JUDD CAME TO with a start, Lucy’s scream still thundering in his head.
“No, no. Oh, God, no….” He tried to sit up, but two firm hands held him down.
The hands belonged to Dr. Gary Burke. “Take it easy, Judd. It’s going to be okay.”
But it wouldn’t be okay. It would never be okay again. Lucy was gone. And he’d let it happen. He’d let her fall. But how?
“Sorry there, son. I didn’t understand what was happening. I heard her scream and I saw you and…I guess I thought you were trying to push her…”
Judd tried to bring the fireman into focus. “What?”
“A misunderstanding,” George said, his fire helmet in his hand.
Judd pressed his hands to his face as tears started streaming down his cheeks.
“I know it hurts,” Gary soothed. “But I’ve given you a shot and the pain should ease in a little while. You’re really a pretty lucky guy, considering, Judd.”
A rage washed over Judd’s anguish. His hands shot away from his face. “Lucky? Is that what I am? I’ve lost Lucy forever and you tell me I’m lucky, considering?”
“Who says you’ve lost me?”
He gasped. “Lucy?” He couldn’t believe his eyes. She was standing right there. Right next to Fireman Fred.
“I was afraid I’d lost you, Judd,” she said, kneeling beside him.
“Tell me this isn’t a fantasy, Lucy. Tell me you’re really here. That you’re alive.”
She pressed her lips to his and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss.
“I guess he’s gonna be okay,” George said with relief.
“All I can say is,” Gary concluded, “the guy has a heck of a hard head.”
When their lips finally parted, she and Judd found themselves alone in her hotel room.
He stared at her in amazement. “I heard you scream. I thought—”
“It was the computer.”
“What?”
“My strap broke.”
He rubbed his sore head. Nothing she was saying was making any sense.
“Judd, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I probably should have left it where it was.”
“Left what?”
“The laptop. Kyle’s computer.”
He remained baffled. “So, where is it?”
Lucy bit her lower lip. “In the pool.”
He grinned. “Taking a swim?”
She didn’t so much as crack a smile. “I’m serious, Judd. And now you’ll never be able to find out what’s in that locked file. All your efforts and—” She shook her head woefully.
“How did the computer get in the pool?”
“It fell from the terrace. Along with my tote bag. The strap broke just as you were about to grab me. That’s why I screamed. The next thing I knew, Fred was heaving me back onto the terrace and you were out cold on the ground.”
“That’s why you screamed? Because of the laptop?”
“Oh, Judd, now we’ll never nail Kyle.”
“Yes we will, Lucy.” Wait a minute. What was he saying?
He sat up, ignoring the sharp pain that zigzagged down the back of his scalp. So much for the pain medication. “Listen, Lucy, you are not nailing Kyle. You are staying out of this ugly business.”
“No, I’m not,” she said adamantly.
“If this is all about landing a breaking story—”
“It was about wanting to help you.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Don’t you?”
“And I don’t want it,” he added, desperate to keep her out of harm’s way. Now that she was no longer in the dark, not to mention no longer Kyle’s fiancée, she presented a serious danger to the whole money-laundering scheme. While Kyle might be squeamish about taking physical action to protect the operation, Judd knew that Morales would have no such qualms. And now that Lucy had come back from the dead, he was not about to risk losing her ever again.
She rose and smoothed down her cocktail dress, which was, remarkably, still intact. The same could not be said for his blue tux.
“Have it your own way, Judd,” she said coolly.
“Lucy, let me explain—”
She held her hand up. “You’ve already explained everything that needs explaining.”
He started after her, but a wave of dizziness overtook him and he sank back down onto the bed. Between that conk on the head and the painkiller Gary had shot him up with, he was in no condition to go anywhere at the moment. Besides, he told himself, better that she be furious with him than he end up truly being the cause of her demise.
ROZ MORRISEY WAS PLEASED as punch that Lucy was still alive, but she did not take well the news of the computer’s demise. “Now what are you going to do?”
That was the million-dollar question. Judd wished he had the answer.
“I’ll figure something out,” was all he could come up with.
