Eleven

My anger seethed all the way back to Phoenix. I didn’t care about the heavy clouds, rain, and turbulence we had to fly through to land in Gateway Airport. How dare Taylor use me in such a way? Every time I thought about being chased Wednesday night and how it could’ve ended with my death, my temper grew hotter. Whatever sick game she was playing would cost her. I planned on keeping the rest of her retainer for combat pay.

Jace kept quiet all the way home, too. He didn’t try to calm me down, or tell me ‘I told you so’. He let me have my space. I'd believed Taylor. I wanted to believe the best in her. But how could I now, in face of the information Bullet uncovered?

We arrived at my house shortly before nine p.m. Sitting at the curb were two extra cars. Bullet, Pierce and Lia were waiting for us. When I opened the front door, I found Taylor in the family room, sitting on the couch with the TV on, and her laptop on her knees. I dumped my bag on the floor before storming over to her.

“You lied to me!” I thought I did a good job keeping the venom out of my voice.

Taylor looked from me to Jace standing behind me, then she gave each of the others in the room a cursory glance before answering. I could almost hear the well-greased little wheels in her brain spinning and losing traction as she tried to figure out which part of her web had come undone. “I don’t know what you mean, Max.”

“Those threatening emails came from your own computer,” I said, raising my voice for emphasis. “You set yourself up for the publicity, and you used me to bolster your story.”

“No—no they didn’t.”

“You’re blackmailing Burdette into backing your new show. His affair with Abigail would kill his marriage and you know it. That’s as dirty as you can get, and you expect us to believe you don’t know where these emails came from?”

Taylor’s head bobbed back fast enough it bounced off the cushion. Her breathing increased, too. “He told you abou—he said that?” She sat up, slamming the laptop lid closed.

“They’re from you, Taylor.” I thrust my finger at her. “From your own computer!”

“No, they’re not. I swear!”

I reached for the laptop. “Show us your computer—”

She hugged the device to her chest. “No! I have private emails on this. It’s new.”

“New?” Pierce asked, speaking up for the first time. “What have you done with your old laptop? It’ll still be registered in your name.”

Taylor shook her head, gasping in soft breaths, her eyes lost contact with anyone in the room. “I…I gave it to my sister.”

“Your sister?” Pierce asked.

“Do you mean your sorority sister?” I asked, remembering the young assistant Lemon mentioned.

Taylor shook her head again, slower this time. “No, my younger sister, Beth. She’s…” She gasped and sank back deeper in the cushion. “Oh no. Not my Beth.”

“Where is she? I asked.

“Here, in Phoenix. She’s going to the university…” Taylor said, her voice trailing off as tears glistened in her eyes.

I blew out a slow breath. My anger was gone. That emotion was replaced by something else. But the closest I could get to sympathy for Taylor was pity. Even she didn’t deserve to be shot at. “This ends tonight. Taylor, I need your sister’s phone number.”

She nodded as she lifted her phone from next to her leg. I saw the recording app appear briefly on the screen before she switched to her contact list. She’d recorded our confrontation? I wanted that phone for ten minutes. I looked over my shoulder at Pierce. He gave me a slight nod. Had he seen it too? I imputed the number Taylor had for Beth Ann Hodges.

“Taylor, you stay here. I’m going to have a conference with Beth in my office. We’ll get this straightened out. Everything will be okay.” I turned and headed to the door, grabbing my bag before leaving the house. All four of my investigators followed me, as I expected them to do. I locked Taylor securely inside.

Before getting inside Jace’s car, I turned to my team. Nobody moved even though it was beginning to rain again. Thunder rumbled in the distance. “Okay, plan A is to call Beth and have her come to my office. I think once she knows Taylor knows what she’s doing, she won’t bother her sister any longer. We also can find out what car she has registered in her name. Jace can you take care of that?”

“I can,” he said.

“Is there a plan B?” Bullet asked.

I nodded. “We call the police and have Beth arrested for terroristic threats and help Taylor get an order of protection.” I gazed back at the door and shivered as my shirt began to get saturated. Rain wet my face. “Either way, we’ll find out tonight if Beth is the one behind these events, or not.”

~*~

I sat in my executive chair with my phone lying on the desk in speakerphone mode. Jace, Bullet, Pierce, and Lia were standing around the room, watching me. The ring tone sounded loud as it reverberated in the silent office air. One ring. Two rings—and then another.

“Hello?”

“Hello. My name is Maxine Larabee. Is this Beth?”

“Um, yes.”

“Good. Beth, we have something important to discuss with you about your sister, Taylor. Can you come to my office tonight? I’ll text you the address.”

“What’s this about?”

I gazed at Jace. “It’s about the emails you’ve sent her—threatening her life.”

Her gasp through the phone was audible. “She—she knows?”

