Tina Whittle_Tai Randall Mystery 01 (19 page)

Chapter 36

I found Janie in her room at the Ritz, a twin of the one I’d abandoned for Dexter’s pull-out. She invited me in absent-mindedly, and went back to the half-filled suitcase flopped open on the bed. Outside I heard sirens, an ambulance, a police car. The sounds of someone else’s day gone suddenly bad.

“I just got back from Phoenix,” I said. “Landon told me you’re leaving.”

Janie laid a white blouse in the suitcase. “They’ve released the body, so we can take her home now.”

“That must be a relief.”

“Yeah. We’ve just got to finish up here, and then we can get started with the arrangements.” She looked at the clothes-strewn bed, then back at me. “I appreciate all you’ve done, though, over the past few days.”

“I didn’t do much.”

“You listened, that was a lot. But it’s over now, and the best we can do is get back to normal.”

She was right, of course. But there was so much still unanswered, unhonored, unspoken. I sat on the edge of the bed. The room smelled of old coffee and fresh laundry, but a hint of smoke was in there too—I saw an ashtray by the bed, overflowing with butts. My fingers twitched.

“Janie, this may seem like it’s coming out of nowhere, and I hate to pry into something so personal, but…” I steadied my voice. “Did you know your sister was a lesbian?”

Her eyes darkened and got hard in the center. “That’s not something we’re gonna talk about.”

“But—”

“No buts.” Her voice hardened to match her eyes. “My sister was murdered, and the man who did it is in jail. That’s justice, and I’m grateful for it. The rest is between her and God.”

“Is that what you two fought about?”

She shook her head. “Eliza’s dead, and all that died with her. I don’t care what questions you want to ask, I’m taking her home now, and we’re going to do the best we can with the life she lived. It wasn’t much, but she was family, flesh and blood, and that’s what family does for family.”

“But I’m not convinced Bulldog did it.”

“I am. Eliza spent her whole life chasing some fantasy that she was better than who she was. You chase something long enough, you forget something might be chasing you. Eliza paid for that mistake with her life.”

Her face was taut with emotion, her fists clenched so hard her knuckles whitened. Whatever parts of her had loosened over the last few days had tightened up again, and she wasn’t about to drop her guard, not for me, not for anybody.

I stood. “I’m sorry, Janie. I appreciate everything you shared with me. I wish I could have done more with it.”

Her mouth stayed hard, but her eyes relaxed, just at the corners. She reached up and fingered the ever-present crucifix.

“You did the best you could. That’s worth something.”

I left quickly, too heartsick to argue with her. RIP Eliza Compton. Daughter, sister, friend, co-worker. Murder victim, former thief, closet lesbian, possible blackmailer.

God, why do we even bother with tombstones? It’s not like we don’t lie enough without them.

***

My second stop was back at Beau Elan to find Jake Whitaker—I had a couple of questions for the antsy bastard before he got word that I was no longer legit. Despite what I’d told Landon, I still had my Phoenix ID. One flash of the plastic at the front gate, and the security guard let me in without a quibble.

Inside Jake’s office, the first thing I noticed was that Jake himself was gone. In his place, a young woman with a planed, no-nonsense expression and black bunned hair stood behind his desk. I recognized her as one of Mark Beaumont’s staff.

She frowned at my ID badge. “I thought they were sending Mr. Seaver?”

That’s when I noticed that everything on Jake’s desk had been piled into two boxes. The woman stared at me, slightly puzzled but not alarmed.

I smiled. “He got tied up in a meeting, last minute stuff. He sent me instead.”

“Fine, then. Here.” She handed over a small box. “This is the back-up footage I found. I don’t know why Mr. Whitaker had it in his desk. The originals are with the police, and you already have the archives at Phoenix.”

I accepted it with a smile. “It’s a mystery.”

And then she handed me another box, this one sealed with duct tape. Her lips curled with distaste. “I wanted to throw this away, but Mr. Beaumont said to turn it over to you people. So here. Get rid of it.”

I smiled again, broad and reassuring. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”

***

I tried to call Trey, but got his voice mail, which meant that he was still in his meeting. I left him a rambling message. “Listen, Trey? Call me back as soon as you get this. Nothing’s wrong, but I have to talk to you ASAP. I’ve kinda…crap, just call me, okay?”

I decided voicemail was not the way to mention my recent termination. Ditto on the contraband materials from Jake’s desk. Driving out of Beau Elan with the illicit boxes sitting next to me was an exercise in patience. Had Jake been fired? Reassigned? And what kind of surveillance footage did he have hidden in his desk? I knew that the main records had been turned over to the police, the back-ups to Phoenix. What in the world would Jake be keeping just for himself?

My fingers itched to pry it open, even if I knew Trey would kill me in some hideous SWAT-intensive manner if I did.

So I called Rico. “Do you know where can I find someone—someone discreet—who can unplex some security footage?”

***

Rico sent me to his friend Doug at the Buckhead branch of the Fulton County Library. As its media specialist, Doug had studied at Dartmouth on their digital antiforgery project, and he had a treasure trove of sneaky smart software at his fingertips. According to Rico, he also possessed a strong subversive streak, and would be glad to help me sock it to The Man.

