Twenty minutes later, she sat in a booth at Hash House A Go Go, staring at the man across from her as he ordered chicken and waffles. She should order a nice salad. That was what women on dates ordered, right?
Thank goodness this wasn’t a date. She didn’t eat flora.
“What can I get you, sugar?” The older woman standing next to the table wore Super Girl knee-high socks.
“Cheeseburger with blue cheese and sweet potato fries.”
“Great choice.” The waitress slipped the oversize menus under her arms and dropped a straw next to the soda she’d put in front of Roxy. She lumbered across the wood floor of the restaurant toward the open cutout in the wall, where chefs hovered around steaming grills.
“I love this place.” MacAuley drank from the coffee cup in his hand. “It was the first place I found when I moved here.”
“When did you move here?”
“Seven years ago.”
“From where?”
“San Diego.” He did have that dark blond surfer look. Which wasn’t usually her type. He also had that annoying, non-talkative thing going on. Which, unfortunately, was always her type. But it would be nice to not have to pull every piece of information out one by one.
“Do I have to ask?” She sighed.
“Ask what?”
Apparently, she did. “Why did you move here?”
“I got a job offer at Las Vegas PD.” He stopped talking when the server came by with plates bigger than their heads, with a steak knife stuck in the middle. The food was always pretty. It tasted even better than it looked.
“Didn’t you have a job in San Diego?”
With a pained smile, MacAuley cut into his fried chicken. “I needed something different. What about you?”
“I’ve never worked in San Diego.”
“Cute.” He took another sip of coffee. “Are you from Vegas?”
“Born and bred.”
“Is that how you know Amato?”
“We went to the same college. What about you and Rafe?”
“I worked with him.” MacAuley dug his fork into a pile of waffles. The big plate of food piled high enough for a starving giant was disappearing fast.
Her food, however, had barely been touched, which meant she’d have food for a doggie bag. She could eat this tower of burger for a few days if she played her cards right.
“You just worked with Rafe?” The whole detective exam, best-man thing, and the way they acted around each other? There was a story. Even though she really should get him to talk about the case, that seemed way more interesting. Maybe there was a fight scene like the one in Bridget Jones Diary. The good guy fighting for his woman’s honor.
Which one would be the good guy, though? MacAuley. Definitely MacAuley. She knew way too much about Rafe to call him good. “You worked with him, obviously, but there’s got to be more. Didn’t you say you were his best man?”
“You should ask Amato.” MacAuley squirmed in his seat.
What the hell happened between these two? “I’m asking you.”
“Rafe would want to be the one to tell you.” The fork clinked on the plate as MacAuley put it down and finished his coffee.
Roxy had a feeling Rafe wouldn’t care what MacAuley had to say. To Rafe, she was a nuisance. “Why would he care who told me?”
“Trust me. He’d care what I told you.” MacAuley looked up like he wanted to say something, then shook his head. “Anyway, it’s his story to tell.”
“But aren’t you afraid he’ll paint you as the bad guy?”
MacAuley frowned. Really frowned this time. “I am the bad guy.”
The cruel wife in Bridget Jones Diary popped into her head. “Did you sleep with his wife?” Holy moly. Was she sitting here with a wife-stealing, best-friend-back-stabbing jerkhole?
“No.” He laughed, but it fell flat. “I should probably get back to work.”
His food was mostly gone, but she didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts or the boredom that came with no job—and no leads to get back to that job. She wanted to push for more information about Rafe, but MacAuley acted like a skittish kitten, practically climbing up the curtains trying to get away. Maybe she could get him to stay if they stayed away from personal information.
She really needed a new lead. Or she’d be stuck eating leftover burger plus spray cheese and crackers, watching reality television for the foreseeable future. She tilted her head to the side and played with a wave in her hair. “I see what you’re trying to do.”
He tugged out his wallet and dropped two twenties on the table. “What’s that?”
“Get away before you tell me what Steve had to say.”
That smirk spread across his lips. He took the bait. The twinkle was back in his eye. “Maybe it’s classified.” The flirting was back in his voice.
“Then why did you offer to take me to lunch?”
“Could it be I just like your company?”
She’d buy that if he wasn’t trying to gnaw off a limb to escape. A minute ago, he’d been looking at the door like it was the holy land.
She patted the opposite side of the table as she leaned forward in her chair. It was a woman power move. Her arms squished her chest, giving him a nice view of the Grand Tetons. Okay, her tetons weren’t all that grand. But they were big enough to get a guy to sit down, as proven by MacAuley dropping back into his chair.
“What do you want to know?” he asked on a sigh.
“Did Steve do it?” That seemed like the logical first question.
MacAuley laughed—deep and full—he was back. “He didn’t sign a confession.”
“Did you get any weird vibes, though?”
“Weird vibes?” He stared off to the side before shaking his head. “No. He said he was meeting Donnie for drinks that night, but Donnie never showed up. Steve stayed in the hotel bar till eleven and then left.”
“That was around the time Donnie was in the lobby. He was probably waiting for Steve. But then why did he go upstairs?” Roxy leaned forward. She couldn’t understand why he’d gone upstairs—unless he knew the person he went up with.
“Not sure. He might have gotten a call from someone.” MacAuley shrugged. “But we can’t search the phone records because someone took the phone. We have a warrant out for the records, but phone companies are not very forthcoming.”
“Anything else?” Because at this point, she wasn’t getting anything she could use to move forward. If the cops couldn’t get the phone records, there was no way she could.
