Watching You (3 page)

He watched Isabella come back into the room, glass of wine in hand, twisting her head side to side to work the kinks out of her neck. She was tense, he knew. The trial. He wanted to take it away for her, ease her worry, ease her tension. He’d drifted off for a moment last night and dreamed of doing just that. Dreamed it was just him and Bella and her big white bed.

Before he’d awoken with a start to the sound of Leo’s voice still playing back through his speakers.

She sipped her wine, hit the play button on her answering machine.

Dale wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, watched her tired expression melt into a slow smile, her eyes going soft.

He flipped a switch on his receiver, shoved an earpiece in pulling up audio in her apartment.

Leo’s voice.

“…
missed you today, gorgeous. I’m working late, but I’ll try to stop by on my way home. Call me when you get in.”

The machine beeped, and Isabella immediately picked up the receiver, dialing.

Dale cursed under his breath.

“
There’s been a change of plans,” the man with the accent said.

Reluctantly, Dale doused the audio from the apartment, focusing on the recording from Leo’s office as he watched Bella twirl a strand of dark hair round her fingers, giggling as she talked into the phone.

“
What kind of change?” Leo asked.

“
We need to move things up a bit.”

There was a pause, then the squeak of leather as Leo shifted in his seat. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that.”

“
Fuck what you’re comfortable with. You’re not being paid to be comfortable.”

Isabella hung up the phone, went into the bedroom and stepped out of her sensible skirt and blouse. A soft, white slip went over her head instead, hugging her hips in the moonlight. Dale couldn’t have torn his gaze away if he wanted to.

“
How?” he heard Leo ask.

“
The same. Details are yours to work out, payment will be transferred to your account.”

A shiny red BMW pulled up the street, parallel parking at the curb in front of Bella’s building. Leo got out, looked both ways, made his way into the lobby.

“
When?”

“
How soon can you make it happen?” the man with the accent inquired.

Another pause, more leather squeaking.

Dale felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck, his binoculars trained on Isabella’s front door, his entire body poised, focused. He could imagine the sound of the bell echoing through her apartment as Leo rang it.

“
Tomorrow,” Leo answered.

“
Not good enough.” Fabric shifting as the other man rose.

Bella skipped out of the bedroom, pausing just long enough to check her hair in the mirror by the front door before throwing it open.

Leo stood on the other side, smiling down at her.

The man with the accent spoke again. “Tonight. This needs to end tonight.”

Dale froze, his gut clenching, his skin going cold in the heat, his grip on the binoculars deadly as he watched Bella let Leo in.

“
Fine. Consider it done,” Leo answered.

Dale dropped the binoculars, vaulted from the car. He didn’t even remember sprinting across the street, but in seconds he was inside Bella’s building, taking the stairs two at a time to the fourth floor. He reached the first landing, grabbed the railing propelling himself higher with one hand, the other reaching into the waistband of his jeans for his 45.

His fingers wrapped around the trigger, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the empty stairwell as he hit the door to the fourth floor, shoving it open, racing down the hall to the door of 4F.

He rammed his shoulder against it, feeling pain erupt along his arm. He heard a thud from inside, shuffling of feet. He didn’t stop, didn’t think, didn’t try to process anything. Instead, he flung himself at the door again, hitting just above the knob, hearing the answering splinter of wood as it flew open.

“
Freeze,” he yelled.

Bella stood in the middle of the kitchen, her eyes round and wide with fear, her skin as pale as her slip, her mouth hanging open in a silent plea.

Behind her stood Leo, a gun to her temple, an arm wrapped around her throat, slowly choking the life out of her.

“
Get away from her,” Dale commanded. He held the 45 straight out in front of him, his stance solid, his finger loose on the trigger, his eyes shooting a bullet sized hole right between the bastard’s eyes.

Even while his insides shook so hard he thought he might throw up.

Leo didn’t answer, instead tightened his grip on Bella’s neck, lifting her off the floor.

She let out a gurgling sound, her toes skimming the kitchen tiles, dangling beneath her as she clawed at Leo’s arm.

“
Let. Her. Go.” Dale ground the words out, calculating just how much time he had before Bella’s world went black.

“
Fuck you,” Leo spat back. The eloquent words of a desperate man.

Dale knew from experience that desperate men had nothing to loose.

And he wasn’t taking that chance.

Not with Bella.

He fired off three rounds, one right after another. The first caught Leo in the shoulder, swinging the gun from his hand. The second in the knee, dropping him to the ground. The third in the middle of his chest, silencing any further debate as an ugly red stain spread across the kitchen floor.

Bella fell to her knees, gasping, crawling as far away from Leo as she could. Her hands instinctively went to her throat where the red outline of the bastard’s fingers stood stark against her pale skin.

Dale’s hands shook as he shoved the gun into his waistband again, knelt beside her.

“
Are you okay?”

Her wide eyes met his. She silently shook her head back and forth.

“
It’s all right, it’s over now.” He took her by the hand, leading her to the sofa, away from the body staining her kitchen tiles.

“
Who…” She faltered, her voice coming out on a choked sob. “Who are you?”

“
Agent Dale Langley. FBI.”

Her gaze cut to the body on the floor, her jaw clenching, eyes going hard, the sharp defense attorney in her rising to the surface. “And him?” she asked.

“
Leonardo Beckett. His mother is Anna Gianni Beckett.”

“
Gianni.” It was a statement not a question. “As in Aldo Gianni.”

