Body Movers 4 - 4 Bodies and a Funeral (37 page)

“The amount of detail is simply incredible,” she breathed.

“That’s the point,” he said with a little smile. “It’l probably

take me another couple of years to finish it.”

The DVD recorder beeped. Coop set down the box to

retrieve her disc. “Eva’s going to be so grateful to you.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Carlotta said. “But thank you

for everything. I have to get going, but I love your place,

Coop. It’s so…you.”

“Maybe next time your schedule wil allow for a ful tour.”

She lifted her gaze to the stairs, which undoubtedly led to

his bedroom.

“There’s a rooftop garden,” he said with a twinkle in his

eye.

She laughed. “I’d like to see it sometime.” Then they

lapsed into an awkward silence.

“Coop—” she said

“Carlotta—” he said at the same time.

They laughed.

“Me first,” he said, then wet his lips. “I know that our

chance to be together might have passed me by, but I just

want to tel you that no matter what happens to me, no

matter what I might do or say, I don’t regret a minute I’ve

spent with you.”

Carlotta frowned. “Coop…what’s wrong? Something, I can

tel .” She hadn’t seen any liquor bottles, or smelled booze

on his breath, but for all she knew, the upstairs could be

littered with empties. “Are you drinking?”

“No. I’ve been able to hold off.”

“Please tel me what’s making you so sad.”

“Nothing you’ve done,” he said. “And there’s nothing you

can do. Don’t worry about me.” He nodded to the DVD she

held. “You’re really good at this stuff, helping people.”

She scoffed. “I’m just putting puzzle pieces together, that’s

all.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she glanced

down at the charm bracelet she’d worn and fingered the

tiny puzzle charm.

“It’s a gift,” he murmured. “Don’t stop.”

Confidence swel ed in her chest. Maybe she and Peter and

Wesley could figure out her father’s case after all. “Thank

you, Coop, for always listening to me.”

His brown eyes crinkled. “That’s no chore.”

She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “I have to get

to work. Talk soon?”

He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but just

nodded. “I’l get the garage door for you.”

She climbed into her car, then backed out onto the street

careful y and waved goodbye. He waved back until she

could no longer see him in her rearview mirror. She

replayed their conversation in her head. She had the

strangest feeling that Coop was trying to warn her about

something…something that was going to happen to

him…or something he was going to do.

On the drive to the store, she called Jack. She wanted to

ask him to keep an eye on Coop and to talk through some

things in the Eva McCoy case, but he didn’t answer. While

his voice message played, she made a snap decision. When

the beep sounded, she asked him to come by the store in

the morning at ten and bring the security surveil ance

tapes with him from the day of the cake incident.

Next she called the grocery where she and Hannah had

located James Canary and asked for him.

“He didn’t come in today,” she was told.

“Do you have a home phone number for him?”

“Ma’am, we can’t give out that information even if we had

it.”

She grimaced. “May I speak with Tina in the bakery,

please?”

“Hold one moment.”

After a few seconds of commercials, the line rang and a

woman’s voice said, “Bakery, this is Tina.”

“Tina, I’m trying to reach James Canary. Can you help

me?”

“Who is this?” She sounded suspicious…and nervous.

“Just tel James the lady from the parking lot cal ed. Tel

him to get his butt to the office of the general manager of

Neiman Marcus at Lenox Square tomorrow morning at ten

o’clock, without the rol er skates. If he shows up ready to

tel the truth, I have a cop friend who might put in a good

word with his parole officer. If he doesn’t show up, he’s

rol ing back to the joint.”

“Okay,” the girl croaked. “He’l be there.”

Reaching Eva McCoy was a little more tricky. Carlotta

wound up leaving a message with Eva’s publicist’s

answering service asking Eva and her boyfriend, Ben, to

meet at the store the next morning for an update on the

case.

Then she made one last phone call—to Rainie Stephens,

offering an exclusive on a story in return for running a

piece of information that could help break a case.

Meanwhile, she kept sorting through the details and

fragments of the day of the event, trying to remember

something that would make everything fall into place. Lost

in thought, she didn’t remember parking her car or

walking inside Neiman’s, but she must have because her

next conscious movement was swiping her employee ID to

get into the break room. She gave herself a mental shake

and stowed her purse in her locker. She needed to get her

mind on the workday ahead.

The door beeped and Patricia Alexander walked in. When

she saw Carlotta, her face lit up. “You’re not going to

believe this!”

“What?”

“Guess!”

“I can’t imagine. Just tel me.”

“It has something to do with my charm bracelet.” Patricia

held up her arm and shook it vigorously. “I met a baseball

player,” she said, holding up the little baseball glove. “And

his name is Leo.” She held up the little lion’s head charm.

“Baseball—Leo. Ha! This thing really works!”

“That’s great, Patricia, really.”

The blonde frowned. “Have you been reading about The

Charmed Kil er? They found his third victim last night.”

“I saw that. Very sad.”

“I hope they catch the guy before this goes any further.”

“Me, too.” She fingered the corpse charm and wondered if

she’d unleash some kind of cosmic chaos if she simply

removed the corpse and tossed it away.

On the other hand, she didn’t want the charm winding up

in someone’s throat…especially hers.

She immersed herself in work and at the end of the day,

felt positive about her slow ascent back to the top of the

sales reports. After she retrieved her purse, she walked

toward the entrance, entertaining the thought of calling

Peter to make up for their missed dinner tonight. Suddenly

a long arm came out of nowhere and pul ed her into a

dressing room.

Her mind went to the stun baton in her purse, but then

some part of her realized that her “assailant” was holding

her loosely, his hand barely covering her mouth.

Jack.

