Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (17 page)

I drove. I almost hoped the traffic would be heavy because my stomach did little flips all the way
over
there, but traffic was light,
and
the rush hour
was
long over by the time we put our plan together.

"Hey, do the two sexy cop dudes know we're doing this?" asked Lily, peering into the little mirror to swipe on an extra layer of lipstick.

"Not exactly," I said, adding, "
s
trictly speaking, no. And only one of them is a sexy cop dude."

"What do we call the other one?"

I thought about Solomon. How could anyone categorize Solomon?

"Prince of Sexy Darkness
?
" suggested Lily.

"Too much of a mouthful."

"Huh
-
huh," giggled Lily and I rolled my eyes. "How do you know they haven't already been through Dean's place?" Her eyes opened wide. "Maybe his body is there."

I shook my head. "Nope. Maddox said the cops went through the place. No body."

Lily looked disappointed. "So why are we looking?"

"We're fresh eyes. We won't look at things the way cops look at things. We might get something that they missed."
I sounded a lot like Maddox.

"Cool."

We cruised past Dean's
house and I parked a block away
under the shade of
a massive oak
tree. If we were lucky
,
no one would notice my car parked there. If we were
really
lucky, it wouldn't be covered in bird poop by the time we got back.

Lily had wrapped herself in a knee-length
,
black
,
trenchcoat
and slim-fitting black pants as a concession to fashionable burglar chic. Fortunately
,
I noticed the black ber
et in her hands and tossed it
back in
to
her apartment as we left. Me: I went for
a far less conspicuous
je
ans and fleece
,
zip-up jacket.
I tucked my hair back in a low ponytail that swung as we walked. Walking around my apartment to change was no problem. If it w
ere
bugged, they'd expect to hear footsteps. I left my cell phone beh
ind and no one followed us here
,
so far as
I could see from my every
-
ten-second
-
mirror
-
check,
so I figured we were safe
from prying eyes
with regard to law-breaking
.

Martin Dean's house was a large
,
white
,
two-story stucco with a detached garage. Th
e front was protected by six
-
f
oo
t
tall
,
iron gates and a
n
equally
high
brick wall flanked by green
shrubbery
. I tried th
e gates
,
but they were
firmly
shut. A
n electronic keypad
recessed in
the wall offered no clues as to the code. I hadn't seen an automatic gate opener
on Dean’s desk
,
so I figured
he must have
kept
i
t in his car, wherever that was.

"Now what?" asked Lily as I shook my head.

"Let's try around back," I suggested,
scanning our surroundings
to see how obvious we were being. Fortunately,
all the other houses were behind walls and gates too, ensuring we weren't
being observed
.
Favorably for us
, the wide road was quiet
.
E
verybody
was
either working late at the office or settling down to
their
family dinner
s,
rather than jogging, walking dogs
,
or whatever the
well-to-do
folk of Bedford Hills did in the evenings. My stomach rumbled. I wanted dinner too.

We walked around the side of the property,
seeking
entry
, without any luck. The walls were
just as tall here too
and smoothly plastered
without
any footholds. Besides, even if we did scramble up, I had no idea what would meet us on the other side. At the back of
the property, we struck gold. The gate
seemed to be some sort of service entrance that led to the garage and it
was
open just
wide
enough that we could turn sideways, suck in our stomachs and slither through.

"Nice," said Lily, looking around as we walked cautiously along the path,
poised
to run
should
a salivating Doberman
suddenly appear
.

On
o
ne side of the path was a
n
indoor
pool,
and
a long stretch of neat lawn
that
separat
ed
us. In front
was
the four
-
car garage with a pitched roof
,
and just
beyond
that, the house.

We made for the house, ducking across a neat patio with a cluster of furniture covered in tarpaulin. It didn't look like Dean entertained outside
very
much. A large expanse of glass in sliding panels
revealed
a living
room, complete with
a
grand piano.
I
moved
past it
, careful not
to
fog up the glass by breathing on it
as we
headed
for the only door
.

"DNA," said Lily, wisely, before scrubbing at the window with her sleeve. At the kitchen door
,
we paused and I tried the handle. "I knew you were going to break in," she said.

"It's not a crime if no one sees you do it," I replied.

"
Very true,
"
she agreed.

"Besides, it's open." The handle turned easily
,
and without any resistance, the door opened. Also,
now that the
owner
was
dead, technically
maybe it wasn’t even
committing a crime.
Besides, how
could
Dean file a complaint? Through a medium?

"
Prints
," said Lily, sliding on a pair of slim leather gloves. I scrabbled in my pockets and found wool mittens, cumbersome
,
but fingerprint
-proof
. They would have to do. I pulled them on and wiped the door handle clean.

"Where to first?"

"Here, I guess. I keep all my bills and important stuff in a kitchen drawer."

"Do you?" Lily's brows knitted together.

"Don't you?"

"No. I have a box file for tax, a binder for bills
,
and a shoe box for credit card statements."

The shoe box was very fitting, seeing as Lily's credit card
slid through more
shoe stores than not. All the same, I felt a little chagrined that she was apparently a lot neater than
I
. I resolved to go to the stationery store and buy some binders. Or filch them from the office.

I opened drawer after drawer, but apparently
,
Martin Dean was a neat freak too. All I got w
ere
knives
,
forks,
and kitchen implements I couldn't even name, never mind own.

"Maybe he has a study," said Lily, poking her head into the pantry
,
then pulling out. "This is a big house."

"Okay, let's look." A thought hit me. "You think it
’
s
theft
-
alarmed?"

Lily chewed her lip a moment
, looking
thoughtful. "Maybe. The door was open. No one leaves a door unlocked
,
even in a nice area like this."

"Maybe the police forgot to lock it when they left?" All the same, we agreed it was better to
just
be quick than
get
arrested. Leaving the kitchen, and ignoring the breakfast nook, we walked
down t
he hall, taking a few seconds to duck our heads into the living room
,
then into a formal dining room.

"This is a really nice house," said Lily. "Imagine having a place this big all to yoursel
f
."

"Your parents' house is this big," I pointed out. I knew their house currently stood empty while Lily's dad was posted abroad
,
but Lily
preferred
her own small apartment t
o
living in their sprawling
house. Her parents were loaded
,
but she never
got
an attitude about it.

"I know
,
but it was never really home. They always moved about so much, except for the last few years of school. Oh, here's the study. It's so..."