Deadly Current Page 2

  Anna shrugged, still staring out the window.

  “I suppose he does…did. Anyway, now that I’ve finally managed to get you all the way here, let’s not allow my overactive imagination to spoil your visit.” She pursed her lips and shook her head, before adding, “Just forget I brought it up.”

  “Nuh, uh, Anna. Be straight with us. If something’s bad enough to have reduced you to”—Leah waved her hand around the room, then at Anna—“then we’re not going to ‘just forget’ it. I mean seriously, you’re the P.I. here. Why don’t you just share your evidence with us so we can pick holes in your theory?”

  Anna released a weak chuckle. “Okay, you caught me. By the way, that was quite a wicked trick, using my newly-minted P.I. credentials against me.”

  “I try my best,” Leah replied, looking a bit self-satisfied. “Now, please tell us…what’s got you so worked up and—not to come off sounding insensitive or judgey—looking downright wretched?”

  Fortunately, Anna didn’t seem to care, as she took the comment in stride.

  “It sounds cliché but when you put things into perspective…” She blew out a long breath, shaking her head as she glanced at the ceiling. “First, it was the late night meetings. Soon, he became more and more distracted, was missing our date nights and when he did manage to show up, he was uncharacteristically late and agitated, as though it was an inconvenience and he had more important places to be.

  “As you both know, he’s not an angry or mean-spirited person—actually quite the opposed, always so calm and laid back but lately, I can’t say or do anything without eliciting a rude, even vicious, remark. No matter how I try to rectify whatever it is that I’ve done to aggravate him, he snaps at me for no reason.”

  “Could this new project be causing him more stress?” I asked. “You did mention that the transition was a bit rough, that not everyone he previously worked with was thrilled about the shift and that several of them walked away when he made the announcement.”

  Anna shook her head. “Blaze realized he was getting older and wasn’t going to be able to do that stuff forever, despite what his crew or fans wanted. And if we wanted a family, which I thought he did, he wasn’t willing to continue taking those kinds of risks.”

  She rose, moved to the window and wrapped her arms around her middle. “Oh sure, you see those families where the whole lot is into it and they haul the kids all over the world trying to grasp onto every last bit of adrenaline that comes with it, but for Blaze the thrill had slowly been wearing thin over the years, especially after he lost a couple of his best friends.

  “So when this new opportunity arose—one that allowed him to use his current skill set in new ways…ways that could make a real difference to future generations…” Her thought trailed off and she was silent for a long moment before finishing, “No, if the project was stressing him out, his reaction would have been much different…a short period of vocal frustration, followed by a shift to dogged persistence until he was able to mitigate, if not eliminate the issue.

  “Instead, he’s been stand-offish, even when I try to give him a hug or a simple peck on the cheek. We have separate condos but until recently, he’d pretty much stayed over every night. In fact, we talked about him giving his up until we could find a home after the wedding. That being said, I don’t think he’s even stepped foot across the threshold of mine in four months and when we do meet, it’s always somewhere different and tucked out of the way—places we typically don’t even go—and shortly after arriving, he’s already eager to be on his way.”

  “Blaze’s behavior may not be related to issues with the project but it also does not lead directly to infidelity,” Leah replied. “Why even make the leap to cheating?”

  I nodded. “When we last spoke, you mentioned Blaze was having problems getting some of the necessary permits. Couldn’t that have something to do with the way he’s been acting? You also said he didn’t want to have to reach out to his family for help pushing things through. Perhaps he’s feeling pressure—from somewhere—to do so?” I paused, before adding, “I agree with Leah. I just don’t see Blaze as the cheating type—definitely not on you.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought so either until I saw it with my own eyes,” she replied, frowning.

  I glanced at Leah. ”Saw what with you own eyes?”

  “The other woman.”

  Anna reached into a leather tote bag sitting on the floor and pulled out a file folder. From it, she extracted the contents and tossed them on the desk. A few shifted off the edge and I caught them before they fell and got an eye-full of what had put our friend on high alert.

