The Pleasure of Sin (12 page)

She could only imagine what he had found.

After all, she never would have guessed that Ruby was a member of a sex club. But she had come to terms with it. She would come to terms with whatever he’d found, too. Jade straightened in her chair. “Mr. MacLean, I can assure you that whatever you found out, I want to know about it. Ruby was my sister. Nothing you tell me will make me love her any less.”

Her heartfelt speech seemed to do the trick, because he slid the file folder across the desk to her. Jade picked it up, taking a deep breath. She flipped it open. What she knew about her sister so far could not have prepared her for what she found inside.

Ruby lay naked, sprawled on a red velvet bedspread. Her legs were parted, her eyes sparkling as she licked her lips. Jade felt like the wind had just been knocked out of her. She rifled through the photos. Picture after picture displayed her sister in sexual positions. The last one was more graphic than Jade would have ever believed possible. Ruby was spread out on the bed, one finger in her mouth as she inserted a dildo into her pussy.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to face the horror of reality.

“Oh my God,” she breathed, the file falling into her lap. “I can’t believe it,” she murmured.

He grimaced. “I know. I was pretty shocked myself.”

She shook her head. “When were they taken?”

He let out a deep sigh. “It appears that they were taken about a month before she was killed.”

Her eyes widened. Could they have been taken by the man who killed her? “Where did you find them?” she demanded.

“They’re hosted by an internet porn site called
www.sexcajunstyle.com
.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But how did Ruby ever get hooked up with them?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but Sex Cajun Style is run by Lloyd Tomlinson.” At her gasp, he continued. “It looks like Ruby was a little bit more than a cashier for him.

“Dear God,” she let out in a low whisper.

It was so much worse than she thought.

Chapter 16

Jade grimaced as she heard a pounding at the door. After what Mr. MacLean had found out, she didn’t exactly feel like having company. She was still in shock. She felt cold, hollow. Sitting there hearing the sordid details of her sister’s life, one thing had become blaringly clear.

She had let Ruby down.

If she had been a better sister, this might not have happened.

The pounding started again, so hard this time that the door shook.

“Jade, I know you’re in there. Open the door,” he commanded, his voice bellowing through the wood.

Of course, he knew she was in there. After all, he was having her followed. He probably knew every move she made before she made it. She got up, walking across the room to yank the door open with an angry glare. “What the hell do you want?”

His eyes darkened as they moved over her trim figure, before returning to meet her gaze. “Can I come in? Or do you want to do this in the hallway?” he asked.

She sighed heavily before reluctantly moving aside. After she closed the door, she spun on him. “So, why are you here? Don’t you pay people to keep an eye on me?”

He let out a long sigh. “I know you’re angry,” he began slowly. “But if you would just listen…”

She held up a hand to stop him, tilting her head to the side. “To what? More lies?” she challenged.

He raked a hand through his hair. “Damn it, Jade! I was trying to protect you! Why can’t you believe that?”

She shook her head, her eyes narrowing. “Why don’t I believe that?” she mimicked. “Maybe it’s because you haven’t exactly been the picture of honesty.”

His lips formed a grim line at her reminder. “I didn’t make any secret of the fact that I didn’t want you involved.”

She let out a huff of aggravation. “No! That was the one thing that you made all too clear.”

He stared at her for a minute as if trying to decide what to do. Suddenly, he threw up his hands, falling into a chair behind him. “Okay, I give up,” he exhaled. “What do you want to know?”

She pinned him with a steely glare, one eyebrow arched. “You’re serious?” she inquired.

He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “Why the hell not? You sure as hell aren’t going to listen to anything I say. You haven’t so far. Maybe if you know what you’re up against, you’ll back off.”

She walked around to take a seat on the couch next to him, still leery of his quick acquiescence. “How long have you been having me followed?” she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

“Since you came to town,” he said without any hesitation.

His clipped answer made her sick to her stomach.

All this time, she had believed him. And all this time, he had been lying to her. Her next question, she was sure, would damn him even further. But she had to know.

“Did you have the man I hired attacked?”

