Turn To Me (22 page)

“Don’t worry about that,” Kade said with a dismissive wave of his hand.  “I called in sick for you.”

“You called in for me?” I said in disbelief.  “You...you can’t do that!”  Not to mention that if Diane caught wind of the fact that I wasn’t really sick, she’d fire me on the spot.

“Already done.  Blane thought it was a good idea,” he added.  “If that helps at all, though if prior experience has taught me anything, it’s that you have a mind of your own.”

Water still streamed from my hair and a heavy drop trailed down my neck and disappeared between my breasts.  Kade’s eyes followed the path.

He suddenly cleared his throat, jerking the paper and returning his attention to it. 

“Get dressed,” he said flatly.  “Then we’ll talk.”

I didn’t argue, but skittered back to my bedroom where I pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a navy blue turtleneck.  I blew my hair dry, then twisted it up into a knot and pinned it.  I surveyed myself critically in the mirror.  My hand reached for my mascara, then stopped.  If I had a day off, I normally wouldn’t wear makeup.  No need to wear it today just because Kade was here.

“Right,” I muttered.

Going back into the kitchen, I avoided looking at Kade as I poured myself a cup of coffee, dumping in my usual amount of half-and-half and sweetener.  Turning, I sat down at the table, still not looking at Kade.  Instead, I saw a piece of paper lying in front of him.  Reading it upside-down, I realized it was the paper I’d had in my purse with the names of the witnesses I was investigating and their addresses.

“How did you get that?” I asked indignantly, reaching for the paper only to have Kade snatch it up ahead of me.

“Since you weren’t being very...cooperative,” he replied dryly, “I thought I’d see for myself where you’d been yesterday.”

He held up the paper so I could see my writing on it.

“Who are these people?” he asked.

I considered not answering again, but thought twice.  Kade hadn’t stopped me from going to Chicago when I had been trying to foil TecSol.  He was only here because of Blane – he really didn’t care what happened to me.  It was doubtful he’d be overly concerned with what I had been doing.

“They’re people I thought might know something about who is behind these threats to Blane,” I said with a shrug. 

“And how would you know that?”

“I read through the case,” I answered.  “Ryan Sheffield is the JAG officer who testified the other day for the prosecution.  Stacey Willows is the fiancée of the man who commanded the mission.  Ron Freeman and Brian Bowers are SEALs on that same mission with Kyle.”

Kade silently raised an eyebrow.

“I figured whoever was doing this might be someone they knew,” I explained.  “Someone who disagreed with what they’d done and had the know-how and skills to fire that sniper shot at me.”

“How unexpectedly intelligent of you,” Kade said, “color me shocked.”

My face flushed, but I didn't want to get into it with him, so I didn't bother replying to his wisecrack.

“You went to see these people yesterday?” Kade asked when I was silent.

“Two of them,” I answered.  “Stacey Willows and Ryan Sheffield.  I was planning on going to see Ron Freeman and Brian Bowers today.”

“Well, you can mark Bowers off that list.”

“Why?”

“Blane told me he's disappeared,” Kade said grimly.  “No one can find him.  That makes him look guilty, makes Kyle look guilty, and makes things a hell of a lot harder for Blane.  But that just leaves us Freeman to visit.”

He pushed himself away from the table and stood, folding and pocketing the piece of paper.  I remained sitting, stunned.

“Really?” I asked.  Was he offering to help me?

“Really,” Kade said evenly, bending over me and bracing his hands on the arms of my chair.  “See how easy that was?  If you’d just told me this yesterday, you wouldn't have pissed me off, resulting in that rather unpleasant scene when you got back.”

He face was close to mine, his eyes startlingly blue and framed by dark lashes that a woman would kill for.  My mind unwittingly flashed back to last night in the alley as I looked at him.  His smirk faltered for a fleeting moment, then it was back.

“I’m hungry.  Let’s eat first.”

He abruptly moved away and I released my breath in a rush.  Kade opened my refrigerator and peered inside.

“Don’t you eat?” he asked, his head still inside the refrigerator. 

“Of course I eat,” I replied, flustered.  “I just haven’t been to the store lately, that’s all.”  That, and food was the easiest expense to cut when funds were tight. 

“Come on,” he said, shutting the fridge and shrugging into his leather coat.  “I know a great breakfast place.”

