Scandal Never Sleeps (16 page)

He finally made it to the top of the building. He stopped in front of the door and could hear the whooshing sound of chopper blades as Dax turned the engine over. “We are leaving. I’d like to see the paparazzi follow us now.”

Her eyes widened as if she’d identified the sound, too. “We’re going in a helicopter? I’ve never been in one.”

“This isn’t simply any helicopter. This is my baby. I designed it
myself. I could go into all the brilliant engine innovations and give you specs on how far and fast it can go, but you’ll probably be more interested in the fact that I convinced the House of Versace to design the interior. This is a flying luxury suite.” And the interior was definitely tricked out so they could get busy. Not that he was going to seduce her now. But it crossed his mind.

She stared at him with wide eyes. “Gabriel, whatever you’re thinking . . . that’s a mistake.”

“No, it’s not. I need you, Everly. Help me figure out who killed my best friend because I didn’t do it.” It was time to play on those heartstrings of hers and seal the deal. To do that, he would have to open up and give her a little honesty. It might even make her feel guilty enough to give him what he needed. If she’d been sleeping with Mad, she might be shocked at what he was about to say. “I owe it to my future nephew or niece to figure out who killed him.”

She paused, obviously putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Then she gasped. “Your sister. She’s pregnant. She dated Maddox. He mentioned it once. That’s what you two were fighting about.”

“I’ll tell you everything if you’ll come with me. I’ll put all my cards on the table, and you can show me yours. Then we’ll see what kind of hand we’re left with.”

She nodded slowly, but withdrew her hand from his. “All right, but this is a professional relationship from here out. Our weekend was a mistake, an aberration. I’ll help you, but you have to promise to forget about what happened between us.”

Not in a million years. But she was right that it had been an aberration. Usually when he slept with a woman, he moved on right away. Usually, he didn’t feel a thing beyond physical satisfaction. Everly made him feel more. She made him feel too damn much.

“Of course.” It seemed to be his day for telling lies.

She nodded and started for the door.

Damn it. How was he going to keep his hands off her? He followed her, completely unable to pry his stare away from that curvy backside.
He tried to tell himself that Mad had her first, and she was the reason they were in this mess. He tried to tell himself that if Mad had been murdered, she might even be a suspect. He had a million and one reasons to not trust her, to stay as far from her as he could.

But a certain ruthless part of him found every reason possible to keep her close. She’d belonged to Mad, who had given him everything. His business. His homes. His money.

Why not his mistress?

As Everly opened the door, the bright light of day flooded the stairs. She stopped at the top and stared at the chopper. It was a gorgeous black and white body with a matching elegant cabin. Dax had thoughtfully left the cabin door open, but she made no move toward it.

“Are you scared?” Gabe asked.

“I’ve never loved heights, to tell you the truth.” She retreated as though ready to scamper back down the stairs to safety.

He wasn’t about to let her do that. He had no idea why Mad hadn’t taken her up, but flight had been a big portion of Gabe’s life for a very long time. His family business was all about getting up in the sky. Besides, if she was afraid, she might cling to him. She might be grateful to him for keeping her safe.

“I won’t let you fall.” He held out his arm.

“Gabriel . . .” she began.

“I am very professionally offering to escort you to your vehicle, Ms. Parker. And trust me, you haven’t seen Manhattan until you’ve seen it from my vantage point. Let me show you.” He could muster up some charm. It had all gone down the toilet when he’d let his anger rule. Charisma worked better. He would know her secrets and figure her out. And once he had, he would be ready to let her go.

She squared her shoulders and slipped her arm through his. “All right. I guess it is the best way to avoid the press. Are we going back to the office?”

Right before he answered, a thought struck him. He should gauge how she reacted to being surrounded by Maddox Crawford, see if she
pined like a lover or clammed up guiltily like someone keeping secrets. “Let’s go to Mad’s and see if he left anything that might help us figure out what he was up to before he was killed. We might be able to piece together some clues. Would you help me do that?”

The light came back into her eyes, and he felt her inch closer. Yes, he would definitely catch more Everlys with honey than vinegar.