When he clicked off his cell phone, he remained put on Lucy’s bed. His head was still throbbing, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been. However, the medication Gary had administered was really kicking in, making him incredibly drowsy. He could feel his eyes starting to close. He tried to fight it.
But, for all his effort, he lost the battle. Once again, he was out like a light.
“WHAT THE BLAZES is he doing here?”
“Could you not use the word blazes, Arnie?”
“Hey, ya should be happy it was a false alarm, Joey.”
“I am happy. Don’t I look happy?”
“No. Ya don’t look happy. Come to think of it, I don’t ever remember you looking happy.”
“I’ve looked happy plenty.” Joey glared at his partner in crime.
Arnie glared back. “Yeah, name one time.”
It was turning into a full-blown contest. “Don’t start with me, Arnie.”
Arnie’s brown eyes narrowed into slits, grimacing for all he was worth. But Joey had this way of clenching his jaw so the veins popped in his temples. No question, Joey had the glare thing down to perfection.
Arnie, knowing when he was beat, sauntered over to the bed. “Ya think he’s a goner?”
“He’s snoring, you idiot. Do dead men snore?”
“It could be a death rattle. Ya ever think of that, Joey?”
“Search him.”
“Why do I have to search him?”
“Okay, fine, Arnie. I’ll tell the boss you were too spooked—”
“Who says I’m spooked? I think maybe you’re spooked.”
“Fine, I’ll search him.”
Arnie blocked Joey’s way. “What am I looking for?”
“I’ll tell you when you find it.”
Arnie went to work, frisking Judd from head to toe. Judd didn’t so much as move a muscle.
“He ain’t packing,” Arnie said. “This is it.” He held up a cell phone and a narrow billfold.
Joey swiped both from Arnie’s hand.
“Hey, I get whatever dough—”
Joey gave his partner a look of sheer disgust. “We ain’t petty thieves no more, Arnie.”
Joey pocketed the phone and flipped open the wallet. Arnie spotted the top bill in the money clip. “Nothing petty about a hundred smackers.”
Joey wasn’t paying any attention. He was slipping a driver’s license out of the hidden pocket of the billfold. He grinned broadly as he examined Judd Turner’s photo and real address. With his smile fixed in place, he looked over at Arnie. “So, tell me. Do I look happy now?”
“I SHOULD BE very angry at you, Lucy.”
“You should be angry at me?” she said, trying to keep her voice down.
“Forget the tux and the pajamas. That laptop was worth over three grand.”
It wasn’t until that moment, standing there at the banquet, that Lucy realized Kyle thought she’d deliberately tossed the computer over the terrace. So he still had no idea she was on to him. She might just be able to use that to her advantage.
“I guess I went a little too far, Kyle. But you hurt me,” she said, looking aggrieved.
“Were you really contemplating suicide, Luce?”
She glanced away. He cupped her chin, drawing her back to face him. “Oh, Luce. No woman has ever gone that far for me.”
The bastard. He took her supposed suicide attempt as a point of pride. How proud of himself would he have been if she’d jumped?
“I felt so betrayed, Kyle.” What she really felt was disgusted.
“I never meant to hurt you.”
“Well, I’m sorry about the computer.”
He stroked her cheek. “Don’t worry about it. It’s insured.”
“I know, but all your files…I mean everything on it’s lost now.”
“Hey, I’m not a jerk, Lucy. You think I didn’t back everything up on my zip drive?”
She tried to contain her flurry of excitement. “You did?”
“Of course.” He patted his chest. “I always keep a copy on me. Just in case.”
She beamed up at him. “Shall we dance, Kyle?”
“THE BOSS SAYS bring him over to the Roney.” Joey clicked off his cell phone.
Arnie motioned to Judd with the barrel of his gun.
“Guess we’re goin’ for a little ride, Mr. Private Investigator.”
Judd wasn’t in any position to argue. But he was trying to weigh his options as the two goons nudged him out of Lucy’s hotel room. Hard to weigh thin air, though.
