To Save His Mate (10 page)

One of the bartenders had witnessed the exchange and made her way over with a small towel.

“You handled that quite well, young lady,” Angela noted, studying Lacy a little more closely now that she was up and had released the inebriated fool’s arm. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Self defense,” she answered. It technically wasn’t a lie, but Lacy still felt bad for having to dance around the truth with Ethan’s mom.

“Well, I’m glad to know that you can take care of yourself, if needed.” Angela relieved the bartender of her towel and thrust it into Mr. Ricker’s face. “Mop up that mess you made, young man. Lord knows, this sweet young girl shouldn’t have to.”

“But it was…” he began, although when Lacy cleared her throat, he quickly cut off whatever he was going to say and began applying pressure to his nose, his eyes now downcast.

“I’ll go grab another towel or two,” the bartender said. “I didn’t realize there was that much of a mess.”

“Thanks,” Lacy offered. “What’s your name?”

“Cash, well, Cashmere, but everyone here just calls me Cash.” The girl was something else. Extremely petite, she was almost pixie-like, with pale skin and short spiked dark hair. A piercing in her eyebrow twinkled in the low lights, she wore gothic-style clothing and a large yet intricate dragon tattoo ran down her left arm. She was clearly out of place in this little town.

“Are you from here?” Sarah asked, obviously thinking the same thing.

“Nah, I’m just here to help out my grandma. She’s not doing so well,” Cash explained. “I’ll be back in a sec.” And with that, she took off, winding through the crowd with ease despite her size—or perhaps because of it.

“Is it just me, or does she seem to be more than a little out of place in this town?” Lacy asked, the question directed at nobody in particular. With what she knew about the killer, and the fact that this girl was new to the area, she couldn’t help but be a little suspicious. After all, the killer had very small feet, and she already suspected it to be a woman.

“I know what you’re thinking, Lacy, but you’re wrong,” Stephanie piped in. “Her grandmother was in the clinic about a week ago after a bad fall. She’s not getting around much at all and said that her granddaughter would be coming to help her out for a while. From what I gathered from her grandma, Cash is going through a slight rebellion since moving out of her parents’ home.”

“Slight?” The girl looked like an evil little fairy, though the actions and manners Lacy had just witnessed were the polar opposite of what she would expect from someone sporting that look. Guess that just proved the whole thing about a book and its cover.

“She’s a good girl.” Stephanie insisted. “She brings her grandma in to the clinic whenever she needs to come, does all of her shopping and cleaning and is working on top of that. Trust me, the girl doesn’t have time for anything else.”

Lacy put her hands up in surrender. She’d warned Stephanie about the possibility of the killer being female so she’d be alert when around the shoot. After all, women were rarely seen as a threat. “All right, I believe you.”

Angela and Sarah looked between the two of them with confusion written all over their faces. It was kind of funny, but she figured they wouldn’t think so. Luckily, Gus walked into the bar, and apparently, he was looking for her, because once he spotted them, he cut a direct path to their table.

“Hello, ladies, I need to speak to Lacy for a moment, if you don’t mind?” Gus was in uniform, so he already had the attention of most of the patrons in the bar, but Lacy could see the wheels turning over in Sarah and Angela’s heads already. She needed to salvage as much of her cover as possible.

“Is there a problem, officer?” Lacy asked, though she knew if he was here to get her, there was likely a big problem somewhere. She only hoped it wasn’t a body.

“I’d like to discuss it with you in private, if you will,” he replied.

Scooting off her stool, Lacy excused herself, promising to return in a moment, and followed Gus to the back hall near the restrooms.

“Gus, you’re going to blow my cover! What’s this all about?” she whispered.

“One of the models was poisoned at the house.”

Lacy let that sink in for a minute. Jose was still staying at the hotel with the rest of the crew, though tonight, he was with Ethan, so that left Angel, Madison and Renee in the house. “Which one?”

“It was Madison. They found a bottle of antifreeze in the trashcan outside, and her drink bottle tested positive. Whoever did this had access to her drink and enough sense that the only prints we were able to lift belonged to Madison,” Gus complained. “I have to account for everyone in the house, for every minute of the day.”

