the
police and FBI about me?” Nairoby backed up to the window while
keeping her gaze on MiMi. Barely moving the drab tan curtains, she
darted another quick glance outside.

“I told them you thought Jack cut you out of
a big money deal and you came here to get it back,” MiMi
started.

“You mean Jack stole from me,” Nairoby spat
like the words were bitter on her tongue.

“Yes, darlin’. Your one true love jacked you
big time,” MiMi replied, this time with her own smirk.

“You...” Nairoby glared at her for a few
seconds. “What else?”

“I told them you didn’t know anything about
Roderick’s business, that he only met with your bosses. You’re only
a step above their secretary.” MiMi took pleasure at the scowl her
last words brought.

“That’s bullshit. They wouldn’t have made any
connections here without me. I put money in their pockets. If they
were so much smarter than me, then they wouldn’t have trusted
Jefferson so easily. I know men, I would have seen through him.”
Nairoby waved a hand in the air.

“So what happened with Jack? You didn’t see
through him obviously.” MiMi held up a palm. “Look, let’s not waste
energy fighting about him. Jack had skills in and out of the
bedroom. His charm was almost supernatural.”

Nairoby gazed at her for a few seconds before
she nodded. “Those eyes like smoky topaz, and the scent he wore.
And his hands, his mouth--”

“Whoa, whoa, I don’t need the details. Like I
said, he was good.” MiMi studied Nairoby. Despite the hard
exterior, the woman seemed to have had a worse case of Jack Crown
than MiMi or Willa.

“You couldn’t have kept Jack satisfied. You
were just a tool.” Nairoby tossed her long black hair over one
shoulder.

MiMi gave a grunt. “Don’t be so smug, honey.
He used you, too. Jack planned to have help moving his money out of
reach of the IRS and banking laws. He saw you coming a mile
away.”

“What we had was business and pleasure, a lot
of pleasure.” Nairoby’s Dominican accent made the word sound even
more erotic.

“Look, I didn’t come here to talk about your
sex life. All I want to hear about is the money.” MiMi crossed her
arms.

“So, you can’t stand the thought of how much
Jack craved every inch of me. Believe me, I loved every inch of
him.” Nairoby’s full mouth lifted at one corner into a leering
expression.

“In other words you don’t know anything.
You’re stalling for time. I’ll just go talk to the FBI and the
police. Girl, bye,” MiMi said and flipped a hand at Nairoby.

MiMi kept Nairoby in sight, careful not to
turn her back. Just as she started to leave, a side door connected
to another room clicked open. A woman stepped through. Her long
hair had reddish blonde highlights. She wore a shiny burnt orange
sateen jacket belted over paisley leggings and oversized hoop
earrings. Her other fashion accessory was a small black handgun.
She wore a nasty smile as she gazed at MiMi with hatred.

“Nice to see you again, Ms. Landry.”

Nairoby stepped around MiMi. She threw
clothes and toiletries into a carryon suitcase. “What the hell took
you so long? She could have shot me or something.”

The woman’s laugh came out like a high
pitched fingernail scraping chalk board. MiMi stared at her hard.
Her face seemed both real and unreal, the voice familiar. The woman
removed the clip-on hair extensions. Next she peeled off the nose
like it was a second skin. She gave MiMi a smile that sent a chill
through her.

Yvette Theirry removed the wig cap and
fluffed out her natural hair. “Not the prissy sorority sister here.
She might sound tough, but all she’s got is big talk. You, sit
down.”

MiMi gazed at the gun. Size didn’t mean
anything, especially at such close range. Still MiMi felt more
anger than fear. “No, say what you’ve got to say so I can
leave.”

“Leave? You’re not going anywhere until I’m
ready. I said sit your ass down,” Yvette hissed.

“I’m not sitting down.” MiMi crossed her
arms. “Shoot and people will come running.”

“Not with the noise from the neighbors they
won’t,” Yvette said with smile of confidence.

“The music has stopped.” MiMi’s gaze darted
around for any kind of escape route.

“They’re just taking a short break. I had
beer and pints of malt liquor sent to them with a note that it’s a
tourist promotion gift.” Yvette’s smile widened when the music
pumped up again two seconds after she stopped talking.

“I still won’t sit.” MiMi swallowed hard.

“Stop the pissing contest. Who cares if she
sits, stands or does a back flip. Get on with it so I can get out
of here. I’ve been trapped in this dump long enough.” Nairoby
crossed to the window and barely twitched the curtain so she could
look out. “Her friends will start to wonder why she hasn’t come
back down.”

“There’s no one waiting in the SUV and or the
lobby waiting. She bluffed you.” Yvette’s full mouth, twisted with
distaste the longer she gazed at MiMi.

“Did you ask what’s his name, the desk
clerk?” Nairoby looked away from the window.

“The bitch manager came back and started
looking me up and down. I couldn’t draw attention to myself. She
got busy with a crowd of people checking in, and the desk phone
started ringing. I took that chance to slip on the elevator with
some of those drunk ass kids.”

“But she said...”

“I said I looked around, didn’t I?” Yvette
shot an irritated glance at Nairoby.