I was putting my coat on when my phone rang.  I picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Kathleen,” a woman’s voice said.  She sounded vaguely familiar.  “It’s Gracie.”

Gracie!  I hadn’t spoken to her for weeks.  She had been friends with Sheila, working in the same business as a high-priced call girl.  Gracie and I had become friends of sorts and she’d helped me find the people responsible for killing Sheila by helping me gain entry to a private party hosted by the escort service.

“It’s good to hear from you,” I said as these things flashed through my head.  “How are you doing?”  I sank down onto the couch, noticing as Kade rolled his eyes at the delay.  He began examining the ornaments on my Christmas tree.

“I’m good,” Gracie said, before adding, “I just wish I could’ve called you under better circumstances.”

“What do you mean?” I asked anxiously.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” she said hurriedly.  “It’s actually you that I’m worried about.”

“Why?”  Surely Gracie didn’t know about what had been going on?

“I was given a message to deliver to you,” Gracie said hesitantly, “and I’m really sorry.”

“What is it?” I asked, a sense of foreboding creeping over me.  “What’s the message?”

“It’s from Simone,” Gracie said, naming the madam of the escort service.  “She says you owe her $5,000 in expenses for participating in that party.”

“Five thousand dollars?” I said in disbelief, suddenly glad I was sitting down.  “For what?”

“Clothes, accessories, the hair and make-up, plus the fee for attending,” Gracie replied. “She said she wants to be paid in full by Saturday, or else she’s going to send someone to collect it.”

I couldn’t speak.  I didn’t know what to say.  There was no way I could come up with that kind of money, period, and certainly not with only two days’ notice.

“I know it sounds awful,” Gracie said anxiously when I didn’t respond.

“Why so much?  Why now?  It's been weeks.”  Once I found my voice, the questions came flooding out.

“I don't know,” Gracie replied.  “I wish I had a better answer for you, but she did offer an alternative.”

“What’s that?” I asked carefully, afraid that I knew what the answer was going to be.

“She said you could work it off,” Gracie said. 

“What?!” 

Kade winced at my high-pitched shriek.

“It's a good offer.  She even said that it would be just one job and she’d call it even.”

“That's a 'good offer?'“  My voice was thin and strained.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kade had stopped examining the tree and was now watching me.

“Yeah,” Gracie replied, “it really is.  You should take it.  You really don’t want her to send someone after you for the money, trust me.  It won’t end well.”

I swallowed hard.  No, I was sure it wouldn’t end well if Simone sent her personal collection agents for me.

“Listen,” Gracie said, “just go to the Crowne Plaza hotel Saturday night at eight o’clock.  At the desk, ask for Bernard and tell him you’re Lorelei.  He’ll give you a room key.”

“Um, okay,” I said numbly, my mind reeling in shock at this turn of events.  Perhaps some of my dismay must have come through the phone line because when Gracie spoke again, she was soothing.

“It’ll be all right, Kathleen,” she said kindly.  “A few hours’ work and this’ll all be behind you.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, knowing there was no way I was going to do it, but anxious to get off the phone.  “Thanks for letting me know, Gracie.  I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay,” Gracie said unhappily.  “Sorry, Kathleen.”

I hung up the phone, staring off into space as I contemplated my new predicament.  Well, I supposed I might be dead by Saturday, so the appointment could be moot anyway.

“Who was that?” Kade asked. 

I turned to look at him and saw he was holding one of the ornaments, a large, golden locket.

“Gracie,” I replied.  At his questioning look, I explained the conversation.  Kade listened, opening the locket and examining the picture inside as I talked.

“I fail to see the problem,” he said curtly when I finished.

My anger rose quickly to the surface.  “Of course you wouldn’t,” I snapped, “just another day in the life, right?  You think I sleep around already so why not get paid for it?”

He turned to meet my angry gaze.

“I meant that I’m sure Blane will pay whatever the cost to make sure you don’t have to fuck somebody on Simone’s orders,” he said evenly.

I flushed in embarrassment at his crudeness, though I supposed there was no sense in sugar-coating it.  I shook my head.

“I'm not asking Blane for that kind of money,” I said flatly. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kade snorted.  “It’s not like he doesn’t have it.”