She hesitated, as if she knew better, but then nodded.

“Keep your head down.” The rotors were really moving now. He had to yell over the sound.

When he started walking to the chopper, she did as he asked and stayed by his side. He settled her in and grabbed the headphones that linked him to Dax, passing another set to her.

“Are you two ready?” Dax asked, his voice coming in strong over the headphones.

“Everly’s never been in a helicopter before, Dax,” he replied. “Why don’t we give her a tour? You know the drill.”

There was a slight pause, followed by a little chuckle. “Well, now, brother, you know I never like to disappoint a lady.”

The helicopter lifted off the pad, and Dax turned it up just enough to send her right into his arms. Yes, Dax remembered the drill.

He eased Everly back into her seat and helped her secure her seatbelt. He was satisfied to let her be. For now. Once they were alone . . .

Gabe smiled.

E
verly glanced around the library. It was surprisingly classic, even staid, given the fact that it was in Maddox Crawford’s bachelor pad.

Earlier, Gabriel had kept his promise to show her Manhattan from above. It had glittered like a jewel in the early evening. From those heights there had been no trash, rude people, or violence, only beauty. She’d felt safe with him. Which probably made her an idiot since he was a suspect in a high-profile murder. But her gut told her that he wouldn’t harm her.

After the exhilarating ride, they’d landed on the helipad atop Maddox’s building. The four-story brownstone was otherwise luxurious but unassuming. Since entering the place, Everly had been walking around a bit wide-eyed.

She’d expected everything flashy and modern, with all the latest gadgets and a flat screen as big as the one in Times Square. Instead, the place reeked of old-school elegance. Sure, he had contemporary leather sofas upstairs and Euro-modern cabinets in the kitchen—which should have looked out of place. But he’d also chosen fixtures and fabrics that bridged the gap between the Gilded Age and today,
while keeping the character of the building. The plaster ceilings, medallions, moldings, and door casings blew her mind. Everything looked like it belonged in a magazine.

As they’d stepped down into the library, the sights hadn’t stopped. The cove ceilings towered above them. On either side of the room, built-in shelves painted a pristine white arched across the length and width of the wall. Each was lined with hundreds of leather books, and the smell was divine. At one end, a huge picture window opened up to the “garden level” and provided light to the sturdy antique desk beneath. A massive marble fireplace with ceiling-scraping mirror-and-wood detail dominated the other end. Dark hardwood floors added a cozy richness to the place. A cushy reading chair in a velvet bottle green occupied one corner, along with a globe in a floor stand. A pale beige sofa with softly colored pillows sat right in the middle of the room.

Everything shouted class. For all of Maddox’s faults, the man had possessed great style.

“Have you found anything?” Everly asked a couple of hours later as she caught sight of Gabriel at the big desk.

He looked up from what appeared to be a mountain of paper, a single sheet clutched in his hand. “Mad didn’t like to deal with trivial details. No idea why he’s keeping a receipt for booze he had at a party he threw two years ago. Did he want to be reminded of how much he overpaid the caterers? Seriously, he got scammed and hard. He paid a hundred thousand for champagne that wasn’t worth twenty.”

She sighed as she peeked at the receipt. “Given the date and quantity, looks like it’s a receipt for the champagne served at the foundation’s annual gala. The event is Tavia’s baby, though Valerie started handling most of the ordering and catering two years ago. I’m not surprised she would spend so much. She likes expensive things.”

He shook his head. “That’s what I’m saying. This brand isn’t expensive.”

“Well, this was for charity. Maybe Maddox needed an additional write-off. Or the hotel likes to up charge.”

“He liked to give money to a good cause, but overpaying for booze wasn’t one of them. Did he fire this Valerie person?”

“No.” Everly’s world would be a better place if he had.

Gabriel seemed deeply interested in receipts. She was, too, but not from Crawford Industries. Everly had spent the last two hours hacking into a coffee shop system. She’d traced one of her mystery e-mails to a coffee shop computer in Midtown and now she was going through credit cards. The shop offered free wi-fi and had four computers available for use by patrons.

