Body Movers 4 - 4 Bodies and a Funeral (38 page)

Kil er case, I swear.”

He expel ed a noisy sigh. “Wel , since I doubt our intrepid

local reporter is a cold-blooded murderer who wants you

dead, that leaves us with Eva McCoy, Ben Newsome,

someone on their support team, or the felon on rol er

skates who might’ve wired your car. Where has your car

been today?”

“Locked in the garage at home, then I went to see Coop.”

“Oh?”

“He had a DVD I needed.”

“That excuse never works for me,” he said with a sardonic

smile.

“Very funny.”

“How long were you there?”

“I don’t know—maybe thirty minutes.” She punched him.

“Stop smiling like that. Coop and I aren’t…we never…and

it’s none of your business anyway.”

“You’re right,” he said, then smiled a little smile.

“And then, the car was parked in his place,” she continued.

“You mean the garage?”

“It’s al sort of together. You’ve never been to Coop’s

house?”

“No, why would I?”

“I don’t know. I thought you two were pals.”

“Yeah, but we don’t have sleepovers.”

“So what’s your place like, Jack?”

“Hmm?”

“Where do you live?”

“Nowhere special.”

“Is it a house, an apartment?”

He shrugged.

“Okay, never mind. What, are you afraid I’m going to stalk

you?”

“Yeah. So your car was nowhere else?”

“That’s it—home, Coop’s and the mall.”

“We can’t count out the guys that Wesley’s messed up

with as possible suspects.”

“Oh, I keep forgetting to tel you. Wesley has a new job.”

He frowned. “Really. Doing what?”

“He’s a courier…on his bike. They gave him a cel phone

and everything. And he must be doing great because

they’ve been keeping him busy.”

“You don’t say? Wil he be home tonight?”

“He told me he might crash with a friend.”

“Good.” He nodded. “Because I want to sleep in your bed.”

Her thighs tingled. “You must real y like my mattress.”

He grinned. “I never heard it called that, but yeah.”

It was dark when they got to the town house. Jack parked

the sedan in the garage, then they took the world’s

longest shower together. He was such a beautiful man, all

hard and craggy and proud.

“We shouldn’t do this,” she whispered against his neck.

“Last time, I promise,” he murmured in return.

“In that case…” She pushed him back against the tiled wall

and devoured him, putting those new and improved jaw

muscles to good use.

He drove his hands into her hair and made happy caveman

noises until he exploded in her mouth. Later, he sat her on

the sink and returned the favor. She pressed her heels into

his shoulders and rode his tongue like a rol er coaster.

They fel into bed, exhausted…almost. Jack kissed her until

her lips were swol en, then he rol ed on a condom and

covered her body with his, burying his cock inside her

warmth, his face in her hair.

He breathed her name, catching her up in a gliding

rhythm, a slow dance after their shower disco. She let the

waves of molten pleasure course through her until they

found their shared release, a shot of pleasure-pain that

whipped through her like an electric charge. In those

minutes she clung to him. “Jack…Jack…Jack…”

“Did you bring the surveil ance tapes?” she asked.

“Yes, but you already watched them twice this morning.”

Jack’s head moved side to side as they walked across the

parking lot toward the store. “There’s not much on them.”

True, but she’d hoped they would give her some clue as to

who had actually stolen the charm bracelet. The most

obvious choice was Ben Newsome, but if he’d taken the

bracelet, what had he done with it? The item was too

bulky to hide easily, and Ben had been wearing a close-

fitting athletic suit. He could’ve handed it off to the

bodyguard or the publicist, but she didn’t see them

interact on the tapes.

“Are you sure James Canary wil show?” Carlotta asked.

“His parole officer said she’d bring him herself,” Jack

reassured her.

If her hunch was right, this little pointing-the-finger party

could be revealing, even though she didn’t have every

piece in place yet. But if she was wrong, she’d go down in

flames in front of Jack and her boss, possibly fueled by a

couple of counts of slander and assault. Lindy had been

dubious about the meeting when Carlotta had talked to

her, but in the end she just wanted to put an end to the

bad publicity.

