Murder Girl Read online

  “My cell phone battery went dead,” he says. “I left my charger in the hotel room.”

  “You’re an FBI agent and you don’t have a fucking backup phone battery?” I demand. “Jesus, Rich. You don’t belong in the field.”

  “And the woman who wants to fuck Kane Mendez, when Kane Mendez could be involved in all of this, should be?” he snaps.

  “Holy fuck. Did you fight with Kane?”

  My brother’s hand comes down on my arm. “Easy there, little sis. He’s not the enemy.”

  I ignore him and keep that wrath aimed at Rich. “What happened?” I bite out.

  “Kane and I hate each other’s fucking guts,” he says. “But we were civil, Lilah.”

  “Then you both get a damn cookie.”

  “I sure as hell deserve more than that,” he says, giving me a direct look. “And I know you know what I mean.”

  “Hey,” Andrew says. “Not in front of me. She’s my sister, fucktard.”

  Rich snaps a look at him. “And I’m not Kane.”

  “Good point,” Andrew says. “Continue.”

  “About the case,” I say sharply, while considering something else sharp, as in an elbow to my brother’s ribs. “Tell us about the meeting with Kane,” I add.

  “Those New York assholes made a completely unprofessional scene in Kane’s office.”

  “What kind of scene?” Andrew asks.

  “Nothing like throwing things around or shoving Kane against the wall,” he says. “But they loudly announced themselves, flashing badges in the lobby. It drew attention.”

  “And Kane did what?” Andrew presses.

  “Kane was surprisingly gracious. He invited us to his office, but as hard as they pushed him, he owned the office and the meeting.”

  “What did you do?” I ask.

  “Observed everyone involved,” he says. “Everyone in that room, Kane included, was new to me. But it was fast. We were out of there in thirty minutes.”

  “And then what?” Andrew and I say at the same time.

  “I followed them to a restaurant in the Seaside Hotel in South Hampton,” Rich says. “I thought they were staying at the hotel they were there so long, but they left an hour ago. I followed them until I was certain they were headed back to the city.”

  “Did you figure out what they’re after?” I ask.

  “It seemed like they were laying groundwork,” he says. “They asked him about Woods. They seemed to be connecting people he knows to people Woods knew. It was a weak angle, but they hit him hard about it.”

  “But they’re going to use it to claim jurisdiction,” Andrew says. “How did Kane handle the questions?”

  “Like I said,” Rich replies. “He owned the meeting.”

  “That’s it?” I press.

  “No,” Andrew says. “That’s not it. We all know where this is headed. Close the case. Let them deal with Kane on their own.”

  “And then an assassin goes free,” I say, “because Woods and Kane are innocent.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Rich asks, and he’s not asking about Woods or playing a role.

  “I’m going to leave now,” I say, looking at Rich. “Call Murphy.” I look at my brother. “Don’t call me.”

  I walk to my car, get in, and drive away, pretty fucking done with men for the day. My brother is willing to let Woods take a fall for my father’s campaign. Rich wants Kane to go down. And if Kane decides he wants to, he can take them all down. And I’m the one who has to keep peace and sanity in place. No wonder I’m so damn comfortable with dead bodies. They’re a hell of a lot less complicated than the men in my life.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  It’s a short drive to my cottage. I resist calling it home, but for reasons I can’t quite name, or maybe I just don’t want to name, my apartment in LA doesn’t feel like home either. The truth is, it never felt like home. Nothing has since my mother’s plane crash except Kane, and that worked for me for a while until I started to resemble him far more than felt acceptable. Maybe I already resembled him. Maybe that’s why we get each other, why we connect. And we did and do. We always will, I think, but I don’t think it’s healthy for either of us to feed those things in each other. Those things. What the hell are those things? I think I’ll avoid naming them on a night I was responsible for a man’s faked suicide. I’ll find a vice and drench myself in it instead. Chocolate, or perhaps . . . chocolate.