I just shook my head again.  It was pointless to try to explain to Kade why I couldn’t ask Blane for the money.  It would be humiliating, demoralizing.  There was no way I was going to do it.  I’d just have to figure out a way to get the money on my own, or find some other way out of it.  For a moment, I half expected Kade to ask me why I didn't just pay Simone using the money he'd left for me.  I didn't want to tell him how I had sent nearly every dime to the bill collectors.  No doubt he'd roll his eyes and tell me what an idiot I was.

“I thought you were hungry,” I said, changing the subject and shoving my newest problem to the back of my mind.  Getting to my feet, I grabbed my purse.  “Let’s go.”  Kade didn’t follow and I realized he was still studying the ornament in his hand. 

“Your parents?” he asked, looking inside the locket.

I stepped up to him and peered down at it.  The picture had been taken before I’d been born, my parents posing together in front of a fireplace.  They looked happy.  It had always been my favorite ornament.  Seeing it now was both nostalgic and poignant.

“Yes,” I answered, taking it from him and carefully replacing it on the tree.

“Where are they?” Kade asked.  “Where are you from, anyway?”

I realized with some surprise that Kade actually knew very little about me.  It’s not like we’d ever had the getting-to-know-you conversation.  Our relationship, if you could call it that, had always been one of circumstances, not to mention hostile.  “I’m from Rushville, Indiana,” I answered.  “And they’re no longer with me.”

I looked up at Kade whose expression had turned very serious as he studied me.  I gave him a tight smile.

“Ready?”

Kade drove us to a café I’d never been to, outside of downtown but only a block off Meridian.  It was crowded and we took two of the remaining seats at the bar, the tables in the small restaurant all being occupied.  There were several complex looking coffee machines behind the counter and the smell of coffee hung heavy in the air.  The friendly waitress gave us menus.  Someone had hung Christmas lights from the walls and their multi-colored gaiety made me smile.

I perused the menu and was taken aback.  Breakfast was supposed to be cheap, but obviously this place wasn’t aware of that concept.  A cup of coffee alone was three dollars, a waffle nearly ten.

“What can I get for you?” the waitress behind the counter asked.

“Um,” I stammered, reading the a la carte servings, “give me a sec.”

“What about you?” she turned her attention to Kade.

“I’ll have the house omelet with coffee,” Kade said, handing the menu back to the waitress.  She wrote that down and returned her attention to me.

“I’ll have coffee and plain bagel, toasted,” I said.

Kade made a disgusted noise, grabbing my menu from me.  “You can’t live on that,” he said briskly.  “She’ll have...the croissant French toast.  That looks good.”  He handed the menu back to the waitress.  “And you know what?  Skip the coffee for both of us.  We’ll have two Bloody Mary’s instead.” 

The waitress wrote that down and hurried away.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, exasperated.  The drinks alone were going to be nearly twenty dollars.

“Relax,” Kade said.  “You don’t come to a place like this and just order a bagel.  And I think if we’re going to be spending the day together, some booze would help.”

I couldn’t say I disagreed with that last statement.  His proximity alone had my nerves jangling.  Something had shifted again between us, though I was at a loss as to explain how or why.  He was just...kinder.  Sarcasm was his stock-in-trade, but the hard edge to his words was absent today.  Still, I was careful not to let my guard down, certain as I was that if I did he’d say or do something to hurt me again.

The waitress sat our drinks in front of us, a long stalk of celery garnishing each glass.  I took a careful sip of mine, delighted to discover that it had been made well.  Being a bartender also meant that I was a bit of a snob when it came to my drinks.

We sat in a silence that wasn’t uncomfortable.  I realized the vodka did help and I breathed more easily.  After a while, our food arrived and the smell of the French toast made my stomach growl.  I couldn’t remember when I’d eaten last.

The first bite was heavenly, nearly melting in my mouth.  The maple syrup was warm and rich.  My eyes slid shut in appreciation.  Yum. 

“Good choice?” Kade asked, eyeing me as I ate.  I nodded, my mouth too full to speak.   For a fraction of a moment, his mouth curved in what looked like an actually genuine smile.

“Want to try?” I asked, scooping a bite onto my fork and holding it toward him.  I assumed he would take the fork from me, but instead he opened his mouth expectantly.  Surprised, I fed the bite to him, watching with too much interest as his lips closed around the morsel and took it from the silver tines.