Sex, Lies and Midnight (17 page)

Stupid. He wasn’t her real boyfriend. Hell, she’d paid him to play make believe. Sure, they’d had some fabulously delicious sex. But that wasn’t a commitment.

The key to a good con was threefold. First, keep it simple. Second, stay on track. And third, always walk away when it was over. Always. Greed and distraction were the death knell to many a brilliant plan.

The white hot, vicious jealousy clawing at her guts could only be labeled greedy and distracting. And she needed to get over it or she’d blow the deal.

She hated this feeling. Was there anything worse than jealousy? Especially jealousy over Lilah Gomez, acting true to form and trying to steal yet another of Maya’s guys away.

Being dipped in boiling oil might be worse. Having her hair ripped out by the roots. Wearing ugly shoes.

But that was about it.

So what was she going to do about it? Maya tried to get past the painful burning behind her eyes and the tight ball of misery in her belly and think.

And once her mind was clear, she’d figure out what was going on with her father. Find a way to save him from whatever mess he’d made of his life. That was her priority. It had to be.

Because clearly, counting on Simon was out of the question.

Dammit.

SIMON HAD SPENT A LOT of his life undercover. He’d worked cases that brought him into contact with the dregs of society. His average workday was spent with crooks and cons and liars. But never had any of that given him a bigger headache than he had now.

All he’d been able to think about as he drove from property to property to see if they were potential storages sites for the stolen weapons was that he was betraying Maya.

He was almost grateful for the distraction Lilah had offered when she’d practically pounced on him when he’d parked in the town square.

Almost.

“Why don’t I show you the rest of the town?” she offered with a flutter of her lashes. “We even have a couple of decent restaurants, if you don’t mind small-town fare.”

The disdain in her tone made Simon wonder why a woman like her was still in Black Oak. It obviously wasn’t town pride. And given the way she was pressing her breast against his bicep, he doubted it was love for her much older boyfriend.

Still, she could be useful.

“I did want to stop in and see Tobias’s motorcycle shop. Maybe you can show me the way?”

“Of course. It’s just around the corner. We can walk and talk, and you can tell me what the story is between you and Maya. Have you been dating long? Is this just a casual thing or are you serious?”

“Serious,” Simon said quickly, figuring that’d get her to let go of his body. “Really serious.”

Instead of letting go, though, she gave a satisfied smile and leaned in closer. “Isn’t that interesting? It’s kinda funny, but over the years in most of Maya’s relationships I end up with her guys. I don’t even try. They just sort of gravitate to me. Isn’t that funny?”

Funny? That Maya had gone through high school with her best friend trying to steal her boyfriends, and now glomming on to her father? Simon looked down at the gleeful ego shining in the woman’s eyes and considered all the ways he could use this.

Then, breathing in the cloying sweetness of her perfume, he decided it just wasn’t worth it. He could get plenty of info through other sources. Ones that wouldn’t hurt Maya.

He’d worry about the fact that his priority had shifted from climbing the career ladder to protecting Maya later.

“The bike shop is just there, around the corner. I’ll give you the grand tour, okay? I’m sort of the unofficial hostess there now. Given that Tobias and I are, well, you know.”

“What exactly are you?” he prodded, figuring this was one question Maya wouldn’t mind him asking.

“At the moment, we’re keeping company,” she said with a look that made that sound the equivalent of shooting porn. “But I have a feeling we’ll be a lot more soon.”

Maya would love that. Simon’s smile was a little sick around the edges. The only thing that kept him from grimacing was that she’d just waved her hand toward a building with a large Harley sign and three bikes parked in front of it.

“Come on in. I’ll introduce you to everyone. Tobias is gone this morning, he had to make a delivery.”

What kind of delivery was Tobias making? When had he changed his M.O. from cons to guns? The only way Simon was going get answers was to poke around and subtly ask the right questions.

His eyes widened when he stepped into the motorcycle shop. Whatever Tobias was doing, it was obviously paying well. The store was impressive. Huge framed prints of custom Harleys flanked the walls, interspersed with neon signs. Eight bikes, shiny and bright, were parked around the showroom floor and a long leather counter spanned one wall.

The
everyone
Lilah introduced him to turned out to be Jason, the sales manager and Lucas, the mechanic. Both, Simon estimated, in their early thirties. Jason had that pseudo edgy thing going on: a couple of trendy tattoos, a leather vest and a hundred-dollar haircut. He greeted them with a big grin and a lot of friendly chatter, looking curious about the boss’s girlfriend showing up with another man, but not surprised.

“Simon is dating Toby’s daughter,” Lilah explained, making it sound like he was sacrificing himself for some noble cause. “She’s all tied up with family stuff, so I’m playing hostess.”

“Whoa, Maya’s back in town? I remember her from school. She was a few years behind me, but man was she a hottie,” Jason exclaimed, looking toward the large plate glass window fronting the store as if he’d see her waving outside. Then he gave Simon an appreciative grin. “Dude, nice taste.”

“Thanks,” Simon murmured, watching Lilah pout. “So how about you show me the rest of the place? Any cool bikes being renovated?”

Lilah had to swallow a couple of times while glaring at Jason, but finally she jerked her head toward a door toward the back of the showroom.

Lucas wasn’t as mellow about Simon’s presence. Whether it was loyalty to his boss, or his own crush on Lilah, he had nothing but glares and monosyllables for them.

