Diamonds, page 21
She runs her fingers over my stubble. “I preferred Pierce Brosnan anyway.”
“Alissa…”
I crush my lips to hers.
Kissing this woman is almost better than fucking her.
Almost.
She breaks the kiss. “I’d really like to keep going, but we should probably head out.”
I nod, adjusting myself under my slacks. “You’re right.” I rake my gaze over her, narrowing my eyes. “After.”
“Of course.” She gives me one more kiss.
I cross over to the front door to open it for her.
She grabs a jacket—an ivory wool overcoat that contrasts with her dark dress—and buttons it. She beams at me as she walks past me out the door to my apartment. “Always the gentleman.”
“If I ever don’t hold a door open for you, the Maddox Hathaway you know and love is dead and gone.”
“Perish the thought.”
I close the door to my apartment and walk down the exterior stairs that lead to the parking lot behind my shop. We approach my car, and again I open the door for Alissa.
We make our way to Aces.
For what may be the final time.
Chet looks up from his pink desk as we walk into the Aces foyer. “Mr. Hathaway. Miss Wonder. We were wondering where you ended up last night.”
Alissa wrinkles her forehead. “What do you mean?”
Chet tents his fingers. “You left rather early in the evening. You said you’d be right back, that you were just getting a breath of fresh air.” He raises an eyebrow—already back to his normal shade of snow white. “You never returned.”
“Plans change.” I hand him my driver’s license. “Alissa will be my guest tonight.”
“Of course. Wouldn’t expect anything to the contrary.” He leers at Alissa. “It would appear you’ve truly captured Mr. Hathaway’s attention, Miss Wonder.”
She swallows. “I suppose I have.”
Chet, as always, is walking the narrow valley between weird and creepy.
I never understood why Rouge hired him to be the bouncer of her club.
Surely there was a better candidate for the job than Chester Tabbit.
Wait.
Chester. Tabbit.
C. T.
Could it be…?
“Chet, what’s your middle name?”
Chet twists his lips. “That’s a bit of a personal question, Mr. Hathaway. Whyever would you be asking?”
“I think you know why,” I say.
Alissa grabs my arm. “What does this have to do with anything?”
“Just answer the damned question, Chet.”
His eyebrows bounce once, twice. “It’s Aristotle, Mr. Hathaway. My middle name is Aristotle.”
“Chester Aristotle Tabbit.” I reach into my wallet and pull out the folded-up riddle that led us to May’s head. I gesture to the three letters at the bottom of the note, the ones that were erased but left enough of a mark to be deciphered. “C.A.T. We thought this was an additional hint, that we were supposed to look for a statue of a cat or something, but it wasn’t.”
“It wasn’t?” Chet asks.
“No. It was a signature. You signed this riddle with your initials but then thought better of it. You erased it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mr. Hathaway.”
“Yes you fucking do.” I push the piece of paper into his grinning mug. “You got this note to me. Probably when I pushed you up against the wall last weekend. You would have had pretty easy access to the inner pocket of my jacket.”
Chet cocks his head. “I suppose stranger things have happened.”
Alissa gasps. “Oh my God.” She reaches into her purse, pulls out the small manila envelope with the playing cards in it. “Did you put these in my purse as well? When I left it open in the hospital?”
“You fucking creep. You followed my girlfriend to the place where she works?”
Chet lifts a bony finger. “You seem to be confused. I don’t leave this desk under any circumstances during my shifts here at Aces. How could I possibly place a few playing cards into a woman’s purse?” He focuses his gaze on Alissa. “You came straight here that very day, and I was here.”
She points at him. “You don’t know which day that was. I didn’t say.”
“It’s my job to know what day it was, Miss Wonder.”
“No.” I place my hands on Chet’s pink desk, lean over him—no easy feat since he’s at least six foot seven. “You slipped up. First by writing your initials on this riddle, and then by revealing just now you knew which day the cards were left in Alissa’s purse. You’re on our side. You want Rouge to go down for what she’s done just as much as we do.” I dig into my pocket, fish out the ruby-encrusted key. “I bet you know where this goes, too.”