His eyes widened, his brows drawing together in a furrow. “What man? What the hell are you talking about?”

She tried to look for any telling sign of guilt, but she could see none. Still, she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that proved he was innocent. He had fooled her before—all too easily. She couldn’t forget that.

“I hired a private investigator to look into Ruby’s death,” she began. She tried to ignore his look of disdain as she continued. “He was attacked the other day by a man who warned him to back off where you were concerned.”

His eyes moved around the room furtively before returning to meet her gaze. “That’s not possible,” he denied.

She tilted her head to the side, her lips forming a grim line. “It’s absolutely possible. He has the bruises to prove it,” she confirmed.

He shook his head in disbelief. “Look Jade, the guy I hired may be a little rough around the edges, but he wouldn’t…”

“He did.”

He let out a deep breath, leaning over to prop his elbows up on his knees. He ran his hands through his hair before looking at her again. “I’ll talk to him, I promise. I’m sure there must have been some kind of miscommunication,” he assured her evenly.

She laughed a hollow sound that echoed through the room. “Usually when fists are involved, the intent is pretty clear. And it was pretty clear to my investigator that you wanted him to back off. What exactly are you hiding?”

His jaw clenched. “Goddamn it, Jade, I’m not hiding anything. I’m trying to help. Why the hell can’t you see that?” he bit out, his temper flaring.

“Then why all the secrets? Why all the lies?”

He pinned her with an intense stare. “Christ, Jade! Do you really think I was involved? Do you really think I could ever hurt Ruby?”

His questions stunned her, even though she had known it would come. Did she? Did she really believe that he could be the man responsible for her sister’s death? She didn’t want to, but she had been wrong about him before. Deep down, she knew that the only answer she could give him was the honest one.

One that would create a wedge between them.

“I don’t know,” she answered, her voice little more than a whisper.

“Jade, you know me,” he reminded her.

Tears crept into the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “I thought I did,” she admitted.

Telling him that she didn’t believe him was hard, not because it hurt him, but because she knew it was true. Somewhere, during all of this, she had fallen in love with him. She hadn’t wanted to. She had done everything possible to resist it, but there it was. And she couldn’t deny it anymore. But loving him wouldn’t stop her from exposing him if he was responsible for what happened to Ruby.

She owed her sister that much.

His eyes darkened with anger as he stared at her. Finally, he looked away, his lips twisting on a sneer. Silence filled the room, making her more and more uncomfortable by the minute.

Suddenly, he got to his feet. “I guess there’s nothing more to say, then,” he said, walking over to the door.

Watching him walk away was tearing her apart, and even though she warned herself not to, she couldn’t help but call out to him. “Clay, don’t go.”

His head turned, and the look he gave her let her know just how severe the wound she had inflicted actually was. “Why should I stay?” he challenged. “You don’t even know me.”

* * * *

Two hours later, as she waited for Zoë, Jade couldn’t help but think about Clay. His words had been a mere mirror of her own hurt. But it was more than that. It was the look in his eyes.

Pain.

Hurt.

It had all been there.

And she had been the cause of it. She tried to tell herself that it was better this way, that it would be easier to avoid him if he hated her. Deep down, she didn’t want to believe that he could. But, what if he did?

She was a fool.

She had fallen for the very man she was supposed to be investigating.

Maybe it had been inevitable. The kiss they shared years ago had doomed them, and giving into that passion had sealed their fate. Being with him intimately had opened a door that had been firmly shut, a secret door that led to all of her private fantasies. How would she ever be able to close it? How would she ever be able to forget the sweet release she had felt when she gave in to her wild side?

She caught sight of Zoë running across Canal Street. Zoë made her way over to the table, her hair windblown. She quickly ordered a cup of coffee before turning to face Jade.

“What’s up? You sounded upset on the phone.”

Jade took a deep breath before plunging ahead. “What do you know about Sex Cajun Style?”

Zoë’s gaze fell to the cup of coffee that was placed before her, refusing to meet Jade’s eyes. “What?”

“Sex Cajun Style? Have you heard of it?”

