CAPTURING CLEO Read online

  “About this threat...” Malone began.

  “I didn’t threaten him,” Cleo said through clenched teeth.

  “Something to do with a grapefruit,” he said.

  “That wasn’t a threat,” she said. “It was a joke.”

  “A joke?”

  “A joke I told on stage,” she clarified. “Jack had shown up, stirring up trouble as usual, and… and I was angry. Sometimes I talk to the audience for a few minutes before I start to sing, so when I went on stage I told this joke.”

  “Share it with me?” Malone asked. It wasn’t a question, though, it was an order.

  Cleo lifted her eyes and bravely met his dark, intense stare. “If you drop my ex-husband and a grapefruit from the top of the tallest building in Huntsville, which one will hit the ground first?” She paused for effect “Who cares?”

  Malone nodded wisely. She did not like that nod.

  “I see,” he mumbled.

  “How did Jack die?” she asked again, a terrible feeling creeping slowly through her body.

  “We’ll get to that—”

  “Tell me,” she interrupted.

  She knew he was waiting for her reaction. He was judging her, weighing her. “About two o’clock this morning, give or take an hour, your ex-husband went off the roof of the First Heritage Bank building that’s under construction four blocks from here.”

  Cleo felt suddenly dizzy, but she fought the weakness back. What a horrible way to die. Even for Jack.

  “It’s unclear at this time if he jumped, fell, or was pushed, but since the death is suspicious, it’s under investigation as a homicide until something comes to light to prove otherwise.”

  “Jack would never commit suicide,” Cleo said softly. “He loved himself too much.”

  Malone nodded, as if he’d already come to this conclusion.

  “But I didn’t...” she began. “I hated his guts, that’s no secret, but I would never—” She shuddered. “But it is quite a coincidence that I told that joke and then a few days later...” She hugged her arms, suddenly cold.

  “It was no coincidence, Ms. Tanner,” Malone said confidently. He stared at her thoughtfully. “You see, Mr. Tempest didn’t fall alone.”

  “What do you mean?” She held her breath. Was someone else she knew dead? Who else had gone off the roof of the tallest building in Huntsville?

  “A grapefruit was found beside the body,” he said, very matter-of-factly. “That detail has not been made public, so I’d appreciate it if you’d keep it to yourself, for the time being.”

  “A grapefruit,” Cleo said softly.

  Malone caught and held her gaze. “A grapefruit.”

  Chapter Two

  Cleo Tanner was no longer suspect number one, which left Luther nowhere. He positively hated being left nowhere. Her alibi was iffy, at best, but it was an alibi with two witnesses.

  The shaky alibi wasn’t the reason he thought she was innocent. He trusted his instincts, and his hunches were almost always right. Cleo had hated her ex-husband, and once the shock wore off she wouldn’t be sorry he was dead. But right now she was shaken. She tried to hide it, but her knees wobbled and her face had gone pale. She’d expected something, some kind of trouble, when she’d seen him and recognized him as a cop, but she hadn’t expected the news that her ex-husband was dead.

  There had been no tears in her fascinating amber eyes, but she hadn’t been able to disguise the shaking that had worked its way through her body. Unless she was a damn good actress...

  “I don’t want you to drive me home,” she protested, snatching her arm from his hand.

  “I can’t let you go off like this,” he said sensibly.

  “I’m fine,” she snapped, walking down the sidewalk and briskly away from him, reaching into her purse for her keys.

  For a moment he forgot that she was part of a murder investigation and just watched. Cleo Tanner was not a slender woman. She had ample hips and breasts that were practically poured into that black dress, and wonderfully shaped long legs beneath the too-short hem. Those legs ended in high-heeled shoes that no human being should be able to walk gracefully in. She definitely shouldn’t be able to stalk away from him so confidently, that gentle sway of her hips tantalizing and teasing him this way.

  “Fine.” He surrendered. “I’ll follow you home and make sure you get there all right.”

  “You will not follow me home,” she said, glancing over her shoulder with an angry toss of her long black curls.