  I pull into my driveway, the yard etched in darkness too thick for shadows, the stars covered by clouds. Obviously, I need to set a motion detector on the outdoor lights and perhaps even install more. Though I hope like hell I catch a killer and get the hell out of here before I have time to make that change. The garage door lifts, the light inside flickering to life, and I am more than aware that I’m being stalked, and that this is where someone can follow me inside. But leaving my car outside allows someone to tamper with my vehicle. I pull into the garage and allow the door to close before I even unlock my doors. I slip my field bag back across my shoulder and unlatch the door, my hand on my weapon as I kick it open and stand up.

  From there, I stand with my back to the wall as I search my surroundings and clear my path. I reach inside the interior door and flip on the kitchen light and then scan the room before stepping inside and shutting the door. I arm the system and start a search of the house. Ten minutes later, I’ve cleared the entire place and returned to the kitchen with my shotgun, Cujo, in hand. I set him down on the counter next to my cell phone and my field bag.

  Hands pressed to the counter, my mind flickers with an image of Rick Suthers’s body hanging from that doorframe. “Shit,” I murmur, dragging my hand through my hair and shoving aside the claws of guilt ripping through me. That thinking serves no purpose but to weaken me and give the enemy what they want.

  Right now, I need food and then to dig into my work. I open the fridge, where I’m reminded that any real grocery shopping has not occurred in a number of years as it relates to this particular house. Or to me, actually. I’ll need to order pizza again. Again. Fuck. The pizza box and the note. I was drugged and in chaos today, or I would have thought about it sooner. I walk back to the counter and grab my phone, dialing the same pizza place I called last night. “Pizza Jacks,” a man answers.

  “I want a large pineapple and Canadian bacon with medium crust,” I say. Then, considering breakfast, I amend, “Make it two larges and what do you have for dessert?”

  “Chocolate chip—”

  “I’ll take one of those. And is there any chance you could send the same driver as last night? I forgot to tip him, and I want to make it right.”

  “Hold on one moment.” He punches computer keys and then, “Odd. I don’t seem to have a driver’s name.”

  “He was short, with brown curly hair.”

  “Mick,” he says. “Yeah. He’s here tonight. He’s your guy anyway.”

  “Oh good. Great. Thanks.” I end the call and set my phone down, a memory surfacing of Rich accusing me of not saying please and thank you. Asshole, I think. I say please and thank you. I walk to the living room and the cut-out bar and bring a barstool to the island, removing my computer from my bag and cranking it to life. I set the book I’d retrieved from the crime scene on the counter as well, a reminder to me of how personal this case has become. Another flash in my mind of Rick hanging in his closet door and I turn to the coffee machine and get a good chocolate-flavored pod of caffeine brewing. Because who doesn’t need caffeine when they’re wired and on edge?

  Once it’s doctored up just right, I sit down at the island and drink my first boost of chocolate for the night, which will not be the last. It’s also the closest thing to food I’ve had since the pure sugar of the cinnamon roll earlier today, which explains why I’m feeling light-headed again. I set the cup down, intending to turn my attention to my computer, when my gaze lands on the cover of the book—on my mother—and my heart squeezes. I love this picture of her. A pink gown and her hair brown,
not blonde. She looks beautiful and natural, more like the person I knew than the one Hollywood knew. My throat thickens, and my mind throws me into the memory of the night of her death. I’d been in the law school library, studying for a debate the next morning, when an official-looking man in a suit had suddenly appeared, standing over me.

  “Come with me please, Ms. Love,” he says.

  “Why? What’s happened?”

  He’s tall and stone-faced. “You need to come with me.”

  I shut my books and shove them in my backpack, and I can almost feel part of my heart bleeding. Something is wrong. Very wrong. My knees are wobbling and I think someone calls my name as I follow the man through the hallway, but I don’t hear them. I barely remember how I end up in an office of some sort. “Call your father,” the man directs and shuts me inside.

  I dial the number, my hand trembling. “Dad?” I say.

  “Your mother’s helicopter has gone down.”

  “What? When?”