“Excuse me for interrupting your performance
of who’s the biggest moron, but neither of you seems to have
thought this through.” MiMi moved but went still when Yvette
leveled the gun at her chest. “Witnesses know I’m in Nairoby’s
room, and no doubt security cameras will show you coming in. So if
anything happens to me...”

Yvette grunted a brusque laugh. “Watch her
while I clean up.”

“Okay, but make it quick. I want to get out
of this crazy state.” Nairoby hurried to the chair and took another
gun from beneath the seat cushion.

MiMi blinked at her. “You must know this
won’t work.”

“I’ll be long gone. All your police will have
is speculation. Even you said they can’t charge me with anything.
No evidence,” Nairoby said. The shrill note in her voice implied
she needed to convince herself more than MiMi.

“They’ll connect you to her. How...”

MiMi stopped when Yvette appeared. She looked
totally different, or at least different enough not to be
recognized. She nodded slowly as she gazed back at MiMi.

“They might have this girl on camera, but not
me.” Yvette shook the fake hair and giggled.

“I have to repeat myself. Why am I here?”
MiMi hoped Willa and Jazz had called the police. She just had to
avoid getting killed before they arrived.

Yvette pointed her gun at MiMi again. She sat
on the arm of the large chair. Though she seemed relaxed, she held
the gun like a pro. “Well, I’ll tell you. Roderick, the no-good
shit turd, stole from me and his Dominican business partners. The
law firm I work for represents several corporations looking for the
mineral products Roderick would sell. He got the whole idea from
me.”

“You invested, and disclosed client
information,” MiMi said with a frown.

“Roderick talked as if he’d confided in you,
his trophy fiancé. So you’re going to tell us where to find the
money. It’s not in the US.” Yvette raised an eyebrow at MiMi.

“Roderick didn’t tell me anything.”

MiMi stopped. She knew which banks in the DR
Roderick had visited. Then she remembered Roderick’s belongings
still at the house, and in her home safe; items she’d never bother
to look at because she was busy. Roderick locked up his
grandfather’s antique white gold cuff links and watch, at least
that’s what he’d told her. MiMi tried to remember if he’d taken
them out before they broke up.

Yvette studied MiMi. “I’m a lawyer, trained
to know when a witness isn’t telling the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth.”

“You knew more about his business dealings
than I did. All he did was romance me and give me gifts.” MiMi kept
her voice steady. Or at lease she prayed she did.

Yvette’s eyes narrowed until her gaze seemed
like a gun laser. “Bullshit. You know something.”

“Like you said, Roderick thought of me as his
empty-headed trophy. I was for show,” MiMi replied. “He didn’t tell
me anything he thought was important. Maybe his father knows, but
not me.”

“Yeah, for show, like the jewelry he bought
for you worth a few thousand dollars,” Yvette said, her mouth
twisted until her features seemed distorted. “He used me and then
bragged about how clever he was to outsmart the Dominicans. I
wasn’t good enough to marry, just hook up with every now and then
for a quick freak.”

“He... he lied to me, too. Roderick only
cared about my family connections.” MiMi’s heart pounded at the
wide look in Yvette’s eyes.

“I don’t give a damn who this guy wanted to
marry or screw, find out where the money is so I can go home. I’ll
pay off my partners with it,” Nairoby said, her voice squeaking.
“You two are still competing for a dead man who obviously cared
only about himself.”

“Shut up. What do you know about it?” Yvette
snarled. Then she looked daggers at MiMi “Roderick wouldn’t have
turned on me if she hadn’t come between us. Maybe you suggested he
stab me in the back.”

MiMi took a step back when Yvette stood
suddenly. The irrational turn of the woman’s conclusions ratcheted
up the danger level. “You’re wrong, Yvette. I didn’t know about any
of it...”

“Look, just tell Yvette what she wants to
know,” Nairoby blurted out as she wrung her hands. She darted a
look at her conspirator.

MiMi needed to play for more time. She sent a
mental message to her pals and the cops to speed it up. “If you
want money, then talk to Narioby. She already knows where close to
half a million is stashed. You can get back your investment. I’m
telling you, Roderick kept a lot of stuff from me. I don’t know
anything.”

“He treated you like a queen; his queen. You
had a lot of fun rubbing my nose in it, remember? He wanted to
build a life with you, not me.” Yvette’s breathing grew heavy as
she spoke. “I saw you two together. That huge diamond ring he gave
you. He took you to the Dominican Republic with him. Is that where
you two hatched up a plan to cut me out? Yeah, Roderick told you
about all his big plans.”

“Keep cool, girl,” Nairoby said. Her eyes
were wide with fear as she looked at Yvette. “As scared as she is,
she would have told you everything by now. Let’s just get far away
from here before we have more trouble. You can sue Jefferson’s
father to get your investment back, and at least I’ll recover
enough to satisfy my partners.”

Yvette continued to stare at MiMi for a few
moments in silence. “Don’t be stupid. I can’t sue his old man. If
what I’ve done comes out, I’ll be disbarred or go to prison.
Probably both. Besides, you forget our little witness here.”

Nairoby blinked hard. “She won’t talk. I can
prove she helped Jack Crown hide money offshore. The FBI would take
everything she owns, and arrest her.”