Finders Keepers Losers Die (33 page)

"Jesus, Cat, pull over. You're green."

It was too dark for him to see my color but
the power of suggestion can be a wonderful thing. I stopped on the
side of the road and got out. The temptation to make a run for it
was so strong I nearly took off into the woods, but common sense
won out. Running would only get a bullet in my back.

I moved away from the car. Carl followed and
scanned the bushes. Two vehicles whizzed passed but I didn't dare
flag them down. I lurched to the left a few paces and bent over. I
squatted on my haunches and emitted a cacophony of sounds I hadn't
made since the morning after an all night bender with Gina on her
twenty-first birthday.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carl's
shoes take a step backward then I heard the sound of unzipping
followed by a trickle. He was peeing only a few feet away.

Perfect. Gross, but perfect.

I grabbed the arm-sized branch I'd
deliberately knelt next to and with all my remaining strength and
speed, I swung it at his legs.

He cried out and his knees buckled. He
flapped his arms to regain his balance. I struck again and he fell
to the ground. I stood on his arm. Instinctively his hand opened
and the gun fell out. I kicked it away. He roared in pain and anger
and tried to toss me off but he was weak, especially after I hit
him again. He groaned loudly and went still.

Bright lights momentarily blinded me as a
car stopped beside Carl's sedan.

"Hey, what's going on here?" yelled the
driver.

"Have you got a phone?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Call the cops. Then come over here and help
me get out of these." I held up my hands and the metal of the
handcuffs twinkled like tinsel in the headlights.

***

By the time the cops arrived, the passerby
and I had Carl tied to a tree, his fly still unzipped. When he
regained consciousness, a string of curses and threats spewed from
his mouth.

I told the cops to call Scarface, and he and
Stankovic took over when they arrived. Scarface took one look at my
face and swore. "Christ, Will's going to go nuts when he sees
you."

That seemed to be the theme of the night. "I
look that bad?"

He drew me into his arms. He felt warm and
solid and I didn't want to let go. Until Will arrived.

"Did you call him?" I asked Scarface when
the familiar SUV slid to a stop on the gravel.

"He's been calling me every five seconds
since he got your message. As if I didn't have enough to do."

Will jumped out and ran to me, scooping me
into his arms. His hug was a little too tight for comfort, but I
didn't care. He was safety and familiarity, like a favorite blanket
on a winter's night.

But all that comfort and attention wasn't
good for my new tough attitude. Much to my horror, I burst into
tears against his chest. He brushed back my hair and rubbed my neck
until my sobs subsided. So far, he hadn't said a word. When my
tears eased and I drew away, he gently caught my face between his
hands and looked at me.

"Fuck," he muttered. It sounded innocent
enough to anyone who didn't know Will. But I heard the edge to it.
His body tensed and he glanced over my shoulder, then he marched
over to where two cops held Carl between them. Without a word, he
swung and punched Carl in the face. He would have done it again but
Scarface intervened.

"Whoa, big fella. You'll get yourself in
trouble."

Will rounded on him. I'd never seen him so
out of control before. His stormy, dark eyes peered through the
jagged spikes of hair hanging over his forehead. His lips were
bloodless and taut. He looked like a fire-breathing dragon with a
bad temper.

"This is none of your business," he
growled.

Scarface rested a hand on his shoulder. "If
it were just you and me," he said quietly, "I'd let you have at
him, but it's not. Get a hold of yourself or I'll have to arrest
you."

Will shook him off like he didn't matter and
wound up for another swing.

"Will!" I grabbed his hands and rubbed my
thumbs over them. The tightness in his body seemed to slip away
with every stroke. "Take me home."

The cops dragged Carl away and Scarface
secured the scene. With a deep sigh, Will took my hand and led me
to his car.

Scarface lit a cigarette and blew out a long
coil of smoke. "We'll need to speak to her."

"Tomorrow," Will said.

We got in his car and he drove me to the
hospital. He said nothing the entire journey. He gripped the
steering wheel as if he expected it to spin out of control any
second. Briefly, I wondered if he was mad at me. Only common sense
told me he was directing his anger towards Carl, and possibly
inwards. It would be just like him to blame himself.