Chet widens his eyes. “Looks like you found your way down the river of tears, Mr. Hathaway.” He checks his watch. “Took you long enough, didn’t it? Your father has been dead for well over a decade.”
“Did he set this plan in motion with you?”
Chet darts his gaze around the room. “I have no interest in the schemes of a failed politician. With all due respect to the Hathaway legacy, of course.”
“Bullshit.” I slam my fists onto Chet’s tiny desk, making it shake. “He somehow got his hands on this key. You helped him do it. And then, when I was taking far too long to figure out his riddle, you slipped me a new one. You knew that if we knew what was going on with May—”
“May?”
I roll my eyes. “The Seven of Spades. But stop playing dumb. You knew that once we found out what happened to May, it would light a fire under us. Finally get us to finish the work my father started right before he was poisoned.”
“It was my impression that your father died of a heart attack.”
“Once again, shut the fuck up. He was poisoned by Rouge, or one of her minions. He knew his days were numbered, so he set up a trail of breadcrumbs for me to follow.”
Chet wrinkles his nose. “Those breadcrumbs must be pretty stale after a decade of being strewn about.”
“Save your quips, Chet.”
He stands with a start, his bald head nearly hitting the ceiling of the room. “Let us just assume that there is even a modicum of truth to your story, Mr. Hathaway. That key in your hand clearly opens something.”
“Yeah, and you know what it is, don’t you?”
“Am I meant to keep a record of every door and key in the world?”
“For God’s sake.” Alissa approaches Chet’s desk. “You knew what my bloody drink order was the other night.”
“Mr. Hathaway orders a gin and tonic every night he’s here. Has for several years now. And you clearly favor your dirty martinis, Miss Wonder. It was not illogical to assume—”
I grab him by his blazer, once again revealing his purple nipples. “We’re done here, Chet. Tell me what this key opens, or I swear to God I’ll choke you to death.”
“I’ve never been to Rouge’s private quarters.” Chet’s grin widens. “But you have.”
“What the fuck does that have to do with—”
But then I put Chet down.
That night, with Rouge.
The chalice of blood.
She pulled it out of a refrigerator.
And next to that refrigerator—I can still see it as clear as day—was a safe.
Inside that safe? Who knows? But if Rouge keeps blood in the refrigerator next to it, I can only imagine what kind of horrors she keeps locked away.
“The safe in Rouge’s private area behind her office.” I hold the key in my hand, catch the fluorescent lights of the foyer off it. “That’s what this unlocks.”
Chet sits back down, dusting off his pinstriped jacket. “A key can unlock all sorts of things, Mr. Hathaway.” He leans forward, pierces me with his dark eyes. “But some mysteries, once unlocked, can never be relocked. One should tread carefully.” He pulls out his big book of member names. “ID’s, please.”
This is all we’re going to get out of him. But I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I need to do tonight.
I guess it makes sense. He needs plausible deniability in case something goes south.
Alissa and I hand Chet our licenses. He, as always, asks Alissa if she is here as my guest, and then he unlocks the door leading to the mirrored staircase.
Like always, he locks the door behind us as we go down.
And my chest tightens as the deadbolt slides into place.
I know that if we need to get out, all we need to do is knock three times.
But I can’t shake the feeling that it might not be so easy to leave Aces Underground tonight.
I lean toward Alissa’s ear, my voice lowered. “We need to find a way to distract Rouge. Long enough for me to get into her office and see what the hell she has locked up inside that safe.”
She nods. “Could we spill something in the Spades section? Order a big flight of drinks and then throw them all on the floor? That would create a bit of a commotion.”
I scratch my chin. “The idea has merit, but Rouge would never busy herself with something as demeaning as cleaning. She’d have the servers attend to it and continue flitting about the club like she normally does.”