That was a confession if I ever heard one. “Beth, things will be okay. Please, come to my office and we can work through this.” I sent her the text with our address. “Beth? Please? Taylor wants to clear things up with you. Are you willing?”

“I…I can be there in about forty-five minutes.” The line went quiet before I heard three soft beeps. She’d hung up.

“You’re not going to have Taylor here, are you?” Jace asked as he sat down in the chair closest to the door.

“No. I’m not telling her about Beth’s confession yet, either.”

“That little girl isn’t very good at keepin' a secret,” Bullet said, taking his usual seat near the window. Pierce and Lia took the couch, like they’d done so many times during our meetings.

“She’s young,” I said. “And she’s probably angry with Taylor. We just need to find out why. Maybe we can solve their problems.”

“And maybe you can’t,” Lia said quietly. “Not everything has a ready solution. Some issues are etched too deep and can’t be rubbed way with a little honey-laced sweet talk.”

“Lia’s right,” Willow said from the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her. She must’ve taken that as an invitation to come inside.

“Lia and Pierce left from dinner to meet you at your house—to confront Taylor. You see, I’m their aunt. I’ve raised them since they were ten years old.”

“I didn’t know.” Harry had hired Willow to replace me. I was left out of the loop. Besides that, both Lia and Pierce used their ASU apartment as their addresses on their application.

“I knew,” Jace said quietly. I shook my head at him. “I investigated them before you hired them—that’s how I found out about Willow being their guardian.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked Jace more than anyone else. But Willow chose to answer me.

“We kept it a secret because we didn’t want my working here to influence you into hiring them.”

“But why would that…” I didn’t finish that thought. She was right. Knowing Willow was related certainly would’ve had a positive impact on my decision. I loved Willow. She was a wonderful woman, willing to do anything I needed or wanted her to. She was especially helpful after Harry died. “I’m glad I hired them.”

“So am I,” Willow said, going to sit next to her niece. When she slid her arm around Lia’s shoulders, she frowned. “You’re wet.”

“We were taking a meeting in the rain.” I got up. “Has it stopped?”

Willow nodded. “At least for now. But there’s plenty of lightning. I don’t think the storm’s over.”

I couldn’t stop the sigh. Tired was an understatement to how I was feeling. Beat. Exhausted. Dead on my feet. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep for twelve hours. After I talked with Beth, I planned on doing just that.

“Lia, you can use the hairdryer after me.” I headed to the bathroom, but I’d noticed how wet Jace’s shirt was, too. Logically, everyone would need to use the only dryer in the office. With the dampness of my shirt along with my wet hair, I’d felt chilly since coming into the air-conditioned building. I leaned over and let the hot air blow through my hair, drying it in a few minutes. The heat made quick work of the front of my wet shirt.

“Your back is still wet,” Jace said, pressing his hand on the small of my back. “Give me the dryer.”

He’d snuck into the bathroom without my noticing him. I moved my hand around and felt the back of my shirt, not because I didn’t believe him, but to shoo his hand away from me. Since he’d accepted my offer of partnership, he’d been more attentive. I handed him the dryer and moved my hair to the front of my shoulders. I watched his face through the mirror. He looked so intense, and seriously adorable.

“Is she done yet?” Bullet asked in an obviously whiney voice. I saw his face edge its way into the reflection. “A brother can’t go around looking like a drowned rat.”

Jace clicked off the dryer, smiling. “And what would be different, exactly?”

Bullet ran his hand along his short beard. “I’m always stylin’, man.”

“Max—” Willow struggled her way between Bullet and Jace. “Taylor just came in.”

“What? No! I should’ve left Lia with her.” I pushed past Jace and found Taylor standing in my office. “I told you to stay at my house.”

Taylor threw her shoulders back. “I need to talk to Beth.”

“How did you get inside the building?” I rushed to my desk to retrieve my phone. I pressed the button to check if I had a message, in case Beth had changed her mind about coming. No news, not even from Taylor letting me know she was coming up to the office. I would’ve told her absolutely no.

“The door wasn’t locked.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Willow said. “I must’ve forgotten to lock it.”

We had about thirty minutes before Beth arrived, and I had to get Taylor out of the way. “Come on,” I said, taking my keys and grabbing her by the arm. “You’re going back to my place. Did you come by taxi?” I had a taxi service in my contact list.

“Why can’t I stay? She’s my sister. I deserve to have some answers.”

“First of all, we don’t know for sure she’s done anything.” That wasn’t the truth, but if I’d told Taylor that Beth basically confessed, I’d never get her out of the way. “That’s why I need to interview her. You’ll only complicate things.”

The resistance I’d felt pushing her through the reception room ceased. “I…I guess I understand.”

I was able to call a ride for her before we made it down to the lobby. The elevator doors slid apart. We stepped out into the hallway leading to the front doors, but we weren’t alone.

“Beth…” Taylor whispered.