“Lucas is Tobias’s right-hand man,” Lilah said, trailing her fingers over the mechanic’s shoulder as he bent to work on a bike. “He’s been here for almost six months now and is a brilliant mechanic.”

“Right-hand man in only six months. That’s impressive.”

Lucas shot Simon a glare out of the corner of his eye, then jerked his shoulder. “What’s the deal? You shouldn’t be bringing strange guys back here. Not with the boss away.”

“Simon isn’t strange. He’s dating Tobias’s daughter.”

That worked like a stamp of approval. Lucas chilled out enough to answer Simon’s random-seeming questions. In the meantime, Simon cased the room. As wide as the showroom, but twice as deep, this was clearly the heart of the operation.

Before he could do more than a visual inspection, Lilah scooted herself up on a stack of crates and swung her feet so her heels banged against the wood.

“Hey, watch it,” Lucas yelped, jumping to his feet. “That stuff in there is valuable.”

“Fine,” she huffed with a glare. Hopping to her feet, she warned, “Don’t think I’m not telling Tobias that you’re being a jerk to me, though.”

“Those parts are custom-ordered chrome parts and I’m on a deadline to get these bikes done. Don’t think he’s gonna worry that you had to sit somewhere else so I could finish on time.”

Still, Simon’s antenna was buzzing.

The intercom rang, then Jason’s voice came over a speaker. “Lilah, we’ve got a customer that’d like to test ride one of the bikes. I can’t get away right now. You up for showing him the route? Bring Lucas out. The guy has a lot of questions about custom features and the condition of his soft tail for a trade-in.”

“Could this shop run without me?” Lilah wondered with a put-upon sigh. Then she inclined her head toward the door and gave Simon an arch look. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. After I take this guy on a test ride, you can try out a bike. I’ll bet you can handle a whole lot of power.”

While Lucas rolled his eyes, Simon unobtrusively slipped his hand into the pocket of his jeans and pushed a button on his phone. Five seconds later, it chimed.

He made a show of pulling it out and checking the display, then grimaced and looked at the other two. “You don’t mind if I take this, do you? It’s important. And, you know, private.”

Lilah frowned. Simon wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t want to leave him alone or because she thought it might be Maya on the phone and she wanted to stir up trouble.

“Lucas!” Jason yelled.

“Don’t touch anything,” Lucas mumbled, wiping his hands on a red rag and tossing it toward a tall toolbox before skulking out the door.

Lilah hesitated, glancing from the door to Simon and back. Then, with a little shrug, she followed Lucas.

Simon waited, counting to ten. Then with one eye on the door they’d gone through, he stepped toward the three small crates. A pry bar lay across the top one, having been used to loosen the nails. But it didn’t look like the lid had been removed yet.

His phone still tucked to his ear as if he were on an actual call, Simon shifted the lid and looked inside. Straw-colored packing material and a whole lot of chrome.

Then something darker, denser, caught his gaze.

His heart sped up. Muscles tightened and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

Well, well.
Eyes narrowed, Simon shook his head. Talk about luck. Crazy luck. He’d hoped to find something to incriminate Black.

But this had been much easier than he’d expected.

Maybe a little too easy.

He poked his finger at the packing material, careful not to touch any of the metal and leave a fingerprint.

Packed in there between the shiny chrome mufflers and tailpipes was dense black metal. Simon glanced around, then grabbed a pencil off a nearby toolbox. A quick check toward the showroom and he could hear Lilah and Lucas laughing and talking to the customer. He hurried back to the crate, and using the pencil, he lifted one of the black pieces of metal out.

Yep.

Black really was running guns. Automatic lower receivers for what, at first glance, Simon figured was an M4 machine gun. The upper part of the gun was easily obtainable and legal. But a fully automatic lower receiver, the part that regulated whether one or forty bullets could be released at once? Totally illegal, in all fifty states. Especially California.

Knowing his time was limited, Simon poked through the packing material with the pencil, counting at least six lower receivers mixed in with motorcycle parts.

Suddenly, Lilah’s voice grew louder. She was coming back. Using the pry bar, Simon lifted the metal. He tugged the sleeve of his jacket down over the fingers of his left hand and laid the receiver across the fabric, committing the serial number to memory.

Then he tossed it back in the crate, fluffed the packing straw and shifted the lid back in place. He’d just set the pry bar on top when she cleared the doorway.

“Yeah, thanks,” he said into his dead phone, pacing with his back to Lilah as if he didn’t notice her return. “I’ll check with Maya and see what she thinks and get back to you.”

He pushed a button on his phone and slid it into his pocket, turning at the same time and making a show of being surprised to see her.

“Hi,” she trilled from her perch by the door. “Did you miss me?”

Since there was no polite response, he just smiled and gestured to the window and the alley beyond. “I was checking out the fancy stained glass. Moons and suns and stars. That’s Pandora’s place, isn’t it?”

Lilah wrinkled her nose toward the window, then shrugged. “Sure. Those are the café windows. She claims her food is an aphrodisiac. I’m not saying I believe that, but maybe it’d be a fun little experiment, hmm?”

Was she really coming on to him? Simon’s ego wasn’t big enough to think it was anything personal. More like a swipe at Maya. But still, she was in and out of this shop. She was tight with Tobias. And she seemed to have somewhat fluid morals. All of which meant she could probably fill him in on the guns. Like confirming where Tobias had got them, pointing the way to who they were being sold. And if rumor around town were true, what Tobias’s tie-in with the recently busted drug ring was.