“I hope it never will,” she said happily, and opened the front door.
They were gone a minute later, and Brigitte bounded up the stairs to the bedroom and took off her clothes. Tommy was coming by that night, and she wanted to get ready before he did. The FBI had taken forever, they had been there for two hours. The questions were all run-of-the-mill, but she thought it had gone well. She hoped it was the last of it, especially since there had been no outflow of Tallie’s cash since Hunt had left. There was nothing further to pursue. The mystery had been solved. And the FBI could go back to whatever else they did.
She slipped into a perfumed bath then, just as her cell phone rang. It was Tommy, telling her he would be late, but he promised to be there in an hour.
“Perfect. That’s all the time I need to get ready for you,” she said with a sultry smile that would have melted steel. He could sense her good humor even over the phone. He could hardly wait to get there. Their nights together were fantastic, and he was going to Mexico with her over the hiatus. To the Palmilla in Cabo San Lucas, one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. She had invited him. She was quite a woman, and he had never had so much fun or wild sex in his life.
“So what do you think?” Jack asked Jim as they drove down the hill after their visit to Brigitte. The whole setup was impressive, and she was a beautiful woman in a gorgeous house. Jack couldn’t figure out why she needed to steal and lie. She had everything going for her, and a fabulous life.
“You know what I think,” Jim said quietly with a serious expression. He particularly liked the part where she had been taken by force and blackmailed for three years thereafter by Hunter Lloyd, which had included expensive dinners, fancy hotels, and vacations. It didn’t sound like a hardship for Brigitte to go along with it.
“Are you ready to go to one of the deputies on this?” Jack asked him. “We’ve been doing interviews for weeks.” They had interviewed Tallie’s maid and gardener too, who had testified that Hunt had always given them tips and was a very generous man. They had interviewed Brigitte’s employees too, who said they never saw her, but commented on the variety of young men who went in and out of the place. When they showed them a photograph of Hunt, none of them had ever seen him at the house, but the employees of the Chateau Marmont and the Sunset Marquis had, and remembered them well. They had been regular guests for several years, and always seemed to be having a great time. They drank a lot of champagne, ordered room service, and never left the room. And sometimes they spent the night. It was clear they were both enjoying themselves and their stays at the hotels had been frequent and regular.
“I want to wait for the report from San Francisco,” Jim said seriously. “It’s coming in tomorrow. Let’s see what that says first.”
“Probably nothing earth-shattering,” Jack said.
“I want to go to the stores of the designers she wears too, and some jewelers. Tallie gave me some names, although she didn’t think we’d come up with anything. Everything she wears is a gift, given to her by designers and stores so she will get Tallie to wear their things.” He had been meaning to do it for weeks, but he’d been too busy. They had other cases to deal with, some of them more pressing than this. “After that, we’re through. I’m ready to make a recommendation. All we have right now is circumstantial evidence and our instincts. But it’s the best we can do. That and the fact that the victim lost close to a million dollars in cash in the past three years. That ought to do it.”
Jim was itching to make an arrest, and he knew that Tallie wanted that too. She had also been waiting for Jim to tell her that she could fire Brigitte, and it was getting more and more difficult to have her around. And Jim felt that she could do that now. They almost had enough, and it was probably all they would get. He had seen Brigitte’s bank accounts, obtained through the bank with a confidential agreement, which precluded them from telling her that they had released her accounts to the FBI, and she had made many large deposits in the last few years, always in cash. And the money had gone out as fast as it went in. There was no way to tell what she had done with it. But what he hoped was that, confronted with the accusation and an arrest, she would cave, confess, and agree to make a guilty plea. It would be the cleanest scenario for them all, and he was sure she wouldn’t want the embarrassment and expense of going to trial, although she looked as though she could afford it. She made a hefty salary, and there was a fair amount of money in her bank accounts.
Jim dropped Jack off at the FBI office and went home. Bobby was there, eating a pizza and watching TV with a couple of friends.
“No homework?” Jim asked, raising an eyebrow.