She bit down on a finger.

“Ow!” he said, yanking away his hand.

“What’s wrong with you, scaring me like that?”

He glared. “Is that how you put up a fight? You didn’t even

scream. Where’s the stun baton I gave you?”

“In my bag.”

“So get used to walking with your hand inside your bag.

Once upon a time I gave a little speech in this very store on

self-defense, remember that?”

“Yes, but forgive me if I assumed I was safe walking

through the accessories department.”

He lifted his finger. “Don’t get complacent.”

“So you’d rather I be paranoid instead?”

“No, I want you to be aware of your surroundings.”

She sighed. “You came here to lecture me on safety?”

“No. I got your voice message.” He scowled. “You’re

summoning me to come down here in the morning to talk

with Eva McCoy and her boyfriend about an update? What

update?”

“I…think I know who’s behind the death threats. And the

stolen bracelet.”

His eyebrows flew up. “You think you know?”

“I don’t have it al figured out yet, but almost.”

His eyeballs bulged out of his head. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. Walk out to my car with me.”

He fol owed her, but he looked as if the top of his head

was going to blow off.

“By the way, Jack, you need to call Coop. Something’s

wrong. I think you should keep an eye on him.”

“I’ve got a hundred things on my plate right now that are

more important than Coop’s broken heart. And don’t

change the subject. I won’t be party to a damn game of

Clue that you’re orchestrating in your general manager’s

office with hors d’oeuvres!”

“Good idea. I didn’t think of that.”

“Count me out.”

She allowed him to hold open the exit door while she

passed through under his arm. “Jack, I think it’s important

that you be there in case someone needs to be arrested.”

He massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed. “You told

that AJC reporter about the charm in the third victim’s

mouth, didn’t you?”

“Now look who’s changing the subject.”

“Answer me!”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Then how did it get in this morning’s paper?”

Anger spurred Carlotta to walk faster. “Rainie Stephens

told me she has a source in the morgue. Am I the first

person you think of when somebody has loose lips?”

His gaze darted to her mouth. “Wel …yeah. Because you’re

kind of famous for not minding your own business—and

not keeping your mouth shut.” He gestured to her arm.

“You’re walking outside and your hand isn’t in your purse.”

She looked out to the settling dusk, uncharacteristical y

early tonight because of the overcast skies. They were

practically alone in the parking lot. Her car resembled a big

blue walrus, beached on concrete. “That’s because I’m

with you, Jack. You’l protect me.”

“You didn’t even park under a light. Goddammit, Carlotta,

there’s a serial kil er out there.”

“Sorry. I’l park under a light next time, I promise.”

“Where’s your keyless remote?”

She dug it out of her purse.

He took it from her and pointed it at the car that was stil

twenty yards away. “Use it as far away as you can. When

the headlights flash, you’l at least be able to see all

around the car.”

He hit the button…and an explosion rent the air, knocking

them off their feet. Jack rol ed to cover her body with his

as they were pelted with raining debris. The heat was

intense. When things stopped fal ing, he helped her to sit

up. “Are you okay?”

She tested all her limbs. “Yeah. My ears are ringing, but

that’s all.”

They turned to stare at what was left of the Monte Carlo,

as flames shot high in the air.

Carlotta swallowed hard. “You’re right, Jack. That trick

real y improves visibility.”

27

“And it had a new battery,” Carlotta lamented as Jack

drove her home.

“Enough about the battery,” he said, jamming soot-

covered hands into his hair. “You could’ve been kil ed.”

“I’ve been dead before,” she reminded him.

“Not funny. Why don’t I take you to the emergency room,

just to have you checked out?”

“I’m fine, Jack, really.” She reached up to touch one of

several small abrasions on his forehead. “You took the

brunt of it…as usual.”

His jaw hardened. “When I think of losing you like that—”

She put a finger on his lips. “We’re both fine.”

He reached over and clasped her hand. “I’m staying

tonight.”

“That’s not necessary. You don’t know that someone

rigged the car to blow. I’ve put that car through hel . It was

stolen and that person put it through hel , too. It’s been in

and out of body shops—who knows what could’ve gone

wrong with it?”

“CSI wil let me know what they find. But cars with

electrical problems and engine problems catch on fire and

burn—they don’t explode and incinerate. Couple that with

the fact that you’ve meddled—”

“Excuse me?”

“Been involved in some pretty serious murder cases over

the past few months.” He wet his lips. “When did you

leave that message for Eva McCoy and Ben Newsome

about getting together tomorrow?”

“I left it on their publicist’s messaging service right after I

left the message for you. I was on my way to work.”

“And what did you say, exactly?”

“Just that we wanted to update them on the case.”

“Who else did you cal ?”

“Uh, the cake guy.”

“You found the cake guy?”

“Yeah, Hannah and I found him. He said he’d only talked

on the phone to the person who hired him. He was

supposed to snatch the bracelet and get rid of it.”

“My, what a chatty fel ow,” Jack said drily. “He just

volunteered all this information?”

“Wel , Hannah sort of roughed him up with a frozen pie

first. You know how intimidating she can be.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Did you ever

consider that this guy might be dangerous?”

“Oh, he is. He’s on parole.”

He wiped his hand over his mouth. “And does this felon

have a name?”

“James Canary.”

“Wel , there’s that, at least. Assuming it’s a real name that

I can put through the system.” A muscle in his jaw worked.

“Did you call anyone else?”

“Uh…”

“Don’t lie to me, Carlotta. If I have to, I’l get your cel

phone records.”

She frowned. He would do it. “I called Rainie Stephens.”

“I knew you were talking to her!”

“For a favor. I didn’t tel her anything about The Charmed