Playing the Game (27 page)

“Okay. Stargazing it is. But only for a few minutes. It’s very cold out,” she said as she led him through the dining room and kitchen to the back deck. She figured Paul could use a dose of brisk air. Tim and Laura were in the kitchen, and when Roxanne glanced over her shoulder to say she’d be back in a few minutes, she held her tongue. They were locked in an embrace and engaged in a steamy kiss that caused her to smile inside. She silently pulled the French doors closed behind her, and joined Paul at the railing of the deck. The cold air made her shiver but it didn’t seem to bother him as they both gazed out at the ocean.

“You’ve got a million dollar view here, you know.” He turned to look at her. He sounded much more sober now than she originally thought him to be. The tingling of the hairs on her arms must have been from the icy air. But maybe not. She didn’t enjoy being out on her deck the way she used to—since Don’s death. And this man made her uncomfortable. Roxanne finally admitted that fact to herself. She wasn’t at all pleased by his attention to her and she didn’t know why. Normally she appreciated men who appreciated her. But not now. Not Paul Paris.

“It’s colder out here than I thought. I’m going back inside.” Roxanne hugged herself. Not waiting for his response, she brushed past him and reached for the door.

Paul stopped her. Grabbing onto her elbow, he swung her around and into his arms. He held her tight, pushing her back against the deck railing. “I can keep you warm. In fact, I’d love to keep you warm all night.” He kissed her with open hunger.

Roxanne felt the cold rail against her back. A tingle of panic ran through her body, racing toward her mind. She imagined Don falling over this railing and crashing onto the rocks below. The scene came to life so vividly in her mind, even though she hadn’t been there, that fear welled up and the thrust of her shove against Paul was powerful enough to knock him back a step. She stifled a scream and stared at him, at first surprised not to see Don in front of her. What was wrong with her? Of course it wasn’t Don. Don was dead and she would never have to push him away again. She had rejected him one too many times. And in a flash came the stinging realization that she couldn’t be guiltier of his death had she actually been here that night and shoved him over the side.

She bowed her head and buried her face in her hands, digging down deep for the presence not to let the tears escape.

“Are you all right? I’m sorry…I thought…” Paul took a step toward her again.

She evaded him and went to the door to step back inside. When she entered the kitchen she came face to face with Barry Dennis. There was ice in the blue of his eyes. Seeing him was like receiving a calming slap in her face. All hints of her hysteria were gone and her balance returned as if he stopped her world from shaking.

Paul came in the door behind her and began to put an arm around her. Roxanne pushed him away more sharply than she should have. So much for her poise.

“I’ll get you some coffee, Paul.” She stepped away from him and closer to Barry. She smiled at Barry in an attempt to erase that too-cool look from his face, which she realized was mostly being leveled at Paul Paris. She darted a glance back at Paul to see that his return stare was equally cold.

“Don’t bother with coffee for me. I’m not ready to call it a night yet. I think I’ll have another drink.” Paul spoke to her, but looked at Barry. Then he turned and moved in her direction with a suggestive smile. “Roxy, why don’t you come and join me? We didn’t have our dance yet.”

Roxanne felt Barry stiffen. She saw Barry’s jaw clench. He put an arm around her and attempted a relaxed pose before he spoke, staring unerringly into Paul’s eyes. She recognized his game face.

“Maybe you didn’t realize. Roxanne is my date tonight.” Barry smiled through clenched teeth, only succeeding in making himself look like a growling animal.

“That’s true. Barry and I haven’t even had a chance to dance yet,” Roxanne said. She was not enjoying this and hoped to ease the tension.

“One dance won’t matter.” Paul challenged Barry.

“Yes, it will.” He drew her closer. “You heard her. Find someone else. You seem to be making it a habit of going after what’s mine,” Barry said.

Now the issue was out in the open. Barry gripped her shoulder more tightly.

“That’s what you’d like to think. But your ex-wife was sorry she ever met you. And Lindy, well, she’s never been yours, has she?”

Barry refused to speak. The man had to be drunk. He clenched one fist and held onto Roxanne harder. But Paul continued his taunting.

“You’re not even claiming your own daughter now. If it wasn’t for me—and Roxanne—Lindy would be all alone.”

