Off the Record (An Avery Shaw Mystery Book 10) Read online

  Eliot barked out a laugh, genuinely amused, and pulled me in for a tight hug. “Something tells me that you’ll find something.”

  Something told me he was right.

  I SPENT the morning with Eliot, watching with unabashed amazement as he sent the furniture order through. I was fairly certain I’d never spent that much money in the course of my life – my time at college notwithstanding – but he didn’t so much as blink before confirming the purchase.

  He wasn’t done yet. After showering and taking another load to the new house, we met at our favorite Mount Clemens diner so he could buy me breakfast. He remained in a lovey-dovey mood – which I was counting on – and I hoped to drag it out before risking a fight regarding how I intended to spend my afternoon.

  It was Saturday. That technically meant I was off shift and someone else would cover the festival and murder during the weekend. I wasn’t ready to let it go, though.

  “What are you doing?”

  Eliot made an odd face when I moved to slip into the same side of the booth with him. “Sitting.”

  “Why are you sitting on the same side as me?”

  “We often sit on the same side.”

  Eliot narrowed his eyes. He’s suspicious by nature – I swear – and it’s not always warranted. Sure, today it was warranted. It’s not always warranted, though. That’s the important thing to remember. “We never sit on the same side when we’re eating alone,” he pointed out. “We only sit on the same side when someone else is joining us.”

  “Yes, but the day before yesterday we were separated during lunch,” I reminded him. “Jake cruelly kept me away from you. I’m still recovering. I thought this would be a nice change of pace.”

  Eliot remained dubious. “What are you up to?”

  I tapped the end of his nose. “Did I mention that I love you?”

  “I’m going to hate this,” Eliot grumbled, sliding deeper into the booth and keeping his eyes on me as I got comfortable next to him. “I’m sorry, but this is weird,” he said. “People are going to think we’re strange for sitting on the same side of the booth.”

  “Why do you care what people think?”

  “Why are you trying to distract me?” Eliot isn’t an easy mark. He recognized my actions for what they were. “What do you have planned?”

  Thankfully I didn’t have to answer the antagonistic questions because my breakfast guests – yes, I invited guests – picked that moment to arrive.

  “I cannot believe you picked this hole in the wall,” Carly complained as she slid into the booth across from us and grabbed a menu. “All of the grease at this place cannot be good for the baby.”

  “All of this grease can’t be good for anything,” my cousin Lexie added as she joined Carly. “I’m embracing an organic and holistic lifestyle. I can’t eat anything here.”

  “Well, I guess that means I won’t be spending a lot on breakfast.” The statement came off snippier than I intended, but who doesn’t like hash browns, eggs and sliced ham for breakfast? Crazy people, that’s who.

  “Oh,” Eliot intoned, exhaling heavily. “You’ve got something planned, don’t you?”

  “That’s a terrible thing to say. Now, how about you get corned beef hash and I’ll get hash browns and we’ll share them. How does that sound?”

  Eliot narrowed his eyes. “I will consider sharing my corned beef hash with you if you tell me what you have planned.”

  “I don’t have anything planned,” I lied. “Lexie and Carly just showed up out of the blue.”

  “You are the worst liar ever. The flat out worst.”

  He wasn’t wrong. “Do you remember all of those mushy things we said to each other this morning? You were happy after that. You were really happy when I said a few more mushy things in the shower and we … bonded … so long the water turned cold.”

  Eliot wasn’t about to be railroaded. “Your point?”

  “Can’t you remember those mushy feelings instead of picking a fight?”

  Eliot stared at me, and for one beautiful moment I thought he would agree. Then he shook his head. “Absolutely not. I sense you looking for trouble. You’ve called your two cohorts in crime here because Jess Davenport will recognize you. You need fresh faces to help spy on him. Hence … these two.” He held up his hands to indicate Carly and Lexie. For their part, they looked bored by the conversation.

  “I think that’s a terrible thing to accuse the woman you’re moving in with of doing,” I argued.

  “Oh, really?” Eliot turned to Lexie. “What did Avery tell you about how you would be spending your day?”

