Lethal Bond: Jamie Bond Mysteries Book #3 (15 page)

"We questioned the women on the list you gave me, and my associates have been following your husband. He is not cheating on you." I slid the drive toward her.

That information should've been received with cheer, relief, a smile, but instead I got a down-turned mouth.

"We had a deal," she tried to explain. "He's changing the arrangement."

"Sometimes things need to change," I said. I hated the way my brain flitted to Danny. I quickly shook it off. "Look, there are worse things in the world than a husband who loves you."

She blinked, and a pensive look overtook her face. Had she not considered this before? Part of me wanted to pick apart her brain and try to understand why she was so adamant about this arrangement. Was she in love with another man but felt obligated to her husband? Had she felt boredom and created this situation?

But it would be unprofessional to question her motives. Especially since we banked on referrals. And another part of me simply didn't want to know. I didn't want to shatter any disillusions I had about commitment. Despite this business, a piece of me still believed in the fairy-tale. It may have sounded stupid, but I figured with all the marriages I watched and helped to dissolve, I'd learn the secrets to what not to do. So when or if I ever tied the knot, I'd have a leg up on all other brides.

"Thank you very much, Ms. Bond. You've been ever so helpful," Mrs. Livingston said, stood up, and walked out.

I hoped a couple of lawyers wouldn't have to draw up divorce papers, citing faithfulness as the reason for incompatibility.

The intercom clicked on again. "There's someone here to see you," said Maya.

"Who is it?"

But before Maya could answer, Aiden appeared in my doorway.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Aiden entered my office and kicked the door shut with the back of his heel. A scowl sat on his face. "You have to stop following me," he gritted through his teeth.

How dare he barge in here and demand I do anything. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but I hadn't done anything wrong. At least not that he knew about.

I stood and placed my hands on my hips. I could go into the dumb blonde routine and pretend I didn't have a clue, make him spill what he knew before I did. But from experience, that never played out well with Aiden. So instead, I took the direct approach. It couldn't hurt, right?

"I know you're taking bribes. You are the one fixing cases for the Vega crew."

He stepped forward. The stern line of his mouth softened, but his brows still did this crazy arched thing. "How can you even think that?"

A piece of my stone exterior chipped with the disappointed tone of his voice. "Because I saw you with Rocco yesterday."

He didn't respond immediately. It was as if he waited for me to say more. "That's it? That's your big proof?"

"Isn't that enough? You were both huddled together, whispering." I wasn't exactly sure about the huddled part, but it sounded extra secretive.

He slowly shook his head. "Yes, I was with him, because he's my informant."

What? He—ah. Oh crap.

I opened my mouth but didn't know what to say. I needed a moment to process.

"Your informant?" I finally chocked out.

Aiden stepped closer and took one of my hands in his. He led me around my desk, and we sat in the two chairs, side-by-side. He continued to hold my hand, adding the other one to his grip.

What was he doing? Why was he touching me? I didn't mind, of course, but between everything I overheard and saw this past week and now this, my head was spinning.

He reached out and softly touched my chin with his thumb. "What happened to you?"

The scrape was healing fine, but I hadn't applied as much concealer this morning. It was a bright canary shade of yellow with a purple edge.

"I fell. It's not a big deal." The last thing I wanted was a lecture on going into dangerous situations alone. "Explain what you mean by he's your informant." I wasn't stupid, but I definitely wanted him to spell it all out. Make sure we were on the same page this time.

"When I found you in the building, the other day, I believed you. I knew you wouldn't lie to me that you saw someone enter. I wasn't sure who it was or if there really was something going on in my office, but you did, and I've come to trust your gut."

I pulled my hands free of him. Not because I wanted to, but because I couldn't think straight when he touched me. "Go on." I wanted a full confession before I said another word.

"I pulled some surveillance footage of the DA's office hallways from that night. I pulled up the guy's face and ran him through the system."

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest, feeling a bit smug. "And you discovered it was Rocco Diaz."

The left corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile. "Yes. You were right. That's what you want to hear, isn't it?"

