Tacked to Death (21 page)

"It's not as if you run from murder.
You're a modern-day Sherlock Holmes."

She turned on her heel and shook a
finger at him, almost losing her towel. "That is so unfair, Jude. I
don't go around looking for murder. I can't help what happened in
the past and I certainly can't help this situation."

"You still should have called
me."

"Oh please. That would've been selfish.
You were on your vacation, for God's sake, and with Katie. I
couldn't have done that to you, much less to your little girl. I
had hoped that by the time you got home this would've all blown
over and then we could've laughed about it. Besides, what would you
have done if I got ahold of you in the middle of the ocean? You
would've gotten on the first plane back home and stormed in here
and tried to save me as if I'm a damsel in distress. Thank God you
didn't find out until today. At least you had some of the week to
enjoy yourself."

"Aren't you a damsel in distress,
though?"

"No. I'm a very capable woman. I can
take care of myself. I don't need rescuing. I don't need the white
horse and Prince Charming. And honestly, that's been a problem for
us all along. You seem to feel the need to take care of
me."

"Maybe that's because you need a man to
take care of you."

"What! Please. You don't know me that
well, then."

"What I know is that there is some
pretty incriminating evidence against you for a murder that,
knowing you as I do, I can't believe you would have ever done. I
don't plan to save you, Michaela. Why do you keep fighting me?
Resisting me? All I want to do is help. That's what people who love
each other do. They are there for each other. But I have to wonder
if you even want my help. You're always pushing me away, and this
is only the latest incident."

Wait a minute! Love! Love? When did
that ever come into the picture? He'd let that one slip. Oops, and
she decided that she'd let it fly by, pretending that she hadn't
heard it, but dammit, why was there a lump of emotion tightening at
the back of her throat? She was not ready for this.

He walked over to her. "Michaela, let
me help you."

"I need to get dressed," she
said.

"You do?" Jude traced the top of her
towel with a finger.

"Yes. And we're arguing."

"No, we're not."

"Yes, we are."

"Can we go back to it later?" He kissed
her neck.

"Jude, the timing is off. I don't want
our first time to be…well, make-up sex."

"There is nothing wrong with make-up
sex. And I may have been upset with you, but seeing you in the
shower and having you yell at me kind of turns me on."

"Yeah, you shouldn't have seen me in
the shower. How did you get in? You scared me."

"I'm a cop. I think I know how to get
into a home. We need to get you an alarm system. You never know who
will sneak in and suck the blood out of you." He sucked on her neck
like a vampire. It tickled and Michaela couldn't help but laugh. "I
can make you smile even more."

She sighed. He kissed her on her neck
again, his fingers traced the edge of the towel wrapped around her.
Feelings she hadn't been in touch with for a long time traveled
through her, and she stopped thinking. She allowed Jude to keep
kissing her as she dropped her towel.

Thirty-One

“
You did what?” Jude asked. “Oh
this is not good, Michaela! Damn! I could arrest you. I should
arrest you. Breaking and entering? You stole the tapes? What were
you thinking?"

They stood in her kitchen making
sandwiches. The afternoon had turned into evening and they were
both hungry.

"Arrest me? Please. I didn't want to
keep it from you—and doesn't all of this show you that Peters is
heading in the wrong direction with this investigation?"

"Maybe, but what you did by breaking
into Taber's home was a crime. And you did this alone?" He raised
his eyebrows.

That was the only part of the story
that Michaela felt she had to omit. She could not expose Joe. He
had gone out on a limb for her more than once. He'd given her the
opportunity with the riding center and was always there when she
needed a friend. No, she could not betray his trust.

"Yes," she replied. "I did it, and I'm
not sorry either. What am I supposed to do, Jude? Stand by and let
Peters see that I rot in jail? He's not doing anything as far as I
know to find out who really killed Sterling. It's me he's
after."

Jude stared at her. "This isn't the
first time you've gone searching for answers where murder is
concerned. The last time you almost got yourself
killed."

"I know that. But this is the first
time that my freedom is on the line and you and me…I mean,
us…aren't we in a relationship? Because it sure felt like it over
the last few hours. Like we'd taken that next step. We won't be
taking any more steps if I'm in jail. You said that you came home
to help me, and now you're thinking I should be arrested for trying
to find out the truth."

"That's not fair. I haven't had a
chance to speak with Peters yet, but I definitely intend to. I know
that you didn't murder Taber. I won't let you go to jail, I promise
you that."

"How do you plan to do that, Jude, with
your boss so hot and heavy to seal my fate?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head.
"I do. Just promise me that you'll stop playing detective for
once."

"No. Not this time."

"I don't want you hurt. You have to
stop this! It's ridiculous!" he shouted.

"Ironically, if I'm behind bars, who
knows what could happen to me? It may be ridiculous, but I don't
see another way out right now."

"That won't happen! Do what you do
best: Work with kids, train horses, and I'll figure this out." He
put his arms around her.

She tensed up. His words sounded good,
but why didn't she completely believe him? Was there something in
his voice that doubted he could help her? To her, he sounded almost
helpless and she wasn't buying his pleas to drop her
sleuthing.

"I'll take the tapes with me and get
them into Peters's hands. I think you're right, Carolyn Taber seems
a likely suspect."

"Peters hates me, Jude. You can't tell
him how I got the tapes."

"I won't say how I got them. He doesn't
hate you. It's his MO to be a hard-ass."

"MO or not, I'm afraid that Peters will
ignore the tapes out of sheer laziness or the mere fact that he
sees me as an easy target."

He cupped his hand under her chin.
"Peters won't ignore them. God! I can't believe that you stole
those tapes. Is there anything else you're not telling
me?"

