To All a Good Night Page 19
“But you said—”
“A tape.” She pulled the neck of her sweater up high enough to choke herself.
“You, uh, mentioned something about being naked.”
The material hovered just under her mouth now. “That doesn’t mean porn.”
“Who said porn? I thought you were talking about a private video.”
“Stop talking.”
He should. He knew he should. “All I was saying was that it—”
“Stop.” She dropped the sweater and held up her hands. She may have closed her eyes in frustration but he was too busy trying not to say anything stupid to fully appreciate all of her angry gestures.
“The tape is just of me.”
“What are you doing on it?” The question slipped out before his internal filter could catch it.
“Excuse me?”
“Forget I asked.”
“I intend to.”
“Why me?” And by that he meant: How did he get stuck with this conversation?
“I couldn’t go to the police. I deal with those guys all the time at work and the idea of them seeing me…or what they would say. Well, you know.”
He did except for not understanding how he somehow got chosen for this conversation. “Sure.”
“That left me with very few options. Only one, really.”
“Me.”
“Yeah.”
Spence looked for another pen in the hope that concentrating on taking notes would help him from concentrating on Nat. “Is someone threatening to disseminate the tape?”
“I hope not. The holidays are going to be horrible enough without having to worry about that.”
He was not sure what the comment meant, so he focused on the tape. “Who has this tape?”
“Charlie.”
The situation went from bad to untenable. “What did he say?”
“When?”
“When you asked him to give you the tape back.”
“I didn’t.”
Spence suddenly missed talking with his criminal clients. They lied but at least most of the lies made some degree of sense.
“I’m thinking we should start this whole conversation over again,” he suggested.
“I didn’t ask Charlie because he doesn’t even know he has the tape.”
“Believe it or not, that explanation does not clear things up for me.”
She sighed and frowned and mumbled about him being slow all at the same time. “I made the tape for him as a Christmas present. I didn’t wrap it yet because I was watching it.”
Something exploded inside his brain. “You were what?”
“He walked in while I was…well, that’s not important. I hid the tape in the mess on the coffee table. Then, when—”
“Hold up a sec.”
“When we fought, he grabbed up all of his paperwork and materials for his big murder case that just ended and unknowingly took the tape with him.”
“You didn’t show him the tape?”
“Of course not. It’s not Christmas yet.”
Sure, right. That made sense. At least as much sense as the rest of the discussion made.
“But Charlie knows about the tape.” Spence decided to make a statement rather than ask a question since her answers were not helping at all.
“How could he?”
“So, if this happened a few weeks ago, why the big rush to get it back now?”
“Charlie’s case just got appealed. That means he’ll be digging around his case box soon. Probably within a few days.”
“So, is this really a tape or is it some sort of disc?”
“No. A tape. I used an old recorder. It’s all I could find and I needed to mount it.”
Spence started to think this whole scene might be a joke. “What the hell is on this tape again?”
“Me.”
“Naked. Yeah, I got that part. What else?”
She glanced at the closed door to his office. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t yell.”
“This is my office.”
“And Charlie’s is just a few doors down. The goal is to keep this from him.”
Spence dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “How are you going to do that?”
“We’re over. Charlie never needs to know the tape existed.”
“I don’t understand how you plan to get it back without asking Charlie for it.”
“Simple.” She smiled. “Take it.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“That’s why I need you.”
“To bail you out of jail when this idiotic plan goes to hell? And it will. I rarely give guarantees, but this one plan is headed for failure.”
“Your job is to grab the tape from Charlie without him knowing.”
“Let me get this straight. You want me to steal the tape.” He said the phrase nice and slow, allowing her plenty of time to rush in and deny.
“Stealing is a strong word.”
“How do you feel about the word insane?”
“The tape is my property.”
Spence got more confused by the second. “It was a gift for Charlie and he has it.”
“Only by accident.”
Spence rubbed his temples. “I’m sorry I came to the office this afternoon. I should have kept on driving.”
“I would have come to your house.”
“Breaking and entering? Happy to know your life of crime isn’t limited to theft and burglary.”
“I don’t have much time. I’m desperate here.” She rubbed her hands together as if to prove her point.
“And what do I get other than the potential of jail time and the promise of public humiliation?”
“How about the satisfaction of helping someone in need?”
“I do that every single day.” He also wondered if this new headache was a permanent thing.
“Right. Because you’re such a good guy.”
She had crossed into false flattery. “Maybe I should remind you how you called me a bloodsucker a few days ago.”
She had the decency to look uncomfortable. “Yeah, about that—”
“And I believe you referred to me as a humorless pig last week.”
“Prig.”
“What?”
She waved him off. “Never mind.”
If only. Hell, he wished he could forget this whole conversation, but he doubted that was ever going to happen. Her comments about being naked were imprinted on his brain.
