Color Me a Crime (17 page)

“I see.” Michael paces back and forth. “What did he want with you tonight?”

“That’s the best part.” I picture him and Christy sitting at the intimate table at Pete’s sharing that delicious pizza and looking into each other’s eyes with a string of cheese attaching their lips like The Lady and The Tramp. “Angela is really Joel’s ex-girlfriend, Christy.”

“Really?” Erin sits on the edge like I’m getting ready to give some sort of juicy gossip. “She’s also FBI. Or did I say that?”

Spies Like Us
chirps at the bottom of my bag. I grab the bag, pulling out the file and retrieving my phone. It’s the same number that keeps calling. Wrong night to prank me.

“Who the hell is this?” I answer the phone. “Did you know that I’m under investigation for a murder I didn’t do? And if you keep calling, I will be under investigation for another murder that I might do.”

I wait for a peep, sound, buzz, anything.

Silence.

“Hello? Did you hear me?” The click on the other end lets me know they hung up.

Oh, oh, what do you do
Paul belts out of the phone. Before checking to see who it is, I answer, “I told you that they will find you dead on the side of the road if you keep calling!”

“Olivia?” Joel questions on the other end. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Oh, Joel, I’m so sorry.” Great, now I just told an FBI agent that I’m going to kill him. Perfect. My life is so great. “I have a prank caller and I’m fed up with it. With the night that I have had, I flew off the handle, thinking it was the prankster again.”

“No, it’s me and we can find out who that is later.” His voice is reasonable. “I’m sitting out in front of your house. Can I come in?”

I get up and pull the curtain away from the window that faces the front of the house. Sure enough, he is parked on the street in his Park City police car.

“Is
she
with you?”

“Christy?” He questions me like I’m stupid for thinking she might be with him. “Is that why you left?”

“No.” I unlock the door and turn off the phone.

“We are going to get lost.” I hear Michael tell Erin. “Let’s go grab something to eat.”

They head out the door just as Joel comes in.

“They didn’t have to leave.” He points over his shoulder. “I’m sure you’ve told them everything, but the less they know the better.”

“Obviously,” I mumble under my breath. He wasted no time telling Christy everything about me.

“I’m sorry if you feel like you were ambushed tonight.” He hands me a Pete’s Pizzeria takeout box. “I took the liberty of ordering you a personal veggie pizza.”

If I wasn’t so hungry, I would throw it out the door, but I don’t. I take the box and sit back on the couch with Herbie on one side and my glass of wine on the other.

“Can I sit down?” He takes a seat without waiting for my answer. “When you told me about the whole Jen-verses-Olivia thing along with the aura reading, I got a little freaked. Especially since I’m under cover.”

I take another big bite and blankly stare at him, trying not to give in to the sky blue aura.

“I’m glad I didn’t get matched with Linda Minx.” A smile crosses his lips.

“Before you say anything else, I think that we need to get my end of this out of the way.” I’m not sure where he is taking the conversation, but my heart won’t be able to take it if he doesn’t hear the full story.

“I think I’ll have one of those.” He points to the glass of wine.

“I’m sorry about the messy house, but I’ve been a little preoccupied with saving my ass and I haven’t had time to clean.” Okay, so what is one more little lie going to hurt? He doesn’t need to know about my messy side, just yet.

Herbie doesn’t seem to mind Joel at all. A Pink aura surrounds him, meaning he is happy. Unfortunately, Herbie liked Bradley too and we see where that got us.

“Traitor,” I call over my shoulder at Herbie as it warms the bottom of my heart to see him in Joel’s lap with Joel rubbing his ears.

I bring back a glass of wine, and make a spot on the table next to my glass and set his down.

My nerves are shot. I can’t sit or I might explode. Pacing back and forth between the couch and kitchen, I begin to tell Joel exactly how we met.

“So you love my blue aura?” He sat quietly until I was finished.

“Yes. I’m a sucker for a blue aura man.” I intertwine my fingers. “I had no idea that Erin was setting me up, but I knew I didn’t want her to set you up. When she told me that ‘Jenn’ wasn’t able to come, I knew it was my chance to get to know you.”

“That day at Pete’s, you knew I was going to be there waiting on this ‘Jenn’ who really isn’t real, but you didn’t know that only Erin knew it?” He tries to repeat the entire situation.