“Then what can we do?”
I close my eyes, take a deep breath in. “We have to hit her where it hurts. Her pocketbook.”
“How do you mean?”
I place my hand on the knob of the Green Door, turn it slightly. “We need to gamble. Back in the Diamonds section.” He offers me his arm. “A game, my Queen?”
34
ALISSA
So that’s the plan. We’ll play Blackjack, hope to God that we end up on a hot streak, enough to get Rouge’s attention on us. Then Maddox will slip away into her office unnoticed and figure out what lies in Rouge’s safe.
Only about a million things could go wrong with this strategy, but it’s the best we have.
We stop at the Spades section, where DeeDee is manning the bar.
“One gin and tonic, please, DeeDee,” Maddox orders, “but hold the gin this time.”
DeeDee raises an eyebrow.
“I’m on a cleanse,” Maddox explains. “Trying to stay dry between Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s.”
DeeDee grabs a glass, places three ice cubes in it, and pours some tonic water in it, garnishing it with a lime. She turns to me.
I bite my lip. “I’m also doing the cleanse, I suppose. But a dirty martini without alcohol would just be olive juice in a glass.” I fake a laugh.
DeeDee narrows her eyes.
I swallow. “So I’ll just have the same as Maddox.”
DeeDee turns away from us and prepares my drink.
I lean into Maddox’s ear. “Keeping our wits about us, I imagine.”
“Exactly,” he whispers back. “But if we still have drinks in our hands, it will look like we’re drinking. Like we have nothing to stay sober for.”
I nod. “I thought so.”
DeeDee hands me my drink.
“Thank you so much, DeeDee,” Maddox says. “Those will both go on my tab.”
DeeDee rolls her eyes. Two glasses of tonic water garnished with limes probably costs five bucks at the most.
We take our drinks over to the Diamonds section.
It’s a lot less busy tonight. It’s no longer Valentine’s Day, after all. We easily find an available Blackjack table, manned by the same gentleman who was our dealer last night.
He nods to us both. “Ms. Maravilla, Mr. Hathaway. A pleasure to see you both again this evening.”
I smile at him. “Thank you. Remind me of your name.”
She reaches out a hand. “Shellby. Terrence Shellby, ma’am.”
Right. Shellby.
“Are you both playing tonight?” Shellby asks.
Maddox nods.
Shellby grins. “Excellent.”
He deals cards to me and Maddox.
Maddox has a King and a Queen. He stays.
I have a five and a ten. Harder choice. But I decide to ask for a hit.
Shellby deals me a card.
I turn it over. The six of clubs.
Yes. Blackjack!
Shellby deals himself another card, and he turns his over. He busted.
He slides us both some chips.
Off to a good start. We keep playing, and Maddox and I are both winning more than we’re losing. Pretty soon we have patrons looking over our shoulders, watching the game.
A smooth female voice sizzles into my ear from behind us. “Another winning night, Maddox?”
I turn, expecting Rouge.
But it’s not. It’s another woman.
Tall and gorgeous. Short blond hair in a bob style.
Maddox flashes her a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Lovely to see you again, Pia.” He gestures to me. “This is my girlfriend, Alissa Maravilla.”
Pia raises an eyebrow, her lips pouted. “A new girlfriend already?”
What the hell does that mean?
Something squeezes at my heart.
Another ex of Maddox’s? I’m not sure I can handle meeting two of them within twenty-four hours. Three, if you count his liaison with Rouge.
Maddox blinks a few times. “It’s been something of a whirlwind, but yes, she’s my girlfriend, and I love her more than anything.”
The fist around my heart loosens its grip.
Pia cocks her head. “A loss for womankind.” She sits down next to Maddox. “But a game between friends can be nearly as fun.” She scratches the table. “Hit me, Shellby.”
The game continues. Pia is not nearly as good as Maddox, or even me, and she busts quite a few times. I get the feeling she plays just for the sport of it, not really caring how much money she wins or loses.