Doug sported mouse-brown bangs and sharp blue eyes intensified by black-rimmed hipster glasses. His voice was soft, and his eyes darted around a lot.

“Wait here,” he said.

I handed over the DVDs. While he got his geek on, I found an empty study carrel. And I sat there, me and my illicit boxes and a tote bag crammed thick as underbrush with file folders. I’d been ditched by Janie, fired by Phoenix, yelled at by Garrity, deserted by Eric. And when Trey found out about my latest subterfuge…

I stared at the sealed box. Then I went to Doug’s desk and borrowed a pair of scissors. If I was going to be lectured, it might as well be for the whole shebang.

I ran the blade along the flap and opened the box. And then I did a doubletake. “Oh my god.”

My phone rang before I could examine the contents further. It was Trey.

“I got your message,” he said. “What’s the problem?”

“I’d rather explain in person.”

“I can meet you at Phoenix.”

I slammed the lid shut and shoved the box away. “This is not a Phoenix conversation.”

“In that case, I’ll be in Atlanta in an hour. I have to stop by Beau Elan first, but—”

“I’m thinking you don’t.”

“What?”

“I ran your Beau Elan errand for you. Call Jake’s office. The nice lady will fill you in.”

Dead silence at his end.

“Don’t be mad. I have all the materials with me, safe and sound.”

“Tai—”

“I’ll meet you at your place and explain everything.”

A long pause. “I’m counting on it.”

He hung up just as Doug returned. His eyes loomed large and skittish behind the glasses.

“I got your footage loaded,” he said, his voice low. “And I’m really hoping it’s not what you’re expecting.”

Chapter 37

Seventy-five minutes later, I knocked at Trey’s door. He opened it in two seconds flat. He’d obviously just gotten in, hadn’t even turned the lights on yet. Behind him the evening sky melted orange and gold, deepening, burning.

I came in and closed the door behind me. “I can explain.”

He folded his arms and waited. And I explained. He listened. As I talked, his mouth remained tight, but his eyes unsquinched somewhat.

“You should have called me.”

“I did. You were in a meeting.”

“Nonetheless.” He looked me right in the eye. “I would have shared the information with you.”

I met his gaze. “Landon wouldn’t have.”

“You’re an authorized agent of Phoenix. Unless there had been some specific prohibition—”

“I got fired today.”

Trey’s head snapped back. “What?”

“Fired. They released Eliza’s body to the family, so Janie’s headed back to Jackson. Plus Marisa wasn’t happy about our little detour to the strip club last night. So yeah, fired.”

I flopped myself on his sofa, throwing my tote bag down beside me. My feet hurt, shoulders too. My body throbbed in one great big ache. Trey shook his head.

“I didn’t see any paperwork about this.”

“I’m supposed to pick it up tomorrow.”

“But I’m supposed to see it first. I didn’t even receive an e-mail.”

“I guess you’re
persona non grata
now, too. But here’s a heads-up—my getting terminated isn’t nearly as problematic as that surveillance footage.”

I retrieved the deplexed DVD from my tote bag and handed it to him. He slid it into his computer and watched as his screen blossomed into a tight shot of someone’s bikini-clad derrière. It was soon replaced by another bathing beauty slathering sunscreen on her ample breasts.

“What is this?” he said.

“Jake’s private collection, I’m guessing. Looks like he positioned the security cameras to catch some interesting footage.”

Onscreen, a woman tugged a sweatshirt over her head. The shot was obviously taken through a window, and just as obviously, taken without the woman’s knowledge. I didn’t recognize her, but I knew the next subject. Trey did too.

“Nikki,” he said.

She lay in bed reading a magazine, wearing a thin t-shirt that barely skimmed the top of her thighs. Eliza sat at the foot of the bed, smiling, her mouth stretching, her eyes half-lidded. She leaned forward lazily…

Trey stopped the video. The two women froze on his computer, still shots from a life that didn’t exist anymore.

“This isn’t the worst of it,” I said. “Look in the box.”

Trey did. “It’s a box of underwear.”

“Women’s underwear. Bras and panties and things with straps and hooks.”

Trey picked up a red leather thong. “This was in Jake’s desk?”

“Apparently he had several private collections, not just voyeur footage. I’m thinking if we ask around, lots of Beau Elan tenants will report missing lingerie.”

Trey put the scrap of underwear back in the box. He seemed at a loss for what to do next.

“I am certain this is why Jake was sent packing,” I said. “And I am equally certain no one will be pleased that I got my hands on it first.”

“You’re right.”

“I’m not asking you to cover for me or get me off the hook. It wasn’t your fault.”

“No. It was the fault of the woman who released this to you without checking with me or Landon first. But I’ll still get in trouble.”

He stood up and made his way to the kitchen where he pulled a familiar green bottle from the refrigerator. He unscrewed it slowly, then took a deliberate mindful sip. I waited while he finished. It took three minutes and he didn’t say one word the entire time. But when he was done, he placed the empty bottle on the counter and retrieved a second one. This one he brought to me.

“Are you mad?” I said.

“No.”