I made a circle in the air with my finger. "Oh, this is more than satisfactory. Please continue."

He softly chuckled. I loved a man who could admit defeat. "I tracked him down to Ventura's."

I wrinkled my nose. "A charming place, isn't it?" I bet being a man he had more luck than I had.

"Yes, it is. So I made Rocco a deal that if he turned informant, I'd offer him immunity and protection."

"And he agreed?"

"He didn't have much of a choice. The surveillance tape showed him breaking and entering. Not to mention what would be discovered at Ventura's. I may not be a cop, but I know quite a few. He could be doing jail time."

Technically he hadn't broken in since the doors were unlocked, but I didn't bother bringing that up. Then it hit me. The tapes showed Rocco entering the DA's office. That meant…

"Wait. You have surveillance cameras
inside
the office building?"

"Yes. We do." He gave me a meaningful look that said he knew I'd been in the offices. Oops.

Then he added a wink. "And I prefer the lace ones."

My cheeks blazed with heat. He'd gotten views of both my pre-laundry and after-laundry panties? I had hoped he'd see them one day. I just would've preferred it was while I was shimmying out of a skirt or performing a provocative lap dance.

"So what's the plan with Rocco?" I wasn't sure if he'd fill me in, but it was easy to ask. Plus I really wanted to steer the conversation away from my ass since I hadn't gotten to see his yet. It was only fair.

"I'm trying to get him to confess what he knows about the big fish."

Oooh, my straight up tactic had worked better than I anticipated. "Vega."

He nodded. "Yes. And hopefully that'll lead to an even bigger fish. Rocco's contact in the office."

Since I was already ahead, I figured why not go for broke. "Miranda Valens."

The corners of his eyes crinkled. "Yes."

I knew it. I almost jumped up and shouted, "Score!" but I refrained. Just barely. "But you've been flirting with her, and taking her to lunch and dinner."

I hated saying it. It made me sound jealous and insecure, and while I wasn't the latter, I didn't want him to know about the former.

He cocked his head to the side. "How do you know that?"

Obviously he didn't know everything. I needed to be careful. As great as this sharing had been, he didn't need to know all of my tricks. I never knew when one of them would come in handy. And while snooping was one thing, I didn't want to trust he wouldn't get pissed off if he knew about the bug.

"There's a clear shot from the street straight into your office. And then I tailed the two of you to…Franco's."

I watched his face, waiting for some tell-tale sign.

His mouth twitched. "I'm sorry you saw that. The only reason I took her there was because I already had a reservation. I go there every Tuesday night since you and I were there."

"You do? Why?"

"They have great fried calamari."

My stomach sank. "Oh."

"And it reminds me of a beautiful blonde who I don't get to spend enough time with."

Okay, so maybe I was acting like a teenager, but I beamed. A huge smile, where I was certain he could see my molars. I couldn't help it. What woman didn't want to hear something like that? And it suddenly didn't matter than he needed time to grieve his wife. Aiden Prince spent every Tuesday night thinking of me. Yeah, very high schoolish.

"Wow, I take back all of the horrible things I said about you."

"You didn't say any horrible things about me."

"It was all behind your back." I flashed him another brilliant smile.

He chuckled.

I took a deep breath and leaned forward. "So what now?"

He hesitated. Maybe this would be the moment he realized he'd said too much and pulled back. But instead of shutting down, he continued, "I'm working on a plan to get Vega and Miranda on tape together with Rocco's help."

I straightened my back, sitting upright. "How can I help?"

He shook his head. "No. I don't want you involved. It's too dangerous."

Here we go again. Same speak, different caveman.

"Danger is my job. I'm not an amateur. I know what I'm doing. Plus, I'm armed."

"The last time you were around bullets, your father was almost shot and your…
friend
almost died."

I heard the emphasis on the word "friend" but ignored it. There was no place for Danny in this conversation right now.

"My gun wasn't involved in that incident, and I cannot control the craziness of a crazy person."