And Jack was so sure the CSI was going to call him and tel

him not only was her car rigged with a bomb, but there

was some speck of evidence to tie it to someone in the

room. He was going to be mighty disappointed if they told

him it was caused by a battery that had been recal ed. His

car bomb theory was the only reason he was here.

She rubbed the little puzzle piece charm on her bracelet

for good luck. Coop had told her she had a gift. Now was

the time to put it to the test.

“I’m sore,” she whispered as they rode up the escalator.

One side of his mouth lifted. “From me or the bomb?”

“From you, big boy. Forget the bomb. You blew me away.”

He winced. “I was fishing for that one, wasn’t I?”

“Uh-huh.” Then she smiled. “But it’s sort of true.”

“The bedroom is the one place where we agree,” Jack said,

warming her with a wink. “It was a nice way to go out,

darling.”

It was. She’d slept like a baby last night for the first time in

ages—no tossing and turning, no jarring nightmares. Just

lots of firm, warm skin to curl up to, and a natural wake-up

cal .

In the surveil ance tapes, Ben had disappeared off camera

for a few seconds…which meant he’d gone into a part of

the store that didn’t have cameras—the restrooms, the

dressing rooms. But they’d all been searched methodically

by security, including the trash, toilet tanks and ceiling

tiles.

If Ben had stolen that bracelet, he would have had to

either put it in a place where it would be disposed of

unnoticed, or somewhere he could come back to get it.

Carlotta lifted her head. “Jack, I think I know where the

charm bracelet is!” She stepped off the “up” escalator and

walked across to get on the “down” one, taking the steps

two at a time. She jogged to the employee break room and

carded in. Jack was a few steps behind her. She walked in

and looked around for hiding places. There were no

surveil ance cameras in the break room. On the other

hand, it would be tough to hide something here because

the room was so wel -used. Then her gaze landed on

Michael Lane’s old locker.

Wel , there was one area that no one seemed to want to

touch.

She walked over and fought a shudder. Michael’s locker

had been cleared out by the cops, but since the police tape

was stil on it, everyone was half afraid to touch it. Frankly,

no one wanted the bad karma of taking over Michael’s

space.

She lifted the slide handle and swung open the door. In

the corner of the locker, Eva McCoy’s charm bracelet

sparkled back.

“What do you know,” Jack said. “I assume you also know

how it got there?”

She nodded. “Got an evidence bag?”

He pul ed out a small plastic bag, then used a pencil to pick

up the bracelet and drop it inside.

“Do you think James Canary would be wil ing to work with

us on something?”

“His parole officer said he’d give us whatever we needed.”

Carlotta told him her plan on the way back upstairs. When

they stepped off the escalator, Jack nodded to a suited

woman holding a briefcase and a rough-looking young

man standing near a customer-service counter. “That looks

like our guy.”

“Yeah, that’s him,” Carlotta confirmed. “Can you explain

what we talked about? I’l get the ball rol ing.”

“I’m right behind you.”

When she walked into Lindy’s office, she saw that Eva

McCoy and Ben Newsome were already there. Eva sat in a

chair, looking tired and nervous. Ben was standing, his

body vibrating with irritation. After abrupt greetings, he

lifted his hands. “So what is this update that you wanted

to share?”

Carlotta smiled. “Eva, before we get started, I want to say

how pleased I was to see in the AJC this morning that

you’ve reconsidered running in the World Championships.

I’m sure that’s wonderful news for all your fans.”

Eva looked confused. Ben turned toward Eva. “What? You

changed your mind and didn’t tel me?”

“No, I—”

Carlotta unrol ed the newspaper she had under her arm

and handed it to Ben, letting him see the announcement in

print. “Eva told me the other day that she wanted it to be

a surprise for you, since you’re her biggest supporter.”