  I opened my mouth to answer for her, but Eliot slapped a hand over my mouth to quiet me.

  “Go on, Lexie,” he prodded.

  I tried to psychically send an answer to Lexie with my eyes – which only seemed to confuse her – and after staring at me for a few seconds she turned her full attention to Eliot. “I have a feeling that whatever answer I give will be the wrong one.”

  “Try telling the truth,” Eliot suggested, his patience clearly wearing thin. “I’ll buy you an organic food dehydrator if you do.”

  Lexie visibly brightened. “How did you know I wanted a dehydrator?”

  “I heard your mother talking about it last night at dinner.”

  I managed to shove Eliot’s hand away from my lips. “A dinner you got out of without telling me you were going to do it,” I spat.

  Eliot regained control of my mouth. “If you tell me the truth, I’ll let you pick out the dehydrator.”

  “Oh, well … .” Lexie’s eyes were conflicted as she glanced between Eliot and me. I knew the moment she made up her mind when she cast me a rueful glance. “I’m sorry, Avery. I really want that dehydrator. You can shrink cantaloupes into tiny little balls.”

  I was going to shrivel Eliot’s cantaloupes into tiny little balls before this was over. “I … .”

  Eliot pinched my flank to silence me. “Lexie?”

  “Don’t do it,” Carly warned. “If you rat on her she’ll do something terrible as retribution. You know that as well as I do. Eliot may buy you the dehydrator of your dreams, but Avery will ruin it by putting dead bugs inside or something.”

  I enthusiastically nodded as I considered biting Eliot’s fingers.

  “I know, but … it’s a really good dehydrator.” Lexie’s smile was serene as she locked gazes with Eliot. “We’re here on a surveillance mission. Apparently there’s a hot carnie – which I’m not sure I believe – and we’re supposed to spy on him and ultimately entice him into a trap so we can catch a potential murderer.”

  “I knew it!” Eliot jerked his hand from my face. “Do you have something to say for yourself?

  I nodded. “I love you.”

  “Oh, don’t even go there.” Eliot wrinkled his nose. “That’s not going to work on me.”

  “Will you still share your corned beef hash with me?”

  Eliot nodded. “Yes. Then I’m handcuffing you to me for the entire afternoon. You’ve been warned.”

  I rolled my eyes until they landed on Lexie. “You’d better live in fear, traitor.”

  Lexie didn’t appear bothered by the threat. “I had to do what I had to do.”

  “I’m sure you did.” I growled out a low warning as Carly adopted a whimsical look.

  “I think I’m going to have an egg-white omelet without cheese.”

  I’d just as soon eat plain cardboard. “Knock yourself out.”

  “And I think I’ll have the same.” Lexie looked a little too happy with herself.

  “You’re buying your own,” I spat.

  “I’m buying breakfast,” Eliot announced, his arm tight around my shoulder. “After that, we’re all going to have a really long talk in which I lay out some ground rules.”

  “And buy me a dehydrator,” Lexie pressed.

  Eliot bobbed his head. “That, too.”

  “I’m going to make all of you pay,” I warned. “Write it down.”
>
  “You’re in enough trouble,” Eliot snapped. “Now, where did we land on the hash browns and corned beef hash? I was thinking we could do the same with the link sausage and bacon.”

  26

  Twenty-Six

  “Does everyone understand the rules?”

  Eliot stood in front of the restaurant after we’d finished eating, his arms crossed over his chest. Carly and Lexie obediently nodded while I pretended I didn’t hear him. What? Selective hearing loss is a thing. I’m totally going to pull it out if I ever go to trial for something. Hey, the odds are good that will happen one day.

  “We understand,” Lexie said. She was using her fake sweet voice. It made me want to vomit on her new dehydrator, which I was totally going to do when she wasn’t looking one day. “We keep each other in sight at all times. We text you if we believe Avery is going to get in trouble. We also text you if the hot carnie approaches her so you can beat his pretty face in.”

  “Good girl.” The only thing Eliot lacked was a chocolate treat with which to reward Lexie for parroting his words in such succinct fashion.