“So you’re here for my alibi.” It wasn’t a question, Lacy knew the procedure, and she also knew Gus didn’t suspect her but was doing this to protect her cover instead of blowing it. “All right, are you ready?” At his nod, she rattled off her whereabouts for the day. “I was at the shoot from seven this morning to about five-thirty this evening. After that, I took a shower and got ready before Stephanie came to pick me up at seven tonight. So aside from being in the shower and dressing, I was with people the whole time. Mainly Ethan.”

“That’s good. The estimated time of ingestion was during your shoot anyway, so I won’t have any trouble validating your innocence. Not that I doubted it.” He assured her.

“I know. I’m glad you came and found me. I’ll have to really watch my back at the house now. I’ve got to let my chief know about this, too.” Lacy sighed. “He’s going to blow a gasket.”

“Why? If the killer is in the house with you, why not arrest the two remaining models and interrogate them?”

“It’s not that easy. You said yourself that the poison was administered at the shoot today. The killer could have planted the bottle in our trashcan outside to make it look like someone at the house did it. If they’re trying to throw us off the trail, it would be a damn good way to go about it.”

And now the killer was targeting the women, as well. But why break from the pattern? Lacy really needed to get in touch with Murphy and see if something had happened to one of the male models. Was the next victim now a woman?

“Listen, I’ll let you get back to your friends, but I just wanted you to have a heads up on what went down at the house tonight.”

“How bad is she?” Lacy dreaded his answer, and the way he scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck told her it was bad.

“Last I heard, she lost her vision about thirty minutes before she lapsed into a coma. They gave her an antidote, and they’re dialyzing her now to try to clean it out of her system, but it doesn’t look good. Her family is on their way. We won’t know if there’s any brain damage until she wakes up. If she even wakes up at all.” Gus looked down at Lacy, and his eyes reflected the same determination she felt to find this bastard. “I want this asshole, Lacy. My town was relatively quiet before this, and I’d like to get back to that quickly.”

“I’ll do my best, Gus. Just keep me informed, and I’ll do the same for you.”

“You got it. Have a good night.” With that, he tipped a non-existent hat and made his way out of the hallway and through the bar.

Lacy quickly pulled out her phone and dialed the number Stephanie had given her earlier that evening. After one ring, a deep voice sounded on the other end.

“Abraham,” the voice rumbled. Stephanie’s husband had been happy to help out and was keeping watch over the house while she was out. Now, she needed his take on the events of the night.

“Abraham, this is Lacy. Have you seen anything suspicious since I left? Gus just filled me in on Madison’s poisoning.”

“Aside from the paramedics and a swarm of police officers, nobody’s been in or out since you left.” He paused. “You realize Ethan will find out about this very soon, right?”

Lacy frowned. Of course, he’d find out. “I know Gus will be questioning him for an alibi, but that’s standard procedure.” Abraham should know that, so why did his question sound more like a warning?

The low rumble of his laughter flowed over the line, and Lacy fought the uneasy feeling trying to creep over her. “You don’t have a clue, do you? Well, this should be entertaining if nothing else.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ll find out, and sooner rather than later. Just take it easy on the guy. He can’t help it.” Abraham wasn’t making any sense at all.

“Can’t help what?”

“You’ll see.” And with that cryptic parting shot, Abraham disconnected the call, and Lacy was left standing in the little hallway, staring at the blank screen of her phone.

Returning to the table, she braced herself for the round of twenty questions that was bound to start. Instead, she got a sheepish look from Stephanie that had her groaning. “Tell me you didn’t,” she begged.

“Sarah just kind of knew,” she insisted. “She claims to be able to sniff out a cop at twenty paces. Of course, she didn’t call you a cop.”

Sarah shrugged. “When I said ‘pig’, I wasn’t really directing it at you, just, you know, old habit.”

“Yeah, it’s fine, but don’t let anyone else know. Especially now.”

“Oh, of course, dear.” Angela looked a little shell-shocked to discover Lacy’s actual career, but Lacy could do nothing about that. She knew she didn’t look like a cop. It was why she was so good at being an undercover officer.