The hospital discharged me after stitching
up the cut on my cheek and the back of my head and wrapping my
wrists in bandages.

Will drove me to Mom's where she and Gina
waited for us. They hugged me and cried and hugged me again. After
I showered, Mom plied me with food and fussed over me as if I were
still a child. It felt good and I soaked it up.

"I can't believe it was Carl," Gina said,
sitting beside me at the kitchen table. "How could I be so stupid
not to notice?"

"None of us noticed," I said. I glanced at
Will. "He was a damn fine actor." And I was a poor judge of
character. I'd got Carl wrong, but not only Carl. Will too, and
even Tanya, not to mention Roberta and Grimes—although he
was
scum, just not a murderer.

I explained the entire story, why Carl
worked at Knights, how he'd tried to scare me into confiding in him
and give him Lou's key, and finally how I'd escaped.

"You're also a damn fine actor," said Gina
with a wan smile.

"Your Dad and I always knew you were," said
Mom.

"Dad? Funny, I don't remember hearing him
say that."

"He did. But he hated the idea of you
choosing it as a career." She tucked a strand of hair behind my
ear. "He did love you, you know. He just had a funny way of showing
it."

Will's phone rang and he went outside to
answer it.

"He sure did," I said. "If only Dad hadn't
been so controlling, we might have gotten along better."

"It was his way of taking care of you. Of
us." Mom shrugged. "I was used to him, and I loved him in spite of
his stoicism. Unfortunately, it just drove you away. You were too
much like him. Too headstrong and independent."

My gaze cut to Will out the window, talking
on the phone.

"He's a lot like your Dad," Mom said.

"I know." I sighed. "And I think our
relationship will end up the same way mine and Dad's did."

"Maybe. But you're older now. It doesn't
have to be the same." She stroked my hair. "Once Will learns he
can't control you, he'll be fine."

"That's the problem. I don't think he'll
ever learn."

"If he loves you, he will."

"And he does," Gina piped up. "To the point
of obsession."

"Obsession?" I shook my head. "He's too old
for that. Young men obsess over women. There's a big age gap
between us don't forget."

"Trust me, next time you're over at his
place, take a look at his DVD collection. He's got everything you
were ever in."

"Really?" Wow! Some of those movies were
really
bad too. No one with any taste would spend money on
the DVD version. "But—"

Mom held up her forefinger. "Stop making
excuses and go out there."

I knew when I was outnumbered. I joined Will
on the front porch as he hung up. The sun peeped over the horizon,
bathing the street in an ethereal yellow glow. Suddenly I felt
exhausted. I wanted to curl up in bed and sleep all day and all
night.

With Will.

I wanted Will, and not just sexually. What a
surprise.

"That was Forde. He'll come past later and
take down your statement."

"Will?"

He touched my patched up cheek with his
fingertips. "Yeah?"

"Be with me when he does. I want you to hear
everything. There's probably some stuff you need to know about
Carl."

He half turned away as if he didn't want to
hear it. Then he must have thought twice and looked at me again.
"Like the embezzling?"

"You knew?"

"I guessed. Tanya was pretty adamant it
wasn't her, and when I got to thinking about it, I realized she
wasn't smart enough to cover her tracks. And the tracks were well
covered. If it hadn't been for you, it would never have been
discovered."

"So I'm not that bad after all?"

He smiled. "You're the best employee I've
got."

I was his only employee now. "Gee,
thanks."

"But I should have known it was Carl all
along." He shook his head. "Christ, I knew he wasn't the good guy
he always pretended to be."

"How?"

He drew in a breath and blew it out in a
measured dose as if he didn't want to elaborate. "He had an affair
with Tanya while she and I were still going out."

"You knew about that?" Maybe he wasn't as
oblivious to the goings on at Knights as Tanya and I thought. Which
meant he probably knew about all my work-avoidance techniques. And
yet he hadn't fired me…

He leaned against the porch rail and looked
at me through his shaggy fringe. "Tired?" he asked.

I nodded. "You?"

He nodded. "Hey, I nearly forgot." He
reached into his jeans pocket and handed me a folded piece of
paper.