With a little luck, one of thirty-seven people who purchased a latte within an hour before or after the e-mail was sent would turn out to be her mystery texter. She had to hope he’d also sent her the photos. Too bad the SD card was locked up in her office.

She’d been trying like hell to get back to her computer and look at more than the first two images. But the meeting Scott had pulled her into that morning had lasted until quitting time. Then the other VPs had insisted she come with them to a strategy session over dinner to prepare for the new boss’s arrival. When she’d finally left after ten that night, SD cards had been the last thing on her exhausted mind. Tuesday morning, looking at that card had been first on her agenda . . . until Hilary had called her into Gabe’s office and the damn world had blown up. Everly had every intention of getting back to the office and viewing more of the photos.

“I’m surprised he didn’t let her go.” Gabriel huffed. “Mad could seem like a happy-go-lucky screwup, but he didn’t suffer incompetence at all. Remind me to look at her file when all this blows over.”

Would she even be with Crawford Industries—or Gabriel—by then? “Let’s just do it now.”

Darting across the room to the plush chair, she grabbed Maddox’s sleek laptop, hit a few keys, and browsed.

“You have the permissions to view HR files?” he asked from across the room.

Everly didn’t answer right away, but it didn’t take longer than that to find what she needed. “I know how to get into the confidential HR files Maddox had access to. According to those, there hasn’t been a single firing at Crawford in over two months, and the last person wasn’t even in accounting. In fact, I couldn’t find anything that would suggest he or HR intended to make a case to dismiss Valerie.”

“He never failed to let go of someone who deserved it. Did you find anything else when you scanned his computer earlier?”

Before he’d settled down with boxes of receipts, Gabriel had asked her to check the two computers in the house, a laptop and a desktop. Both top-of-the-line and neither yielding much. From what she could tell, he’d done a purge of both systems fairly recently. “Other than a surprising amount of pornography? I didn’t know the human body could do some of those things.”

Gabriel chuckled. “I bet you got an eyeful. Mad always did enjoy the exotic. Sorry, I should have thought about that.”

He stared at her with eyes full of warm regard. When he looked at her like that, Everly remembered how well she knew this man physically. She knew how it felt to have his arms wrapped around her, her body beneath his. She tried to shake the memories off.

“Somehow I’ll survive, though I wouldn’t mind bleaching my eyeballs.” She gave him a wry glance. “But I also managed to check his datebook. He had a bunch of meetings but I didn’t see one with Valerie or anyone else who handled accounting for the foundation galas, so it doesn’t look as if he even questioned her about that receipt.”

“The fact that it was front and center on his desk tells me he was keeping it close for some reason.”

Silently, Everly agreed. “But he hadn’t acted. Any thoughts why?”

Gabriel shook his head. “He was obviously interested in this particular transaction.” He filtered through a few more scraps of paper and scanned them. “And two others a lot like it. This one was attached
to the receipts for the foundation parties for the previous three years. Unless Mad was suspicious, I can’t think of a single reason why he kept them in his personal space, rather than with the corporate files. Maybe he questioned Valerie off the record?”

“That doesn’t seem like him. The Maddox I knew might not always share his agenda but he tended to meet things head on.”

“Exactly.” Gabriel sighed. “I’ll have Connor peek into this woman’s financials to see if he can find any hint of her skimming money. I’ll also have him find out if she has an alibi for the night of Mad’s death.”

“Will that really help? She could have planted that bomb days or weeks ago.”

“No, the plane had been used by another Crawford executive the day before. One of the services the private airport we use offers is a nose-to-tail check between every flight. Dax looked at the records. He texted me to say that Kingston, the owner of the airport, and his head mechanic inspected the plane three hours before Mad took off. Jerry Kingston has been a family friend forever. He’s a nice old guy and had no cause to want Mad dead. If there had been a bomb on that plane then, they would have found it. So it was planted some time between ground check and takeoff. Mad was flying solo.”

“Why was he going to DC?” That had been the destination listed on his flight plan.