“That’s enough, Paul,” Roxanne said, her voice hard.

She was angry on Barry’s behalf and the knowledge exhilarated him. And unleashed his own anger. “Get the hell out of here. And don’t bother going to see Lindy again. I’ll get a restraining order.” Barry didn’t bother to think.

“You would do that, wouldn’t you?” Paul sneered.

“Yes. I would. I am a bastard.”

He watched the man turn red and could see the instant he snapped. Pulling back a balled fist, Paul let it go and slammed him in the midsection before he could sidestep the punch. The force was enough to knock him back against the counter.

“Paul! Are you crazy?” Roxanne was knocked aside and looked between them, stunned.

Barry glared at the man. The arm he’d been holding Roxanne with now clamped his stomach and he was slightly bent over. Dr. Oki approached from the other side of the kitchen to appear next to Roxanne. But before anyone had a chance to do or say another thing, Barry recovered. He straightened himself up and launched a blow that landed squarely on Paul’s jaw and knocked him backward to the floor with a cry of pain.

Roxanne’s hands flew to her face. She looked up at Barry and back at Paul. She could hardly believe the scene before her. Dr. Oki rushed to the man on the floor. Roxanne looked back up at Barry to see him flexing his fingers and then straightening his tie. She couldn’t blame him for taking the shot—but on the other hand, she was appalled. And speechless. She went to the refrigerator and with her hands shaking, took a bag of ice from the freezer and brought it to Dr. Oki. She knelt beside him.

“I’m sure he’ll live,” Barry said.

She looked up at him. His face was calm.

“You’re right about that,” Dr. Oki stood as he spoke. “But he’s out cold and he won’t be doing much chewing for the next couple of months. His jaw’s broken.”

Roxanne stood and watched Barry smile with satisfaction. Then he met her stare and his smile was undiminished. Laura, who held the ice to Paul’s face, gave Barry an admonishing look.

“Laura, can you help me find some volunteers to move him into the guest room? I’ll have Bonnie get him a taxi to the hospital. I don’t think he needs an ambulance, right Doc?” Roxanne didn’t know what to say to Barry. She was sure he was hurting from Paul’s accusations. And she could see that his hand was bruised and swelling.

“No ambulance needed,” Dr. Oki said. The doctor smiled and looked up at Barry with a suppressed grin. “Your hand okay?”

Barry’s arms were folded across his chest. “Fucking wonderful.” He didn’t remove the hand from its tucked position to allow examination. Roxanne knew it probably hurt like hell but he seemed to be in a particularly macho mood at the moment. Laura stood.

“What did you hit him for anyway?” Laura asked Barry as she brushed past him.

“He hit me first.”

“Of course.” Laura threw up her hands and shook her head on her way out the door.

Roxanne tried to stay cool, noting the indignant look on Barry’s face.

“Don’t worry about Laura. She has a little trouble with this macho stuff.” She didn’t bother to keep the edge from her voice.

“Is that what you think it is?”

Before Roxanne could respond, Paul was sitting and calling for her. She turned to him.

“I’m out of here.” Barry walked from the room. Heaving a sigh, Roxanne reassured Paul and saw him to the guest room. She left Paul, hoping to catch up with Barry. She rushed to the front hall.

He stood there with his coat on, buttoning his last button. “Good night,” he said. He reached for the door handle.

“Does this mean I’ll have to take filet of Barry Dennis off my menu for the evening?” Roxanne strived for her teasing tone, but she heard the anxious edge in her own voice.

“Right now I feel like you’ve already chewed me up and spit me out.”

“If I have, I don’t recall it.” She moved to the door to stand in front of him, stopping him on the threshold with a caress of his chin. She didn’t want him to leave. But she decided she had nothing to apologize for. “Are you sure I can’t change your mind?” She gave him her best seductive smile, determined that her disappointment wouldn’t show through. He paused, staring back into her eyes with his piercing blue ones. She wasn’t so sure that he didn’t see through her act.

“No. I may regret it in the morning, but at least I’ll be in one piece.” He removed the scowl from his face, finally treating her to his signature grin, and she automatically smiled back. She knew he’d seen through her, but she felt helpless to stop her eager response to his smile. She better watch her behavior. She was not acting cool and controlled at all. But then that was probably because she didn’t feel cool and controlled—at all.