I unfolded it and read:

Dear Kitty Cat,

Working with you on POTC 4 was a blast.
Sorry to hear you'd left the biz. All the best in the real
world.

Love, Johnny.

"Johnny?" I frowned. "Johnny Depp! Oh my
God, Will, you asked him for an autograph?"

"You seemed devastated when your book was
destroyed in the fire, so I emailed all the agents of the stars I
know you worked with and told them your predicament. He's the first
to respond but I'm hoping the others will start trickling in."

"Emailed? You?"

He gave me a crooked grin. "I do know how to
email, Cat. I found the agents' information on their websites."

And all this time I'd done all the computer
work for him thinking he was too busy, or too hopeless, to
learn.

"Will, you're the best." I hugged him and he
held me, cradling me gently against his solidness and resting his
cheek on my head. We fit together perfectly and neither of us moved
for several minutes.

Eventually he said, "I better go and let you
get some sleep." But he didn't move. Instead he looked out over the
front garden, his face in profile. Despite the hazy early morning
light, I could see the sadness in the grooves around his eyes, the
downturn of his mouth. I got the feeling the events of the previous
night would weigh heavier on him than it ever would on me.

"Will?" I touched his fingers.

He continued to stare at my mother's garden
bed. "Yeah?"

"Can I come home with you?"

He turned his attention to me and a hint of
a smile played at his perfect lips. "For as long as you want." He
bent and pressed those lips to my forehead. Then he drew me into a
delicate embrace and buried his face in my shoulder.

I stroked his back when his body shuddered.
"So," I said when we drew apart, "looks like you're going to need a
new full time P.I."

"Forget it, Cat, I'll advertise."

"But I'm good. I have a one hundred percent
success rate."

"One hundred percent disaster rate."

"I'm cheap."

"So I don't have to take you to Monica's
Restaurant this weekend?"

"I'll make an exception."

He smiled then quickly sobered. "Seriously,
Cat, putting you on as a P.I. will send my blood pressure through
the roof. I'm an old man, you know."

"You're not old. Grumpy, but not old." I
stood on my toes and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Anyway,
you're only as old as you feel." I reached around and squeezed his
butt. "And you feel damn fine to me."

EPILOGUE

After leaving Hollywood, I'd shelved all my
ambitions of fame, no matter how small they'd been to begin with.
But wouldn't you know it, getting kidnapped and beaten up by a bank
robber got me more TV time than most B-list celebrities dreamed of.
Everyone wanted a piece of me. It lasted about a week when I was
bumped in favor of a kitten stuck down an elevator shaft. You can't
beat that.

Once the bruising on my face lessened
(nothing was broken, thank God) I went back to work. As a P.I. Yep,
Will came through, and after only a teensy bit of encouragement
from me. And from Gina. And Mom. And the waitress at Trendz Café
and just about everyone else.

Except Scarface. He visited me at Mom's a
few days after Carl's arrest.

"You're a walking disaster," he said with a
shake of his head. He touched my chin to tilt my head back and get
a better look at my cheek. His brow crinkled and concern shadowed
his good eye. "You okay?"

Annoyed at his wisecrack, I moved away and
sat on the couch. He sat opposite, looking awkward and out of place
in Mom's living room. I figured he'd look out of place in anything
but a grungy bar.

"Couldn't be better," I said. It was true. I
felt like my life was finally moving forward. I had a new job, a
new man, and I was a local celebrity, plus the rest of the
insurance money for my apartment had finally come through so I was
going shopping as soon my face no longer elicited shocked
gasps.

"I hear you're going to be working for Will
as an investigator," he said, fixing me with one of his paralyzing
one-eyed glares. "Poor bastard."

"Hey!"

He grinned. "I bet his no domestics policy
won't last."

I humphed and crossed my arms. "It's Will's
company, not mine."

"Yeah, but you're female."

Mom entered carrying two mugs of coffee. She
handed one to Scarface, watching him all the time through lowered
lashes, and gave the other to me. She left the room without saying
anything. I don't think she liked me having male visitors that
weren't Will. Funny how she'd already fallen under his spell. He
can be quite charming when he puts some effort into it. I think
she'd taken it upon herself to be his self-appointed watchdog while
I convalesced. Dad would have been proud.