04 - Shock and Awesome (38 page)

 
   
"You're kidding me. Are you hurt? Are you okay?" Ben asked, anxiously.

 
   
"I'm fine, I was out of the house, so I only found out when I got a call from..." I paused and Lucas mouthed three letters slowly. Right. "MPD. Uh, the police department."

 
   
"Why didn't you call me? I would have come straight over. I don't like thinking of you alone in that big house especially after someone broke in."

 
   
"Oh no, I didn't want to impose. Besides, nothing was taken and I'm fine."

 
   
"What were they looking for?"

 
   
"I don't know," I lied, continuing smoothly, "but I guess they got disturbed before they could grab anything. The police think it might have been kids. Maybe they were looking for cash, or something easily pawned."

 
   
"I'm glad you're okay." Ben paused. "Why don't I buy you dinner later to take your mind off it? That is, if you're not worried about leaving the house empty. Are you staying there? Or do you prefer to check into a hotel?"

 
   
Lucas nodded. I nodded. We both waited, then it occurred to me to speak. "Actually, I am staying at my house and dinner would be wonderful."

 
   
"Great. I'll pick you up at seven."

 
   
"I'll be waiting."

 
   
"And if there's any problems, call me right away, okay?
Lexi
, I mean it. I don't want you to think you can't call me just because we haven't known each other very long. If you call, I'll be there."

 
   
"I really appreciate it, Ben, thank you. Dinner will definitely take my mind off it."

 
   
"See you later then,
Lexi
."

 
   
"Bye, Ben." We hung up and I gently placed the phone on the table. I held my palms up to Lucas and shrugged. "I didn't get the impression he knew anything," I said.

 
   
"Kind of keen to get you out of the house," remarked Lucas, hitting “Stop” on his recording equipment.

 
   
"Maybe he was just trying to be nice."

 
   
Lucas arched one eyebrow. Damn it, I wished I knew how to do that. "Since when are people ever purely nice?"

 
   
"I'm always nice!"

 
   
"Five minutes ago, you were ready to spit in my coffee if I didn't 'fess up to agency secrets."

 
   
I leaned in, my elbows on the table. "So there
are
agency secrets. I knew it."

 
   
"Why don't you just ask Solomon?"

 
   
I grunted. It wasn't ladylike, but it did reveal my feelings. "He won't tell me anything."

 
   
"Maybe you should kiss him again."

 
   
I gasped and tripped over my words, making noises that sounded like “Burble
burble
... well... I never... how dare you... what? Burble.”

 
   
"Knew it," said Lucas, looking smug. "He looks at you like you're the wave he's ready to ride."

 
   
Awesome, but... "What kind of metaphor is that?"

 
   
"Who cares? It's accurate."

 
   
"He does not look at me like that!"

 
   
"He looks at your butt like that."

 
   
"Everyone looks at my butt like that."

 
   
"I don't."

 
   
"You're engaged."

 
   
"But not blind."

 
   
"You want to check out my ass, geek boy? You wanna surf my ass?" I started to stand; but what I really should have done was look over my shoulder before I opened my big mouth. Solomon chose that precise moment to enter the room. He gave me a look that didn't evoke happy thoughts, and I slid back down into my chair, my ass fully hidden from view and certainly not ready to ride like a wave.

 
   
"Progress?" Solomon asked, looking sour.

 
   
Lucas spoke while I mentally berated myself. "Ben called. He's taking
Lexi
out at seven. Seemed to want the house empty."

 
   
Solomon inclined his head towards me, his face still expressionless. "That your impression?"

 
   
"That we're going out, yes. That he wants the house empty, not sure. He seemed surprised when I said the house was broken into last night. He didn't mention the jewels I was supposed to have."

 
   
"Could be just good acting." Solomon shrugged. He was turning back to the door as my phone rang again.

 
   
Well, what do you know? "Lord Justin," I said, leaning in to see his name flash on my screen.

 
   
Solomon glanced over at Lucas. "You getting this on tape?"

 
   
"Yes, Boss."

 
   
"Let me know." Solomon left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. He may not have been able to see my ass, but I got a pretty good look at his as he left. It was damn nice.
Droolworthy
.

