Death By High Heels (The Kim Murphy PI Series Book 1) (22 page)

The words were barely past my lips when Grant picked me up and carried me to my bedroom. He gently placed me on the bed. I reached up and pulled him down on top of me.

“What the hell?”

He pulled his hand out from under the pillow, holding my gun.

“Kim, do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”

“Grant, put it in the drawer and help me with your belt.”

Grant growled as my hand brushed against his erection. He opened the drawer and grinned. “Wow, another gun and a box of condoms. I’m not sure if I should be intrigued or concerned.”

“How about enticed?” I slipped off my pajama top and tossed it across the room.

“Enticed, definitely enticed,” he said.

“Good choice.” I smiled.

Chapter Twelve

Sunday

Grant had gotten a call at five and had to leave. I rolled over and went back to sleep until my alarm went off at seven. Normally I skipped exercising on Sundays but after the week I’d had it wouldn’t hurt to put in the effort. I closed my eyes while I decided what to do. The next time I opened my eyes it was nine o’clock and I was starving. After last night’s workout I wasn’t surprised. Grant had not only taken care of my sexual drought, numerous times, but I was having feelings I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready to have again. For now, I had other things to focus on.

Out of donuts, I made a cheese and mushroom omelet, which I gulped down with the help of several cups of coffee while I read the best part of the newspaper—the comics. I cleaned up the kitchen, ran upstairs, and got dressed. Motivated, I took the SD card from the tampon box and headed over to my
favorite
geek without bothering to call first. I knew from past experience Ryan spent Sunday mornings, if weather permitted, laying out by his parents’ pool. Sure enough, that was where I found him when I got there. I explained what I needed and promised to bring him a case of beer the following day if he could just do me this favor. Reluctant to leave the poolside, he finally agreed.

Twenty minutes later I was back home, sitting on my couch, looking at all of the pictures that had been on the card. There were only ten pictures, all of which looked to have been taken at the same time. Two of the pictures were like the crumpled ones I’d found at Angie’s and Sara’s. This was the tie to Brian’s and Adam’s murders and Angie’s disappearance. I stared at the pictures until my eyes ached but for the life of me I couldn’t see what was worth murdering someone over. Defeated, I left a message on Grant’s voicemail asking him to call me. I put the pictures and the card in the cabinet above the refrigerator. I had to stand on a chair to reach it but I felt the things would be safe there. I spent the rest of the day running errands, reading, doing absolutely anything to try to keep my mind off of the pictures and Grant’s impending phone call.

When it was time to get ready for my mom’s birthday party, I took a shower, dried off, and even attempted to style my hair. Finished with the makeup, I added a few drops of perfume. I slipped on the new dress and stepped in front of the full length mirror. Not bad. The new shoes looked great. I just hoped my feet would survive the evening in the two-inch heels.

The new purse was great except it was too small to hold my gun. Figuring it was better if I didn’t attend a family function armed, I put my favorite Glock in the bedside drawer before locking up. I chose not to return Lindsay’s call. She would be tomorrow’s problem. I wasn’t sure how I was ever going to be able to look her in the eye again after finding her box of sex toys. I was, however, quite impressed with her collection. It put my own to shame.

For my mom’s fiftieth birthday, my dad had rented a room at one of the banquet halls. It was the only place big enough to hold our family. My mom was the youngest of five and my dad was the oldest of six. I had twenty-five cousins, thirteen female and twelve male. Add in the aunts, uncles, spouses, kids, and family friends and that required a heck of a lot of space.

I parked in the lot behind the building like everyone else. My dad was to bring my mom through the front entrance so she wouldn’t recognize any of our cars. I walked in the door fifteen minutes early. Evidently that wasn’t good enough. As soon as Brenna spotted me, she spent the next five minutes lecturing me about punctuality. At least I thought that was what she was harping about. It was hard to concentrate with that many people milling around.

“Kim…Kim?”

“Huh?”

