Vegas, Baby (5 page)

CHAPTER 6

SUNDAY mornings, Rio and her father, James Laraquette, had a standing date for breakfast. They’d meet at a local restaurant downtown and sit leisurely, discussing the latest events in their lives while someone else cooked their meals. Rio took it as her father trying to make up for his parental shortcomings during her childhood. Some said his attention was a day late and a dollar short, but, the way she saw it—better late than never.

Eddie was in her guest room, and as far as she knew, still sleeping. Digger’s odd predictions weighed Rio down like she had a boulder strapped to her back. She wanted to wake Eddie and ask him to go with her, but meeting her father was probably the last thing he wanted to do. Yet, Digger had told her not to go anywhere alone.

She stood at the wall of windows in her living room and stared at the Strip below. It didn’t hold the same appeal in the daylight hours. Still, she liked the view, but even it couldn’t help her successfully summon the courage to knock on Eddie’s door.

“That’s some view you got.” Eddie’s voice snuck in from behind and closed in around her. “I was mesmerized by all the lights last night.”

She’d been so wrapped up in her own anxieties, she hadn’t heard him come in. That was bad. Really bad. But she couldn’t let him know he’d snuck up on her.

She plastered on a friendly smile and looked over her shoulder. “Yeah,” she said. “It’s pretty cool.”

“Where are you off to?” he asked, taking a quick assessment. If she weren’t feeling so exposed, that might’ve rattled Rio.

“My dad and I...we meet for breakfast on Sundays.” She fumbled around her words. Maybe she should just tell him her concerns. Then she’d have to tell him why she was feeling vulnerable, and not everybody took Digger’s predictions seriously. That was their first mistake.

Eddie raised his hands in a backing-off gesture. “Don’t let me keep you.”

“I hate to leave you alone.” She told the fib well, even though it was the other way around. “You can come if you want.” She paused, hoping she didn’t sound nearly as stupid as she felt. “I understand if you don’t want to go...but, you’re more than welcome to join us.”

He looked like he was thinking about it, considering it seriously, and then something inside convinced him to beg off. “Rio...” he said, shaking his head, “I’d love to go with you. I’d love to meet your father.” He shrugged. “But, I don’t want to make him mad at me, right off the bat.”

“Mad at you?”

“This tradition is between you and your dad. He probably won’t like me intruding.” Eddie buried his fingertips in the front pockets of his new Levi’s. The gesture, Rio was learning, was something he did when he was anxious. But who wouldn’t be feeling anxious when they’d just lost everything they owned in a fire the day before?

She latched onto his arm and tried to infuse him with some enthusiasm. “Oh, LaCall
.
” She secured one of his hands and fetched his fingers from his pants’ pocket. “Come on,” she added, dragging him toward the door.

“Laraquette...?” He went willingly into the hallway and they were in front of the elevator within a couple of steps. “Is your dad a big man?” he asked, stepping inside the lift.

“Well,” she said, punching the ‘down’ button. “His gun is big.”

“Maybe I’ll just wait in the car.” His tone held a measure of humor. Clearly, Eddie thought he was being funny.

“I never would’ve figured you for the wimpy type, LaCall.” She teased him right back.

The elevator doors slid apart. Rio laughed softly and stepped into the lobby.

“I’ve heard about girls like you,” Eddie said, matter-of-fact.

They passed by Larry’s desk on their way toward the garage. With a sly grin, he greeted them each by name. They returned his friendly gesture with nods and waves.

“And just what exactly is it that you’ve heard about girls like me?” she asked, opening the exit door.

“Hey...” He held the door open while she stepped into the garage. “Do you think Larry’s going to call your dad and tell him to bring his gun?”

Rio stopped abruptly—her eyes glued straight ahead—and let out a sharp gasp. “Damn it.”

Both tires on the driver’s side of her car were flat.

Her heart sank. That car was like her baby.

She tried to move toward the crippled vehicle, but her legs said no dice, forcing her to stay put while Eddie rushed around to the passenger’s side. From the look on his face, she had more than two flat tires.

Like a delayed reaction, Rio moved forward in slow, sluggish steps. Adrenalin probably had a little something to do with his ability to land between her and the car.