“Yes, basically.” I sit down next to him. “Erin didn’t know that I had already met you at the Color Me Love, so I kept it a secret. Voila, it worked. Only the joke was on me, which you knew, but not the aura thing.”

“And the Splitsville.com thing.” He reminds me.

“Oh, and you can be all goody-goody with the entire Park City Police act, when in reality you are a FBI agent.” Technically, we have lied to each other to get things we both want. “Is your real name Joel?”

“Yes.” He sighs. “The night of the hoedown, I was going to tell you about the sting. But you ended up knowing Buddy and Linda. Which reminds me, how do you know Buddy?”

“We went on a date.” I know this one is going to sting.

“A what?” Joel sits back and rubs his chin. “You have got to be kidding me!”

I grab my glass of wine and drink it all. This isn’t how I wanted this conversation to go. As a matter of fact, I never wanted to tell him about Buddy.

“Erin thought that I would want to go on a date with him, so the first time I passed out at the Dude Ranch, I was ending my date with Buddy. We definitely don’t have matching love auras. He is an orange.” I don’t go into aura colors and what they mean. Joel’s aura tells me that he only wants the facts. “Anyway, when Linda Minx came into Color Me Love, I’m the one who told Erin they would be good for each other.”

“Why were they good for each other?”

“She was a green. Plus she had a voluptuous body which is one requirement he put on his application.” I use my hands to make an outline of a curvy body and big boobs. “When I first met Buddy, he was quick to point out that I don’t have those features.”

“This doesn’t make a lot of sense.” He looks around. “Where is the file Christy gave you?”

“In my bag.” I reached to the other side of the couch, taking in the sweet smell of Joel. “I didn’t read it yet.”

Instead of coming home, drinking wine, and feeling sorry for myself, I probably should have read that damn file. Reluctantly, I hand him the file.

I watch him as he scans page by page, on a mission to find something. Even though I feel like smacking him, I’m not sure if I would use my hand or my lips.

“Here.” He tilts the page toward me. “From our records, William is a member of Linda Minx’s fan club. Somehow he knew she lived around here and was going to use Color Me Love.”

My eyes widen. I feel sick. To think I had been on a date with a murderer.

“Why isn’t he in jail? Why were you so focused on my car?” Frantically I look between his eyes for some sort of answer.

“Whoa. Hold your horses. He has a straight up alibi. You, on the other hand, do not.”

“He is still trying to get a date through Color Me Love.” I search my memory for any information I might have that may help. I get up and get the 4Play envelope. I take out the crumbled up piece of paper with the phone number on it. “He had this phone number scribbled on a piece of paper. And here is the address.”

He takes the paper and studies it carefully.

“Wait.” He grabs the file back out of my hands and flips through. “This is Linda Minx’s address.”

“See, I told you he did it.” I bit my lip. “That isn’t entirely true though. His aura may be all crazy, but he isn’t a killer.”

Trust me, if I’d seen a murderous aura, I would have told someone about it. Buddy is a lot of things, but he isn’t the murderer.

“Tell me a little bit about this aura reading gig you’ve got.” Joel’s perfect blue aura turns a muddier shade in the greener side of the family. His curiosity has peaked.

I give him the download on what all the colors mean, along with how they change, giving a little background about chakras, third eyes, rings of colors, and more, but stop when I see his eyes glaze over.

“Say I put three murder suspects in front of you and one really is the murderer.” He puts me to the test, which I love. “You are telling me you can pick the real killer by looking at a color that is surrounding their body?”

“Sort of.” I have to be cautious so he will understand. “I would tell you which one is likely to be the one because their true aura shines through. Or if it was a self-defense killing, their outer lining aura would show remorse or anger or some sort of sadness or shock.”

“I get it.”

“You don’t think I’m a freak?” I tilt my head just enough to see those sparkly green eyes.

“I’ve heard it all and I’ve seen some of your type at work.”

“My type?” I laugh. I’ve been called a lot of things, but never ‘my type’.

“You know what I mean.” He stands up and takes both our glasses to the kitchen. “Where is the wine?”