  “An hour ago. There are search-and-rescue teams.”

  I blink back to the present, shake off the memory. “Fuck. What are you doing to yourself, Lilah?” I reach for the book to move it out of sight, when my gaze catches on the Barnes & Noble sticker on the top right edge. There’s a Barnes & Noble a few miles from Rick’s house. There will be cameras and sales records, but without going to Tic Tac, it’s going to have to be part of that illegal activity I’ve anticipated in the form of a favor. A favor from someone who owes me one. I plan to call it due tomorrow morning.

  I open the drawer next to me and pull out a pad of paper to begin a list of things I need hacked.

  BARNES & NOBLE SALES RECORDS

  LIST OF BOOKS THAT WERE AT THE SCENE OF LANEY’S MURDER

  LIST OF PERSONNEL AT LANEY’S MURDER VERSUS RICK’S

  AN IN-DEPTH SEARCH ON THE PRODUCTION COMPANY

  The doorbell rings and I stand up, hurrying toward the front of the house, unzipping my purse at my hip as I walk. Once I’m there, I remove a $100 bill meant to be a tip, zip it back up, and glance out the side window and confirm my visitor is my pizza delivery boy. I disarm the alarm and unlock the door before opening it to find the same short, curly-haired, older teenager in front of me as last night.

  I hold up the hundred. “How did the note that was in my pizza last night end up in my pizza?”

  He blanches. “What?”

  “The note. How did it get in my pizza box?”

  “They put coupons in the boxes. Do you mean the coupons?”

  The sound of music touches my ears, and I wave him backward. He eases out of my way and I step outside to find his passenger door open. “Why is your car open?”

  “It’s faster. I can’t get the bag over the steering wheel without tipping the pizza sideways. I run. Grab the bag, deliver the order, and return it back to the seat.”

  “Right,” I say. “Of course you do. I hope you don’t have anything in there that might get stolen.” I don’t wait for a reply. “How about those pizzas and my dessert?”

  He pulls out my order and hands it to me, and I offer him the cash I’ve teased him with. His eyes light up. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  He all but skips back to his car, and I can think of any number of people, starting with Kane and Rich, who wish I was that easily satisfied. Then again, I doubt Kane would even want me if I was easy anything. I enter the house, kick the door shut, and juggle the three boxes in my arms to lock up and re-arm the security panel.

  The walk back to the kitchen includes the spicy, cheesy smell of real food that has me ready to open one of the boxes and inhale a slice of pizza. Maybe I’ll even stuff a bite of whatever that chocolate chip thing I got is, in between slices. I set my order by the coffee machine and inspect the giant chocolate chip cookie before I load a slice of it and a slice of pizza onto a paper towel. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge, and the action begins: Pizza bite. Pizza bite. Cookie. Water. Repeat. I’ve only managed this process two times before the doorbell rings again.

  I decide that if this is my brother, I might punch him with no regrets. He has to back the fuck off and let me do my job. Ready to blast him with that exact statement, I hurry to the door again and peer outside, only to press my back against the wall and groan at the sight of Rich. “Lilah! I know you’re there.”

  He knows no such thing, and I’d just pretend that I’m not here, except that he’d start calling and possibly sleep on my doorstep. I straighten and disarm the system, opening the door and stepping into the opening. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Because it will piss off Kane, or because you don’t want me here?”

  “Don’t do this.”

  He presses his arm to the doorframe above me, his big body close to mine. He smells good. I’ll give him that. Fresh and masculine. I always liked that about him. I like a lot of things about Rich, which is why my inability to fall in love with him confuses him and frustrates me. “Don’t do what?” he asks.

  “Why are you here?”

  “There were things I didn’t want to say on the phone or with your brother present.”

  “Rich—”

  “About the case, Lilah. Invite me inside.”

  “You aren’t staying. Say it.”

  “Lilah—”

  “Say it.”

  “I’m not staying.”

  I back up and give him space to enter. “Do I smell pizza?” he asks.