“Have you listened to a word I said?” Brenna asked.

“Yeah, sure. Look, I need to go find Brandon.”

“He’s not here yet.”

“What? He’s not here and you’re lecturing me? What is wrong with you?”

“I do not lecture.”

“Hah, could have fooled me,” I muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing. You look nice.”

“Thank you.” She looked me up and down as if searching for something to criticize. “So do you,” she finally said.

I took off to look around before she could change her mind. The room was set up a lot like my wedding reception. Lots of round tables with green, my mom’s favorite color, table cloths. I sincerely hoped this ended better than my reception. My new husband got so drunk he got into a fight with his brother in the parking lot. Later at the hotel, he passed out before we could do anything. Our first time as husband and wife was about noon the next day after he had recovered from his hangover and, to be honest, it hadn’t been all that great. It hadn’t helped that he still smelled like cigarettes, sweat, and alcohol.

The room was filled with people I loved here to celebrate my mom’s birthday. It was wonderful, but it made me a bit sad none of my grandparents had lived long enough to see this. They would have loved to see fifteen kids running around the room being chased by their parents. Many families would have been shocked at kids being invited to a fancy dinner but not my family. Kids were to be celebrated, not tucked away somewhere, hidden from view.

At the door, Brenna was waving her hands in the air. No one seemed to pay any attention. I made my way, through the crowd, over to her side. “What’s up?”

“Brandon’s here, finally, and he said Dad just pulled up. We need to get everyone’s attention.”

“No problem.” I turned around and shouted, “Shut up, everybody, they’re here!”

All conversation stopped. A few chuckled at my rude command, but as mortified as my sister appeared at my behavior, she couldn’t dispute the fact it worked. My brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and brother-in-law, appeared around Brenna and me. We would be the first to greet my parents.

They walked in and everyone shouted, “Surprise!” The shock on my mom’s face meant we had actually pulled off the surprise. They looked so good together. My dad was in a black suit and gray tie while my mother had chosen a little black dress that flattered her figure. For accessories she had added her mother’s pearl necklace and a pearl bracelet my dad had given her for their anniversary. She looked amazing. They both did.

We all rushed forward and took our turns hugging the birthday girl. Not long after they arrived everyone was seated for dinner. Michael, Brandon, and I were seated at our parents’ table. Our married siblings sat with their spouses and kids at tables on either side of us. Dinner included our favorite Italian dishes and a few Irish ones thrown in for my dad’s side of the family.

After dinner they began playing music and everyone was encouraged to get out on the dance floor. Saving me from that embarrassment were my three best friends, who joined me at my table. Michael and Brandon had disappeared in search of women or alcohol, I wasn’t sure which, not that it mattered. My parents were dancing and having a good time. Charmaine, Shandra, and Melissa spent the next half hour talking about nothing important. It was wonderful. Family and friends stopped by to say hello. Mercifully no one mentioned the case or my lack of a current boyfriend. In my family most women were married with children before they were thirty. As I was twenty-eight, I was coming up on an unofficial deadline.

I needed a bathroom break and my friends were eager to dance. I promised I’d catch up with them and headed for the back of the room where the women’s restrooms were. A few minutes later I was out and looking around when someone tapped me on the shoulder, I turned and sighed. “Zack, hi.”

“Kim, you look great,” he said, his eyes roaming over me before settling on my face.

“Thanks, you’re looking good yourself.”

“I do, don’t I?” He laughed. “Nice party. Your dad did a good job.”

“Yes, he did. Well, Dad and Brenna.”

“Not you?”

“Did you really think Brenna would trust me with something as important as tablecloths or seating arrangements?

“I think you could have handled it. Are you here with anyone?”

“Yeah, my whole family.”

“You know what I meant.”

“I’m not crazy enough to subject a date to this much of my family all at once.”

Zack laughed. “Your family is awesome. You’re lucky.”

“Yeah, I know. So what about you? Bring anyone?”

