Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (29 page)

Instinct kicked in and I moved the opposite direction from Maddox, to what I felt sure was the front of the club.
Tripping and stumbling a
s I came out of the alley, I st
agger
ed into a
wall of a
man and almost shrieked
.
M
y fists
reflexively
mov
ed
to sucker punch him until I looked up and
saw
it was Solomon.

Throwing
myself at him,
I
wrapp
ed
my arms around his waist
and held on, relief washing through me
. After a moment
of him standing
still and I
feeling
too relieved to be awkward,
he put his arm
s around me and held me
close
to him. M
y head
rested
against his warm chest as
his hand strok
ed
my back.
Slowly, the violent shivering stopped.

"I heard gun shots through the wire," he said.
“
I was looking for you when you said the safe word
.”

"Back there. The woman we were looking for.
Tallulah.
She's dead," I gasped into his shirt
,
clutching
the material in my fingers
.
I had no idea how my hands ended up inside his jacket and
chose
not
to care. He was warm, familiar…
he wasn’t going to shoot me. "Shot,
"
I squeaked
, blinking rapidly at the recollection of her face, frozen in death
. “Someone shot her.”

The back
-
stroking didn’t stop, even as he asked,
"Maddox?"

"We saw someone and he chased after him.
He isn’t armed! Maddox that is. Maddox isn’t armed and the other guy has a gun!
"
Panic streaked through my voice as I babbled.

Solomon
maneuvered
me towards the building and detached himself
,
which was quite a feat given my limpet
-like
grip on him
. Holding me by the arms, he bent
his head
and looked into my eyes. "
I’m sure Maddox is armed. He’ll be fine.
Stay here. Don't move," he
ordered, “I’m going to check.” H
e took off
down
the alley, returning a couple of minutes later
, his demeanor sober
. "Let's get out of here," he said, folding me into him, only his presence stopping my knees from buckling. "Backup's on its way."

The Lexus was parked in an alley a hundred feet away.
Solomon deposited me in
side
and
went in search of Maddox. I sat huddled in the front seat, feeling cold and exposed in the skimpy garments. More than anything, I was just frightened.
I scoured every shadow for the whites of a killer’s eyes, every nook for a crouching figure, expecting the mystery man to leap out at any moment, his gun aimed at me. In his other hand would be Maddox’s severed head. I squeezed my eyes shut.

So w
hen the door opened, I jumped a mile. But instead of a murderer,
it was
Solomon.
Not that his presence stopped
my
shivering that started up again with a vengeance.
He closed the door
and slipped off his jacket
. Reaching over to me, he wrapped
it
around my shoulders. I pulled it close
,
and for a moment
,
I just closed my eyes,
with
my head bowed
, my knees knocking together
. The jacket smelled of him, fresh with the faintest scent of
spice
and warm
ed by
his
body
heat
. When I opened my eyes, he was still s
itting
there, just waiting patiently.

"Is Maddox okay?" I asked, afraid of what he might tell me.

"He's fine. He's waiting for the police." Solomon slipped the key in and the engine turned over. "You don't need to be part of that."

I glanced at his shadowed face.
"But I found her."

"And you shouldn't have."

"I'm part of the crime scene."

"And Maddox is the police," Solomon pointed out. "I'm taking you home.
No arguments.
"

I was too shaken up to
protest
. "Okay," I whispered.
Reaching
inside my top
, I
pulled out the wire, switched it off and held it until Solomon gently
took it from me and pocketed it. He pulled the seatbelt around me and buckled it, making sure his jacket was still tucked around me.

Solomon turned the heat on and pointed the vents at me, warming me up. He drove slowly out of the alley between the buildings and didn't turn the lights on until we hit the street. We
rode
in silence all the way home
. He parked
outside my building, shutting off the engine and walk
ed
around to open my door.

Still
stunned
,
I took his hand and
held onto it as
he followed me to the door, and
stayed behind
me as I walked up to my apartment, opening the locks like a robot, thoroughly attuned to doing it
automatically
.

"I'll be okay from here," I said.

"All the same, I'd rather make sure."

I stepped inside and held the door open for Solomon to pass through. I followed him into the living room and sank onto the couch. I pulled off my ridiculous shoes
and tossed them into the corner
;
then I shrugged off Solomon's jacket and folded it over the arm
of the couch
.

"I've gotta get out of this," I said, waving a hand at my outfit. It seemed puerile
,
after seeing
the dead woman
,
for me
to be dressed up, like I was playing undercover spy
in a game
. More than
anything,
seeing her dead eyes drove
it
home that this wasn't
fun
. It wasn't a break from real life.
It wasn’t
pleasurable anymore
or something to entertain Lily with or to stop me from being bored at the office
.
Someone was killing people and
it was too close
to
comfort for
me.

I took a deep breath, swore I wouldn't cry in front of Solomon and retreated to my bedroom. I peeled off the dress and hotpants
, tossing
them in
to
the hamper. Something dropped to the floor and I blinked
at the noise
,
then looked
down
. I'd forgotten all about find
ing the keys
. Stooping down, I picked them up
,
and for a moment
,
just held them
while trying
not to break down. I wanted to pull on my jammies and crawl into bed,
squeeze my eyes shut and pretend it was a nightmare
,
but I couldn't do that with Solomon waiting in the living room. So, instead, I pulled on jeans, a sweatshirt and thick socks and went into the bathroom to scrub off the makeup and wash my hands.

I took my time, half expecting Solomon to leave, but when I
returned to
the living room, he was waiting for me
. Sitting
half reclin
ed
in the armchair, one leg slung casually over the other
, his hands folded behind his head
, h
e looked
utterly
at ease.

"I'm feeling better," I said. "You really don't need to babysit me."

"I know," he said, but didn't make any
gesture
to leave.

"Beer?" I suggested, because I sure a
s hell needed one. The wine earlier and the sip of
martini w
ere
n't enough to fortify me.
Ethanol would probably
have
work
ed,
but I was fresh out.

"Sounds good."

I padded out of the living room and opened the refrigerator, skirting past the leftover
s
tub from my mother to reach the beer. Maddox
’s
and my
plates
were
by the sink
,
but I would deal with those in the morning. I pulled out
two
bottle
s
for Solomon and me
,
snapp
ing
the caps off before walking back into the living room. I flopped onto the couch, pass
ing
a bottle to Solomon
,
a
s I
took a long
swig
on mine.
I was really tempted to
chug
it.

"Tell
me what happened," said Solomon
when I opened my eyes again.

I told him about
seeing the woman, then
checking out the bathroom and finding the
toilet tank
lid askew
,
but she
was
already gone. I told him Maddox spotted them heading out back and
follow
ed
the couple out to the alley
when we heard the shot. "If we assume Dean was part of the fraud, and she was his girlfriend or something, he must have given her something to hide," I said, "But I don't know what. It must have been really small."