Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(33)

One scene in particular, Oliver’s character and Leland’s got into a fist fight on the street. Neither used a stunt double, and they must have done forty takes before the director was satisfied he’d gotten all the angles and lighting correct. Only then did he call it a day. It was grueling for them, but a lot of fun for me.

After all was said and done, filming wrapped, and Oliver went back into his trailer to get cleaned up and change into his clothes. Most of the crowd had died down during the day but some remained. I scanned the area for the man I’d seen earlier, but he was gone.

Vance fetched the car and brought it around to the actor’s entrance. We drove to the police station and walked inside. The air smelled funky like cheap coffee, stale cigarettes, and popcorn as we approached a set of glass windows.

Oliver gave his name to a female officer behind the desk. She looked older than I guessed her to be compliments of her short, masculine haircut and a natural approach to makeup. When she looked up and saw Oliver staring back at her, she nearly fell out of her chair. After he signed a couple of autographs for her, and after she snapped a couple of selfies with him, Detective Bradford and Rhodes came out from behind a closed door.

“Mr. Pierce,” Detective Bradford said, “thanks so much for coming by. If you’ll come with us, we’d like to show you something.”

“Sure,” Oliver agreed.

We were led back through rows of desks to a long hallway. On a bench near a conference room, Cici sat by herself.

“Cici?” Oliver said. “Where’s Camille?”

“She stayed back at the apartment.” She didn’t look up from her hands folded in her lap.

“Why’d they call you down here?” Oliver walked toward her, but Detective Rhodes stopped him.

“I didn’t do it.” Her voice quivered and eyes filled with tears.

An invisible hand slapped Oliver, and he turned toward the officer. “Why’s she sitting here by herself?”

Bradford turned a discerning eye on Cici before looking back to Oliver. “I’d like to show you the video we have. She’s not being charged with anything, but we need you to corroborate her story.”

“You need me to corroborate her story?” He frowned.

“Please, let’s go in here.” He led Oliver into the private room and shut the door. Vance and I stood outside, and Cici scooted toward the end of her bench to be closer to Vance.

“I didn’t do it, I swear.” She pled.

“What do they think you did?” Vance asked.

“They think I messed with his brakes. Me. Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to find brake lines on a car with a map. This is so unbelievable.” A stray tear rolled out of the corner of her eye and down her cheek. She blotted it with the back of her sleeve to preserve what was left of her makeup.

“What was on the video?” I asked.

“After I picked up the car and parked it down in the garage below the building, I was crawling around under the car. The video is grainy and not the best quality. I took a stupid hide-a-key out of my pocket and was looking around for places on the car to put it. If you knew Oliver like I do, you’d know the man can lose his keys easier than a girl can lose her virginity on prom night.”

“Can’t they just look under the car for the key?” I asked.

She laughed. “That’s the problem. It must have gotten knocked loose and fell off in the accident because it wasn’t there when they inspected it. They think I’m lying.” She shielded her face with her hands.

“I’m sure they’re only skeptical and checking into everything. This is a higher profile case than they’re used to dealing with,” I said.

“Yeah.” She huffed. “If that’s what skeptical looks like, I’d hate to see what they act like when they know someone’s guilty. I’m pretty convinced I might need to be bailed out tonight. They’re showing the video to Oliver and they’re going to ask him about the key.”

“Then problem solved, right? He’ll see the video and say that was what you were doing, and we’ll be out of here.” Vance patted her shoulder.

She rubbed the fronts of her thighs as her face fell. “That’s just it. I forgot to tell him about the key. I was going to, but on his first trip out he got into the accident and totaled the car. It was going to be a funny little inside joke, but now the joke’s on me. It’s going to look bad.”

The door to the conference room opened, and Oliver came out with the detectives following behind him.

“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Oliver said, motioning with his head for Cici to come with us.

“What?” She slowly rose, waiting for Bradford or Rhodes to tell her to sit again.

“You’re free to go, ma’am. Mr. Pierce told us it was standard for you to hide a key on the car. We apologize for the inconvenience,” Rhodes added.

Cici swallowed. “Um, okay.”

Oliver put his hand on Cici’s back and led the way to our exit. The three of us stood in an inconspicuous area while Vance brought the car around.

“Thanks,” Cici said to Oliver once we were all loaded into the car. I looked in one of the mirrors, and she stared down into her lap.

“I’m sure there’s a logical explanation. Were you really hiding a key?”