“Not so fast.” He kept his voice calm, and physically stopped her. “You stay back until I’ve checked out the car.” Eddie’s direction carried little weight with her. She tried to forge ahead, forcing him to restrain her. “Somebody slashed your tires.”

“What...?” Fear reddened her face and colored her eyes darker. “What makes you think that?” She looked heartbroken, as if somebody had attacked her personally.

“Because they’re all flat.” He stopped talking and used his eyes, willing her to stay back. The tension gripping her demeanor receded and she backed off.

Eddie let his arms fall to his sides. He gave her a soft smile and moved toward the car. He dropped to the cold cement and rolled underneath.

“Eddie.” Her voice floated to him in such a soft whisper that he almost didn’t hear her.

“Yeah,” he said in the most normal tone he could manage while examining the vehicle.

“What are you doing?” Her voice remained a soft, low whisper.

“Looking for a bomb.” Eddie kept his tone cool and collected. If he hid his concern, then maybe she wouldn’t panic.

“A bomb?” Her voice amplified to just below a shrill. The sound of flesh slamming against the concrete distracted Eddie momentarily. He looked toward it and Rio was on her hands and knees. “Get out from under there,” she demanded. “If there’s a bomb under there, I don’t want you anywhere near it.”

Eddie rolled out from under the car as if he’d been doing it his whole life. In one swift move he jumped to his feet and stood before her. “What’s the matter, Laraquette?” he asked. “Worried about me?”

“Oh, you take great pleasure in aggravating me.” She raised her hand and turned away.

“But I’m so good at it.” He laughed, reaching for his cell phone.

Yes, you are
. She turned back to meet him head-on.

“I’ll call the precinct. You call your dad,” he said, hitting the speed dial.

Some primeval instinct pushed the anonymous letter she’d received a couple of days ago to the forefront of her mind. Could this be related? Was that thing real?

Certainly not. No.

Eddie’s gaze fell upon her as he wrapped up the call. Rio’s new concerns must have escaped to her outward appearance because his face skewed with unease. “What?” his tone held a hint of agitation.

“Huh?” She attempted to put on her best poker face but had no way of knowing if she’d succeeded.

“What is it, Rio?” he asked, stepping closer and standing over her protectively. “You’re spooked. What’s the matter?”

Rio’s instincts urged her to keep her concerns to herself, but her heart issued a dire plea to open up. “I don’t know if the two are related, but I did get this weird letter at work the other day.” She ran a search in her brain for any indication that she should be truly worried.

“And it said what?”

“It was just some non-threatening order to back off.” She shook her head, trying to discard any potential significance for the matter. “I truly thought it was someone’s idea of a bad joke,” she added, searching his face for corroboration.

It never came. Eddie looked just as alarmed as before, maybe more so.

She sucked in a deep breath as a second bombshell hit. Digger’s prediction. She’d told Rio, something was going to happen with her car, and a knife.

A taste of fear sliced through her as easily as the knife has slashed her tires.

* * *

Rio had never felt so claustrophobic, on any occasion that she’d been summoned to Gabe’s office, as she did at that moment. Not even as a kid, when her father was too busy and forgot to pick her up from school and Gabe would come to her rescue.

Today, something with the potential to be far more dangerous than a little thing like Daddy forgetting about her was lurking on the horizon.

She looked at LaCall on her left and Bradley on her right. She got why LaCall was there, but Bradley...? Maybe Gabe thought he was responsible for the letter. Her flirtatious coworker was always pranking somebody in the department.

But he’d vehemently denied any responsibility or connection to the mysterious letter she’d found on her desk. If it wasn’t a tasteless joke, that only left one valid explanation.

The last thing she ever wanted was to be the center of this kind of attention. Not just Bradley, but none of her coworkers were copping to the letter-writing prank from the other day, and that was disturbing on more than one level.

If that letter was not a hoax, and the recent assault on her car was related, then she could pretty much surmise she’d pissed someone off and their retaliation had gone from exasperating to rancorous.

Eddie stood, backed his chair up to her and straddled it. He folded his arms across the back and rested his chin on his hands. One sweet smile from him chased away her fears and, for the moment, kept them at bay.

The clicking sound of Gabe’s ink pen pulled her thoughts away from LaCall. Her boss tossed the pen down onto the desk. “It’s Turner Atkins.”

