Colorado 01 The Gamble (78 page)

Arlene plopped into her chair as Mindy and
Jeff came back to the table, still, I noted with a warm feeling in
my middle, holding hands.

“Yo Mins,” Arlene greeted, her eyes moving
to the couple’s hands but fortunately, her mouth remaining
shut.

“Hey Arlene,” Mindy replied.

“Jeff, what’s shakin’?” Arlene asked.

“Everything,” Jeff answered, releasing Mindy
so she could sit down and his torso twisted, he glanced at a table
beside ours, put his hand on the back of a chair, gave them a chin
tilt and then at their nod he rounded the chair to our table.

We all pushed our chairs out a bit as our
group got wider so we could fit everyone in and Jeff sat, his chair
very close to Mindy’s.

“So, Shauna Fontaine is suspect numero uno,”
Arlene said to Jeff and Jeff’s eyes cut to her.

“Pardon?” he asked, playing dumb.

“Boy, you got an APB out on her,” Arlene
informed him of something he obviously already knew.

“Arlene, can’t discuss the specifics of the
case,” Jeff told her and Arlene gave him a look but turned back to
the table, declaring, “Well, I can.”

Jeff’s eyes went to Max and both men sighed
simultaneously as Arlene launched in.

“Shauna Fontaine is gone, gone, gone. Her
house’s been sold, her shit’s been moved out and no one has seen
her since day before yesterday,” Arlene told the table.

“Her shit’s been moved out?” Linda asked,
her eyes wide.

“Yep, cleaned out,” Arlene replied. “Cops
went through it yesterday.”

“That’s not enough for an APB,” I noted, my
eyes moving to Jeff.

“Yeah, though she cleaned all the shit outta
her house, don’t mean she left the house clean. That dead PI guy
was done on one a’ Curtis’s construction sites in the bedroom of a
new, unfinished build. They were drywallin’. Cops found drywall
residue inside Shauna’s house, leadin’ a trail from her backdoor to
her bedroom.”

“
Oh my
God,
” I breathed and Arlene looked gleefully at me.

“
Shauna don’t work
and
it’s doubtful she drywalls as a hobby, so why’s
she got drywall dust in her house?” Arlene asked without really
expecting an answer and I knew this because there was no answer to
give and because she kept speaking. “So, the woman’s got evidence
in her house, motive and she and her boytoy disappear into thin
air…” Arlene grinned and finished, “A… P… B.”

“Boytoy?” Barb asked.

“Well, more like mantoy,” Arlene answered.
“Name’s Robert Winston and Winston’s gone too. Neighbors of his say
he hasn’t been home in days, they haven’t even seen his car. Cops
got a man parked out in front of his house and have since
yesterday. No show. He’s self-employed, real estate, if you can
believe that shit. If I remember, Shauna’s wrinkled, old goat of an
ex-husband was also in property. Girl’s got a type.”

I looked at Max and he was glaring at Arlene
so I again put my hand on his thigh, his eyes came to mine and I
gave his thigh a squeeze. His hard face got a bit softer but that’s
all my effort achieved before Arlene was talking again and Max
looked back at her.

“
Cops went to Winston’s office, they say
he’s on vacation and has been for two weeks, his leave is extended
and he’s not due back in awhile. ‘Cept, he was seen brawlin’ with
poor, old Harry at The Rooster Saturday night, so everyone knows he
isn’t exactly outta town.” Then Arlene leaned forward and shared on
a very loud whisper, “And, get
this
. He’s got a
wife!
In Aspen. He’s supposed to be openin’ a branch of his
business over here, which he’s kinda done but he’s also definitely
on…” Arlene lifted her hands and made quotation marks with her
fingers, “‘vacation’.” She dropped her hands and carried on
talking. “The wife says she’s been in Aspen, closin’ up their
house, gettin’ ready to move here. Cops in Aspen who questioned her
said she was pretty pissed when she heard the name Shauna Fontaine.
Apparently Shauna’s got a history with this Winston guy, one dates
back years. The wife took his ass back after the
last
round of history and now
Shauna’s back for round two.”

My gaze slid to Jeff to see he was staring
at Arlene in disbelief or, I should say, somewhat
angry
disbelief as Arlene kept
sharing her story.