“Yes, sort of.” He pointed to a skinny blonde laughing at something my Aunt Josephine said.

“How nice.”

“It’s business. My dad is considering bringing her dad’s law firm into ours. So I agreed to bring her with me tonight.”

“That’s great.” She was the exact type Uncle Charlie would expect Zack to go for. She was beautiful, blonde, wealthy, and probably fertile enough to provide plenty of Wellington grandchildren. Throw in a possible merger as a bonus. Super.

“Dance with me.”

“Zack, shouldn’t you be dancing with that skinny, over-mammaried, bleach blonde you brought?”

“Jealous?”

“Ugh, no.”

“Good.” Zack’s hand closed on my wrist and I found myself being gently escorted onto the dance floor.

“This isn’t a good idea,” I muttered.

“Why not?”

“Because.”

“That’s it, because?”

“You know why.”

“You mean because every time we’re close, we want to rip each other’s clothes off?”

I didn’t even try to deny it. We both knew it was true. The combination of our bodies swaying in motion to the music and his words caused a reaction in me I tried desperately to ignore. There was, however, no way to ignore Zack’s reaction as it was hard and pressed up against me. “Oh jeez, Zack, you’re going to have to do something about that.”

“Have any suggestions?”

“Sorry, but you’ll have to take care of that yourself.”

“Are you sure? I bet we could find someplace private.”

“I bet.”

“You know you want to,” he whispered in my ear.

I had no choice. Zack must die. What the hell was he doing getting me hot and bothered at my mother’s birthday party? It was time to make him pay.

“Oh look, Maria just walked in and she’s headed this way.” I took a step back and I saw real fear in his eyes as he frantically scanned the room.

“Got ya.”

“Kim, that wasn’t funny.”

“Yeah, it was.” I giggled.

He pulled me back against him and I knew he had already started plotting his revenge. It just wasn’t fair how good it felt to be in his arms. Fortunately, the song ended. I stepped back from Zack. He pulled me back against him.

“Hey, you can’t leave me like this.”

“I had nothing to do with that,” I said, glancing down.

He leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “You had everything to do with this.” His hand pressed against my back. “It’s been too long.” He groaned.

The last time we’d been together was six months ago. It was also the last time I’d had sex until Grant and I had been together.

“Kim,” he whispered.

My nipples hardened. The traitors. Grant and I weren’t in a relationship but I wasn’t the type to have sex with one guy and then jump into bed with another a few days later. “Uh-oh, your dad’s headed this way.”

“Funny. I’m not falling for that again.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“You better be. The last thing I want is to be distracted from what I want to do to you. So let’s find a place to be alone. Now.”

“Zack…”

“Mind if I cut in?”

“Shit,” Zack whispered. “Dad, why aren’t you dancing with Mom?” We had stopped dancing but Zack had not let go of me.

“As much as I love your mother my feet needed a break before they actually were broken.”

“Ouch,” I said.

“Yes, ouch indeed. So would you humor an old man?”

“Of course.” I smiled and pried Zack’s hand from my waist.

“Wonderful. Zack, why don’t you ask your date to dance? If she sits there for long, there’ll be a line of men eager to ask her for the privilege.”

“Let them,” Zack muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing, Dad. Kim, I’ll see you later.” He turned and walked toward his date while his dad began to spin me around on the dance floor.

“Wow, Uncle Charlie, I forgot what a great dancer you were.”

“Where do you think that son of mine got his skills?” He smiled.

“So not from his mom?”

“Sadly, no. She’s perfect in every way but for this one simple flaw. Don’t you ever tell her I said that.”

“Yes, sir.” I laughed.

“So, Kim, your father and I were talking.”

“Oh boy, that can’t be good.”

“Now, now, none of that. It seems you’ve gotten into a bit of trouble.”

“I’m okay.”

“I’m glad, but I must say I was disappointed you spoke to that detective without representation.”