“Steve mentioned Donnie’s girlfriend, Amethyst.”
“Was she the new one?”
“The new one?”
The server came over to the table and picked up his mostly empty plate. “Can I get you more coffee?”
“Please.”
She juggled his plate in one hand while pouring more coffee with the other. This was why Roxy could never work food service. The plate would be in his lap and so would the coffee. No one wanted that. “How about you, honey?”
“A box would be great.”
The woman disappeared into the kitchen.
“Where were we?” she asked MacAuley as he dumped a pack of sugar in his coffee.
“You said something about a new one?”
“Oh yeah, his wife didn’t mention Amethyst. She said he was with friends-with-benefits with someone named Presley.” She air-quoted friends-with-benefits, since they sounded more like benefits and not so much friends. Although the wife thought this one had been different. Could she have gotten the name wrong?
“He had a lot of friends-with-benefits. He could have had one named Amethyst and one named Presley.” He didn’t bother with the air-quotes, just took a drink of coffee.
“But she was sure that he was getting serious about Presley. Why would he keep seeing his side-side piece if he was getting serious about the side piece?”
MacAuley coughed and set the coffee cup on the table. After he finished laughing, he said, “I’m going to let you sit with what you just said for a minute.”
“What?”
“Why would a man with a wife have a side piece, let alone have a—what did you call it—side-side piece? If a man is happy, why would there be any side pieces, let alone side-side pieces?”
“What?”
“See? It makes no sense.” MacAuley shrugged. “Maybe Presley is a last name.”
“Maybe.” Roxy wasn’t sure she bought that, but she’d follow the clues and keep Presley in the back of her mind.
“According to Steve, the girlfriend—whichever side piece that is—had been pressuring him to leave his wife.”
The server brought a container and a plastic bag. “Take your time.” She dropped the check on the table before shuffling off to assist other patrons.
“According to the wife, he had many girlfriends, usually of the by-the-hour variety.” Roxy tried not to roll her eyes. It still killed her that he had multiple girlfriends while a good woman sat at home. “He had a regular he was getting close to, but he said he broke it off.”
“That aligns with what Steve was saying. Donnie was getting pissed at his girlfriend because she wouldn’t just let it go. She wanted him to leave his wife and he didn’t want to. He was planning on breaking things off. He must have done it.”
“So the girlfriend has a motive.” Thankfully, that motive meant Roxy had a lead. No reality TV for her. She would meet some woman named Amethyst.
“She does.”
“Does she have a last name?” Roxy put her burger and fries into the container and slipped it into the bag.
“Not that he knew of. He said her name was Amethyst. She’s a dancer over at the Diamond Gentlemen’s Club.”
“At Pura Vida?”
“Yeah.”
Which meant she had to go to another one of Rafe’s hotels. She didn’t know if that annoyed her or excited her. With everything going on, it would be stupid to be excited, so she’d stick to annoyed. She didn’t think she’d see him again until she had more information on the jacket. Which begged the question… “Did that jacket belong to him?
“He said it didn’t. Which makes sense if he never went in the room.” MacAuley finished the cup of coffee and put the money on top of the check. “We should go.”
He stood and, this time, Roxy followed. He still had a job and he probably wanted to keep it. He couldn’t hang out with her all day. But wouldn’t that be nice?
MacAuley held open the door as she slipped through. He smelled woodsy and manly and delicious. Not that he was delicious, or she felt that way about him. But there was something about a man who rocked the scoundrel/protector look all while smelling like a wet dream.
Nope. She didn’t have any inappropriate feelings about him. None at all.
“Thanks for lunch.” She meant it. He’d been nice enough to not only feed her but give her information on the case.
“Anytime.” He started toward his dark green Ford Explorer but stopped before he reached it. “I know I’m going to regret this. But do you want to have dinner some time?”
He was going to regret it? She was already regretting it. She knew Rafe and MacAuley had a complicated history—well, join the club. She didn’t want any more drama in her life. But he was nice. It didn’t have to be a date.
“With that warm and fuzzy intro, how can I say no?” She could say no because she had to. She shook her head. “But I have to say no. It’s not a good idea.”
“Yeah.” He turned toward his car before looking at her again. “Is it Rafe?”
Yes. “No. We’re just friends. I mean we’re not even friends. We’re casual acquaintances that just… cross paths sometimes.” No. More. Words.
“Then why?”
“I need to clear my name. I can’t think about anything else right now.”
Roxy could practically see the wheels in his head spinning. He might be nodding on the outside, but inside, he wasn’t buying it. Hopefully, he’d let it go no matter what side he decided to listen to. “Then let’s be friends.”
“I’d like that.” Outside it was.
Roxy opened the passenger door and got in the Explorer, settling her food for the week on her lap. MacAuley was nice. He’d given her so much information and hadn’t asked for a thing—so yes, he was nice. He’d bought her food. Definitely nice.
Rafe might not be nice. But the things he could do to her and the way he made her feel was nice. Okay it wasn’t nice, but it was hot and real. He’d offered to help her with her case—letting her in the hotel room when he didn’t have to. So, yeah, he was nice, too.
She had so many new nice friends. Friends she wanted to get to know better. Friends she’d thought about naked. Well, she hadn’t thought about MacAuley naked…
His arms bulged as he turned the car toward her house. His thighs bunched as he tapped the accelerator. All kinds of inappropriate thoughts ran through her head.
Oh yeah—now she’d thought about him naked. And nice wasn’t even one of the first fifty words she would use to describe it.