As he was being involuntarily guided down the corridor to the elevator, he saw his first opportunity to make a break for it. A few doors ahead of them, a hotel waiter was stepping out of one of the rooms, wheeling a cart full of the remains of a guest’s room-service dinner. Judd kept a slow, steady pace, Arnie and Joey right behind him, as they approached the waiter.
“Don’t try anything funny,” Joey whispered in his ear, pressing the gun into his back for emphasis.
“Yeah,” Arnie echoed menacingly.
Judd didn’t plan to try anything funny. With his cover blown, Morales wasn’t having him escorted back to his apartment to perform a comedy routine for him. No, nothing funny about his plan. It was deadly serious.
He put his plan into motion as he started to skirt past the waiter and his cart.
“Evening, gentlemen,” the waiter said politely.
Arnie and Joey both backed off Judd a few steps so they wouldn’t raise any suspicions. He had counted on this. With a sudden surge of speed, he sprang in front of the cart and shoved it with all his might into the waiter and Morales’s goons.
He heard the cart crash into the men, but didn’t wait around to inspect the results. Hoping Arnie and Joey weren’t dumb enough to start shooting in front of a witness, he bolted down the hall, past the elevator and headed for the door marked Fire Exit.
He’d made it down to the fifteenth-floor landing when he heard pounding footsteps above him. Too close for comfort, Judd picked up his pace.
“Turner, give it up,” Joey shouted, his order reverberating off the concrete walls of the stairwell.
“You ain’t making it any easier on yerself,” Arnie added. Both men already sounded out of breath.
Judd flew down the stairs, grateful for all his years of fitness training. If he could just make it to the lobby—
A shot rang out when he hit the landing on the fifth floor. It ricocheted off the metal fire door, missing him by a matter of inches. He sprinted over the railing onto the stairs half a flight down.
He felt cold comfort when he heard Joey chastising Arnie. “Idiot, I told you not to shoot. Ya wanna bring the cops on us?”
“Don’t call me an idiot, Joey. Anyways, I’d rather deal with cops than the boss if we show without Turner,” Arnie retorted, gasping for breath.
LUCY WAS NUZZLING her lips into Kyle’s neck as they did a slow fox-trot in the banquet hall.
“Oh, Luce, you’re driving me crazy,” Kyle groaned.
“That’s the idea,” she said, her fingers surreptitiously slipping inside his tuxedo jacket.
“Hey, what’re you doing?”
She scowled. Not surreptitious enough. She playfully nibbled the tip of his earlobe. “Feeling your big, strong pecs,” she murmured, trying to capture just the right note of awe in her voice.
And Kyle, being the narcissistic jerk that he was, flexed his muscles for her.
“Ooh, they’re sooo big,” she cooed, her lips moving from his earlobe to his mouth. She kissed him zealously as her fingers made contact with the disk tucked into his inside jacket pocket.
Precisely at that moment, Judd burst into the crowded ball room, the lights brightened, the music stopped abruptly and a drumroll went off. One of the alums was on the stage at the mike asking for attention.
Judd’s attention, however, was focused on Lucy and Kyle playing kissy-face. So much for their broken engagement, he thought miserably.
Lucy caught his eye and she beamed a smile of victory his way.
But he didn’t smile back. That kiss instantly knocked all the joy out of him. Kyle had won again. How could you go back to him, Lucy? And then a deeply disquieting thought assailed him. Had she been playing him for a sucker this whole time? Had she deliberately tossed that computer over the terrace so there’d be no incriminating evidence with which to charge her ex-fiancé? Ex-fiancé? Not very likely. If he weren’t feeling so devastated, he would have been good and mad.
“Okay, boys and girls, it’s that time,” the alum was announcing, his voice reverberating over the loud speakers.
Arnie and Joey, panting and gasping for breath, barreled into the ballroom. Judd spotted their entrance and quickly ducked behind a thick white alabaster pillar.
“The time we’ve all been waiting for—”
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “You aren’t trying to dodge me, are you?”
He spun around to face Danielle Brunaud, dressed in a very low-cut red sequined cocktail dress that fit her like a second skin.
“You look upset, darling.” She stroked his sweaty cheek.
