Catherine Nelson - Zoe Grey 02 - The Trouble with Theft (33 page)

Then I noticed someone
slip in the main door. She eased the door closed and slid onto the back bench,
crossing one leg over the other. Danielle Dillon noticed me staring and smiled.

I smiled back then
suppressed a chuckle as I turned back to Priscilla, who was addressing the
judge.

Ellmann and I were
having dinner at CooperSmith’s in Old Town Square. My court hearing that
morning had been brief. Priscilla Casimir had taken a seat at my table beside
Essinger and proceeded to do all the talking. And I knew from her very short
performance that she was a really good attorney. Plus, she seemed to have a
bone to pick with Eric Dunn.

With my
case in good hands, thanks to Danielle, a trial date was set, and Priscilla
went to work on shredding the prosecution’s case.

“You won’t
do time,” she had said to me as she’d snapped her briefcase closed.

“Just to
be clear, I’m not going to pay you.”

She had waved
a hand. “Pro bono. I’ll call you to set up a meeting. We need to go over what
happened and the evidence.”

Then she
was gone,
click, click, clicking
out of the courtroom. When I looked for
Danielle, she was gone, too. I could only imagine what she’d said to Priscilla,
but I was grateful.

Tonight, Ellmann
was dressed in his typical jeans and t-shirt. I wore a sundress and sweater to
cover the bullet-wound scar on my shoulder. We were laughing about Priscilla’s
entrance that morning when his phone rang.

He pulled
it from his pocket then looked up at me.

“It’s my
dad,” he said.

After what
had happened to Natalie, the Ellmanns had extended their stay. Ellmann had
permitted Susan, Courtney, and Natalie to stay in his house, which meant he’d
temporarily moved into mine, but Susan hadn’t permitted Vince to come back. He
was still exiled to a hotel and allowed short visits to Natalie.

Of course,
Amerson hadn’t left Natalie’s side since he heard about what happened. He’d
given me an earful about going after her without him, had words with Ellmann,
and a tense confrontation with Vince. But from what I could tell, Vince had
warmed up to Amerson. Amerson was former military, more than capable of
protecting Natalie, and so obviously head-over-heels, it seemed a safe bet he
wouldn’t break her heart. Personally, I hoped he didn’t get
his
heart
broken.

Ellmann
answered but said little; the conversation was over in less than a minute. He
tucked the phone back into his pocket.

“He wants
to meet.”

“Excuse
me?”

“My dad.
He wants to meet us.”

I looked
at him for a beat. He just shrugged.

“When?”

“Tonight.
Now. He’s at Elliot’s.”

“Why?”

“I’d only
be guessing. What do you think? Want to go?”

Really, it
was a pointless question. My curiosity was always going to get the better of
me. Of course I wanted to go.

We
finished dinner then left.

Old Town
was hopping. It was only a Monday night, but the weather was good, and that was
cause enough to celebrate in our little college town. We walked over to the
martini bar and found Vince sitting at a table near the back. The place was
packed. The waitresses in their little skirts looked harried. Vince looked like
he was not on his first martini.

Our waitress
sailed past our table long enough to take our order then was gone, lost in the
crowd. Vince ate his olives and sipped at his drink, but he didn’t say
anything. I was finding it hard to be patient.

“So,
what’s up, Dad?” Ellmann asked, drumming his fingers on the tabletop.

He had yet
to make eye contact with me or look at me directly. He’d barely glanced at his
son.

A few more
minutes passed.

“What did
you want to meet about, Vince?” I asked.

He
shrugged and drained his glass. “You know.”

He didn’t
elaborate.

Our
waitresses flew past again, dropping our drinks on the table as she went by.
Neither Ellmann nor I were big drinkers. Tonight, however, Ellmann picked up
his drink and took a long swallow. Guess I was driving.

Vince
tried to get another drop from his empty glass then scanned the crowd, no doubt
searching for the waitress.

“How many
of those have you had?” Ellmann asked.

Vince
grinned. “More than one.”

“Dad, we
agreed to come because you wanted to talk. Start talking.”

“I need
another drink.”

I opened
my mouth to at least speak my piece and noticed over Vince’s shoulder a
familiar, unexpected face part the crowd. Cory Dix, smiling and having a good
ol’ time, was walking through the bar. And he was going to walk right past me.

Quickly, I
snapped my mouth shut and leaned to my right as if to whisper in Ellmann’s ear.
I wanted to hide my face. If Dix saw me, I knew well from experience that he’d
bolt.

Over the
last week, I’d been busy cleaning up the messes from the Dillon case and my
arrest. But I hadn’t forgotten about Dix. I just hadn’t worked out the best way
to grab him yet, or had time to try.

“I see we
walked into the one bar in town where your skip just had to be,” Ellmann said
into my ear, having spotted Dix.

“Of all
the gin joints, huh?”

He kissed
my ear softly then lowered his mouth and kissed my neck. I could feel all the
concern I had for Dix melting away. I sat back, breathing a little too fast.
Ellmann smiled, amused.

“Do you
two have to do that?” Vince griped.

Ignoring him,
I turned in my seat and tried to pick out Dix. I saw him standing at the bar,
eyeing a blonde a few seats down. She noticed him, but she didn’t seem overly
interested. Dix either couldn’t pick up on that or he didn’t care. Then I had
an idea.

“Where is
our waitress?” Vince asked, still searching.

“You wanna
tell us why we’re here?” Ellmann asked again.

I dug a
pen out of my bag and scribbled a note on my napkin.
meet me in the ladies room. two minutes
. Then I waited. I
decided to give it a few minutes before I improvised. But patience really isn’t
my strong suit.

“I just
wanted to talk to you,” Vince said. “That’s all.”

“
When
did you want to talk?” Ellmann asked.