  Leah and I pulled our chairs forward and after I placed the stray photos alongside the others, we peered at each shot.

  Blaze and a voluptuous blonde in a fitted black pantsuit, dining in what appeared to be an outside bistro on sunny California day.

  Blaze and the same woman, sharing drinks at the bar inside a crowded dance club.

  Blaze and the woman, in a random parking lot.

  Blaze and the woman, this time clad in leather riding gear, outside a biker bar, their heads bent together.

  For each scenario, there were dozens of shots. There were no date or time stamps but clearly, there had been several meetings between the two. Nothing, however, about any of them that suggested intimacy or even a budding relationship.

  “One of his employees?” Leah suggested after we gave each image a second glance.

  “Not to my knowledge. In fact, I’ve met most of them over the years and none of them have ever looked like this,” Anna replied, her tone sour as she stabbed at one of the images. “And did I mention that this is only a sampling of their activities?”

  “Who took these?” Leah asked.

  Anna looked away, but not before her pale complexion was mottled with red splotches.

  Leah nodded and for once, thought before speaking. “Okay, so you’ve spent a lot of time tailing the two of them—what about when they’re not together? Did you follow her or get any details that could help identify her or that explain why Blaze is spending so much time with her?”

  Anna shook her head. “She’s good…never leaving any tracks…always disappearing into the shadows. Either that or maybe Abe and Elijah have overestimated my abilities. I’m probably going to need to take a leave of absence, anyway, to deal with this. Perhaps I should consider making it permanent.” She sighed, before adding, “I was just hoping I’d get it all handled before they returned and before I had to divulge all of my dirty laundry.”

  “Did you confront Blaze about her or show him…these?” I gestured toward the pictures.

  “Gawd, no.” Anna pressed her eyes shut and frowned.

  “What about Abe and Elijah? Did you share any of your suspicions with them?” I asked, wondering how her change in appearance had escaped their notice, but decided this was not the time to bring it up.

  “Double Gawd, no. You’ve seen Blaze. They’d snap him in half.”

  Both Leah and I nodded. That was probably true. While Blaze was no twig and was an exceptional athlete, he was no match for a pair of former collegiate-level football players. And, knowing how the Stantons doted over Anna—treating her as they would a sister—they would have crushed him first and asked questions later.

  “I don’t know, Anna. I still think you should talk to Blaze.”

  Anna pursed her lips at my suggestion and started to answer when there was a knock at the door. Sarah popped her head in.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt but there’s someone here to see you. She said it was important.”

  Anna frowned. “I don’t have any appointments scheduled this afternoon.”

  “No, she confirmed she didn’t have one but said it was imperative that she see you,” the assistant replied.

  “Did she at least provide you with a name?” Anna asked.

  Sarah shook her head. “She wouldn’t say.”

  Anna blew out a breath and pulled her hair in
to a ponytail. “Fine. Give me five minutes and then bring her back.”

  “Sure thing, Boss.” Sarah started to exit but looked back and added, “I should probably note, she’s kind of…scary.”

  “Scary?” Anna blinked. “As in we need to call the police scary?”

  “Noooo, more like I’d-rather-kick-your-butt-in-a-cage-fight-than-allow-you-to-waste-any-more-air-or-space scary.”

  “Uh, thanks for the clarification, I think?” Anna let out a small chuckle as Sarah closed the door behind her.

  “What do you make of that?” Leah asked.

  “Who knows—you see all types in this business,” Anna replied, straightening her clothes and pulling on a blazer before attempting to make her office a bit more presentable.

  We had just helped her tuck the last of the mess away when there was a knock at the door and Sarah re-entered with the visitor in tow—a tall, formidably built, sun-bronzed goddess in her late twenties to early thirties.