“The announcement of our king and queen—”
“Upset? Me? No.” Judd looked past her shoulder. He saw Tweedledee and Tweedledum separate, casing the guests. The goons might have attracted notice if everyone’s attention weren’t eagerly focused on the stage, their anticipation palpable. He didn’t give two hoots about the announcement. His only goal at the moment was to make it out of the hotel in one piece. Which wasn’t going to be very likely if the Tweedle boys nabbed him.
“Now I hope everyone’s cast their votes—”
“And since I believe in ladies first, we’ll start with the announcement of the queen of our ten-year college reunion.”
Judd saw Lucy and Arnie starting to converge on him from opposite sides of the room.
“Ten years ago she was the class beauty and now, she’s even more beautiful. And still as smart and classy as all get-out.”
Danielle slipped a small mirror out of her sequined evening purse, did a quick check of her makeup and practiced her acceptance smile. Judd was busy trying to decide in which direction to bolt.
Lucy, who’d started out closer to him than Arnie, called to him when she was a few feet away. “Judd, I need to speak to you. It’s important—”
He caught a glimpse of Arnie slipping his hand inside his jacket. He was sure he was reaching for his gun.
Another drumroll resonated throughout the room. Arnie could pull off a shot and no one would even hear the pop above the din.
“Judd—” Lucy stopped, her eyes widening in alarm as her gaze fell on Arnie, who was only a few yards away from him.
Danielle, too busy preparing for her coronation, didn’t notice anyone but herself…Until Lucy charged into her and sent Danielle flying into the goon.
Arnie fell back into a waiter carrying a tray of champagne goblets. His head met the tray and champagne rained down on him as he hit the ground. Danielle got some of the spray as she toppled down over the mobster, sequins scattering over the pair as the seams of her form-fitting dress gave way.
The end of the drumroll drowned out Danielle’s string of French curse words.
“The queen of the ten-year Florida State reunion gala…”
Lucy clutched his arm. “I’ve got it, Judd—”
Suddenly spotlights danced down on the two of them.
“Lucy Weston. Come on down, Lucy, and receive your golden crown.”
With insult, not to mention humiliation, added to injury, Danielle struggled to her feet, her disheveled appearance also captured in the glittering spot lights.
Mortified, she fled. But Lucy stood frozen, looking like a deer caught in a car’s headlights. Her fingers were still gripping his jacket as applause broke out and all eyes fell on her. All eyes, that is, save those of Tweedledee, picking himself up off the floor, and Tweedledum, who was sprinting toward him. Pulling her hand, Judd quickly tugged her toward the stage.
“Judd. Judd, wait. I need to tell you—”
He couldn’t hear her entreaty over the music, the band having started a tune that bore an unsettlingly close resemblance to the “Wedding March.”
As they wended their way toward the stage, alums gathered behind Judd and his reluctant queen, bestowing congratulations on her. And effectively preventing Joey from getting to his target.
The alum who’d made the announcement reached down and pulled Lucy up onto the stage with one hand, his other hand clutching a golden crown and scepter.
Another alum, a female this time, now stood in front of the microphone. “And now,” she announced, “for the king of the night. I bet none of you need three guesses.” She slipped a piece of paper from an envelope, then looked over to the band. “Drumroll please.”
Joey placed a firm hand on Judd’s shoulder as the musical introduction began. “I could finish you off right now and no one would hear a thing,” the goon hissed into his ear.
“King of the reunion and Lucy Weston’s king for all eternity, the dreamboat of all dreamboats, our own football hero, Kyle Alexander Warner. Come on up, Kyle, and join your beautiful queen.”
Judd stiffened as the barrel of Joey’s gun poked into his rib cage. Off to his right, Kyle was sprinting through the crowd toward the stage. He came to a perplexed halt when he spotted Joey, whose free arm was now slung across Judd’s shoulder. Then he saw Arnie coming up behind Judd. Kyle looked from one goon to the other. “What are you—?”
Kyle didn’t get to finish the rest of his question. Two of his college football buddies hoisted him up and, between them, carried their king onto the stage.
Judd missed seeing the king and queen being crowned. He was being escorted out of the ballroom by Joey and his wet, disgruntled sidekick.
