Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries, 1)

  ~

  An hour later, I left Alessandro's with a full tummy, a splotch of creamy sauce on my shoe, (no explanation how it got there), a thirty-six point list of Serena's instructions for her imminent baby shower, and a prepaid reservation for catering the shower next week. God-parenting had better have its perks. I was hoping for a regular supply of daintily drawn cards on which I was depicted as something benevolent like an angel, a tiny, nice-smelling child to supply snuggles, and a profound respect from Serena for my nurturing throughout its life.

  I suspected it actually meant I would be expected to donate extra special birthday and Christmas gifts, regular babysitting, as well as contributions towards its college fund.

  Instead of heading straight home, I swung by the police department and asked for my brother. Garrett helped me fill out the gun permit and told me he would call me to set up some practice time on the range. He told me to pick out a gun when I found one I liked. I gave him an IOU babysitting voucher and drove home.

  Turning into my parking spot, I jumped in my seat when I turned off the engine and spotted Maddox stepping off the porch. Drat. I really should have tried harder to get the splotch off my shoe. On the plus side, however, I looked great. I grabbed my purse and exited the car. I was mindfully standing up and sucking in my stomach, while pushing back my shoulders, which had the added benefit of making my boobs momentarily bigger.

  "You look nice," said Maddox, smiling. "Pretty. Go somewhere special or are you moonlighting at another office?" That was twice now he'd called me pretty. Not that I was counting.

  "Thank you. I've just been to lunch at Alessandro's." I couldn't return the compliment. Maddox was not a man you called pretty. Sexy, however, would work. Gone were the suit and tie, replaced by black jeans, boots that were well worn and a button-down shirt in a soft jersey. He hadn't shaved this morning and dark bristles covered his chin. He looked delicious, especially when his eyes darkened. "A date?"

  I thought about teasing him, but instead, I said, "With my sister."

  "Oh." I could see the mental cogs turning as he thought about my file. "Serena? You have a big family?"

  "Yep, lots of us Graves and yes, I've heard every joke about all the ones in the cemetery."

  Maddox followed me into the building and up the narrow stairs. "So, to what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked, glancing at him over my shoulder. I could hear music, something with a fast beat, thumping through the wall from Lily's apartment.

  "I thought you would want to know that we found Martin Dean last night."

  I turned away and kept my face steadily impassive as I unlocked the door. "Oh?" I said, holding it open for Maddox to step past me.

  "You don't seem surprised," he observed.

  "I already knew he was dead," I countered. I dropped my keys on the console and sauntered into the kitchen, reaching into the refrigerator for Cokes. I passed one to Maddox and he snapped the tab and took a sip.

  "We found him at his house," said Maddox, and I felt his eyes on me as I walked into the living room and sat. Maddox dropped onto the couch, next to me. "In his office chair, would you believe? Kind of fitting for Dean."

  "I thought you already searched the house."

  Maddox watched me closely, his face impassive too. I wondered what was going on behind his all-knowing eyes. "The local security guard got a call about someone sneaking onto Dean’s property."

  "Did the caller say whom?"

  "No. The guard went to investigate, but saw nothing."

  I shrugged and tipped my head back to take a swig from the can. Not exactly ladylike, and my mother would probably have thrown a fit, but I was out of clean glasses and it never occurred to me to buy straws.

  "Then dispatch got an anonymous call from an Australian woman saying there was a body," Maddox continued. He leaned forward, elbows on thighs, the weight of his glance making me recoil. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

  "Me? Nooo. I can't do accents. And Lily can only do British."

  "Dispatch sent out a squad car, and eventually it got to me. There was Martin Dean, dead as a dodo, seated upright in his home office."

  "Guess that solves the mystery of where his body went." I smiled brightly.

  "Guess it does, though the two snoopers are of interest. They might have something to do with the body reappearing after we swept his house."

  I decided it was better to steer the conversation in a different direction. "So, where do you think they’ve been keeping Dean all this time?"

  "The M.E. thinks he was put on ice."

  "Pardon?"

  "Refrigerated. He hadn’t fully thawed when we got him."

  "That's... creepy." I made a note to scrub my kitchen later.

  "I got to wondering. What if the snoopers had nothing to do with the body turning up? What if they found something? Something that would help the case.”

  "Like what?" I thought about the notebook and the matchbook in my bedroom. I had a feeling the notebook had a lot to do with the case; the matchbook I wasn't so sure about. I'd only taken it because I forgot to put it down when the security guard came to investigate.

  "Could be anything. Now we have the body, we have new leads to follow up. The ballistics report is on a rush."

  A knock sounded on the door, and before I could ask Maddox to explain what that meant, Lily stuck her head inside.

  "In the living room," I said, leaning back to wave her in.

  "Oh, hey," she said, flinching when she saw Maddox.

  "Lily," he said by way of a greeting. He gave her a long, hard look.

  "So..." Lily said, pursing her lips like she was about to whistle her innocence. "Just came by to see how the baby shower planning went."

  "My sister, not me," I said to Maddox, just in case he thought my file missed something. Then to Lily, I said, "We're doing a spa theme."

  "Very cool. Am I invited?"

  "If you bring a gift."

  "No problemo."

  "So what did you two get up to last night?" Maddox interrupted.

  "Nothing," Lily said quickly.

  "We went out for pizza," I said, because we had done that. Except for all the bits I left out, it was the truth.

  "Yeah, pizza," Lily echoed, folding her arms defensively.

  "Make any calls?"

  "Maddox said the PD got a tip off from an Australian lady and they found Dean's body," I said in a rush, my voice edging towards helium pitch.

  "I only do British," said Lily.

  "I thought as much." Maddox smiled, and for a moment, the three of us did the quiet version of a Mexican standoff. Then he got to his feet, stepping past Lily and me. "I'm glad you're both okay. I have some stuff to do, but I'll come back later. I have a few questions to ask you, Lexi."

  "What if I'm busy later?"

  "Are you busy later?"

  Lily shook her head and mouthed “no.” Then made kissy faces. Maddox half turned his head to look at her and she stopped. He frowned.

  "No," I said.

  "Then I'll bring dinner. See you at seven."

  Lily barely contained herself while Maddox let himself out. She flopped onto the couch beside me, taking his place. "Tonight is totally a date," she said.

  "It is not a date."

  "Did you see him inviting me?"

  "No."

  "And he's bringing dinner?"

  "Yes."

  "It's a date," Lily decided, nodding. "Hey, the corpse thing was a close call."

  I mimed zipping my mouth shut and waving my hands round until she froze, then nodded. But she was right, it was a very close call indeed. Except I thought Maddox knew all along it was us. Part of me was very happy that he came by to check up on us. On me, because, now I thought about it, he knew Lily was home, but still waited to talk to me, instead of her, which was unexpectedly nice. If he were tracking my cell phone with its apparent location device, he could have come by Alessandro’s and interrupted lunch, but he didn’t. He waited. And now I had
a date, too.

  “You don’t mind me blowing off O’Grady’s and Paradise?”

  “For a night with a sexy cop? No.”

  "What do I wear to a not-a-date at home?" I asked.

  "I feel a fashion show coming on."

  Dear God.