Scottsdale Squeeze: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 2) (2 page)

The back security door leads into a short hallway where there is a bathroom, a copier, and a small kitchenette-lunchroom on one side, a larger open space on the other. The open space contains four cubicles. One is mine. My fellow investigator, Gina Rondinelli, has the second. The other two cubicles are currently vacant. Lenny is always promising us more help, but so far, it hasn’t happened.

I went down the hallway, through a polished wooden door, which leads into the main reception and office area. Where the back offices are sparse and utilitarian, the front offices are more like Hollywood’s idea of what a law office should look like.

As a client walks into the office from the street, the first thing they see is Sophie’s enormous desk. It is made from some kind of beautiful and exotic wood and it’s the focus of the reception area. The entire wall behind her desk is composed of a wooden floor to ceiling bookshelf, containing hundreds of colorful legal books. Classy high back wing chairs, upholstered in overstuffed red leather with brass tacking, are scattered throughout the reception area. The floor is covered with a luxuriously thick blue carpet with blood red trim. On the walls of the reception area is an amazing collection of antique legal documents. It always reminds me of being in a small legal museum.

Music is constantly playing through the office audio system. It’s
just
loud enough so you can’t help but notice it. It’s usually jazz and today was no different. John Coltrane’s
Blue Train
album was coming out of a dozen overhead speakers. The music helps to relax the rich and desperate clients who tend to find their way into the law office.

As I walked into reception, Sophia Rodriguez was at her desk reading the southern California surf report on her tablet. Sophie is Lenny’s paralegal and administrative assistant. In addition, she’s my part time partner and full time best friend.

Sophie’s parents had come up to the United States from Mexico the year before Sophie was born. She grew up in Southern California and had a free spirited youth that included being a full time surfer chick, skating in the Roller Derby, and being the lead singer for the L.A. punk rock band
The Black Plague
. She had followed her husband from California to Arizona when he got a transfer, about five years ago. The husband was soon history but Sophie seems like a permanent Scottsdale resident.