“I still don’t understand why you picked me.” He asked because he really wanted to know what he did to warrant this duty so he never did it again.
“Honestly?”
“Now you do sound like a client.”
“You help them. Why not me?”
Her logic made his head pound.
She let out an exasperated exhale when he didn’t jump in and agree. “Fine. Do you want to know the real reason?”
“Definitely.”
“Because you don’t care.”
She managed to lose him again. That made about fifty times during the course of this conversation. “About what?”
“The tape’s contents.”
Never was a woman more wrong about an issue. “How do you figure that?”
“We’ve known each other for two years. You’ve never shown one bit of interest.”
He would have said something if he knew what the hell to say to that.
“And,” she continued, “despite our differences, my sense is that your internal honor code would prevent you from taking a look just out of curiosity.”
“With all of your cryptic comments about this tape, you think I’m not intrigued about what’s on it?”
“That’s different from being interested. You wouldn’t show the tape to anyone or try to take advantage of me.”
“The last part is true.” The rest was pure crap.
“You don’t care about what I look like without clothes on.”
There’s where she got c
onfused. “How did you come to that conclusion again?”
“I can tell.”
“Which goes to show how little you know about men.”
She blinked a bunch of times. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know a lot of men who would pass up a chance to see a woman naked.” None, actually. Did not matter what she looked like. Men were curious.
“That’s not true.” She bit her bottom lip. “Is it?”
“It is.”
“But you won’t look.”
“I don’t know why you think that’s the case.”
3
T he door opened after a loud knock. In walked the one person Nat did not want to see. Ever.
Dirty blond hair, brown eyes, broad shoulders, and an ego the size of a football stadium. Charlie Adams entered every room as if he expected all eyes to turn to him. Being over six-four with rough, handsome looks, most people took notice. Until Charlie opened his mouth. Then they got annoyed.
His courtroom skills and ability to wow a jury qualified him as a fine attorney. People who dealt with him on a peripheral level viewed him as charming. Those who knew him well referred to him as a blowhard. Nat considered him a nightmare.
Charlie wasn’t abusive or unfaithful, but their combination as a couple had proven toxic for her. Over time he’d balled up her self-esteem and chucked it in the garbage. She started losing weight to please him. That accounted for the first twenty pounds. She owed the last twenty-five to stress.
As much as she wanted to hate Charlie, she knew he only deserved part of her anger. She’d earned the rest. She’d stayed too long, put up with too much, and expected too little.
For a strong woman working in a tough environment, when it came to Charlie she acted like the fat girl standing alone on the school playground waiting to be picked last for a team. No matter how hard she tried to kick that chubby girl out of her head, she hung around and messed up everything.
Spence stood up, all traces of civility gone. “Did you need something?”
Charlie ignored the question and focused on her. “Sue said you were here.”
“I’m meeting with Spence.”
Spence moved around his desk to stand next to Nat’s chair. “We don’t need company.”
For the first time, Nat noticed the men’s strained interaction. Due to his size, Nat always viewed Charlie as the leader and more powerful of the two. Now she knew she had that wrong. Spence might be a few inches shorter, but his shoulders were just as broad and his demeanor struck her as equally un-bending, maybe even a bit more imposing.
Spence came off as a cleaned-up, less pushy version of Charlie. And Spence had the better courtroom record. A fact that pissed Charlie off and made Nat smile.
“Last I checked, my name is still on the door,” Charlie said.
“I’ll go scrape it off if that will get you out of here faster.” Spence grabbed his scissors. “Just say the word and Donovan & Adams becomes Donovan.”
“I’m talking with my girlfriend.”
A muscle in Spence’s cheek twitched. “The way I hear it, she dumped you.”
Time to stand up and put an end to the male madness. Nat shoved out of her chair and stepped between the two men. “The testosterone show, while impressive, isn’t helping.”
“What the hell are you doing here with him?” Charlie demanded.
Shouting. Yeah, Charlie was great at shouting. “It’s business and you’re interrupting.”
This time Spence angled his body in front of hers in what Nat assumed was a protective stance. The move filled her stomach with a sudden lightness. At five-eight, and as someone who’d spent most of her life about sixty pounds overweight, men did not rush to her rescue. Everyone assumed she could handle any physical threat. In the biggest insult of all, people probably thought she’d just sit on anyone who tried to hurt her.
Being the opposite of petite resulted in never being cherished or shielded the same way as thinner women. Some of her tiny friends viewed the male protective instinct as sexist. To Nat, it related to attractiveness and being worthy of affection and to all the things she wasn’t. The male reaction was normal, healthy, and not something she ever had the opportunity to either enjoy or find offensive.
“What the lady is saying in a nice way is, get the hell out of my office,” Spence said.
“You looking to taste my leftovers, partner?”
“Don’t talk about Natalie that way. Ever.”
