“Can I talk to you a minute?” I asked and then did a wave with my arm and Lee followed me to the entry hall.
First things first. Since the situation was still not stable and taking the time to dress, thus leaving Lee and Rosie alone, did not seem a smart option, I tried a different tactic in the hopes of covering my ass cheeks.
“Do you have a robe I could borrow?”
“No.”
“Does that mean you don’t have a robe I could borrow or I can’t borrow your robe?”
Lee stared at me some more.
Then he said, “Indy, start talking.”
His patience, it seemed, was running out. I’d have to leave my ass cheeks bared. I told myself this was Lee, he’d seen me in bikinis in his backyard (and mine, and on a family holiday to Mexico, and the one to San Diego). I was far more dressed than a bikini.
I soldiered on. “Okay, the thing is, Rosie has a little side business. Someone paid him in something and that something is kinda valuable, as in kinda really valuable. It’s also kinda stolen from someone else and that someone else wants it back. Rosie gave it to Duke for safekeeping and Rosie doesn’t have it. Duke’s away for a few days, back tomorrow morning. So, until he can get it from Duke, we have to lay low.”
“Why is this a ‘we’ situation?”
“Well, I was kinda with Rosie when they came after it.”
“And?”
“And, like I said, he didn’t have it.”
“And?”
“And I had a few words with them, in, er… Rosie’s defense.”
Loaded and pissed off hesitation complete with narrowing of eyes, then, “And?”
“And that’s when they shot at us and we took off and called Ally.”
No verbal comment but a muscle jerked in Lee’s cheek.
I didn’t take this as a good sign.
Probably, he wasn’t so happy I involved his sister in this mess.
Probably, he was equally unhappy that I’d involved him in this mess.
“What is it?” Lee asked.
“I can’t say.”
“If you don’t say, I’ll let him loose.”
I shook my head. “He’s pretty adamant that no one knows.”
“I’ll escort him out of the building myself.”
I looked back in the living room. Rosie was peering around the corner, eavesdropping.
I let out another heavy sigh. “Maybe we should go, get a hotel room.”
Rosie looked pleased at this announcement.
We only had a few hours to wait. Denver was a big city. It’d take longer than a few hours to find us.
“I didn’t say I’d let you loose, I said I’d let him loose.”
This announcement gave me a start and I turned to Lee.
“What?”
No answer.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Still no answer.
“What are you gonna do with me?” I kept trying.
“You tell me what this is about, nothing.”
“And if I don’t tell you?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Lee!”
Lee’s patience ran out, he grabbed my arm, pointed at Rosie and said, “You move, you’ll regret it,” in a way that I figured Rosie would do a statue impersonation until he saw Lee again.
Then Lee yanked me into the bedroom, hit the light switch and closed the door behind us.
“Ow! You’re hurting me!” I pulled my arm free.
“I should turn you over my knee,” he snapped.
My mouth dropped open for a moment then my eyes narrowed. “What did you just say?”
“He has a bag of diamonds and I cannot believe you’re caught up in this disaster.”
I gasped. “How did you know?”
He didn’t answer.
“How did you know?” I said it a lot louder this time.
“You get into bed. I’ll go talk to your friend. Tomorrow, I’ll take care of the diamonds.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” Now my voice was a lot louder.
I mean, who did he think he was?
He took a step forward and dipped his face to mine so we were nose-to-nose. “You’ve ignored me for years and now you lay this shit on my doorstep. This is not a good situation, Indy. This is a total fuck up. You’d do well to do exactly what I tell you, keep your mouth shut and pray that the man who wants those diamonds back is patient enough to wait through the night.”
“I haven’t been ignoring you for years!” Now I was shouting (and lying).
Lee decided nose-to-nose wasn’t good enough and took the last step forward so I could feel his body heat.
Which, by the way, was immense.
“Bullshit.”
Okay, so I’d been trying to ignore him for years but I didn’t actually succeed. I mean, didn’t he remember all those Christmases and Thanksgivings?
“I bought you Christmas presents!”
“That doesn’t count.”
I made a choked sound. “So you’re saying you didn’t like the Billie Holiday boxed set?”
“I’m sayin’ it doesn’t count.”
“I thought you liked blues!”
He edged in closer, predatory and angry. “Indy, this isn’t something you can cute your way out of.”