  “I still maintain there’s no such thing as a hot carnie,” Carly argued. “I know I saw him and said he was hot, but it was probably an optical illusion. It’s like unicorns … and ghosts … and Bigfoot. I won’t believe it until I see it.”

  “He’s not hot,” Eliot said. “He simply doesn’t look like a circus freak, so everyone thinks he’s hot.”

  “That goes back to that optical illusion thing,” Carly pointed out.

  “Just as long as everyone agrees he’s not hot,” Eliot shot back.

  Oh, whatever. “I told you Bigfoot was real,” I snapped at Carly. “I saw him when I was in college.”

  “You were stoned.”

  “That hardly matters.”

  “You also claimed you saw Frankenstein.”

  “Hey!” I extended a warning finger. “You agreed that guy’s head was way too big for his body. It was close to Halloween. He was totally Frankenstein.”

  “I don’t understand how you people have survived this long,” Eliot muttered, shaking his head. “It’s dumbfounding.”

  “No more dumbfounding than a boyfriend who doesn’t trust me to handle my own safety,” I groused.

  “I trust you to handle your own safety,” Eliot countered. “I like to protect my property, though.”

  Wait a second … . “Are you insinuating that I’m your property?”

  “You’re my heart.”

  His simple answer was almost enough to knock the chip off my shoulder. Almost. “But … .”

  “Aw.” Carly and Lexie made kissing noises they knew would agitate me.

  “I like it when you’re speechless,” Eliot said, grabbing the front of my shirt and pulling me to the balls of my feet so he could look me square in the eyes. “Be good.”

  “I’ll be good.”

  “Be safe.”

  “I’ll be safe.”

  “Be aware of your surroundings at all times.”

  He was starting to sound like an iPod stuck on repeat. “I’ve got it. Sheesh.”

  Eliot pressed a firm kiss to my mouth. “If you get in trouble, I’m going to spank your bottom blue.”

  “Kinky,” Lexie enthused, winking. “Maybe the hot carnie can do that to me.”

  “There’s no such thing as a hot carnie,” Carly complained.

  Eliot ignored the commentary and cupped the back of my head. “If you need me, you’d better call.”

  For some reason, his concern warmed my heart even as it chafed my rear end. “Don’t I always call?”

  “Yes, but I’d prefer you call before getting yourself in trouble this time,” Eliot answered. He gave me another kiss, this one softer. “Have fun. Don’t eat so much junk food that you get a sour stomach. I have plans to take you out to a nice dinner tonight.”

  That was a surprise. “You do?”

  “If you’re good, I’ll spring for seafood. You can eat your weight in crab legs again, only this time it will be at that marina restaurant out on Lake St. Clair. You’ve been bugging me to take you there for weeks.”

  Hmm. I’d heard some pretty good things about that restaurant. “That sounds suspiciously like a bribe.”

  “I’m not above bribing you. I’m not going to pretend otherwise.”

  I blew out a resigned sigh. “Fine. I’ll be good and text you at regular intervals.”

  “That’s my girl.” Eliot affectionately swatted my rear end upon releasing me. “I’ll be close. I’ll also be watching, so if I find you not performing the tasks as I’ve instructed, you’ll all be in trouble.”

  “Hey, that sounds like a threat instead of a bribe,” I complained. I was much more comfortable with being bribed. That’s simply how I roll.

  Eliot shrugged, unruffled. “I work with what I’ve got.”

  I FOLLOWED Eliot’s instructions to the letter … for exactly five minutes, until I got bored. Then I sent Carly and Lexie to entertain themselves by the food stands while I got comfortable on a bench and watched them. Jess wasn’t hanging around, which I found irksome and suspicious, but for now I was in spy mode.

  That didn’t last long.

  “Ms. Shaw? I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  I shifted my attention to my left, swallowing the irritated sigh that bubbled up when I realized Dick Aiken was about to ruin my spy mission. Instead of reacting in a way that would be difficult to take back, I pasted a bright smile on my face. “Mr. Aiken. Fancy meeting you here.”