I put the bottle on the coffee table. “Why not?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps we’re a team now, as you said. That comes with different rules.”

I managed a laugh. “I’m not so good with rules, you know.”

“I know. But you always have a good reason for breaking them. I don’t always understand the reason, but you seem to, so I trust you.”

The thought warmed me. “You do?”

“Of course. That’s how partners operate. It’s been a long time since I’ve had one, but I remember that much.”

He was standing too close again—I had to tilt my head way back to look into his face. I thought of the MRI scans, the puzzle pieces of his identity. I’d seen his cognitive blueprint, and he was still unknown to me, perhaps unknowable. I thought again of bridges, and I decided the hardest part of building one must be deciding where to start.

So before I could analyze my actions, much less stop myself, I stood up and put my hand to his face. And then I pulled his mouth to mine and kissed him.

His mouth was warm and soft, and he responded with easy abandon. And it was good, soooo good, but in the back of my head, I was thinking panicked thoughts—oh, God, I started this, what am I doing, I’m too stupid for words, gotta stop—but the kiss was so lovely and so mind-blowing that I just surrendered to it like an addict.

He pulled away suddenly, his expression deeply curious. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

I laughed. “Yes, I think I am.”

Without a word of warning, he put his hands on my waist and steered me backwards, then lifted me gently and settled me on his desk. And then he moved closer, and I looked him right in the eye. Something new burned beneath the cool detachment, and it made me feel powerful and reckless. I wanted him so much at that moment, wanted to lose myself in him, just for one moment. I reached for the top button on his shirt…

And his phone rang.

He didn’t even look at it, didn’t even blink.

I sighed. “You have to get it, you know you do.”

He hesitated.

“Trey.”

He fished the phone out of his jacket pocket and put it to his ear. “Seaver here.”

His voice was calm. I, however, felt like crying.

“Yes,” he said. “I can do that. Give me twenty, no, thirty minutes.”

He slipped the phone back in his pocket. Then he put his hand to the side of my face and ran his thumb along my jaw line. I closed my eyes, waiting for his mouth, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes.

He was reading me. Like I’d lie to him, like I’d even try it. But still he watched my mouth, once again remote, once again the calculating machine.

“What do you want?” he said.

“I swear I don’t know, Trey. I really don’t.”

He nodded. And then he abruptly pulled away and straightened his jacket, heading for the bathroom. His absence was a vacuum. The inevitable retreat, I thought, and I wasn’t expecting it.

But then I thought, oh, sure I was. I’d been expecting it all along.

I pulled myself together and slid down from the desk, knocking over his pencil cup as I did. It created a spot of chaos in the otherwise unbroken neatness, the kind of precise disaster that tornados inflict.

Trey came out of the bathroom, a new tie loose around his neck. “Your blouse is unbuttoned.”

“It doesn’t matter, I’m going back to the shop.”

“You’re welcome to wait here until I return.”

I shook my head and picked up my tote bag.

He nodded. “I’ll walk you down then.”

Shrugging into a new jacket, he opened the front door and disappeared into the hallway. I fastened myself up and followed him into the elevator.

“So what’s the emergency?”

He knotted the tie into a neat double Windsor. “Dylan Flint’s dead. Fish and Game pulled the body from the Chattahoochee thirty minutes ago.”

“What!?!”

The elevator dinged. Trey stepped out and headed for the parking area. I scurried to keep up.

“What happened?”

“He’d been shot, three times. Once in the chest, twice in the back of the head. Patrol located his car at the Morgan’s Fall boat ramp, keys in the ignition.”

I didn’t know what news I’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been Dylan Flint shot to death and dumped in the Hooch. I followed at Trey’s heels.

“So what are you doing now?”

“Emergency meeting with Landon and Marisa.”

“Can I come?”

“No.”

“What if I just follow you in?”

“No.” He popped the locks on the Ferrari. “I have my orders—report to Phoenix ASAP. Alone.” He paused. “This is not my decision. Please don’t think it is.”

He’d said “please” again. What was it with that word? It gave me this little frisson of intimacy, and I was suddenly very tired of fighting all the time, shadowboxing the universe.

“Will you at least call me and tell me what you find out?”

“When I can, yes.”

He didn’t start up the car; didn’t shut the door either. He just sat staring straight ahead, one hand on the wheel, the other toying with the gear shift.

I took a step closer. “What happened tonight doesn’t change anything between us.”

He listened. His eyes slanted my way, but stayed somewhere at stomach level.

“Of course you know that,” I said. “But I want you to know that I know it too.”

He frowned, but still wouldn’t look me in the face. “Did I do something wrong?”

“What?”

“Did I—”

“I heard you. I just…I mean…no, you didn’t. Everything you did was right.”

He took a beat to digest that, finally sliding his eyes up to meet mine. “Really?”

“Really.”

He hesitated, then I saw the quirk at the corner of his mouth, the almost-smile. “Okay. That’s very unusual. But okay.”

I couldn’t fight the smile. “You know what, Trey? Maybe I will stay until you get back.”

He handed me the key, all serious now. “There’s a deadbolt. Keep it engaged. I have a spare key, so don’t open the door until I get back. Not for anyone.”