Dale nodded, watching the same pieces he’d picked up earlier falling into place behind her eyes. “Aldo’s sister. It was Leo’s job to make sure his uncle’s former attorney never took the stand about what she’d seen. What you’d seen,” he added softly.

Bella nodded, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment. “I should have known,” she whispered.

“
How could you?”

They shot open. “I’m a defense attorney for Christ sakes, it’s my job to know when people are lying.”

“
Clients, yes.” He remembered how often she’d checked her silent voicemail, how she’d come home, alone, every night, the unseen man across the street her only companion. It wasn’t her fault she’d wanted to believe in Leo. “But love turns even the most intelligent people into morons. It…” he paused. Cleared his throat. “It can make even the best of us lose it.”

“
I didn’t love him,” Bella said softly. Even though he could tell that was only half true. Maybe she hadn’t yet, but she’d quickly been falling.

He looked down. Her hands were shaking. He took one in his.

“
I didn’t have time for a silencer. I’m sure one of your neighbors has called the police by now. Reporters won’t be far behind. We need to get you out of here.”

She jerked her hand away. “I told the feds I didn’t want witness protection,” she protested.

“
I know.”

She turned to face him. And something shifted in her eyes, sudden understand lighting them. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? That’s how you knew Leo was…” She trailed off, shot up from the sofa and crossed to the windows. Her eyes immediately locked on his Festiva across the street.

Her voice came out flat. “You’ve been watching me.”

Dale paused. Then nodded.

“
How long?”

“
Long enough.”

She shook her head. “This is a fucking nightmare.”

“
Look, I understand this is scary. If you aren’t up to testifying this week, we can get a continuance, but I need…”

But she cut him off. “Oh, I’m testifying all right.” Her eyes blazed. “You bet your ass I’m testifying. First Gianni thinks he can bully me into doing his dirty work for him, then he thinks he can silence me? Put a hit out on me? Fuckers don’t know who they’re dealing with.” She crossed her arms over her chest, indignation radiating from her tiny form.

And Dale couldn’t help but smile.

She caught him. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s nothing less than I’ve come to expect of you.”

She cocked her head at him. But didn’t comment. Instead, she said, “I’ve changed my mind.”

“
About?”

“
I do want protection.”

He nodded, relief flooding his system. As much as he wanted to see Gianni behind bars, the evening had taken about ten years off his life. The thought of Bella exposed again wasn’t something he thought he could stomach.

“
Under one condition,” she hedged.

“
Name it.”

“
You.”

He paused. “Me?”

She nodded. “You’re good. Before I could even call for help, you were here. Hell, you knew before I did that I even needed help. I want you. Watching me.”

He needed to sleep. He needed a shower, a decent meal, a day to clear his head, remember who he was, what life looked like outside a pair of binocular lenses.

But he felt himself nodding.

“
Okay.”

“
Okay?” Her shoulders sagged, tension draining out. She licked her lips. “Promise?”

He nodded again. “Promise. Now, let’s get you out of here.”

“
Okay. But I have one more condition,” she said as he took her hand, led her from the room.

“
What?”

“
We’re taking my car.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“
There’s no way I’m riding around town in that shit Festiva.”

He felt the corner of his mouth tug upward. Then the other. Then a full blown laugh escaped him. When was the last time he’d laughed. Days? Weeks? It felt good.

“
Baby, I’ll get you a limo if you want one, let’s just get the hell out of here.”

She smiled then, too. A tiny one.

But it was a start.

* * * * *

About the author:

Gemma Halliday is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of the
High Heels Mysteries
, the
Hollywood Headlines
Mysteries,
and the
Deadly Cool
series of young adult books
. Gemma’s books have received numerous awards, including a Golden Heart, a National Reader’s Choice award and three RITA nominations. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she is hard at work on several new projects.

To learn more about Gemma, visit her online at
http://www.gemmahalliday.com

Connect with Gemma on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/gemmahallidayauthor

* * * * *

OTHER BOOKS BY GEMMA HALLIDAY

High Heels Mysteries:

Spying in High Heels

Killer in High Heels

Undercover in High Heels

Alibi in High Heels

Mayhem in High Heels

Fearless in High Heels

Christmas in High Heels (short story)

Sweetheart in High Heels (short story)

Hollywood Headlines Mysteries:

Hollywood Scandals

Hollywood Secrets

Hollywood Confessions

Anna Smith-Nick Dade Thrillers:

Play Nice

Young Adult Books:

Deadly Cool

Social Suicide

Other Works:

Viva Las Vegas

A High Heels Haunting (novella)

Watching You (short story)

Confessions of a Bombshell Bandit (short story)

* * * * *

SNEAK PEEK

of the first

High Heels Mystery

by Gemma Halliday:

SPYING IN HIGH HEELS

* * * * *

Chapter One

I was late.

And I don’t mean the kind of late where I spent too much time doing my hair and was now stuck in traffic. I mean I was
late
late. The kind of late where the 99% effective warnings on the side of condom boxes flashed before my eyes as I white knuckled my way down the 405, silently screaming, why me? Why, oh why me? I’m a new millennium girl. I took copious notes in 6
^th
grade Sex Ed. I carry just-in-case condoms in the zippered section of my purse. And, after that first singularly awkward experience in the back of Todd Hanson’s ‘82 Chevy after junior prom, I have been meticulously careful. Me. I was late. And I was not taking it well.