  “I’m not sure how fancy it is.” Dick chuckled. It sounded forced, like a politician playing to his audience. I reminded myself he was doing exactly that.

  “I didn’t realize you were a festival fan.”

  “Who doesn’t like a festival?”

  “People with an irrational fear of clowns.” I cast a wary look at the one about thirty feet away as he made balloon animals for a few kids. “Seriously, why don’t those kids realize he’s creepy? He probably has a white van and everything.”

  Aiken chuckled as he gestured toward the open spot on the bench. “May I?”

  I shifted down a bit to give him room. “Knock yourself out.” Even though I wasn’t keen on talking to him I saw no reason to be rude … at least right now. He actually made good cover should Jess finally make an appearance. “I’m surprised you’re not out hobnobbing for votes. The primary is only six weeks away.”

  “I’m well aware of that.” Aiken stretched back on the bench, his expression unreadable as he looked me up and down. “Are you working?”

  “I’m off today. Just here for pleasure.”

  “You don’t strike me as the festival type.”

  I shrugged, noncommittal. “I like crappy food and watching people make fools of themselves. There’s no better place to get a dose of both than a festival.”

  “Ah, well, right you are.” Aiken was silent for a moment, as if trying to decide how to approach me. I opted against helping him. I often find first impressions are correct. I didn’t know a lot about Aiken. I knew Jake liked him and nothing else. That should’ve been enough for me, yet … well … it wasn’t. “So, I understand you’re moving in with Eliot Kane.”

  Hmm. That was an interesting way to start the conversation. “Did Jake tell you that?”

  Aiken nodded. “He’s very talkative where you’re concerned,” he explained. “I briefly thought perhaps you two were dating on the sly. He’s simply fond of you.”

  “We’ve known each other since we were kids. I don’t think he’s fond of me by choice. Nostalgia forces him to be that way. If he’s mean my mother will hunt him down – and probably give him further instructions on how to mold me – but nobody wants to spend time with my mother when she’s in bossy mode.”

  “I don’t know. He seems to take up on your behalf quite often. Just twenty minutes ago, for example, I heard him defending you when Mr. Ludington made a big scene about your article in today’s edition of The Monito
r.”

  I swallowed hard. “Jake’s here?”

  “He is.”

  “Where?”

  “I last saw him down by the craft tents,” Aiken replied, his eyes probing. “You seem anxious about that. Do you feel bad about the story you wrote?”

  He was definitely feeling me out. The question was: Why? “I don’t feel guilty about the story,” I answered. “It had to be written. Just as elected officials have constituents to answer to, we have our readers to answer to. If I ignored the story, I would’ve been doing a disservice to those readers.”

  “And yet you have no evidence that the two murders are connected,” Aiken pointed out. “My understanding is that the sheriff’s department has no leads on the local girl’s death. She could’ve been killed by gangbangers, for all we know.”

  Something about his tone set my teeth on edge. “No offense, but that’s not generally how gangbangers do business. They generally use guns … and for a very specific reason, like drugs or property disputes. Teyona Davidson was a college girl who worked four nights a week to put herself through school.”

  “Yes, but she was from that neighborhood.”

  Now I definitely knew I didn’t like his tone. “And what neighborhood would that be?”

  Aiken vaguely waved at the area on the other side of the courthouse. “That area over there. It’s crawling with violence and unsavory behavior.”

  If he thought people hanging out in their driveways was unsavory behavior he would hate all of the filthy things Eliot and I planned to do in our new pool. Of course, I made a kneejerk snap judgment when I saw Andre and his cohorts, too. I didn’t have much room to talk. That wouldn’t stop me, of course. It never did.

  “They’re normal people,” I argued. “Families live over there. Children. Teyona was going to college, trying to get an education. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “And yet she walked by herself in the middle of the night.”

  My eyebrows shot up my forehead. “So that means she deserved to die?”

  “That’s not what I said.” Aiken seemed defensive. “You still have no evidence tying the Port Hope death to the one here. For all you know, this could’ve been a drug deal gone wrong.”