“Oh that.” I get up and walk in the kitchen. Biting my lip, I might as well tell him everything. “I’m poor and I live in a house of clutter. I’m not proud of the fact that you came in here and saw my clothes all over the place. And I have a tendency to be late, but I’m a good person.”

“All I asked for was wine.” He lifts his brows in amusement. His blue aura doesn’t change. He has accepted me for who I am.

“You will find a box of wine in the refrigerator.” I point over to the photo-covered appliance.

He walks over and laughs.” You
are
poor.” He puts the glass under the spout and presses down.

“Funny.” I take one of the glasses from him and go back to the couch with Herbie. “We need to discuss the little issue of this erotic film.”

He might not have forgotten about it, but I have. Where do we stand? As a couple?

“Christy and I were going to tell you our plan tonight, but you pulled a fast one on us.” He picks up a bra by the strap off the couch and tosses it in the chair. “We will start filming. Christy will look around Hugh’s office while I keep the crew occupied. At some point before the ‘you know what’ scene, I will fake being sick. That should buy us some time.”

Blah, blah, blah, Christy, Christy, Christy.
I try to focus on his plan, but her name grates on my nerves. I’d love to use Splitsville.com on her. I’d tear her to shreds.

“So what do you think?” He reaches over and rubs my hand, a clear sign that we are back on track.

“Great plan.” I agree to who-knows-what, but anything he comes up with has to be great. “Did you say that you were going to pretend to be sick so we don’t do our first love scene in front of a lot of people?”

“Our first?” He slides over, puts his arms around me and kisses me. His lips are warm and sweet. Just for a little while, Joel makes me forget all of my troubles.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I tap the cold, empty space next to me in my bed. Was it a dream? My hand pats my fury little guy, giving him the go ahead to jump up and put his wet nose to mine.

“Good morning.” I smile, giving Herbie a good rub down. “Are you ready to go outside?”

A little embarrassment sits in my stomach after I realize Joel left at some point in the night, leaving me wondering why he didn’t stay all night.

I grab my sweatpants next to the bed and throw on my sweatshirt before I walk down the hall.

“Erin is up.” I tell Herbie as I let him out and venture into the kitchen where the smell of bacon and coffee intertwine and stop short. “Joel?”

“Good morning.” He has a cup of coffee waiting for me on the counter. He walks over and kisses my forehead. “You are a deep sleeper.”

His blue aura is even more radiant in the morning.

“I thought we better have a decent breakfast in us for a big day.” He refers to the nasty scene we are going to pretend to make today. “Christy is already there and she said there is a new security guy. Old man.”

Harold.

I bite my lip. I want to hear what he has to say about Harold before I tell him that I put Harold up to it.

“He doesn’t seem to be a threat. She said that he’s pretty old.” He smiles. I don’t make eye contact. “I have to think they hired him because he probably isn’t able to really do a great job if something went down.”

Little do you know Harold!
I decide to keep my plan with Harold under my hat for now. Joel is undercover at 4Play for the drug smuggling ring, I’m at 4Play to clear my name for a murder I didn’t commit.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” He calls into the family room as I let Herbie in.

“Are you crazy?” I ask. “I’ve got to be naked on camera today and supposedly the camera adds ten pounds.” I pat my stomach and go to get ready.

Erin isn’t home, so I assume she went to Color Me Love to finalize Buddy’s mixer and get him a few dates. I hope she looks into the girl that had disappeared into thin air. I grab my phone and quickly send her a text, telling her to keep it hush, hush.

What happened last night?
Leave it to Erin to not question the more important topic, Buddy.

I’ll tell you later.
I type back.

Aunt Matilda showed up this morning, demanding to know more about your undercover operation. She claims Carl doesn’t know about anything. She dumped him for not telling her the truth.

Don’t tell her anything! I will let her in on it later.
I text back, hoping Erin keeps her mouth shut.

Fine, I’ll meet you at 4Play.
She adds.

“Are you ready?” Joel walks back into my bedroom, looking as handsome as ever.

“Am I ever!” I smile, knowing it’s not going to be as bad as I had initially thought. I grab all my files that I’m going to need for the shoot. “Erin is going to meet us there.”

We carefully go over the plan the entire way to 4Play. He gives me a little more detail about the drug smuggling ring, but nothing earth shattering that can’t be seen on CSI Miami or even a good case on Murder She Wrote.