“Turner Atkins?” Rio snorted and blocked it with a one-handed cover.

“Rio, you of all people, know how ruthless Atkins can be.” Gabe’s statement was accurate, but still—

She didn’t buy Turner Atkins as the letter-hoaxing type.

“Laraquette...” Eddie’s exuberant confidence and his much too sexy voice reached out and stroked Rio with soothing, safe caresses. “What’s your gut telling you?”

“Turner Atkins is lethal,” she said with a slight nod. “Yes. I admit that.” Just as quickly, she changed, shaking it off. “But this is not his M-O.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Gabe wailed. He looked as if he wanted to shake her, like a father trying to get his child to see reason. “You are single-handedly responsible for that man being behind bars.”

She liked it when he went all daddy on her. It made her feel loved, wanted and needed. Not that her father wasn’t trying, but Gabe was tried and true. Still, giving her single-handed credit was an exaggeration.

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.” She couldn’t have pulled that one off alone. Rio had had plenty of help and she knew it.

“What would you say he’s capable of?” Eddie asked.

“Turner Atkins is arrogant,” she said. “Any vindictiveness that he feels is spawned from that arrogance.”

“What does that mean?” Chris Bradley spoke up.

“It means,” Eddie said, “that he’s all about one-upping the law.” Eddie knew exactly what she was talking about. He’d run across Atkins’s kind before. “He’d be more inclined to
best
her, than kill her.”

Rio closed her eyes momentarily, breathing a sigh that Eddie read as gratification.

She could just be happy that someone understood her. Then again, this could all be a ruse to throw the focus in some other direction. Somebody in this department was a dirty cop, and right now Eddie’s feisty and oh-so-sexy partner was his number one suspect.

“I’ll take this down to the lab and see if it has any secrets to tell.” She reached for the anonymous letter lying on Gabe’s desk.

“Not so fast, Laraquette.” Gabe snatched the letter out of her reach. “You won’t be investigating a case where you’re the victim.”

“Victim?” She scoffed.

“You’re off this one.”

“Sir,” LaCall spoke up, “I’d like to be on it.”

“Negative, LaCall,” Gabe said. “Having you on the investigation would be like having her there.”

“Begging your pardon, sir—” Eddie’s objection came respectfully enough, but it didn’t appear that Gabe was biting. “But why?”

“Because you’re sweet on the victim.” He chuckled. The telephone on Gabe’s desk buzzed, distracting him from taunting Eddie further. “Dalton...” he answered the call in a short, authoritative manner. He listened for a moment and his expression eased, indicating the call wasn’t serious. “Thanks, Rivera.” Hanging up the receiver, he turned his attention to Rio. “Your father’s here.”

“He is?” She pushed the anxiety aside and scanned the room. Who was the culprit who’d called her father? She felt confident she could rule out Eddie. It wasn’t like him to call up a man, her father no doubt, and alarm him unnecessarily. At least she hadn’t read him as that kind of guy.

Standing, she cast a threatening glance around the room, knowing the offender would understand the message. There would be serious repercussions for wantonly scaring her father over something she herself wasn’t convinced was happening.

Two angry steps and she was at the door, slamming it between herself and her offender.

* * *

Gabe winced at the sound of the slamming door but it didn’t bother Eddie. If anything it amused him.

“LaCall, you wouldn’t be the responsible party here, would you?” Gabe asked.

“If you’re asking me—” Eddie pushed himself up from the chair. “—did I call her father...?” He shrugged and hesitated a moment before letting the smile spread on his mouth. “The answer is, yes.” He turned away and reached for the doorknob.

Eddie heard Gabe chuckle as he left. “That boy has got a lot to learn.”

A dark-haired man, tall and lean, towered above Rio. Figuring him for her father, Eddie strode toward them. He wasn’t afraid of Rio, and he didn’t see what everybody was getting so riled up about. But her father, he was a rather intimidating man.

At six-two, Eddie had never felt short until he stood beside James Laraquette. He had to look
up
to make eye contact.

But Eddie was the last thing on the man’s mind. He was totally enthralled in his daughter. “Rio,” he was saying, “someone slashed all four of your tires. I don’t think it was careless of your new partner to call me.”