“
This’s where it gets
really
interesting. See, last time, when the wife
took him back, she made him sign everything over in her name. She
owns it all, the houses, the businesses, even the bank accounts are
in her name, she’s got control of the whole enchilada.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, now I was staring
at Arlene.

“How do you know all this shit?” Jeff
asked.

“Everyone’s talkin’,” Arlene answered.

“Not cops and this is confidential
information,” Jeff returned. “You aren’t hearin’ this stuff on the
grapevine or on your police band, Arlene.”

“I got my sources,” Arlene replied.

“They local?” Jeff returned.

“Not sayin’,” Arlene muttered.

“Arlene, are they local?” Jeff repeated.

“Nope,” Arlene answered quickly and Jeff
stared at her.

Then he muttered, “Chantelle.” His eyes went
intense and he asked, “Your niece works reception at Chantelle PD,
doesn’t she?”

“Uh… she might,” Arlene replied, Max grunted
(whether this was an amused or knowing grunt, I had no idea), Jeff
looked annoyed and the rest of us glanced at each other as Arlene
carried on, her eyes on Jeff.

“Anyway, Jeff, seems to me, unless this
Winston fella finds himself a sugar mama, his wife gets pissed,
which she is, she takes it all.”

It was then Mindy entered the conversation
and suggested to Jeff, “Maybe a sugar mama who thought she was
going to inherit some, or all, of a local big man’s construction
empire because she told him she was pregnant with his child?”

My gaze snapped to Max who was watching
Mindy then his eyes turned to me.

“That’s what I’m thinkin’,” Arlene responded
to Mindy then looked to Jeff. “That what the boys at the Station
are thinkin’, Jeff?”

At this point Fran hit our table carrying a
tray filled with coffees and Jeff stood, fishing his wallet out of
the back of his jeans.

“
What the boys at the S
tation are gonna be thinkin’ in about ten
minutes, Arlene,” Jeff said, flipping open his wallet and pulling
out some bills, “is that the shit you shared at this table better
stay at this table or someone’s niece is gonna be out of a job.”
Jeff threw the money on the table and took his coffee from Fran
before he concluded, eyes back on Arlene. “Yeah?”

I looked at Jeff’s angry eyes and set face
and realized, when he was being macho mountain man police officer,
he was even more attractive than normal, in fact, as Becca would
put it, he was downright hot.

Then I looked at Mindy and saw her gazing up
at him with an expression on her face that said she thought much
the same thing.

Arlene visibly ground her teeth at having
her gossip curtailed and then she muttered, “Yeah.”

“Right,” Jeff stated then his eyes went to
Mindy and his set face changed entirely before he said softly, “See
you tomorrow night.”

“Okay,” Mindy replied back, just as softly,
the pink again tingeing her cheeks.

“
Kami’s comin’ to the Station from work,”
Max told Jeff, stopping to look at his watch before finishing, “in
about half an hour, that good?”

“Yeah,” Jeff replied on a nod. “I’ll tell
Mick.” Then Jeff looked at the table at large and said, “Later,”
and he moved away.

I watched him go then twisted back and
leaned clean across Max toward Mindy.

“Tomorrow night?” I asked and watched
Mindy’s cheeks get even pinker.

“He asked me out,” Mindy whispered, leaning
into me and my hand reached out and snatched hers.

“That’s great!” I whispered back but my
whisper was excited and kind of loud.

Mindy looked at me a second then leaned in
further and queried, “Do you really think so, Neens?”

I nodded effusively.

“Seriously?” she pushed.

I squeezed her hand. “Yes, sweetheart.”

Mindy bit her lip then released it and
stated, “I don’t know.”

“Why not?” I enquired and she got closer,
her eyes going to the side to take in the table and mine did
too.

Everyone, except Max, who was forced to be a
silent part of it due to the conversation happening pretty much in
his lap, and Becca, who was watching us and grinning, was
studiously avoiding our exchange.

I looked back to Mindy when she asked, “I
think… don’t
you
think it’s,
uh… too soon?”

I leaned further over Max and squeezed
Mindy’s hand again before answering. “My lovely, you can decide to
start living your life in a month, or two, or six, or next year and
that’d be perfectly all right, it’s up to you.” She nodded and I
continued, “But my question to you would be, why wait?” I watched
her swallow and finished, “Life’s short, Mins, but you need time,
you take it. Jeff will understand.”