  She turned down a narrow alleyway that led to a small private parking lot. There were just four cars there—hers, Edgar’s, Eric’s and the barmaid’s, he imagined. Keys in hand, she headed for the ruby-red Corvette that was parked beneath a street lamp. It was several years old, but was in excellent shape. And it was, after all, a Corvette.

  “Nice car,” he said to her back.

  “Thanks,” she said tersely. “It was Jack’s, and it was the only thing I got out of our marriage that had any value to speak of. He hated me for leaving him, but he hated me more for getting custody of the car.”

  “It’ll be all right here overnight. I’ll have a patrol car drive by—”

  “Thank you, but it’s not going to be here overnight,” she insisted.

  He was tempted to toss the obstinate woman over his shoulder and carry her home that way, but he didn’t think she’d stand for it. Still, she was in no condition to drive herself home.

  Her hands trembled as she attempted to fit the key into the car door lock. She tried, but it wasn’t quite working for her. As the key finally slid into the slot, Luther reached around and placed his hand over hers. She jumped as if she’d been shocked, but he didn’t remove his hand. His fingers brushed the veins at her wrist; his body pressed close to hers kept her in place.

  “I need to ask you a few more questions, anyway,” he said in a lowered voice. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her. “I’ll drive you home, then in the morning I’ll pick you up, take you to the station to answer a few questions, and then bring you back to your car.” This close, he could feel her deep tremble. And more. The softness of her body, the fascinating curves that fit him, somehow. “You’re in no shape to drive, Ms. Tanner. It’s not safe.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said again.

  He slipped his fingers into her palm and confiscated the keys, snaking them easily into his own grasp and lifting them away.

  “Hey!” she shouted, spinning on him as he took a step back. “Give me those keys!”

  “I’ll give them to you when we get to your house,” he said, turning his back on her and heading for the alley that would lead to the street and his car. He didn’t have to turn to see that she followed. He heard the tempting click of her high heels against the asphalt.

  “You have no right,” she began breathlessly.

  “So call a cop,” he mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear.

  She mumbled herself, something obscene and just short of threatening. Luther smiled. “I’ll drop you off, then pick you up in the morning at nine to take you to the station to complete my questioning.” Yeah, he still had plenty of questions about Jack Tempest and Cleo Tanner.

  Cleo stayed a distance behind him but kept pace, her step clacking on the walk in a rhythmic way that made him want to turn and watch. He didn’t. He led the way to his car and opened the passenger door for her, facing her at last. Man, she was pissed, big time.

  But she did slide into the passenger seat, giving him one last glimpse of those terrific legs in the light of a street lamp, as she pulled them in behind her.

  He wondered if she’d bolt before he reached his seat and started the car, but she barely moved. As he pulled out of his parking space, she turned to glare at him.

  “Ten,” she said, softly but insistently. “I’m not a morning person.”

  Cleo slammed the door of her duplex. Slammed it hard enough for that irritating cop to hear from where he sat, calmly watching from the car that idled a
t the curb.

  She tossed the keys he’d taken from her onto the couch, threw her purse to land beside it, and kicked off her shoes. How dare he? How dare he!

  Rambo padded into the living room to welcome her, and Cleo bent to rub the dog’s soft head. “Hi, girl,” she said. “Did you miss me?”

  Rambo, a golden-colored mutt of uncertain origin that was about the size of a bird dog, answered with a low woof that sounded suspiciously like a yes.

  Cleo was heading for the bedroom to change clothes, when the soft knock sounded on the door.

  “What now?” she snapped, spinning around and heading for the front door, Rambo at her heels. “Am I now incapable of finding my way to bed alone?” The very idea of Malone insisting on coming in and helping with that chore made her heart lurch.

  She threw open the door, after putting an unyielding expression of distaste and disgust on her face.

  “Jeez,” a tinny voice said softly. “What happened to you?”