When I needed a better job after my divorce, she suggested I apply for the open investigator position at the law firm where she worked as the paralegal. To my surprise, I got the job. Even more of a surprise, I liked the job and I’m actually good at it. Well, maybe good is too strong a word. More like I’ve hacked my way through the job without managing to get shot, stabbed, or blown up. I once broke my leg but otherwise haven’t been seriously injured. The money could be better, but it’s a lot more than I made by being a bartender at Greasewood Flat. I even got a bonus for an assignment I did a couple of months ago. The bonus went to paying down some credit cards but it seems like enough motivation to keep me going.

~~~~

“Hey Sophie,” I said.

“Hey girlfriend, how’s it going with the Paul Marston assignment? You get the money shot yet? Lenny’s already bugged me about it twice this morning.”

“No, I ended up watching naked butts running in front of windows for an hour, but didn’t get anything usable. I think tonight I’ll change to video.”

“Good idea. Hey, cool necklace, is it new?”

“Thanks, I picked it up from the jeweler yesterday. What’s the new assignment? Hopefully it’s something good, I’m beyond broke.”

“Don’t know. Lenny dropped a folder on my desk when he first got in. He said to give it to you when you got in.”

Sophie shuffled through a pile of folders on her desk. Suddenly, her head shot up. Her eyes were fixed on the necklace. 

“Holy crap on a cupcake!” she said. “Is that what I think it is?”

“What?”

“Don’t give me that
what
shit. That’s one of those big sparkly diamonds, isn’t it?”

“Yup,” I said, fingering the necklace.

What had caused Sophie’s excitement was the diamond dangling from the gold chain around my neck. I had gotten it as a result of helping out some people in an assignment a couple of months back. Unfortunately, the diamond hadn’t exactly come into the country legally and there was a strong possibility the police might think it was evidence in a case they were currently working.

“You know,” Sophie said. “You could sell it and buy a damn fine car, maybe even a house down in Tempe or Mesa.”

“I can’t sell it and actually I shouldn’t even be wearing it. According to Reno, the police have information a shipment of large high quality diamonds have come into the country. Their informant told them the diamonds are headed to Scottsdale. They’ll be on the lookout for anyone selling one, probably for the next two or three years.”

When he’s not starring in my dreams, Jackson Reno works as an undercover cop for the city of Scottsdale. He’s been in and out of my life for almost a year and a half. Currently, he’s back to being in. Reno doesn’t seem to fully realize this yet but I’m sure he’ll come around sometime soon.

“The cops just heard about the diamonds?” Sophie asked. “Guess they need to hire better informants. So now you’re jewelry rich and cash poor, huh? It’s a damn shame you can’t sell it but it does make a nice necklace. Does Reno know anything about your shiny new bobble?”

“Yeah, I told him it was a fake diamond Gina got for me the last time she was in Vegas.”

“Did he buy it?”

“It’s sometimes sort of hard to read Reno. But I think he knows me well enough not to ask too many questions.”

“Damn good trait in a man. So what’s up with him? It’s been like two months since you two supposedly got back together. For him being your new boyfriend, you two don’t seem to see a lot of each other. Is he still kinda spooked about the idea of being with you again?”

“I’m not sure. We seem to be stuck at seeing each other about once a week. Sometimes it’s just for dinner.”

“That doesn’t seem like he’s actually back to being your boyfriend. What’s the problem?”

“Our schedules never seem to match up. He works days and I keep working nights on the cheating spouse patrol. Plus, he’s been working a lot of undercover and surveillance assignments, which always seem to chew up our weekends.”

From the look on her face, I could see Sophie was unimpressed with my explanation. Truth was I was unimpressed with it too. Even after we had spent an amazing night together, about two months ago, Reno still hadn’t warmed up to me in the way I had been hoping. We still see each other but I can constantly feel the distance between us. I’ve told myself I’ll bring up the subject and push him one way or the other but the timing never seems to be right. When we’re together, I don’t want to cause a fight.

“How are you in bed?” Sophie asked, a look of concern was suddenly on her face. “A lot of guys judge a woman by that, you know. Are you good enough to keep his interest up? Does he view your sexual style as both adventurous and playful? I read an article on Yahoo saying a woman’s sexual style should be both adventurous and playful to make her man happy. For most guys, playful usually means blow jobs and adventitious means sex in parking lots. For me, being playful is more about him taking me shopping two or three times before anything good happens.”

“Oh, that’s so not true,” I said. “You’ve gone to bed with plenty of guys on the second date or even the first date.”

“Well, sometimes. But only if it feels like true love. If it’s true love, I sorta can’t help myself.”

“True love? More like if he’s bought you a couple of drinks.”

“It’s not my fault drinking makes me horny. I like men, what can I say?”

“Folder?” I said, holding out my hand.

“Actually, I’m surprised you’ve even gotten this far with Reno. I didn’t think he’d ever want to see you again after what you did to him the first time.”