LUCY, GOLDEN TIARA ASKEW on her head, scepter clutched in her hand, was standing beside her beaming king when she spotted Judd, wedged between Joey and Arnie, heading for the exit. She gasped in alarm, instantly surmising that he was not leaving willingly. She flew off the stage, her crown crashing to the ground.
“Luce. Luce, what are you doing?” Kyle called out to her, one hand holding on to his crown. “Where are you going?”
“Get out of my way,” she pleaded as she broke through the crowd of baffled alums on the dance floor. “Please, please…” Her scepter was a lot more effective in clearing her path than her words.
Kyle, looking mortified at the abrupt desertion of his queen, leaped from the stage and took off after her.
He tossed out various excuses for her flight as he threaded his way through the crowd. Everything from “stage fright” to “a bad case of cramps from a bad shrimp.”
She finally made it out to the lobby just in time to see the two goons muscling Judd through the double glass doors to the street.
“Stop! Thieves!” Lucy screamed at the top of her lungs, pointing to the threesome. One of the bellhops, a bodybuilder in white shorts and a pale blue jersey, who was standing nearby, managed to get his hands on the scruff of Arnie’s neck.
Arnie was brought to a jolting halt. Since he was holding firmly onto Judd, that brought Judd to an abrupt stop beside him. Joey, oblivious to what was happening, and presuming that his partner and their hostage were right in step with him, was making a beeline for his black sedan, which was parked right out in front of the hotel.
It wasn’t until he heard the scuffle that Joey turned back to see Arnie and the bellhop wrestling each other. What he didn’t see was Judd.
Neither did Lucy.
By the time she made it across the lobby to the hotel entrance, he had vanished.
“This one of the thieves?” the brawny bellhop asked her, having successfully wrestled Arnie to the ground. Arnie was a big guy, but the bellhop was bigger and heavier. He was using his considerable weight to keep Arnie down.
“Get off me, ya big ape,” Arnie huffed.
She scowled as she looked down at the struggling goon. “Where is he?” she demanded. “Where’s Judd?”
By now a small crowd had gathered. Another bellhop, equally buff and also dressed in the shorts and jersey uniform, was already on his cell phone to the police.
“The cops are on their way. What’d he steal from you, miss?” the bellhop asked as he stuck his cell phone back into its hip holster.
Kyle was elbowing his way through the crowd. He was still wearing his crown. “Luce, what’s going on?” Then he looked down at the ground and saw Arnie. His nose scrunched, and he started to quickly back off. Kyle could smell trouble. And he didn’t want the stink anywhere near him.
Lucy was looking frantically around, hoping to spot a sign of Judd. But she still didn’t see him, nor did she see Arnie’s partner in crime.
She started to move out toward the road, but the bellhop who’d called for the police, caught hold of her arm. “You better wait here so you can give the cops a statement, miss.”
JUDD SAW HIS CHANCE when Arnie released him to take a swing at the bellhop. For a change, luck was with him. A new guest was just stepping out of a cab as he made his break. Judd dove past the new arrival into the back seat and told the taxi driver to “Step on it.”
A block from the hotel, he pulled himself up to a sitting position and glanced out the back window.
A black sedan was hot on his tail. It was close enough that he recognized Joey behind the wheel.
“Where to, mister?” the cabby asked in a lilting Spanish accent. He smirked when he saw Judd’s ghastly tux.
“Anywhere. Just as long as you lose that car behind us. There’s a hundred-dollar bonus in it for you.” It was only after he made the offer that he remembered that Tweedledee had his wallet, which contained his ID and all his cash. Well, he’d make it up to the taxi driver.
Unless Joey caught up with him. Then he knew there’d be no making it up to the cabby, or to anyone else for that matter.
“I GUESS I WAS…mistaken,” Lucy muttered. “I thought he stole my purse.” So much for that lie. Dr. Gary Burke’s wife, Bri, upon learning of the suspected robbery, had retrieved Lucy’s small silver clutch bag where it had rested on one of the tables inside the banquet hall the entire evening. After presenting it to Lucy, Bri had been rather disappointed at the lackluster response she’d received. As she complained to her husband afterward, “Just a touch of gratitude would have been appreciated. And I thought you said she was the nice one.”