  Syd Wade lived in the other half of the duplex. Cleo considered herself short, at almost five foot four, but Syd barely topped an even five feet She had a neat head of medium-length very red hair and an almost girlish shape and face. An artist, Syd made her living with a small picture-frame shop, and painted portraits on the side.

  “Sorry,” Cleo said, opening the door wide and shedding the tough expression. She glanced quickly to the street and saw that Malone was gone. “I thought you were someone else.”

  “Obviously,” Syd said as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “You’re home early, your car’s not in the driveway, and you’re really mad at somebody. Gotta be a man.”

  In spite of the disastrous evening, Cleo managed to smile. “You’re so astute.”

  Syd knew her way around Cleo’s place, and not only because it was a mirror image of her own home. Syd and Cleo had stuck together through thick and thin. They’d shared holidays when neither cared to make the trip home to celebrate with their dysfunctional families: Cleo to Montgomery and Syd to Knoxville. They went to movies together, and commiserated when things went wrong. Cleo couldn’t paint and Syd couldn’t sing, but they were both artists. They understood one another.

  And they talked about men. Cleo had given up. Three years of marriage to Jack was enough to ruin any woman. Syd, who was a few years younger and had not yet been badly burned, still held out hope for finding that perfect man.

  Syd made her way to the kitchen and took two tumblers from the cabinet. She poured juice in each glass and handed one to Cleo as she left the kitchen and made her way to her favorite chair in the living room. “Okay,” she said, plopping down and tucking her feet beneath her. “Tell all.”

  Cleo sat on the couch and leaned back, Rambo at her feet. Her smile was long gone. “Jack’s dead.”

  Syd’s eyes got wide, and she leaned forward in her chair. “What happened?”

  “He either jumped or fell or was… pushed, from the First Heritage Bank building this morning.”

  Syd’s mouth dropped open. “I heard about that! They didn’t give the victim’s name, but I saw it on the news when I got home, and there was a small article on the front page of the evening paper. Oh my God, that was Jack?”

  Cleo nodded. She got cold again, and shivered. “I hated him,” she said. “I really, really hated him. But I used to love him. I was young and stupid,” she added, “but...”

  “I know.” Syd rose from her chair, set her juice on the coffee table, and sat beside Cleo, placing a comforting arm around her shoulder. “You probably don’t know whether to be mad or sad or happy, and I can’t blame you. Jack really did a number on you.”

  Cleo shook her head. “It’s a shock, that’s all. I didn’t love Jack anymore, hadn’t for a very long time, but hearing he was dead made me remember a lot of old stuff.” She could still remember loving him, or, rather, loving the man she’d thought him to be. That first rush of what she’d thought was love had been so powerful, so beautiful. So false.

  She’d defied her family for Jack, had run away with him with her head and her heart filled with dreams and hope and love. Within three years he’d managed to kill them all. Heaven help her, she didn’t dare to dream anymore.

  “No wonder you slammed the door when you got home,” Syd said, giving her a friendly squeeze. “Shoot, I thought I’d find the thing off its hinges when I came over to see what was wrong.”

  “I didn’t slam the door on account of Jack,” Cleo said, her sadness quickly being replaced with anger. “This... this cop showed up tonight to give me the news, and I swear, I’m pretty sure he thinks I killed Jack.”

  Syd snorted as she left the couch and returned to her chair, snatching up her juice along the way. “Moron. If he knew you at all—”

  “And I’m not finished with this guy,” Cleo interrupted. “He’s coming by tomorrow at ten to take me to the station to finish his interrogation.”

  “Want me to come with you?” Syd asked, wide-eyed. “I can close the shop for a few hours.”

  “No thanks. I can handle Malone.” I think.

  “So, this Malone is the man who made you slam your door?”

  “He wouldn’t let me drive home,” Cleo said, looking for confirmation that she’d been right in being incensed. “He said I was too upset and it wasn’t safe, and then he took my keys right out of my hand and insisted on bringing me home.”

  “Oh,” Syd crooned, “that actually sounds kind of sweet.”