He stood and paced a small area by the chair. "That's my point. I trust you. It's the crazies in the world that I don't. And whoever is working corruption out of the DA's office isn't sane."

I jumped to my feet, determined to not let this go. I could argue all day if necessary. After sharing a bathroom with other models, I had a master's degree in it.

But before I could defend my stance again, he said, "I also don't want to spook Rocco by bringing in anyone else. Especially
CPS
," he said, doing meaningful air quotes.

Oh, he figured that one out, too, huh? He was starting to know me better than I thought. That made part of me very happy. The other part, however, knew I'd have to vary my sneakiness in the future.

"These are truly bad guys. Stay out of it, Jamie."

Then just as quickly as he appeared, he turned and left my office.

I stood in that spot, replaying everything I'd just learned. The feeling of relief that Aiden truly and officially wore the white hat flooded me. I knew it. Sorta. Thing was, though, Aiden may be
too
good. He had a lot more faith in Rocco than I did. Rocco could just as easily be setting Aiden up to take the fall for Miranda's dealings, or worse yet, to conveniently disappear. After all, Aiden just admitted he was the only one who knew anything about this connection.

There was no way I'd just continue to spy on cheating spouses and let Aiden possibly walk into a trap. No, I needed a plan. One that was foolproof. And if I'd learned anything in my two careers, it was that when working with most men, they enjoyed the simple things in life. Fine women and fine alcohol. Since getting Rocco drunk would be beyond difficult, I opted for option one.

I pulled up my contacts on my phone and dialed the first one listed.

Nothing like asking for help from a couple of old friends.

"Hello?" said a voice with a distinctive Valley Girl accent.

"Apple? It's Jamie."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"And how do you plan on doing this?" Maya asked, while I reorganized my purse.

Hey, some tasks couldn't be put off.

"It's simple. I'm going to get Candy and Apple to cozy up to Vega, get him to proposition them." In my early days with the agency, I'd gone undercover at a strip club called the Spotted Pony to bust a cheating husband. While the undercover work wasn't going on my official resume any time soon, I had managed to befriend two of the dancers who worked at the Pony. Candy and Apple were always up for a little side job, and rarely asked too many questions. "The cops," I went on, "will be watching and bust him for solicitation. When they do, he calls his friend in the DA's office for help to get the minor charge dropped. They'll have it on tape that Miranda is helping Vega, and everyone is happy."

I pulled an empty, snack-sized bag of Cheetos from my purse and threw it into my trash.

"And you have the police in your back pocket?" Maya asked.

I smirked. "Not exactly. The
cops
are actually going to be me and Sam. And the charge is bogus. But I'm sure if we play it right, we can get the confession on tape."

That was what I hoped anyway. I didn't know what Vega's type was, but Candy and Apple had the attributes most men admired. Candy was curvy and luscious with double D's, or maybe they were G's, F's. How big did boobs come? Apple, on the other hand, was not as curvy but she had an ample bottom (probably the reason for her name) and was very athletic. Her thighs…well, I'd swear she could use them to crack walnuts. One of the women had to appeal to him.

Reaching the bottom of my bag, I shook out crumbs and salt granules.

"Of course, phase one is getting Candy and Apple to Vega. Unfortunately the only way to him that I know about is through the car shop." I took a deep breath. "I'll have to go back."

"Is that a wise choice? Your face is still a bit yellow around the edges."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." But I wasn't as confident as I let on.

I gathered my things, shoved them back into my purse, and headed toward the front door. Just as I was about to grab the knob, it opened and Elaine walked in.

Crap, this wasn't the time.

I contemplated charging past her, muttering an excuse behind me. But after drinks, I couldn't do that to her. And she didn't look right. Her hair needed a comb. Her eyes were bloodshot from too little sleep or too much crying. Was Derek really worth crying over? She must've really loved him. Poor woman.

She widened her eyes upon seeing me. "Oh thank goodness I caught you, Jamie. I really need to talk to you."

I glanced over my shoulder, looking for a legit way out of this, something more than "I gotta go," but it was just me and her. "I'm on my way out. Can it wait?"