Robbery Detective James Rodriquez, a middle-aged man with dark hair and a mustache, wasn’t looking happy. He was sitting behind the hotel manager’s large steel-and-glass desk. The manager, who was quite distraught thanks to a near suicide and an alleged robbery at the hotel, both in the matter of a few hours—and both involving the same woman—had vacated the office so that the detective could take Lucy’s statement in private. She sat in an ultramodern and ultrauncomfortable canvas-and-leather chair across from the detective.
Rodriquez scanned his notes briefly, then returned his gaze to her. He didn’t say anything right away, which only contributed to her nervousness. Which she supposed was the point. She tried to appear calm and unruffled. Even if she was far from either.
After combing his fingers through his dark hair, then rubbing his five-o’clock shadow with the palm of his hand, the detective finally addressed her. “The bellhop said there were three of them.”
She didn’t respond. After all, the detective hadn’t actually posed a question. She was working on the assumption, the less said the better. At least until she knew that Judd was safe and sound.
Rodriquez scowled. “So, was he right?”
“Right? About…?”
The detective splayed his fingers on the manager’s exceptionally tidy desk. “Three crooks, Miss Weston.”
“Three? Well…actually, two. The other fellow, the one in the powder blue tux, wasn’t…involved.”
“Involved in what, precisely?”
She’d walked smack into that one, all right. If only Judd were here. He was the pro. He’d know exactly what to do. Of course, if he were here, she wouldn’t be getting the third degree.
“I’m not exactly sure what they’re involved in, Detective Rodriquez.” That much was true enough.
The cop tapped his pencil in a steady tattoo on his notepad. “You don’t know what they were involved in, but whatever it was, the one in the blue tux wasn’t involved.”
She knew how lame that sounded, but she merely nodded.
“And how do you know that, Miss Weston?”
“He’s…one of the…alums. A good…friend of mine.”
“And his name is—?”
Lucy hesitated.
“You do know the name of your good friend,” he pressed.
“Judd. Judd Turner. From…from Cincinnati.” She looked away. She was a terrible liar and she was sure the cop would see the lie in her eyes.
“And where is Mr. Turner now?”
She gave the detective a wan look. “I wish I knew.”
“You’re saying you don’t know where Judd Turner is?”
“He…disappeared.”
“And the other guy? The bad guy?”
She shrugged. “He…disappeared as well.”
“So they disappeared together,” Rodriquez postulated.
“Oh, I hope not,” she said earnestly.
“And why is that?”
“Really, Detective, I think that should be obvious.”
He exhaled loudly, then rapped his hand on the desk a few times. “We seem to be going around in circles. Let’s start over.”
Lucy groaned inwardly. All she wanted to do was leave and go try to track down Judd. And, once she knew he was safe, gloat a little when she presented him with the disk she’d pilfered from Kyle. If Kyle did, indeed, have a complete record of his files on that disk, that would include the all-important locked file. She even had a good idea about the password that would gain them access into the file.
If only Judd were all right.
JUDD WAS SURE THAT in another life the taxi driver had been an Indy 500 racer. Unfortunately, the streets of Miami Beach weren’t a racetrack. Traffic clogged the narrow streets, and even with all the driver’s expert maneuverings, zigzagging a series of right and left turns in no discernible order, Joey, in his black sedan, continued to breathe down their necks.
Judd knew it was only a matter of time before the taxi driver would hit a traffic snarl that would stop his cab long enough for Joey to pop out of his car and make a grab for him. Considering that Joey was armed and he wasn’t, Judd was well aware his chances of escape were slim.
He leaned forward in the back seat of the cab. “Make your next left up ahead and just slow down a little bit as soon as you make the turn. I’m going to pop out.”
The driver glanced back, smiled and gave a little salute. He was having a great time. That made one of them.