  “Sweet?” Cleo took a swig of her own juice. “Malone is not sweet, not at all. He’s a… he’s a macho jerk.”

  “Good-looking?”

  “Syd!” Cleo shook her head in dismay. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “That’s a yes,” Syd said with a small smile.

  Cleo shook her head. “All right, if he wasn’t a cop, and if he didn’t think I’d pushed my ex-husband off a tall building, I might think he was relatively handsome.” Gorgeous, actually, if only his dark eyes hadn't been so tired. “But the man has a serious testosterone problem,” she added defensively.

  “Too much or not enough?” Syd teased.

  “Too much,” she muttered.

  Syd leaned forward, hands spread wide. “All right. On the Barney Fife-Bruce Willis scale of masculinity, with Barney being one and Bruce being ten, where does this cop fit?”

  Cleo sighed but didn’t hesitate to answer. “Fifteen.”

  Syd fell into peals of laughter, and Cleo couldn’t help but smile.

  “I’ve got to meet this cop,” Syd said as she fell back.

  “You do not.”

  “A fifteen! I’m impressed. I need to judge for myself.”

  “This from a woman who’s looking for a man who will slide along the scale to fit her every whim.”

  Syd straightened her spine defensively. They’d had this discussion before. “What’s wrong with looking for a man who will rub your feet and cook dinner when you need a four, and be a warrior when you want a ten? Or a fifteen,” she said, with a waggle of her red eyebrows.

  “Nothing,” Cleo said, “except that such a man does not exist.”

  “Of course he does.”

  Syd was so optimistic, and Cleo had given up on winning this argument long ago. Some things a woman has to learn for herself.

  Cleo would do anything to keep Syd from learning the lesson the way she had.

  Last night it had been too dark to see much of anything, but by morning’s light Luther got a good look at Cleo Tanner’s place. She lived in a neat duplex in an old neighborhood, with tall, ancient oak trees by the curb and bushes growing wildly around the front porch. Those bushes would flower in the spring, he was almost certain. The yard was neat but not precise. There were spots of green in the dormant grass.

  It was two minutes after nine when he left his car and made his way to Cleo’s front door. He could hope otherwise, but he didn’t expect she’d be happy to see him.

  Too bad.

  He knocked on
ce, then rang the bell. Someone inside the place shuffled, then shouted “Just a minute” in a sleepy, huskily sexy voice that made his innards tighten. Luther smiled, but made sure the smile was gone before the door swung open.

  Last night Cleo Tanner had been all vixen: slinky black dress, high heels, red lipstick. This morning she was straight from the bed. Curling black hair going everywhere, lips au naturel, though still lush and enticing. And instead of a slinky black dress she wore a T-shirt that hung to her knees. The T-shirt was purple and had a grinning spread-eagled cat in the middle of it: a paw rested over each breast.

  She was yawning, but when she stopped yawning and realized who’d awakened her, her golden eyes went wide and she slammed the door in his face.

  “You’re not supposed to be here until ten!” she shouted through the closed door.

  “I said nine,” Luther said, leaning against the closed door.

  “I said ten!” she said, and then he listened to her stomp away.

  The door next to Cleo’s opened, and a petite redhead wearing jeans and a too-large denim shirt stepped out. She looked him over suspiciously.

  “Detective Malone,” he said, lifting his jacket to flash his badge.

  She was not intimidated. “I figured as much.” She mumbled something as she reached tentatively past him to try Cleo’s front door, finding it locked. “Fifteen, huh?” she muttered.

  “Fifteen what?”

  “Nothing.” She circled around him to the mailbox, which hung on the wall not two feet from the front door. In a few of these old neighborhoods, the mailman still came right to the door. The redhead reached behind the mailbox to grab a small magnetic box on the underside. She opened the container and took out a key, using it to unlock Cleo’s door.

  Luther’s urge to smile disappeared. Not only did the woman not have a peephole in her front door, or the common sense to ask who was there when someone knocked, but she stored her spare key in such an obvious place that any self-respecting criminal would find it in a matter of seconds.