Mischief 24/7 (14 page)

Now Jade laughed, probably her first real laugh in weeks. “No, really? Don’t say that you hope my ‘brilliant detecting skills’ will help you locate this supposedly priceless emerald?”

“I’m
so
subtle, aren’t I?” Morgan pulled a face, making her look like a very pretty but very naughty child. “And I don’t want to frighten you away, but I feel that, as we’re being honest now, I should tell you something. My grandfather told me that years ago,
his
grandfather had hired someone to hunt for the Empress, and the man ended up losing a hand to, well, to some sort of booby trap. My grandfather said that was because Ainsley meant for only a Becket to find the Empress. So you see, anxious as I am to find the stone and to fulfill whatever destiny Ainsley expected of us, I’m not about to launch a search on my own. No one has searched, frankly, not
in more than one hundred years. The legend of the Empress and its bad luck were too daunting.”

Before Jade could answer—and really, what was there to say after that?—Morgan checked the slim gold-and-diamond watch on her wrist and hopped to her feet. “Blast! Must run, and I only pray I don’t mean that literally, not in these heels. Quickly, promise me you’ll all come to Becket Hall just as soon as you can. You can’t deny me now that we’ve met and become friends. I’m no longer just a voice at the other end of the phone.”

Jade heard herself saying yes to the visit a heartbeat before being enveloped by the scent of Morgan’s perfume as the smaller woman hugged her fiercely. Then it was Court’s turn, as Morgan stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, and then the woman was gone, an apricot blur racing deeper into the terminal.

“Well, that was different,” Jade said, sitting down. “But, much as I hate to admit it, I am intrigued, far more than I was prior to meeting your cousin. The man lost a hand to a booby trap? That’s bizarre.”

“Not when you know that Ainsley lived by his wits as privateer, pirate and smuggler. Not when you know that he lived for many years somewhere on the coast of Haiti and that he actually brought
a voodoo high priestess to Romney Marsh with him to act as nanny to his daughter Cassandra. Can you even imagine that? We’re talking about a whole other age here, Jade, and people we can’t easily understand.”

Jade got to her feet. “Okay, now you’ve lost me. Voodoo, Court? And don’t tell me you believe in that nonsense.”

“So says the hardheaded realist. I’m not so sure. There are a lot of things in this world that defy explanation, Jade.”

But Jade wasn’t listening anymore. She had suddenly clamped her hand on Court’s arm and pulled him away from the bar’s entrance and back into the dimly lit interior. She’d seen the bright lights come on smack in the center of the wide corridor, seen the camera, the reporter holding a microphone and calling to someone approaching from the area of the gates.

“Brainard,” she said quietly, looking at the tall, blond, handsome, extremely confident candidate in his two-thousand-dollar suit. “Father and son. They must have just landed.”

Court peered around a large pillar. “That’s them, back from their ranch or wherever they went so that Daddy Brainard could recover from his
spell
last week. So I guess we were right, Jade.

Even the front-runner can’t stay away from the action too long. Now we know he’ll definitely make his scheduled appearance tonight.”

“Look, they’re going to stop.”

“There was no question that they wouldn’t,” Court said. “What’s that old saying? If you want a politician to appear, just hold out a camera or a microphone and you’ll be beating them off with a stick in less than sixty seconds. Come on, let’s go, unless you want to watch?”

Jade squeezed her hands into tight fists, her fingertips biting into her palms. “You don’t know how badly I want to go out there and confront him right now.”

“Oh, I think I do, which is why I suggested we leave now. You promised to wait for Jessica and Matt,” Court said quietly. “You’ve got lights, camera, action here, sure, but the middle of Philadelphia International Airport probably isn’t the best place to play
Gotcha
with Joshua Brainard.”

“No,” she agreed reluctantly as she watched people on their way into the terminal having to skirt around Joshua and his father as the candidate spoke for the cameras. Still, this was a golden opportunity. She visually searched the crowded terminal as if for answers. There had to be something, some way she could… “Come with me.”

Taking Court’s hand, she kept her head averted as the two of them threaded their way across the sea of pedestrians and carry-ons, straight to a line of courtesy phones on the far wall.

“Should I ask what you’re doing?” Court said as she picked up one of the receivers.