I don’t like how her bare shoulders are brushing against Maddox more than they should be…
She’ll stay away from him if she knows what’s good for her.
The crowd around us grows, and finally, like a hot knife through butter, the haughty voice of Rouge Montrose breaks through the murmurs around us.
“I see the King and Queen of Diamonds are once again defending their titles.”
My pulse quickens, but I swallow down my nerves.
This is the plan. We’ve drawn Rouge here like a moth to a flame.
But Pia is here, too. That wasn’t part of the plan.
I paste on a smile. “Nice to see you.”
“Isn’t it?” Rouge’s lips twitch as she switches her gaze between me and Maddox. Her eyes finally land on Pia. “And it appears you’ve adopted another royal into your deck tonight. A Jack of Diamonds, perhaps? Or in this case, a Jacqueline?”
Pia wrinkles her nose. “Perhaps I’m vying for the Queen’s title myself.”
Rouge raises her dark-red eyebrows. “A challenger. How exciting.”
I glare at Pia. “I’ve won more hands than you this evening.”
“There is more than one way to become a Queen,” Pia shoots back. “Sometimes you just have to marry a King.”
My first instinct is to shut this woman down by ignoring her taunts.
Then I realize that this could create the perfect distraction for Maddox to slip away.
I twitch my eyebrows toward him, hoping he understands.
I turn to Pia. “Listen, bitch. Maddox Hathaway is mine, and if you think you’re getting within two inches of him tonight, think again.”
Pia drops her jaw. “The kitty has claws.”
“You bet your arse she does.” I pick up my glass—still half full of tonic water—and throw it in her face.
People in the crowd gasp. Several women clutch at their necklaces.
Maddox gets to his feet. “Ladies, please.”
I look up at him. His lips are twitching upward. He knows this is a ruse.
I rise, staring Pia down. “How about you get the hell out of here?”
“I was about to say the same to you.” She grabs my arm, digs her long fingernails into my flesh. “My friend and I had the loveliest time with your so-called boyfriend just a few weeks ago. It was a cold January night, but we warmed his bed right up.”
That actually hurts.
Logically, I know that I have nothing to fear from this woman. At least, I know she’s not a threat to my relationship with Maddox. In terms of whether she could beat me into a pulp, she could be.
I grab her hair and pull it.
She screams.
Rouge grins. She’s enjoying the spectacle. It probably isn’t often that a brawl breaks out at Aces.
Clearly, she wants a show. And a bloody show I’ll give her.
I tackle Pia to the floor, and the crowd circles around us. She tries to get a punch in, but I keep her arms pinned to the ground, kicking at her legs with my feet.
I wore high heels tonight. I stretch my leg up and dig the heel into Pia’s thigh.
She cries out in pain.
Finally a strong pair of arms is on me, lifting me off the ground.
I turn to it, about to chastise Maddox for not taking this chance to go into Rouge’s office.
But it isn’t Maddox who’s pulling me off Pia.
It’s Chet.
I look around. Maddox took my hint. He slipped away while I was fighting with Pia.
“Miss Wonder, perhaps you should take a moment to cool down.”
“Get off me, Chet!”
I try to wiggle out of his grasp, but his grip on my arms remains firm.
“Thank you, Chet,” Rouge says. “I was worried that this might get out of hand.” She looks around. “Where did Mr. Hathaway go?”
Chet raises an eyebrow. “I believe he was grabbing Miss Wonder’s coat. They’ll be heading out.” He lets go of me and turns to Rouge. “But I do need to speak to you for a moment, Rouge. Somewhere private.”
She nods. “My office.”
Chet raises a hand. “I’d rather not meet there. We’ll just go into a private area.” His lips twist. “It won’t be a moment, I promise you.”
She narrows her eyes but then relents. “Fine.” She turns to me. “Ms. Maravilla, I hope you know that we have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to physical altercations at Aces Underground.”