“I’ll let you leave unscathed. This time.” She stood on her toes and kissed his lopsided lips, then bounced back down on her heels. He stood staring, watching her. She felt unnerved. She almost had to say something more, but instead he did.

“I’m hardly leaving unscathed.” His smile was gone and he continued to stare her in the eyes as if he had something to add. She waited. Her anticipation surely showed in her face. But he turned and shoved through the door into the night without another word.

She used every ounce of her self-control to keep herself from calling after him. Of course he was referring to his hand and the punch in the gut he took from Paul when he made that last comment. But she couldn’t convince herself of that. She slowly turned back to the party.

Chapter 14

PI MELVIN Lipman called Penelope on the phone this time. He had hot information. But Penelope insisted they talk in person. She insisted he bring a complete report.

“I have a signed statement from a solid witness,” he said, handing the folder over. The excitement was in her eyes, but she didn’t open the folder. She led them to two chairs by the window and sat with exaggerated decorum.

“Tell me about it, Mr. Lipman. Briefly.” There was only the hint of a smile on her lips.

“It seems that Roxanne and Don had a very public argument at a party a couple of months before Don’s death. There were dozens of witnesses. Two of them were particularly cooperative and vocal. It seems Ms. Monet had been flirting and Don caught her in a clinch. He tried to drag her home, but she wouldn’t budge and had some words to say, apparently not caring who heard them. Don yelled back. They both made various threats. She promised divorce and he promised death. Pretty dramatic stuff. Had the whole party in a tizzy. Of course their separation followed shortly thereafter.” Melvin noticed Penelope turn pink and then white during his summation of events. He also noted the beads of sweat on her upper lip.

“A motive could be established. Not greed, but something more powerful. We could make a strong case that she had another love interest and wanted out of the marriage. It was obvious he wasn’t going to cooperate with a divorce. At the very least we could propose a possible scenario—an argument with an ensuing fight where she pushed him off the deck.” He paused and thought about whether he should voice the possibility that Roxanne had pushed him in self-defense, but decided in the interest of retaining his job he’d keep that to himself. “Second degree murder.”

“I spoke with the coroner. Accidental death was never established strongly enough to stand up at an inquest. We can convince him to reevaluate,” Penelope said. “In the meantime, you work on loosening her ironclad alibi. Then we’ll go to the police again. They’ll re-open the case for further investigation into a possible murder.”

“Sorry about the house.” Melvin said. She winced. Melvin knew she’d never get the house.

“That was only a minor setback. The real victory will be seeing her thrown in jail.”

“Still it’s a valuable property.”

“You’ll find that I don’t dwell long on defeat.” She stood and dismissed him.

But Melvin couldn’t help the feeling that there was more here than she was telling him about. Things didn’t add up. The death might not be accidental, but he doubted the woman murdered her husband. It seemed unlikely from a physics perspective alone.

But then if Penelope Boswell didn’t care about the truth, why should he? Still, it was hard to quell his natural curiosity about what really happened. He shrugged. Occupational hazard. He always wanted to know the real answer.

Roxanne strolled into his office with a carefree smile on her face. Her special fund-raising campaign had finally got off the ground.

“Finally,” Al said.

“Let me enjoy the reprieve, Al. things are looking up today. So what’s the business we needed to talk about?”

“Sit. You remember I filed for a dismissal of Penelope’s suit trying to claim the house was part of her estate? Well we got the dismissal. The only problem is her lawyers filed another lawsuit.”

“What? What kind of lawsuit?” She had a bad feeling about this judging from the grim look on Al’s face. She sat back in her chair and felt the muscles in her shoulders tensing.

“She filed a wrongful death claim against you. She’s suing you in civil court for Don’s death. The media already has the story.”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. All the oxygen escaped instead and she felt lightheaded.

“Don’t worry about the suit—no judge is going to take this seriously. I’m having another motion to dismiss put together as we speak. But the press is going to have a field day. I’m sorry. It would be impossible to put your house on the market right now. When the suit is dismissed and the story blows over…”