  A mane of platinum cornrows cascaded down her back and ended at her waist, where they were loosely tied with several black leather strands. The combination of her hair and deep tan made her eyes her most striking—and unnerving—feature, a blue so light it could have easily been carved from ice. She was clad head-to-toe in leather riding gear, which seemed unseasonably warm but given the way she perused each of us, I wondered if anything warm ran through her veins.

  After Sarah exited, the visitor strode across the room, stuck out her hand and started to speak, when Anna surprised us by ignoring her outstretched hand, instead opting to slap her hard across the face.

  When that yielded no response, Anna surprised us again.

  This time, she slugged the woman, hitting her squarely, in the jaw.

  Chapter Three

  I heard Leah suck in a breath just as I did, awaiting the fallout, but after cracking her jaw, the visitor simply smirked as she reached into the inside pocket of her motorcycle jacket, extracted a thin wallet and attempted to hand it to Anna, who crossed her arms defiantly and stared the woman down.

  “Uh, Anna, is everything okay?” Leah asked as we glanced back and forth between them.

  Even Nicoh had risen and was now positioning himself protectively between the two, ready for action.

  “No, Leah, everything is most definitely not okay,” Anna replied through gritted teeth. It was as fierce as I’d ever seen her. “It’s her.”

  It was like being late to the party. I glanced at Leah, who shrugged at me, before responding, “You’ve lost us. Her who?”

  Anna broke the gaze, rounded her desk and pulled one of the files we’d just stashed from its hiding place. “The witch in the pictures,” she seethed, before thrusting the photos, one by one, on the desk so that we had a full view of each.

  The visitor looked down, only mildly interested. She continued to offer the wallet and Anna still refused to accept.

  Leah and I peered at each image of Blaze and the woman Anna believed he’d been trading more than digits with.

  “She’s wearing a wig in the photos,” Anna clarified, “and accentuated some of her more…feminine assets.”

  This time, Leah and I glanced from the pictures to the woman, each of us gasping at the transformation. The woman standing in front of us looked more like Ronda Rousey’s supersized twin than the voluptuous, heavily made-up blonde with satiny locks that Blaze had met on at least a dozen occasions.

  The bemused smirk on the real-life version was starting to annoy me. “She doesn’t seem all that surprised to learn you were following her, Anna.”

  The woman shrugged and started to respond when Anna thrust a finger at her. “You…do not get to speak. You’re on my turf and I’ll let you know when I’m ready to hear your sorry-ass excuse for showing your face.”

  Anna moved from behind the desk and positioned herself millimeters from the woman’s side and for a split-second, I thought round two was about to begin when the visitor, still holding the wallet, calmly responded, “Blaze is in trouble.”

  Anna leaned in and snarled into the woman’s ear, “You’d better believe those fake boobs he’s in trouble.”

  The gal smirked and again thrust the wallet at her. “My private investigator’s license. Name’s Decker. Kelly Decker. Blaze hired me to look into the recent…incidents.”

  As Anna’s eyes widened and she took a step back, the bad juju that had been swirling throughout the office seemed to evaporate.

  “You’re Decker?” She backed up another step and gave the woman a thorough once-over before nodding. “I’ve heard of you…from Abe and Elijah. But you don’t look crusty, have a smoker’s voice…or appear to be male.”

  Decker barely moved a muscle but somewhere a snort resounded. “That was my pops. Recently passed away from smoking those arsenic logs he called cigars. I started working with him when I was ten and took over the business when the cancer finally took him down.” There was a hitch in her voice when she added,” Man was a bulldog…all the way until the savage end.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear about your father,” Anna replied quietly, as Leah and I nodded.

  “It is what it is. Life goes on.” Decker shrugged. “Mind if I take off my jacket, sit down and have a normal adult conversation?”

  Anna nodded and gestured toward the sofa as Decker peeled off her jacket, exposing a pair of guns so chiseled I muttered a word of thanks that I hadn’t been the one who’d slugged her—though it did give Anna a few extra gummy bears in my book. I broke free of my internal dialogue when I caught a glimpse of a tattoo on the inside of Decker’s wrist as she tossed the jacket over her knee.