Eva touched her forehead, and Carlotta hoped the

woman’s general state of fatigue would prevent her from

refuting the bogus report.

Ben stopped behind Eva and put his hands on her

shoulders. “Eva is much too stressed over losing her

bracelet to keep competing.”

Carlotta clapped her hands together. “Oh, then I have

good news. The man who came in with the cake and cut

off your bracelet was found and your bracelet has been

recovered. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Eva brightened, but now Ben looked confused. “Are you

sure it’s Eva’s bracelet?”

“Let’s see. The man who stole it wanted to give it back to

you himself and apologize.”

Ben stepped up. “Wait just a minute. This guy is a criminal.

I don’t want him anywhere near Eva.”

Carlotta made a rueful noise. “How do you feel about it,

Eva? A police officer is with him.”

“I…guess it would be okay.”

“Good.” Carlotta went to the door and signaled for Jack to

bring in James.

When the men walked in, James was nervous, which

played wel . “I’m James Canary. I’m sorry I took your

bracelet,” he mumbled to Eva. “Here it is back.” He

clumsily handed her the bag that held the jewelry.

Ben Newsome jabbed a finger in the air. “That could be a

cheap copy, for all we know.”

Eva shook her head. “No, Ben, it’s my bracelet.” She

looked up at James. “Thank you. This means so much to

me.”

Jack cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but please don’t

take it out of the bag just yet. We stil have to lift

fingerprints from it for formal paperwork.”

Ben stood stock-stil . “Fingerprints? Wel , that’s just sil y.

There are probably all kinds of prints on that bracelet.”

“Not really,” Jack said. “Just a couple of clear ones that

we’re pretty sure wil belong to Mr. Canary, but you never

know.”

“I’m curious, why did you take it?” Eva asked the man.

“That’s a good question,” Carlotta cut in. “Mr. Newsome,

perhaps you’d like to answer.”

“How should I know why this thug would do something so

cruel?”

“Because you hired him.”

Ben gave a little laugh. “What? That’s ridiculous. Before he

attacked my fiancée, I’d never seen this man before in my

life.”

“The woman who hired me handled everything over the

phone,” James said. “She gave me five hundred dol ars

cash to create a diversion, cut off the bracelet and get rid

of it.”

Ben lifted a hand. “See? A woman hired him.”

Eva stood, as if she suspected something was about to

implode. “What woman?”

“She never told me her name,” James said.

“This is an exercise in futility,” Ben said. “Eva has her

bracelet back, and that’s what matters. We’re leaving.”

But Jack stepped up to block his way. “Let’s hear what else

Carlotta has to say.”

Carlotta turned to James. “Please turn around, James. I’m

going to play several female voices and I want you to tel

me if any of them belong to the woman you talked to on

the phone.”

“Okay.” He turned his back and Carlotta turned on the TV

across from Lindy’s desk, cuing up the DVD interviews of

the women who were considered to be the top five

women’s marathon contenders.

“I insist that you stop this nonsense,” Ben cried.

Jack pointed to a chair. “Sit down, Mr. Newsome. I’m not

going to tel you again.”

“Be quiet, Ben,” Eva chided. “I want to understand where

this is going.”

Carlotta hit a button and everyone but James saw that a

New Zealand runner identified as Lenore Wil a was

speaking. Carlotta let several seconds of the interview play

before going on to Ruda Napor from Venezuela, then on to

Bianca Thaler.

“Wait—that’s her,” James said, turning around. “That’s the

woman I talked to on the phone.”

Eva shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“Eva,” Carlotta said gently, “Mr. Newsome and Bianca

Thaler have been plotting against you. They conspired to

hire Mr. Canary here to steal your bracelet in order to

shake your confidence, so you wouldn’t compete in the

World Championships.”

The woman looked shel -shocked. “Ben, is that true?”

“No, al of this is total fabrication,” Ben said, clasping her

hands. “They’ve caught the man who stole your bracelet.