“Hey, you know most of that wasn’t my fault. Do you have the folder or not?”

“Well, what about that mafia guy, Maximillian?” I know he has the hots for you. Milo says he talks about you all the time. I bet a few dates with Max could make the waiting for Reno to come around a little less painful.”

“Milo? I thought you dropped him.”

“Well, I did. But, I’ve sort of picked him up again. His underworld ranking is only henchman, not lieutenant, like yours, but he’ll do for the moment. You know what I’m thinking? You and Maximillian could double date with Milo and me. We’re going to the Rhythm Room on Friday. It’d be fun to all go together.”

“Aren’t you forgetting I’m already dating a cop and Max is an underworld crime figure?”

“Well, yes, but no man’s perfect. Besides, you’re only kind of dating a cop. The way I see it, Maximillian may be a crime lord in training but he has a great smile and the nicest butt. Looking at it reminds me a little of Ashton Kutcher’s butt.”

“Ashton Kutcher? What happened to Jon Bon Jovi?” I asked. “I thought he had your ideal butt.”

“Well sure, Bon Jovi has the best
classic ass
, but the other night I was watching an old Two-and-a-Half Men episode. You know, it’s the first time I got a peak at Ashton Kutcher’s butt. It was network so I didn’t get a good peak. But now I’m thinking about watching some of his old movies. Tonight, I’ll look on Netflix and see if he’s in any rated R. Maybe I’ll get a better look at it.”

“Folder?” I said, and again held out my hand.

Sophie found the folder and handed it to me.

I took the file back to my desk, flipping through it as I walked. I looked it over for about five minutes then walked back up to Sophie’s desk.

“Are you sure this is a real assignment? This looks like a missing person. Shouldn’t this go to the police or at least a private investigator, like a real one? Besides, if we really are doing this, Gina usually gets the missing person cases. She has the actual training on missing persons.”

Gina was Gina Rondinelli. She works as the firm’s senior investigator and has been my mentor since I started here. As an investigator, she’s a combination of Sherlock Holmes and Wonder Woman. Before working for Lenny, Gina worked with Reno as a detective for the Scottsdale police. One of Lenny’s former partners once implied he would make it worth her while if she would change her testimony in an embezzlement case. When she turned the bribe down and threatened to arrest the guy, Lenny was amazed. He’d never seen anyone so honest. After the case was over, he hired her for twice what she made with the department. Gina knows Lenny is slime, of course. But she says this way she still gets to be an investigator and she gets to keep a close eye on Lenny.

“I don’t know,” Sophie said. “Lenny dropped the folder off and said to give it to you. You should ask him. Maybe he thinks you’re getting better at missing persons.”

I looked over and saw the door to Lenny’s office was closed.

“Client?” I asked.

“He’s interviewing a candidate,” Sophie said.

“A candidate for what? Is he trying to hire an intern again? The last one was a disaster.”

“Nope. Lenny had me put an ad on the internet. He’s been getting resumes in for a week. He said with the workload, he‘d need me full-time on the paralegal side. He’s getting someone new in to handle the admin. He has this interview now and another one scheduled for this afternoon.”

“Well, he’s right. You do need someone to help. Work’s been nuts lately. Does she seem nice?”

“Didn’t get much of a chance to talk to her, she seems a bit timid. Dresses OK, but a little on the boney side. She’s also kind of pale for someone who lives in Arizona, if you ask me. But she does have a degree in criminal justice.”

“A degree? Lenny wants a degree for an admin?” I asked. “You do that part in your sleep.”

“Lenny had me put in a bunch of qualifications. I think it’s just his way of getting somebody good on the cheap.”

“How long’s she been in there?”

Sophie looked at her watch.

“About twenty minutes. She must be made of some pretty strong stuff. Lenny always has a way of showing his worst side when he’s interviewing.”

“You mean the Simon Cowell crossed with Lord Voldemort side?”

“That’s the one.”

The door to Lenny’s office was flung open and a nicely dressed woman in her mid-twenties stepped out. She had on a red pants suit, a cream blouse, and matching red flats. Unfortunately, her face was also red and she didn’t look happy. She marched to the door to the street, wrenched the door open, and stomped out into the street.

“Huh, guess I was wrong,” Sophie said.

I walked into Lenny’s office. He was sitting behind his desk, writing on a yellow legal pad. He looked up as I came in.

Physically, Lenny is short and looks sort of like the actor Danny DeVito back when he played the Penguin in
Batman Returns
. His hairline has started to recede and he’s starting to get a little pudgy. He has poor interpersonal skills and he’s usually in a bad mood. The only time I’ve seen him smile is when he gets a wealthy new client or when he’s gets a big settlement check.

He was married once but the divorce was several years ago. Lenny doesn’t seem to have much of an outward interest in women. He doesn’t date and, with the exception of always trying to look down Sophie’s top, he’s never shown the slightest interest in any of us. Gina says unless it’s in a strictly business setting, Lenny is painfully shy around women.