“Shh,” she warned, keeping her back to the terminal and the ongoing interview. “Hello?” she said as an operator came on the line. “Hello, yes. Could you please page someone for me? It’s
very
important. Yes, yes, thank you. The name is Tarin White. T-a-r-i-n, yes. Uh… to right here, Terminal B, is it? Oh, good, that works. How long will it take until—Immediately? Thank you so much.”

She replaced the receiver and turned to smile at Court. “Let’s see Joshua’s reaction when he hears the page. What are you doing?”

“Hey, anything you can do,” Court said, grinning at her as he lifted the receiver and paged Dr. Norman Myster.

“Tarin’s
dentist?”
Jade repeated Morgan’s earlier action and kissed Court on the cheek. “It’s a two-fer. You’re brilliant.”

“Yes, hold that thought until the next time I try to get you alone to make mad, passionate love to you. I’m a real keeper, Jade.”

“You’re impossible,” Jade countered, but she
was more amused than put off by his teasing, by the way he had managed to slide his arm around her back and pull her close as they turned to watch the action. “Now just pray the interview isn’t over before the page comes over the public-address system.”

Jade didn’t have to worry for more than another ten seconds before the operator’s voice could be heard loudly and clearly: “Tarin White? Tarin White, your party is waiting for you at the yellow courtesy phone bank in Terminal B. Tarin White, please meet your party in Terminal B.”

Joshua Brainard’s head snapped back hard enough to give him whiplash, and he quickly looked left, then right…which was when Jade lifted a hand and waggled her fingers at him in a mocking greeting.

“Gotcha,” she mouthed quietly. “Don’t try to tell me later that you don’t know who Tarin White was, buddy boy.”

The public-address system squeaked again. “Norman Myster, Dr. Norman Myster, please come to the yellow courtesy phones in Terminal B. Norman Myster, Dr. Norman Myster.”

Joshua Brainard was still staring at Jade and Court, although his eyes shifted upward momentarily, as if he could see the dentist’s name scrolling
by on the tiled ceiling above his head.
Why?
he then mouthed silently to Jade, his expression tortured as his father kept a smile on his face, attempting to redirect his son’s attention to the local television-news reporters who were still standing there, cameras and microphones at the ready.

But Jade wasn’t buying the man’s sincere act. “He plays the innocent so well, doesn’t he? Well, see you later, Josh, baby. And you’re going down. You’re going
down
tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah, Rocky, we got that. Come on, before this gets ugly. You made your point.”

“He responded, Court. You saw it, one mention of Tarin’s name and, bam, his head went up like a setter going on point,” Jade said, almost dancing beside Court as he quickly led her to the end of the terminal and into the larger mass of people all moving like lemmings toward the exits. “Now, to get him to agree to talk to me tonight, which won’t be easy. No, I don’t think the man likes me very much.”

“I
DON’T THINK I HAVE
much chance of hitting your father’s list of his top ten people,” Court said as he climbed into the driver’s side of his car after the awkward
interview
with Teddy Sunshine. “On the other hand, I think I like him. He’s nothing if not honest.”

Jade rolled her eyes. “What did Teddy do? He did something. He wouldn’t be Teddy if he didn’t do something. I told you I didn’t see any reason for us to stop here. Warned you, actually, if you’ll remember. The man was a cop, Court. He lives to interrogate.”

Court headed for the highway and the drive back to his hotel. “Wrong, he lives to intimidate. And he’s quite good at it, by the way. A lesser man may have packed his bags and headed for the hills.” He turned to smile at Jade. “I am not, by the way, a lesser man.”

“Yes, I’ve already sensed that,” Jade said with a sigh, and then smiled. “I have the rest of the day off, you know. When did you say you were
leaving for Virginia and your New Year’s Eve party?”

“As soon as we find you a suitcase and pack up the rest of the clothing back at my hotel. Remember, Jade, tomorrow is Saturday. Nobody works New Year’s Day, unless they have to. We leave in an hour, will be in Virginia before I can ply you with too much champagne on the plane, and won’t be more than an hour late for the party. Or did you think I only asked you to come back to the hotel with me for some quick goodbye sex? This isn’t a game I’m playing here, Jade.”

“Court, I—”

“You can’t go, you can’t leave Teddy. He’d be helpless without you,” he said quickly, pretty sure he was pushing the right button.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Teddy’s a grown man. But I can’t go with you, Court. It’s…that’s not something I do.”