“She’s a bit too smart and a bit too big for you, isn’t she?”
She refused to wither from Charlie’s nastiness but stayed behind Spence’s broad shoulder anyway. “That’s enough, Charlie.”
“More than enough. Apologize to the lady,” Spence said.
“Nat and I understand each other. You can’t do the things we’ve done together and not.” Charlie winked after he made the comment.
She did not know if Charlie wanted to hurt her or show off to Spence. Either way, she wanted Charlie out. And had a sudden need for a shower.
“You’d think you’d have the decency not to be vulgar, what with all that intimacy you’ve shared.” Spence took a final step toward Charlie. “And this is your last warning. Get out of my office.”
“Whatever you need.” Charlie glanced over at her. “Stop by to see me before you go.”
Spence shut the door in Charlie’s face before he could wink a second time. When Spence turned back around to face her, his red cheeks spoke to his fury.
“If you stop by his office…”
The tightness in his voice intrigued her. “Yeah?”
“Just don’t.”
Her anger rose over Spence’s demand but she tamped it back down. “No problem.”
“What the hell did you see in him?”
“It was one of those things.”
Spence continued as if she had not spoken. “Why would you go out with a guy who spoke to you that way?”
The questions stung. Each word knocked against her wounded self-esteem, making her feel even more dumb and less sure of her ability to judge the men in her personal life.
Not that she had many men in her personal life. One socially backward guy in college, a quiet accountant without a personality in her early twenties, and one handsome lawyer with a high jerk reading in her present. Pretty lame dating life for twenty-nine years on the planet.
“I could ask you the same thing. Why would you partner with the guy?” she asked.
The harsh lines in Spence’s face eased. “I’ve wondered about that myself.”
“Come up with an answer?” If so, she might use the excuse, too.
“He’s a good lawyer. I thought I could—”
“Change him?”
“Refine him.” Spence balanced his head against the door. “Sounds stupid, I know. It’s just that Charlie has more potential and raw talent than any other criminal defense attorney in D.C.”
“You make it sound as if you’re a hundred years older than Charlie.”
“Most days I feel like it. Charlie might be thirty but he acts younger. The five years between us stretched pretty wide most weeks.”
“So, I’m not the only one who has been the target of Charlie’s more juvenile side?”
Spence stared for a second before looking away. “Let’s get back to your plan about the video.”
Spence brushed past her on his way to fetch his flying pen and sit back down. Nat knew an intentional change of topic when she heard one. Spence’s demeanor had morphed from angry to disinterested with one question. His face wiped clear of expression and his eye contact wandered.
Something she said caused the change. She just did not know what it was.
“Spence?”
“Please don’t talk about being naked again. A guy can only take so much in one afternoon.”
Nat did not fight a smile. “I promise.”
“Thanks.”
“About Charlie—”
Spence tapped the tip of his pen a
gainst his desktop. “We’re done talking about him in terms of your relationship and my partnership. Agreed?”
Now there was a offer she did not want to accept. Not until she knew more about the partnership dissolution. Why had the relationship turned sour and what was behind Spence’s reluctance to talk about all of it.
“Nat, do we have a deal?”
“Fine.” Not fine but acceptable for now. “So, how are you going to get the tape from Charlie’s house?”
Spence flipped back a few pages of his legal pad until the one in front of him did not have any writing on it. “This is your plan, not mine.”
“Well, yeah, but you’re going to be the one doing the actual stealing.”
“I thought you didn’t like that word.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Unfortunately, I do.”
“So, what will it be?” She rubbed her hands together as she dropped back into the chair. “Some sort of break-in, or are you going to ask Charlie if you can come over and then somehow sneak it out?”
“You’re still not getting that part where I don’t have a plan.”
“Why not?”
“Because I just heard about this idiotic idea forty minutes ago.”
“Oh.”
“And I haven’t agreed to help.”
“But you will.” She knew he would.
“Look, Nat. I know you’re nervous. I know you’re worried Charlie will find the tape and do something irritating or inappropriate with it before we can retrieve it.”
“Among other things.”
“I get all that.”
“Then come up with a plan.”
Spence’s eyebrows inched up. “Anyone ever tell you how bossy you are?”
“No.” Never, actually.
She had been called sweet, told she had a pretty face—which she knew to be code for “fat but not ugly”—and otherwise been the one to keep the peace. Something about Spence brought out the fight in her. She argued with him, even called him a few names. With Spence she felt feisty and challenged, frustrated and angry.
“Guess I’m the only one you refer to as a bug,” he mumbled.
She knew that parasite comment would be a problem. “You’ve called me some names, too.”
“Referring to you as a do-gooder is a fact not an insult.”
“What you’ve called me is ‘a do-gooder with no sense of the real world.’” She cleared her throat. “And talk about cynical.”