Straight Flushed (Hot Pursuit #1)(50)

Thirty minutes later, Vance and I were still decorating the lobby when a tall, striking, leggy blonde stepped off the elevator. Her hair flowed like corn silk down to the middle of her back. She hadn't an ounce of fat on her body, and I was sure the plunging neckline on her thin top was going to capture Vance's attention in a nanosecond.

She walked up to both of us, blinding me with a spectacular ten carat, princess cut diamond ring. "Sorry for making you two wait, but I couldn’t decide on which pair of shoes to wear. You can understand."

"Of course. The shoe can make or break an outfit. I love what you went with," I said, looking down at a beautiful pair of black patent leather high heels. I had no idea what brand they were, but I was certain they probably cost as much as a month’s rent.

She looked down at her feet and smiled. "Thanks, these are one of my favorite pairs. Oh!” she exclaimed. “How rude of me. I’m Veronica Martin.” The heavy jewelry dangling from her wrist jangled as she held out her hand.

We all shook hands and introduced ourselves. I ran through how we would work with her for the day and answered any questions she had.

When we were through, Vance said, "Okay, if you'll excuse me.” And I felt him trying to not stare at her ample cleavage. "I'm going to get someone to bring the car around. I'll only be a minute."

I reached up and turned my ear piece on so I would know the second Vance had the car out front. Vance left us and less than two minutes later he was speaking into my ear. “Out front. Ready when you are.”

I escorted Veronica outside, and the valet held the car door for her. As I expected, she asked to be taken to the mall north of the city. When we arrived, Vance pulled in front of Nordstrom. I hopped out and opened the door for Veronica and followed her inside while Vance parked the car in the garage below the store. He'd radio me when he got inside.

In true girl fashion, Veronica headed straight for the shoe department. She was already trying on a pair of Gucci loafers by the time Vance joined us.

"See anything worthy of concern on your way up?" I asked, jokingly.

“Yeah, lots of idiots hawking for parking spots. I’ll never understand the parking situation at this mall. It’s ridiculous."

I chuckled. Even on a slow day, there were never enough places to park.

Over the next two hours, we'd shopped nearly every department in Nordstrom, upstairs and down. Veronica had purchased close to five thousand dollars’ worth of shoes, makeup, perfume, and sunglasses. She was getting ready to try on another round of clothing on the upper level. Vance stayed poised by a sales rack on the outer skirts of the department, and I stood outside of the doorway to the dressing rooms.

Vance’s spoke into my ear. "I need to take a leak. You got this for a minute?"

"It's getting pretty hairy, but yeah, I think I got it," I answered, turning and looking at him. "I'll hold down the fort."

Right after Vance left, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I leaned my head into the dressing room to check on Veronica and heard clanking of hangers and shuffling of clothing. She’d walked in with a stack of at least ten items and had probably only made it through half. I didn’t expect her to come out any time soon. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone.

It was another text from Stephen.

Anything interesting going on?

No, very boring here. Watching someone shop is not exciting.

Still bored here myself. I’m going stir crazy and I got a funny feeling so I thought I’d check on you.

Don’t worry. I’m fine. Everything quiet there?

Painfully quiet.

That’s a good thing. I’ll be back soon.

I’ll be waiting.

I shut the phone off and slipped it back into my pocket then I felt something cold and hard poke into my lower back. I straightened my spine and reached for my gun, but it was only pushed harder into my skin.

“Don’t. Move,” a menacing male voice said.

His hot smoker’s breath wafted up my nose and his hand brushed against my breast, pulling my gun from its holster. I flinched, but he warned me against moving with a sinister, “Uh uh. There are a lot of innocent shoppers around us. I’d hate for that pretty lady you’ve been watching to accidentally get hurt. It’d be bad for business.” He tossed my gun out of reach.

I put my hands out to my sides and opened my mouth to speak, scanning the area for Vance.

“Where he is?” His gravelly voice tumbled like pebbles through my chest.

“Who?”

He jabbed the barrel of the gun deeper still into the small of my back. “You know who. We know you know where he is.”

How had they seen me with Stephen? We’d barely been outside together.

He drew in a breath threw his teeth and laughed. “I could have killed that lady in your office, you know? You better tell me what you know, or I’ll shoot that door. I might hit that lady in there, I might not. Want to bet?” His voice was sharp with rancor. “Where is he?”

“Stephen?” I asked.

Then, I felt a gust of wind and was launched through the doorway of the dressing room. I banged into a wall and landed flat on my hands. I quickly scrambled to my knees, trying to stay low. I peered around the corner, and through a rack of clothing, I saw Vance on the ground with the man on top of him. Both men were grunting as they struggled and thrashed.