Part 10 (1/2)
”Don't try to charm me. My mother and I used to eat up guys like you and spit them out.”
”Vivid image. I'm not sure what to do with it.”
”Do you really want me to tell you?” I dug around in my purse some more. ”Where is it?”
”What?”
”My cell. I need to call a taxi.” I tossed my hair out of my face.
”To take you back to Malibu?” His brow furrowed.
”There's no way I'm getting into a car with you. And I'm going to give the taxi bill to Zaitlin. Where's my cell!”
”It's probably in Gerald's jacket pocket. A precaution in case you grabbed your handbag from him and made a run for it. He must've forgotten to give it to you.”
I started back toward the yacht. He grabbed my arm, stopping me. ”The gates are locked. You can't get in, and I don't have a key. What's wrong with you? Do you always act like this?”
I shook my arm. ”Let go.”
He released me. ”I'll see that your cell is returned to you.”
I suddenly felt helpless. A feeling I try to avoid at all times. Trying to compose myself, I breathed in the smell of burgers and fish 'n' chips wafting through the salty air from the lunch shacks and restaurants. Fis.h.i.+ng boats bobbed in their docks; metal rigging rattled and clinked against the masts. The ocean gleamed.
”Everything seems so d.a.m.n normal, so beautiful. And it isn't,” I said.
He drew his hand through his hair. ”Look, we've gotten off on the wrong foot. Of course you were frightened this morning, and I apologize for that. I told Parson and Zaitlin they should tell you where you were being taken. But Parson won out. Zaitlin went along with him.”
”You were just following orders.”
”If you want to put it that way. On the other hand, why are you constantly saying that I like to beat up women?”
”Don't you?”
He pushed his sungla.s.ses up to the top of his head and shoved his face close to mine, forcing me to look directly into his eyes. ”No. I have never hit a woman.” Then he added, ”Except when I was forced to.”
”You are so full of it.” I turned away, but he pulled me back. ”Get your hands off me.” I jerked free.
”If you would just stand still and be quiet a moment, I can explain.”
”All right, tell me about all the exceptions.”
”One of my clients had a girlfriend who was stalking him. She came at me with a knife. I decked her.” He rubbed the b.u.mp on his nose, staring out at the ocean.
”That's it? That's the exception?”
When he spoke next his expression was somber. ”There was another time in Afghanistan.” His gaze s.h.i.+fted back to me but it was distant. ”The woman had a baby in one arm, a hand grenade in the other.”
”And you decked her, too?”
”No. I shot her right between the eyes. Any other questions?” His face was as hard as stone.
”No.”
He slipped his gla.s.ses back down over his eyes, and we started walking again. Heath's serious directness had hit a nerve, and I thought of Celia's sudden anger last night. She had asked me to leave her house as if she wanted to get rid of me, as if she was purposely pus.h.i.+ng me out of her life for good. And all of that happened after I'd told her the man named Ward was really Heath, and that he worked for Zaitlin. Had I caught her in a lie? Did she choose to end our friends.h.i.+p so she wouldn't have to tell me the truth about who struck her? At the same time I couldn't shake the feeling I needed to protect her. I didn't want to tell Heath or anyone that it was Celia who accused him.
”What were you really doing at Bella Casa?” I asked.
”Would you believe I'm tired of renting? That I need a place to call my own?”
”A little big for one person, isn't it?”
”You and your mother lived there. There were only two of you.”
”Movie stars always live in houses that are too big for them.”
”What makes you think I'm not married with a couple of kids?”
”You're a loner through and through.”
He adjusted his shoulders. ”You're right, I am.”
”And the a.s.sumed name?”
”Working on a case. That's all I can say.”
”Did you know Celia Dario before she showed you the house?”
”No.”
”With all the work you do for Zaitlin, you had to know she was his mistress.”
”I did.”
”Is that why you used the a.s.sumed name?”
”I can't tell you. Client privilege. Your turn. Tell me why you think I like to abuse women.”
”I might have been acting under a misconception. I'm not sure.”
”That's it? That's your only explanation?” His brows rose.
”Client privilege.”
Shaking his head, we continued to the car park in a moody silence. Soon Heath took out his keys and beeped open the doors to a brand-new silver-gray Mercedes convertible.
”Expensive car.”