  Aequitas.

  Justice.

  Interesting.

  Decker got right down to business. “I assume that we can speak freely in front of Arianna and Leah?”

  Leah and I might have been shocked this stranger knew our identities but I had to give Anna cred—she played it as cool as a glacier, offering Decker nothing more than a single head nod.

  Decker grunted before continuing, “Great. For several months now, Blaze has been the target of a series of incidents at home and work. His crew, too. At first, they seemed to be isolated coincidences, but when they started occurring more frequently and evolved from pranks to increasingly menacing episodes, a few of the crew bailed when the threats extended to their families.”

  “Threats? Blaze didn’t mention any of this to me,” Anna replied, looking down as she chewed her lip.

  “He didn’t want to worry you. He knew the moment he said something, you’d make it your sole mission. Plus, he worried about what those Stanton boys would do if they found out.”

  “You know Abe and Elijah?” Anna raised her head.

  Decker shrugged. “Everyone knows those two. Blaze got my number from them—he asked for the best—and he got me.”

  It was a statement of fact, not arrogance.

  I didn’t know her credentials but if the Stantons thought she was that good, there was no question, despite whatever ego she was bringing to the table.

  At the same time, I found myself shaking my head. If Anna had only shown the photos to Abe and Elijah, she would have known what she was up against. I wondered why they wouldn’t have mentioned Blaze’s request. I also started wondering whether Decker was a mind-reader when she responded to my internal ramblings.

  “When Blaze contacted Abe and Elijah, he only indicated he needed help with his current project, so as far as they knew, the services he required could have simply involved looking into perspective employees’ or vendors’ backgrounds. Or at the financial standing of potential backers. At no time did he mention the incidents that had been occurring.

  “Having said that, once things began to escalate, I encouraged him to have a conversation with you and the Stantons, but he was adamant that none of you were to be brought into the fold, at least not until he could get a handle on these threats. As it is, he could fire me for getting you involved now.”

  “So why are
you here, then?” Anna asked, frowning.

  “My rationale is two-fold. While I have always believed Blaze should have told you about these occurrences from the very beginning, I now feel not telling you could prove catastrophic. If you don’t know a threat exists, how are you able to protect yourself when it’s sitting on your doorstep?”

  “I completely agree,” Anna replied. “You said your reasons were two-fold?”

  Decker nodded. “I don’t often ask but when I do, I get the best. And from what I’ve heard from the Stantons—their own qualifications notwithstanding—you’re it.”

  “You’re asking for my assistance?” Anna’s tone turned incredulous as she furrowed her brow.

  “I am. This…thing is quickly getting out of hand. Sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt, or worse.” Decker paused, crossing her arms. “Yet Blaze refuses to get the police involved and the crew that remains agree, even though they don’t know where the threat is coming from, they want to handle it internally.”

  “Surely they realize they can’t deal with it themselves? And, if things continue to escalate, the police are going to involve themselves, regardless of what Blaze or his crew wants,” Leah replied.

  Decker shrugged. “A lot of them have not had positive experiences where law enforcement is concerned.”

  I nodded. Anna had previously told us that Blaze and his friends had a few run-ins as juveniles.

  “What about Blaze’s family—I assume he hasn’t told them either?” Anna asked, blowing out a breath when Decker shook her head. “As usual, I’m sure he was concerned about his father’s propensity to get over-involved or turn it into some media sideshow.” This time Decker was silent. “Unless Blaze believes his father is directly involved in the threats, that is?”

  It had been no secret that Terrence Edwards had been less than pleased by his son’s choice of career paths, including his most current venture.

  “Blaze doesn’t believe any member of his family has had any involvement,” Decker replied, standing as she eased into her moto jacket before adding, “Though I prefer to keep my options for potential suspects open, as my expectations of my fellow beings, especially ones with ulterior motives, tend to be fairly low.”