  “You aren’t staying,” I repeat, holding firm, and not because I’m the bitch he thinks I am. Because I’m protecting him from Kane. And me. I’m protecting him from me.

  “I haven’t eaten,” he says. “Lunch didn’t exactly become lunch, remember?”

  “The case, Rich.”

  “We’re doing this right here, in the foyer?”

  “Yes. We are.”

  His jaw sets hard. “I know who those New York City assholes had the long dinner with, and I want to tell you, not your brother.”

  “Fuck. My father?”

  “Close. Pocher, who I know supports your father.”

  “Pocher,” I repeat. “Of course.”

  “Don’t make this a huge blow,” he warns. “We knew he was connected to the director of the New York bureau.”

  “Yes,” I agree. “But now we have confirmation that he’s involved in what’s going on right here in this city. And in what looks like an attack on Kane.”

  “Kane’s a criminal, Lilah. He’s an easy target.”

  “Such a criminal that Pocher wanted in on his oil business. Kane refused, and Pocher hates him now. And Kane isn’t a fucking criminal, Rich. His father was a criminal. His uncle is a criminal. This is about hurting Kane while they take control and clear the case. It’s about my father’s reputation, which sucks, considering Kane has done things to protect him.”

  “What things has he done to protect your father?”

  Buried a body, I think. “Irrelevant,” I say. “The point is that Pocher is pulling strings to help my father, and my father is going down the toilet in a hunt for fame and power. He was always jealous of the attention my mother got.”

  He studies me for several beats. “This doesn’t mean your father is party to Pocher’s activities.”

  “My father is not a naive man, and I’m not a wilting flower who needs to have the truth softened. And right now, I need to be alone and to think.”

  He steps toward me. I back up. “Rich, not now.”

  “Let’s go eat that pizza I smell and talk about this.”

  “I want to stay friends. I do. We are friends, Rich. I would take a bullet for you and not blink, but we aren’t a thing anymore. And later, you will thank me when you find the person you deserve.”

  “Friends can share a pizza, Lilah.”

  Except that he vowed to ruin Kane and prove he’s the right man for me. “The breakup is too raw right now. It’s too soon.”

  He stares at me for several beats that stretch eternally, that I’m about to end w
hen he beats me to the punch. “I’m going to be here, though, when you wake up to the truth about him. I’m going to catch you when you fall.” He turns and walks to the door and leaves.

  I rush forward and lock the door, re-arming the security system before I lean against the wall. Holy fuck, this day has been a bitch trying to bend me over and paddle the fuck out of me. And holy fuck number two: that reminds me of Kane and his hand-on-my-cheek comment this morning. I need more chocolate. I shove off the door and walk toward the kitchen, but as I leave the hallway I stop dead in my tracks as I bring the living room into view. Kane is leaning on the archway of the open sliding glass doors, his jacket and tie gone, his sleeves rolled up to the elbow.

  Clearly, he and his people knew when I opened the door for Rich, and he used that opportunity to get in. As for how he managed to get past the locked door, clearly he took some sort of liberties while I was passed out to ensure he could. That infuriates me, and I want to cock block him again. But that’s what he’s waiting on. For me to go to him. Which is why I leave him standing there and walk to the kitchen. The bastard can come to me.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I round the island, grab my half-eaten slice of pizza and piece of cookie, and toss them in the trash, then set my coffee cup in the sink. By the time I’m back at the island, Kane is entering the kitchen. He saunters toward me, all dark good looks with a touch of the criminal I just denied him to be radiating from him. Fuck. He must have heard me defending him. He steps to the counter directly in front of me. I press my hands to the counter. “Of all the people I have stalking me right now, you are the worst.”

  He mimics my position, pressing his hands to the counter as well. “Am I?”

  “Yes. You are.”

  His lips curve, eyes alight with amusement, not regret. Bastard. “Your pretty boy, Rich, was a perfect gentleman today,” he says. “Seems he’s been disciplined by Agent Love.”

  “This spoken by a man who still has the imprint of my fingers on his right cheek.”