Zoë sipped her coffee, a frown forming. “No.”

Jade’s eyes narrowed. “Zoë, I know that Ruby worked there. I’ve seen the pictures,” she explained.

Zoë let out a disgruntled sigh. “Why are you digging all of this up? Ruby’s dead.”

Her blunt statement caught Jade by surprise.

“I’m sorry,” Zoë said. “It’s just that Ruby wasn’t exactly proud of those photos. She hated doing it. But she did it—because she had to.”

Jade swallowed. “When did she start working for him?”

Zoë smoothed her hair back before returning her gaze. “About a year ago. She only did it when she needed the money,” she replied in quick defense.

She shook her head, leaning back in her chair. “Why didn’t she come to me? I would have helped her. I would have given her anything she needed,” she reasoned, more to herself than to Zoë.

Zoë offered her a somber smile. “It isn’t exactly easy to admit that you can’t make it on your own. Ruby looked up to you. She didn’t want you to think that she couldn’t do it on her own, like you did.”

Jade squeezed her eyes shut at the unexpected pain the other woman’s words brought. All she had ever wanted was for her sister to be happy and healthy. If only Ruby had known that she didn’t have to prove anything to anyone. She watched as Zoë glanced around the café.

“Tell me how it started,” she said.

Zoë drew in a deep breath. “How do these things always start? Ruby was really struggling one month, and she asked Lloyd for an advance on her pay,” she recounted, giving Jade a grim smile. “Well, Lloyd never gives advances. I remember this one time a girl asked if she could have a ten-dollar advance because she didn’t have enough money to eat, Lloyd told her to forget it. Said she might as well just panhandle, but she wasn’t getting any money out of him.”

She paused for a minute before continuing. “Anyway, Ruby asked for an advance, and Lloyd said she could earn a few bucks taking some pictures for him. When you’re out of options, a few pictures don’t seem like such a horrible thing.”

“Did you ever do any pictures for him?”

Jade knew the answer even before it came.

“It’s not as bad as it seems. He never tried anything with me,” Zoë replied.

“What about Ruby? Did he try anything with Ruby?”

Zoë looked away, and Jade felt her stomach turn. “What happened, Zoë?”

Zoë shook her head, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “I told her to stop doing it, you know. I told her that he was becoming obsessed with her. He didn’t want to use me or the other girls anymore. He just wanted Ruby.” She paused for a moment, her eyes casting furtive glances around the café. “Nothing I said mattered. She told me that I was just jealous, but there was something about the way he looked at her…”

As she trailed off, a shiver raced up Jade’s spine. “What?” she prodded.

Zoë bit her lower lip. “I don’t know. Just something that seemed off. It scared me.”

She leaned across the table to grab Zoë’s hand, startling her out of her memory. “Zoë, I have to talk to him,” she said forcefully.

Zoë’s eyes widened as she pulled her hand out of Jade’s grip. “You can’t! If he ever found out that I was talking to you about it…”

She didn’t voice what would happen, but the implication was all too clear. “Zoë, if he had something to do with Ruby’s death, I have to know.”

Zoë stood up, pushing her chair in rather shakily. She leaned over the table. “Look, just stay away from him, Jade. He’s not the type of man you want to confront.”

“Zoë!” she called out, chasing after the other woman. She grabbed her arm, spinning her around. “Please help me.”

Zoë eyes flared, her lips twisting in a cruel smirk. “Don’t you get it? Ruby’s dead. And I’m alive. I’d like to stay that way.”

Her mouth fell open as she watched Zoë run across the street toward Jackson Square. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Her eyes scanned the crowd, noting the tourists milling about, the jazz band playing cheerfully. The scene should have been comforting, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Her arms crossed over her middle as she felt what Zoë felt.

Fear.

Chapter 17

Jade waited for Lloyd in the back room of the shop, her palms sweating. She couldn’t help but be thankful that Zoë wasn’t working today. After their meeting earlier, she didn’t think she could face the look of censure she was sure to see for her actions. She didn’t want to put Zoë in danger, but she had come too far to stop now.