There was plenty, like Mario following
her, Zach and Juliet breaking into her place, the threat from
Carolyn, as well as the bizarre behavior of Paige and Robert
Nightingale. And in the moment that he asked her the question, she
wondered why she didn't tell him everything. The kitchen seemed to
spin as she concluded that she'd made a mistake with Jude. She'd
made love with a man whom she wanted badly to trust, to fall in
love with, but who admittedly she didn't completely trust. And now
she wasn't sure she could fall in love with him. Right now she felt
weaker than ever before. She'd fallen into a man's arms because
she'd wanted security.

"No. I've told you everything. You
know, I'm feeling kind of tired and want to go to bed."

"We can do that. We can take our food
back to bed with us, and forget all this other stuff for a
while."

"No. I want to be alone."

"Michaela?"

"It's been a long week and honestly,
I'm feeling overwhelmed."

He tried to hug her but she pulled
away.

He looked wounded. "I don't
understand."

"I…think we made a mistake," she
said.

She couldn't believe what she was
saying. She typically ran from her feelings. They were far easier
to hide from rather than confront. And she had to wonder if by
treating Jude like this, she was only doing exactly that. Maybe it
was easier for her not to try and love and be loved than be willing
to open up and take a chance.

"I'm only trying to protect you. I
don't want you getting hurt and I am planning on taking all of what
you've told me, plus the tapes, to Peters."

"I know. But I still need some time to
be by myself."

"Okay." He nodded and tossed up his
arms. "If that's what you want."

As Jude left, tapes in hand, Michaela
stared out the front window for a long time, not knowing at all
what she wanted.

Thirty-Two

Michaela didn’t sleep much after Jude
left the next morning, life seemed even more complicated than the
day before. Being wishy-washy wasn't her style, but that's where
she was in this game. Wishy-washy with Jude, her theories,
everything but her horses. Solid ground would be nice.

She didn't trust that Peters would
interview Carolyn Taber about the videotapes, and she had questions
for Tommy Liggett, who might have met Carolyn and could enlighten
her further. He might also know something about Sterling and Lucia.
The brat certainly wasn't going to talk to Michaela. She needed to
chat with Joe about the Sorvinos. Maybe one of his cousins had some
information for her. Plus, Tommy could possibly fill her in on what
happened in Santa Barbara to Rebecca Woodson.

She decided to head over to Ed
Mitchell's jewelry store and have a talk with Tommy. First, she
checked to make sure that the bracelet she'd found at the polo
grounds was still in the zippered pouch in her purse. Maybe Tommy
could take a look at it and tell her what it was worth and see if
she couldn't get it back to the rightful owner. So far no one had
called on it. The main reason for going to the jewelry store was
because she needed answers; she headed over midmorning, hoping to
find Tommy there. The buzzer rang, announcing her entry. The store
was upscale, painted in a light gold, and several small love seats
stood next to large windows, which looked out onto the main
shopping district of Palm Springs. Classical music played through
the surround sound. A couple looked at engagement rings, happily
trying on possible contenders. Tommy was helping them.

"Be right with you." Tommy glanced up.
"Oh hey, Michaela."

"Take your time. I'm not in a
hurry."

He nodded. Michaela looked around at
all of the beautiful trinkets, with their expensive price tags.
There were gorgeous necklaces, bracelets, watches from the finest
watchmakers in the world. This store was for the wealthy. She liked
jewelry enough, but most of what she owned was simple. Fine pieces
like these would never fit into her lifestyle.

Tommy handed the couple glasses of
champagne, and they sat down on one of the sofas, continuing to
admire a ring they obviously were considering. He walked over to
Michaela.

"Hey, are you okay? I heard the news."
He shook his head. "Everyone at the field knows you would never
hurt anyone. One of the detectives questioned all of us, and I told
him that there was no way you killed Sterling. I hope they catch
the bastard who did it. You don't deserve this."

"Thank you," she said.

"What brings you in here?" He rubbed
his palms together.

"I'm not here for jewelry."

He gave her an odd look. "Okay. How can
I help then?"

"I appreciate you putting in a good
word for me. Since you believe that I didn't kill Sterling, do you
have any ideas as to who might have done it?"

He shrugged. "You know that people who
met him either loved or hated him."

"How did you feel about
him?"

A shocked expression came over Tommy's
boyish features. "He was my friend. What do you think? I loved the
guy. We hung out all the time. What happened to him was wrong. He
had his faults, you know, there's no getting around that. Kind of a
narcissist and egomaniac, but he was funny…funny as hell. We joked
a lot and women loved him, which didn't hurt me at all when we hung
out. He could reel them in and, well, I'd kind of get the chicks he
didn't want."

"Ah, the buddy system."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Speaking of women, what do you know
about him and Lucia Sorvino?"

"Lucia? She's a kid. He toyed with her
a little, but Juliet suspected something was going on and he
dropped it."

"I'm sure that didn't make Lucia
happy."

Tommy shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I
don't know her too well. Like I said, she's young, and I actually
told Sterling to leave her alone. Her brother is a
hothead."

"Hot enough to kill
Sterling?"

"Maybe, I suppose. I know he can lose
it, though, because I saw him yelling at his sister just last week.
He laid into her real good. She was in tears."

"Where was this at, and
when?"

"I had to pick up some menus for Ed
because he's planning a shindig at his place next month and Pepe
always does the catering. When I swung by, Mario had his sister
cornered and cowering like a dog. I don't know what it was about.
They stopped, and Mario turned into Mr. Suave when he spotted me
and that's pretty much it."