“
Uh… I don’t know if he will. He was kind
of…” She paused, searching for a word, then found it and shared,
“
Determined
when
he asked me.”

I noted that the way she said this was far
from an objection. My eyes slid to the side and up and I saw Max
watching us, his lips pressed together and my eyes slid back to
Mindy.

“I’ve noticed macho mountain men can be that
way,” I told her.

She leaned closer to me, her eyes doing a
quick glance to Max then she whispered very low, “Even though I
felt funny… you know, talkin’ to him seein’ as, you know, he was
there… but…” She hesitated and I could barely hear her when she
finished, “It was kinda hot.”

“I bet it was,” I replied, she tipped her
head to the side in question and I went on. “Been there,
sweetheart, done that.”

Max started chuckling and Mindy and I both
jerked back and looked at him.

“You want me to move?” he asked.

“Would you, darling?” I asked back.

Max hooked a hand around my neck, pulled my
temple to his mouth, kissed it and got up which was obviously his
answer.

I got up too, grabbed my latte mug and
scooted Max’s chair back a bit before I sat in it. Mindy scooted
hers back too. Becca got up suddenly, walked around the table and
sat in Jeff’s vacated chair.

“What’s goin’ on?” she asked.

I looked from Becca to Mindy and both Becca
and I leaned into Mindy as I demanded, “All right, sweetheart, tell
us everything.”

Mindy gave me a tentative look then she gave
me a hesitant smile, she swung it to Becca then she leaned in
close, Becca leaned in close and Mindy told us everything. And what
she told us about Jeff was definitely hot. But it was also, even
more definitely, sweet.

After Mindy was done, Becca noted, “I’m
thinkin’ Jeff isn’t a dick.”

I was thinking Becca was right.

“Neens?” Mindy called and I looked at
her.

“My advice, my lovely?” She nodded and I
said, “Be honest, take care of you first and if Jeff doesn’t take
care of you along the way, then move on.” Mindy nodded again but I
wasn’t done. “Though, I figure, he’ll take care of you along the
way.”

“I figure that too,” Becca put in.

Mindy bit her lip then noted, “The timing
sucks.”

My eyes slid to Max who was taking a drink
of his coffee and listening to Arlene jabber then they slid back to
Mindy and I replied, “Trust me, sweetheart, timing isn’t
everything.”

Mindy looked at Max then at me then she
grinned.

* * * * *

We were back at the A-Frame, my stuff was in
the house, the groceries unpacked and I’d just slid into the oven
my world famous nachos (this wasn’t strictly true, I hadn’t won a
competition or anything, but I called them that anyway because they
were really good) smothered in kidney beans and hamburger meat
spiced with taco seasoning and a mixture of three cheeses (cheddar,
Colby and Monterey Jack, the latter two they didn’t have in
England) on which, after desired cheese melting, I would load
salsa, sour cream and fresh jalapeños with tomatoes for Max which
he told me he loved but I hated. We were now tidying up the prep
dishes as the cheese melted into the corn chips in the oven.

This was after, at the café, Max and I
ordered club sandwiches for a late lunch.

It was also after Kami came down to the
Station on a prolonged break from work to tell Mick that after she
and Shauna decided not to go to Curt’s funeral, she’d driven Shauna
to Kami’s house. Shauna had come around to her place that morning
rather than Kami picking her up. When they went back, Shauna got
out of Kami’s car, said good-bye and she’d see her later like
always, got into her car and left.

Kami also explained that she hadn’t been to
Shauna’s house in weeks. She’d done this somewhat stiltedly which
meant she was now embarrassed that she didn’t see it for the cover
up it was. But, honestly, how would she know? No one would think
their friend was a murderess.

Lastly, she explained she hadn’t heard from
Shauna even after she’d left several messages and a number of texts
(by then I figured about a thousand) but, in Kami’s words, “If that
bitch fucking calls me, you’ll be the first to know.”

Then we left the Police Station and on the
wooded sidewalk Kami let rip a five minute rant about Damon, what
he did to my face and the incident outside The Dog two nights
previously.

This, unfortunately, reminded Max that he’d
found out about this incident for the first time during me giving
my statement to Jeff and I knew he was less than happy then but he
didn’t say anything in front of Jeff. Also unfortunately, after
Kami burnt out her ire, she left me with a Max who’d been reminded
he hadn’t been happy.