Judd hesitated, checking out the ID name and photo posted on the dashboard. “Listen, Mr. Sanchez…about that hundred bucks…I’m afraid the guy behind us has got my wallet. But I’m good for it, I swear. I’ll get the money to your cab company within the next few days.”
The driver’s cheery disposition vanished in a flash. He slowed the cab. A half block before the left turn. Judd’s heart caught to his throat. This was not the spot where he wanted to exit. This particular street was deserted, whereas once they turned the corner onto busy Collins Avenue, he stood a fair chance of making a run into one of the shops lining the street and ducking out a back exit. Hopefully accomplishing that before Joey even realized he was no longer in the cab.
Judd caught the driver’s eye through the rearview mirror. Whatever it was the driver saw reflected in his gaze, it settled his mind. His foot hit the gas pedal and they jerked forward.
Judd’s heart returned to its proper place.
“DID YOU EVER SEE Arnold Kelby before?” Rodriquez asked Lucy.
She gave him a blank look. “Who?”
“The man you accused of robbing you, Miss Weston.” The detective’s tone was clipped, and he was now rubbing the knuckles of one hand across the palm of his other hand.
“Oh. Oh, Arnie.”
The policeman leaned forward in his seat, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “So you do know him.”
“How about inexactly?” he pressed.
She shifted in her poor excuse for a chair. Not that she would have felt comfortable in any chair at the moment.
“I’ve seen them.”
“Them?”
“Arnie and…Joey.”
“Joey?”
“I think they’re…partners.”
“And Joey is—?”
“The one that got away. The one in the black tux, not the—”
“Baby-blue tux,” Rodriquez finished for her.
She nodded.
“And Joey’s last name is—?”
“I have no idea. I told you, I don’t really know either of them. But I do know—”
“Yes?”
She had boxed herself in. Now she was at a loss as to what to say next.
After a tense pause, she finally said, “I think they’ve broken into a few rooms here at the hotel.”
“And you think that because—?”
She felt a bead of sweat trickle down her back. “Because they…broke into my room.”
“You were in your room at the time?”
She looked away again. “Not…exactly.”
The detective scowled, clearly growing impatient.
“I was…sort of…on the terrace.”
Rodriquez set his pen and paper on the desk, then folded his arms across his chest. “To be exact, Miss Weston, according to the hotel manager, you were hanging over the terrace, sixteen floors up, contemplating suicide.”
Lucy flushed scarlet. “It was a…misunderstanding.”
“There seems to be a lot of that going on.”
“That’s because it’s…complicated.”
“As I understand it, you had an argument with your fiancé and became very depressed—”
“I wasn’t depressed. I was angry. He had sex with another woman. In a ladies’ dressing room. Besides, he’s a…jerk. And…I wouldn’t so much as stub a toe over him much less kill myself.”
Rodriquez leaned back in his chair, staring contemplatively out the window, then shifted his gaze back to her. “So maybe this is about Judd Turner.”
She swallowed hard.
“Are you involved with Turner?”
Not as involved as she wanted to be. “Not—”
He lifted a hand. “I know. Not exactly.”
She smiled. “Exactly.”
“Okay, let’s try this one. Are you here covering a story for your news show?”
“I’m here for my tenth college reunion, Detective. I’ve already explained that.”
“You may have explained a lot of things, Miss Weston, but somehow the more you explain, the more confused I get.”
Lucy gave him a sympathetic smile. “That can happen to the best of us.”
He cracked his knuckles. “Let’s get back to Arnie and Joey. Why did they break into your room?”
“Because they’re crooks. Why else?”
Jimmy Rodriquez rubbed his face, as if to erase the ever-mounting frustration he was feeling. “That’s exactly what I want to know.”
Her smile vanished.
“Tell me, Miss Weston. How well do you know Rico Morales?”
She could feel the color drain from her face. She looked sharply across at the cop. “I never met him in my life. But…”
“Spit it out, Lucy.” He had not only moved to calling her by her first name, he’d softened his tone considerably, sounding like a kindly uncle.
And she needed someone on her side. Someone she could trust. Someone who could help her find Judd and see if he was safe. Someone who could do something about it if he wasn’t.
“I don’t know all of it,” she began.