Finally,
the blonde said something to the girl next to her and climbed off her barstool.

“I’ll be
back in a few,” I said.

I jumped
up without waiting for acknowledgement.

I shoved
my way through the crowd, keeping the blonde in sight. Then I saw I’d been
right: she was headed to the bathroom. I let her go in ahead of me then waited
a moment.

I strode
in then dug my badge out of my bag along with fifty bucks. I also checked the
bathroom for windows large enough for escape. There were none. There were two
stalls, one of which was empty. I stood near the door, waiting for the blonde.
When she flushed, I went to the sink and pretended to be fussing with my
makeup.

“How would
you like to make fifty bucks?” I asked when she got to the sink, looking at her
in the mirror.

“Oh, I’m
sorry,” she said. “I don’t swing that way.”

I rolled
my eyes and showed her the badge.

“I’ll give
you fifty bucks to deliver this note.”

I held it
up. She dried her hands, looking between me and the napkin.

“Who gets
the note?”

“The
skinny kid at the bar who’s been smiling and nodding at you for the past
fifteen minutes.”

She rolled
her eyes then turned to study herself in the mirror.

“What a
moron,” she said. “Can’t he take a hint?”

“Give him
the note, make him think you came in here, and I’ll give you fifty bucks and a
promise he won’t bother you again.”

“What’s he
to you?”

“He’s five
hundred bucks, a perfectly good pair of shoes, my favorite jeans, and a little
payback.”

She
finished with her face, putting her lipstick back in her bag.

“Whatever.
I’ll do it.”

I handed
her the note and the money.

“I could
just walk out with the money,” she said.

“Did you
see that guy I was sitting with?”

“The hunk?
Hell yeah.”

“The hunk
is a cop. He knows the plan. He’s prepared to arrest you for stealing, among
other things, if you don’t play your part.”

Danielle
and Desirae Dillon weren’t the only ones who’d learned to lie well from their
past. I tried to only use my power for good, though.

“Geez,
like a sting? Who the hell is that kid anyway?”

“He’s a
pain in my ass, so I thank you for your help.”

She left,
and I waited. I posted myself at the door, flashing my badge at anyone who
refused to be kept out. I stood behind the door, out of sight for when Dix came
in. My problem had been him running away. The bathroom door was equipped with a
lock. Not only would I be between him and the door once he came in, but I would
lock it. If he somehow managed to get past me, then he’d have to get the door
open before I caught up to him. I liked my chances.

Five
minutes later, the door eased open tentatively. Then there was a soft voice.

“Hello?”

I giggled
my most girly giggle then said, “Hurry! Come on!” I thought I did a good job
impersonating the blonde.

It worked.

Dix pushed
the door open and slipped in. I moved in behind him and flipped the lock on the
door. Hearing me behind him, he laughed and spun around, grinning. He froze
when he saw me, looking almost sick when he finally figured out it had been a
trap.

“I won’t
go quietly,” he said defiantly.

“I respect
that.”

Even if I
found it annoying, I appreciated this trait in him, since it was one of my own.

I dropped
my bag to the floor then peeled off my sweater. My scars were visible around
the thin spaghetti straps of the dress. I saw Dix’s eyes widen as he took them
in.

“What the
hell happened to you?” His eyes flashed from the gunshot wound to the
laceration just above it.

“Oh,” I
said lightly, pointing to the wounds. “That was a bullet. Nine millimeter—went
in, didn’t come out. This was a knife. A crazy woman tortured me in her
kitchen. I just got the stitches out today.”

He was
starting to look a little green.

“Oh!” I
said, as if just remembering. I reached down and pulled up the dress to show my
left thigh. “These were made by a box cutter. She poured lemon juice in them. I
can’t tell you how much that
hurt
! And here’s where she stuck the skewer
in. It goes all the way through, see? Oh, there’s another bullet wound over
here,” I said, lifting up the other side of the dress. “It also goes through.”

He was
swaying on his feet. I was pretty sure he was going to puke.

“Anyway,
you’re welcome to put up a fight,” I said, straightening my dress and standing
upright. “Any time you’re ready.”

He spun
around and ran into one of the stalls. The sounds of retching echoed off the
walls. I pulled the sweater back on then got the cuffs out of my bag. A few minutes
later, after he’d rinsed his mouth and washed his face, he voluntarily clasped
his hands behind his back and allowed me to put the cuffs on. I unlocked the
door, and we left the bathroom. There was a line of women standing in the
hallway. We got dirty looks from most of them as they rushed past us into the
now open bathroom.

“What the
hell were you doing?” someone snapped.

“Take it
someplace else,” another threw out.

“Oh, you
like it kinky, huh?” someone else said, spying the handcuffs. I was pretty sure
there was a note of approval in her voice.

I smiled.

“Oh, you
have no idea.”

__________

“What the hell is this?”
Vince snapped when I returned to the table with Dix in tow. He looked to
Ellmann as if he was permitting me to run amok like an insolent child.

“He
doesn’t get to tell me what to do,” I said. “I don’t take orders. But you’re
the only one who has a problem with that.”

“Now wait
a min—” Vince started, raising an index finger at me.

I cut him
off.

“We sat
here for thirty minutes waiting for you to talk. You didn’t. Now I’m going to
say a few things. First of all, I know you really love Susan. I get the
impression you’re afraid of losing her and that’s why you’re here, not because
you have any real remorse for what you did or said. For the record, you don’t
deserve Susan. Also, I hope I can forgive you someday. Second, I’ll tell you
right now, so long as your son will have me, I’m not going anywhere. So you
better decide how you and I are going to get along. Finally, I regret every one
of those things you know about me, and if I could change what happened, I
would. In a heartbeat. Now, I have to take this kid to jail. I’ll be seeing
you, Vince.”