Against her better judgment, she shared the latest bit of information Gus had just given her. As they all digested what she’d shared, she added, “So you see, I need to keep my cover intact, so I can stay under the killer’s radar.”

“Can we help in any way?” Sarah asked.

“Not just yet. Stephanie, will your husband still be able to watch the house for me tomorrow night? I know he can do it without being seen since he managed that tonight.” Lacy wanted to brainstorm with Ethan, but she couldn’t leave the house without a pair of trained eyes on it, just in case.

“I’ll check with him tonight and text you, but I don’t see it being a problem. He could help with security around the shoot, too, if you’d like.” Stephanie offered.

“No, I don’t want any extra security if I can help it. I want the killer to feel confident. It’s the only way to trap them. Too many uniforms and he may bolt, then I’m stuck with nothing.”

Sarah nodded. “She’s right. With cops being around or any type of security, it will have the person lying low, and Lacy needs to flush them out before they strike again.”

Lacy’s gaze zeroed in on Sarah. “Just how did you learn to recognize a cop on sight? Usually, that’s something only hardened criminals or ex-cops could do.”

“Let’s just say, my past was spent riding the edge of the law. I’m clean, no record, but I had a few close calls at some of the clubs I went to.”

“Clubs? Is that why the guys thought I could keep the two of you out of trouble? You start fights in clubs?”

“Not at all, dear,” Angela cut in. “Sarah used to be involved with fight clubs. It’s a long story, but she had to get money to survive, and that was the easiest way for someone like her to do so.”

“What do you mean someone like her?” Lacy asked. Sure the fight club thing was weird enough, but the way Angela referred to Sarah was even more so. Not to mention the way Sarah and Stephanie now glared daggers at Angela.

“What she’s hinting at is that I used to be on the run from a couple nasty guys, and they would track me using my credit cards or bank accounts, so I used to fight and live off of the prize money.” Sarah just shrugged, as if it was a completely normal thing for a woman to do.

Lacy shook her head. “Why didn’t you call the police?”

Sarah shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. “I knew they couldn’t really help. I come from a different culture than you’re used to, plus I did some pretty serious damage to the guys who were after me. I might have ended up in jail right along with them.”

“They aren’t after you anymore?” Lacy didn’t like the thought of any woman being stalked by a man.

“Oh, no. They won’t be bothering me ever again, the brothers saw to that. Of course, Stephanie had a big part in that, too.” Sarah sat up straighter in her chair, leaned forward with her arms on the table and pinned Lacy with her eerie amber eyes. “Now, back to you and Ethan. Why do I get the feeling you don’t have faith in this relationship that’s forming between the two of you?”

“There’s no relationship! We’re attracted to each other, sure, but aside from that there hasn’t been enough time for him to care for me like that,” Lacy insisted.

Sarah just gave her a satisfied grin. “So there hasn’t been enough time for him to care about
you
that way, but obviously, there
has
been enough time for you to develop strong feelings for him, or you would have worded that differently.”

Oh, how Lacy wanted to smack that smug look off Sarah’s face, but sadly, she was right. “Yeah, well, not everyone gets a happily-ever-after. Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives some lucky couple a fairytale. For the rest of us, there’s always Ben & Jerry’s. And let me tell you ladies something, those are two guys who haven’t let me down yet.”

She watched as Stephanie and Sarah exchanged a look then glanced over to Angela, who didn’t look too thrilled either. What did they have to be so upset about? After all, she was the one who’d likely end up having her heart ripped out by the end of this little affair.

“You need a drink,” Angela proclaimed, waving Cash back over to the table. “Baby girl, you are thinking too hard on this. If you love him, then be with him. It’s that simple. Don’t go making things harder than they need to be.”

Relationship advice from a guy’s mom? Shouldn’t she be chasing jaded women
away
from her son? Why were they all so hell-bent on her being involved with Ethan anyway?

“I shouldn’t drink while I’m on duty,” Lacy said. “Besides, there was another attack tonight, so I really need to have my wits about me.”

“Fine, but do me a favor. Listen to your heart and not your head. Everyone has a past, and even a few secrets, but look at how he treats you, how he makes you feel. If you decide you don’t want that, then just let him go now before things go too far,” Sarah persisted.