“All done.” Making sure the boys did their homework had been Jeannie’s department, but for five years now it had been his. Breakfast, dinner, homework, laundry, housekeeping, Little League, carpool, getting the boys to all their sports games, field trips, taking care of them when they were sick, going to doctors, back-to-school clothes and supplies, teachers’ conferences, decorating the house and tree at Christmas, Christmas cards, taking their black Lab to the vet. He was a one-man band, and there were times when he missed her so much it nearly killed him. Not for what she did, but for who she was. He had loved her since high school. He had loved her for twenty-seven years, and he still couldn’t believe she was gone. It still took his breath away sometimes.
The boys had their feet on the coffee table, watching TV, still in their sports clothes, and were laughing loudly. The pizza box had just fallen on the carpet facedown, and they had open Coke cans on the table that were about to spill, and often had before.
“Hey, you guys!” Jim reminded them. “Could we not destroy the house, please?”
“Sorry, Dad,” Bobby said with a penitent look, and then they began shoving each other and rough-housing on the couch. It was hopeless, but he loved having them around. He rolled his eyes and went upstairs to work on his computer. He was thinking about Brigitte Parker’s house when he did, with all its glamour and glory. It was so different from the house where he had seen Tallie Jones, which was so much warmer and more real. But there was no denying that Brigitte’s home was beautiful. And he knew how much she made. Tallie paid her a whopping salary every year, with perks, benefits, bonuses, and numerous gifts. And she had still slept with Tallie’s boyfriend. That had to hurt. No wonder Tallie had looked so ravaged the first time he met her, it had been the night after she saw Meg, and why she wanted to fire Brigitte now, whether or not she had been stealing money from her. The betrayal had been just too much to forgive. And Brigitte still thought she didn’t know. Tallie had played her part well. Brigitte was right. Tallie was a damn good actress as well as director.
Bobby’s friends went home at eleven o’clock, and he stopped in his father’s room when he came upstairs.
“Still working, Dad?”
“Yeah.” Jim swiveled in his desk chair with a smile to look at his youngest son. He dreaded his leaving for school in two years and was glad he was still at home.
“You work too hard, Dad,” Bobby said kindly, and came over to rub his shoulders. It was the only human contact Jim had now. The only hugs and touches he got now were from his sons. He had never been able to bring himself to date after Jeannie, and still didn’t want to. The guys in the FBI office had razzed him about it for a while and wanted to introduce him to their wives’ friends, but now they finally left him alone. They got it. He wasn’t ready, and maybe never would be. The memories he had of their years together were enough, and he had the boys. “Working on any interesting cases, Dad?” Bobby asked him as he flopped down on the bed.
“Some.” Jim never talked about them at home until they were resolved, but the boys always loved to ask, hoping to hear tales of blood, gore, and excitement, and the occasional shootout, although those were rare. Jim shied away from those cases. He always carried a gun, but very seldom had occasion to use it. He was better known now for his success with white-collar crime than with the more violent ones. He liked solving his cases, not just shooting his way through them, and he didn’t like the physically dangerous stuff since he had lost Jeannie. If something happened to him, there would be no one to take care of his kids.
“What are you working on right now?” Bobby asked him, staring at the ceiling as he lay on the California king- size bed that was too big for Jim now.
“A very interesting credit card fraud case that covers thirteen states, an industrial espionage ring, and two embezzlements, one of them for nearly a million dollars,” Jim said as he smiled at him. He was such a good boy, as was Josh, and he loved them both. He missed Josh a lot and talked to him as often as Josh was willing. He was enjoying college.
“Sounds boring,” Bobby said with a blase look as he got up. “I guess you’re not going to shoot anyone this week.”
“I hope not,” Jim laughed, and went to get undressed as Bobby headed to his room to put on his pajamas. He was sure the boys had left a mess downstairs, but he could clean it up in the morning before he left for work. He always did. They had a woman come in to do the heavy cleaning once a week, and he and Bobby did the rest.