 
   
"Your cell's still ringing," said Lucas, dragging me back to the task at hand.

 
   
I grabbed the cell phone as he hit “Record” and answered, "Hello?"

 
   
Lord Justin's smooth accent floated down the line. "Good morning, my dear. How are you today?"

 
   
"Very well, thank you," I replied, wondering if everyone in England talked so politely.

 
   
"I thought I might take you to afternoon tea," Lord Justin continued. "Show you a little English hospitality."

 
   
"Sounds delightful."

 
   
Sounds delightful
, mouthed Lucas, who raised one pinky as he pretended to drink tea. I stuck my tongue out at him. Then, doing my country proud, I flipped him the finger.

 
   
"Shall I pick you up in an hour?"

 
   
"Actually, I’d prefer to meet you. I'm out... shopping right now."

 
   
"Any pretty baubles?" Lord Justin asked. My alarm bells rang as Lucas and I raised eyebrows at each other. What an odd inquiry, I decided, and curiously appropriate, after the attempted theft.

 
   
"I hoped to purchase some new jewels today, but alas, my house was broken into and I returned the jewels without making a, uh, purchase." Yikes. What was I saying?

 
   
"Goodness!" Lord Justin gasped. "What a violation! I trust you're not hurt?"

 
   
"Not at all. I was out when the house was burgled. Besides, nothing was taken. It was probably just a bunch of kids."

 
   
"The little beasts! The rogues! The audacious youth of today!"

 
   
"Um, yeah..."

 
   
"I'll protect you, my lady, don't you worry your pretty, little head. Diamonds, did you say?"

 
   
"Thanks." I made my excuses while taking down the address, and hung up before he offered to get his sword out.

 
   
"Have you heard yourself and your weird imitation of an English accent?" asked Lucas. He flapped one hand and squeaked "Alas! My house!"

 
   
I grimaced. "I wasn't trying to do it. It just came out!"

 
   
"Of your pretty, little head?" teased Lucas and we both rolled our eyes. "What a dick."

 
   
"Yeah, but he did mention the jewels. He even said diamonds."

 
   
"I have a little gadget for you to take on your hot date and fancy tea," Lucas told me, turning away to reach into his bag. He put a small device on the tabletop and pushed it towards me. I caught it as it skidded to the edge of the table and turned it over.

 
   
"What is it?"

 
   
"A phone cloner. You have to get Lord Justin's phone and plug in the device. You'll need approximately a minute for it to download, then we'll have full access to everything on his phone. It might just give us the clues we need to determine if he's guilty."

 
   
"I thought you'd already broken into his email account and accessed his phone records?"

 
   
"Yep, duh, that took minutes. This will give us a better picture. The cloner will copy everything from photos and notes to text messages and more." Lucas pushed a second identical box towards me. "And this one is for Ben. Same deal. Get his phone for sixty seconds and clone it. Bring them both back to me A-S-A-P and I'll extract the data."

 
   
"Okay, fine. I gotta shoot if I'm going to make this tea and take a nap." I yawned. I was long past the days when I could stay up all night and work. "What does one wear for afternoon tea? Should I wear a dress?" I mused, not really expecting an answer.

 
   
"I don't know. I guess a
Downton
Abbey
-type dress is too much for this era."

 
   
"You watch
Downton
Abbey
?"

 
   
"My fiancée makes me. I pretend to enjoy it."

 
   
"You totally enjoy it."

 
   
"And you totally checked out our boss's ass as he left the room." Lucas tapped his temples. "I'm not just a ridiculously handsome geek, you know. I notice stuff."

 
   
"
Pffft
." I blew a raspberry and left, though I was pretty sure I didn't win that round of teasing. Even worse, if Lucas noticed something was happening between Solomon and me, did the other guys also? My job never felt more precarious as it did now, and it usually felt pretty rocky. My only redeeming factor in their eyes would be for me to catch the bad guy. Even more so now, because of the sheer amount of screw-ups on this case already; and that's exactly what I planned to do. Right after I return to my apartment and put on a nice dress and pumps, because I wanted to look really good while I was doing it. I mean, come on, priorities, people!