“A new year, trying something new—you’re not afraid of me, Jade, are you?”

“I’m here, aren’t I? I took you home to meet Teddy. Under protest, but I did take you. But Virginia? For an entire weekend? I don’t know…”

Court slowed at seeing the stoplight ahead turn yellow when he could easily have made it through, and caught the red light. Which made it possible for him to keep his foot on the brake as he reached over to cup the back of Jade’s neck and slowly pull her toward him.

He put everything he had into their kiss, he knew that, and Jade melted against him in a very satisfying way until they both seemed to hear the sound of a honking horn at the same time and Court moved his foot to the gas, the car passing beneath the very green traffic light. “So?” he asked quietly.

“You don’t play fair, Court Becket.” Jade slipped her hand onto his thigh. “I won’t need much. We can probably make do with just your suitcase….”

“R
EMIND ME AGAIN
how you roped me into agreeing to this?” Court said as they parked the car in the lot adjoining Lieutenant Matt Denby’s apartment building.

Jade grinned at him, still pretty much on a high after spooking Joshua Brainard at the airport. “Hey, I went with you, now you come with me. It’s fair.”

“Sunshine fair, not Other People fair, but we’re here,” Court said as he joined her on the faded and cracked macadam. “What will you do if Ernesto isn’t ready to leave yet?”

“You know the trouble he’s been having with some of the neighborhood tough guys, Court. He had a black eye, for God’s sake, when Matt and Jessica brought him to Sam’s house. I’m sure Matt will feel a lot better if he sees Ernesto when they get back tonight. He’s leaving for Penn State in a couple of days, anyway. Besides, I like him. And Rockne misses him.”

“Uh-huh,” Court said, holding open the heavy steel door to the building. “If I say all right, will you stop now, or do you have more arguments for me?”

“I’ve got plenty, but we’re here, so the whole thing is moot, anyway, right?” Then Jade softened her words by going up on her toes to give him a quick, hard kiss. “And no, I don’t know why I just did that.”

“I’d like to think I do,” Court said, and gave her a playful pat on the rump as they walked into the dark foyer that smelled of taco salad. It smelled pretty good, actually, reminding him that they’d made do with a few bites of some pretty bad hot dogs at the airport. “Jess told me that Matt’s place is on the third floor, but Ernesto and his mother live down here. Let me check the mailboxes.”

Ernesto opened the door to his apartment a minute later, immediately breaking into a grin when he saw Court. “Hey, man,” he said, holding up his hand to give a high-five, “what are you doing here? Come to see where the little Spanish kid lives? I should have told my butler to answer the door.”

Then he frowned, looked over his shoulder back into the interior of the apartment and stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

“Miss Sunshine, hi. You guys hear anything from my amigo? He ran out of here yesterday like a cat with its tail on fire.”

Jade had tried to peek inside the apartment before Ernesto closed the door. She’d thought she heard someone calling the boy’s name. “Matt and Jessica are together, visiting his parents. Did someone just call you?”

“Me? Nah, not me,” Ernesto said, shifting from one foot to the other. “You here for Sunny? Matt didn’t give him a name, but he has to answer to something, right? So I named him Sunny. You know, for Sunshine? He’s upstairs. I mean, I wanted to keep him down here but… Let’s go upstairs. He probably needs to go out, anyway.”

Court and Jade exchanged puzzled glances, and then Court shrugged and motioned for Jade to precede him as they followed Ernesto up the three flights.

As Jade climbed the stairs, she thought about how Ernesto had come into their lives. A brilliant scholar, he had been targeted by bullies—thanks to his slight size and his large brain—and Matt had appointed himself Ernesto’s bodyguard. Jess had seen Ernesto, seen the kid’s black eye, and that was all Jessica had needed to get Ernesto moved to Sam’s house until he left for summer
classes at Penn State and his full scholarship in logistics.

Matt had moved back to his apartment only yesterday after he and Jessica solved the Fishtown Strangler case—when Matt had run scared, fearing his attraction to Jessica—and he’d taken Ernesto with him.

But now Matt was with Jessica, and Jess had texted her earlier that she’d really appreciate it if she and Court brought Ernesto back to Sam’s. She hadn’t mentioned a Sunny—but that was Jess; details were for other people.