Gabriel sat back and massaged his forehead as though he had a headache coming on. “Right after the crash, Roman told me Mad had called the day before and asked for a meeting with Zack. Mad refused to say why.”

“Zack. You mean the president?”

Gabriel chuckled a little. “To me, he’s Zack. Or Scooter, when I want to needle him.”

She had to shake her head in disbelief since Zachary Hayes was known for his serious demeanor. “You call the president of the United States
Scooter
?”

When Gabriel smiled like that it was difficult to remember why she
should stay away from him. “Absolutely, but I’m sworn to secrecy about how he acquired that nickname. I think he’d sic the Secret Service on me if I told.”

It was so weird to think that the gorgeous guy in front of her not only knew the most powerful man in the world, but they’d grown up together. Gabriel Bond was the type of man who rode around in private helicopters and had dinner with the commander-in-chief. He was the type of man who was perfectly comfortable in limos and mansions.

He was the type of man who would enjoy a woman like her for a few nights, then cozy up again with women of his own class.

Everly had been raised in the middle of nowhere. She’d never actually owned a car of her own, just borrowed her dad’s because he’d mostly driven his squad car. Gabriel’s mother had been a debutante, while hers had left when Everly was six and took virtually every cent they had. She hadn’t even bothered to say good-bye. In fact, she hadn’t talked to her mother in years. She’d been forced to bury her father alone.

She and Gabe were from completely different worlds. She’d do well to remember that.

He sat back in his chair, stretching his big body like a lazy predator. “Do you want to order some dinner? I met with the housekeeper yesterday and gave her the week off while I sort everything out. But I can call Dax. He’ll bring us something.”

That sounded awfully cozy. “I should probably head home.”

Because she was fairly certain that, even though this place had six palatial bedrooms and over eight thousand square feet, it was still too small and intimate to hold both her and Gabriel if she wanted to keep her skirt on and her bed solitary.

“That’s not a good idea.” He stared at her like he knew something she didn’t.

“I can’t stay here. I don’t have a change of clothes. I don’t have anything.” Well, except her purse. But she hadn’t stuffed it with a spare set of undies or her toiletries.

He shrugged. “The good news is, Mad has a whole closet of crap women have left here. I’m sure we’ll find something that fits. The bad news is, your building is very likely surrounded by reporters now. Apparently, they learned your identity this morning, and someone tipped them off that you came to the police station with me. So unless you’re desperate for your fifteen minutes of fame, I’m afraid you’re stuck here with me.”

“Why would they have any interest in me?” Sure they’d caught her leaving a hotel a couple of days before, but . . . “I spent one weekend with you.”

“Everly, you have to understand how gossip works. They figured out the name of my mystery date earlier this morning and started asking questions. You coming to the police station with me only added a spark to that blaze. I assure you, the minute I was taken in for questioning, the story got even juicier for them. I guarantee those reporters called every employee at Crawford and buttered up anyone willing to talk. Can you guess what they said?”

She already knew, and it made her want to scream. “That I was Maddox Crawford’s mistress.”

“Bingo. So, since they saw you leaving the hotel after our night together, I assure you they’re claiming you’re now
my
mistress. There may even be wild speculation about a possible ménage à trois or some conjecture that I killed Mad in a jealous fit. I have no doubt they’re also publicly wondering if you came to the police station today to provide me an alibi or the final nail in my coffin.”

“Oh dear god.” Never mind this day being terrible. She wanted to scratch the whole week and start over. “What a mess.”

“Yep. Don’t be surprised if you get called in for questioning, too. If that happens, Roman will go with you or he’ll have one of his former partners represent you. I won’t leave you alone in this.”

Her jaw dropped. She stood staring at him, trying to process all he’d said. There was no way it could be true. No one could possibly think she was the mistress of one powerful man, much less two. “Who
would ever believe that you would kill your best friend over me? It’s ridiculous.”

“Maybe but it makes for a great story. Tabloids aren’t looking for the truth. They want whatever sells papers or gets page views. And they’re definitely staking out your place.” He snatched the computer from her grasp, hit a few keys, then turned the computer screen toward her.