CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
the time Javi had revived the club goers in the back room, the sun was high in the sky and I was in desperate need of coffee and some breakfast. I wanted to see Brooke. I dialed her number and was surprised when she actually picked up.
"What's up, Malone?" she said in a rushed tone.
"Just needed some breakfast after a rough morning and was wondering if you might join me," I said casually.
"As legal counsel or something else?" she asked in the direct way that made me very aware of the fact that she'd started something that we weren't going to be able to finish over breakfast.
"Legal counsel, of course," I said as I rolled my eyes and grinned.
"Don't roll your eyes when you say that," she shot back. "I can hear it."
"Sheesh, you are one tough cookie," I said.
"You seem to keep forgetting that it's my job to keep you from being sent to prison for a murder you didn't commit," she said dryly. "I need to be tough."
"Of course you do," I replied. "Breakfast?"
"Where and when?"
"Meet me at the LID in twenty minutes," I said before adding, "I've got information that might help the case."
"See you in a bit," she said and disconnected. I stood there staring at my phone shaking my head. Brooke Raines was something else.
When she walked into the diner twenty minutes later, I grinned as I saw that she was still wearing the clothes I'd removed from her body a few hours before.
"Stop looking at me like that," she ordered as she slid into the booth and picked up a menu.
"I ordered you coffee," I said as the server put the steaming hot mug in front of her and asked if we were ready to order. Brooke nodded and proceeded to order and I added mine to it. "Sheesh, order the left half of the menu why don't you?
"Very funny, I'm hungry," she said as she sipped her coffee carefully. "In case you forgot, last night was a busy night."
"Oh, I remember, all right," I said as I eyed her appreciatively.
"What do you have for me?" she asked, brushing me off in favor of maintaining a professional distance. I told her about the situation at the club and what had happened, except that I omitted Javi and the club goers in the back room. "So, don't you have people drinking too much on a regular basis? It doesn't sound like much of an emergency to me."
I looked at her and realized that this was the moment when I either told her the truth or I hid everything. If I hid things, I was most likely going to go down for Lydia's murder and the thought of never seeing Brooke again, never holding her against me or doing things that made her moan with pleasure, well, that was a little more than I could take. So I took a deep breath and began speaking.
It took me almost an hour to tell Brooke everything, and to her credit, she listened patiently and asked questions when she didn't understand the scope of something. I told her the history of my organization and how the club was the cover for our other business, while also carefully explaining the background and scope of it. When I finished, I looked at her and waited for her to speak.
"Okay, I'm glad you told me this," she said as she signaled the server for more coffee. "I'm not sure how we're going to deal with it in the case because it puts a whole new spin on the reasons why you might have wanted Lydia dead. But I got some new information this morning and I think maybe I might have a lead on who actually committed the murder."
"Oh? What's that?" I asked wondering what the cops had come up with now.
"This is a copy of the message that came into the office fax this morning sometime between eight and eight fifteen," she said as she handed me a sheet of paper with three drawings on it and the words “You're next” underneath the drawings.
I looked at Brooke and then back down at the drawings before I pulled out my wallet and threw a wad of cash on the table and stood up. I looked down at her as I felt the rage rising in my chest and said, "I will take care of this." Then, without saying another word, I turned and marched out of the diner and back to the club.
No one was going to threaten Brooke. Not if I had anything to say about it.