Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated #3)(25)

“Just too much going on.”

Really? Her boyfriend being murdered didn’t even make the list? What the hell?

“I guess it could have been worse. I heard someone died at a party here in the hotel last night.” Aubrey shuddered and took another sip of her wine. “It made me want to pack my things and check out right away.”

There was a telling moment of silence and Iris’s features had turned bland, completely devoid of any sort of strong emotion. “I doubt there is a killer running loose that’s going from room to room murdering guests of the hotel. I think I saw something on a television show once about the odds of being murdered. They weren’t high.”

Iris didn’t look worried. Interesting.

“It’s still creepy. I can’t wait to get out of here.”

Aubrey hoped to turn the conversation toward the details of the crime to see if Iris might inadvertently let something slip, but she didn’t have a chance. A sunny eighties tune began to play and Iris reached into her robe pocket and pulled out her phone.

“Excuse me. I have a call.”

Frustrated, Aubrey waited but the woman chatted for the next several minutes, mostly just answering “yes” and “no” but never saying anything that would reveal who she was speaking to and what they were talking about. Iris was still on the phone when her pedicure was complete and she was exiting the salon. Aubrey gave her a wave and Iris nodded absently in return, still engrossed in her call.

Who was she talking to so intently?

It didn’t look like Aubrey was going to find out. She’d learned very little today but one thing was very clear.

Iris Perry wasn’t mourning the loss of Bruce. Not one little bit.

* * *

“That’s strange.” Travis perused the menu while the waiter scuttled away to fill their bar order. “She didn’t say anything at all about Bruce’s death. Not a word?”

After Aubrey’s day of beauty, Travis had insisted on them dressing up and going out to dinner at a classy French restaurant just a few blocks from the resort. She’d chosen a flame red cocktail dress with thin spaghetti straps and he was in a gorgeous heather gray suit that looked like it was made for him.

Damn hot.

She was so aroused by his “suit porn” her knees were jelly and her hands were trembling. Her mind might be hesitating to make love to him but her body was all systems go.

“Not a word. She acted like he was still alive, which was really kind of creepy. She also said he was gorgeous.” Aubrey made a face of distaste. She didn’t feel good about speaking ill of the dead but Bruce hadn’t done much to endear himself to her. Or anyone, for that matter. “Ick. She must really love him if she feels that way.”


“But then wouldn’t she be upset? Sad? You didn’t describe a woman torn up with grief.”

“She was drinking an awful lot. Maybe that’s how she processes death. And talking about him like he’s still alive? She could be deeply in denial.”

“She could be guilty as hell too,” Travis retorted with a grin as their drinks were placed in front of them. Jameson on the rocks for him and a cranberry and vodka for her.

“What was her motive? If they were happy there would be no reason to kill him.”

Travis closed his menu and placed it on the edge of the table. “I don’t know what her motive would be. Maybe money? According to Martin she was holding all of Bruce’s ill-gotten gains from his insider trading. She might not have wanted to split it with him.”

The waiter interrupted them and Aubrey ordered the coq au vin and Travis ordered the beef bourguignon, followed by a chocolate soufflé with a Chantilly crème that they would share.

“So Iris didn’t give us anything but more confusion. Where do we go from here?”

Travis reached across the table and captured her hand, lifting it so his lips could brush the knuckles. A shiver ran up her spine and that familiar ache between her thighs began to make itself known.

“I’m glad you asked that. Jason is digging into Bruce’s financial affairs and found out that he owes Tom Lovell almost two hundred thousand dollars from a joint real estate deal gone bad. Apparently they invested in some property that was going to skyrocket in value but that didn’t happen. Then Tom found out he’d overpaid for the land in the first place and the person they bought it from was a good friend of Bruce’s. See where this is going?”

“Business is cutthroat, isn’t it?”

She’d seen Travis in meetings and dinners, more than she could count, and it had never ceased to amaze her how downright nasty people could be to one another. It all looked civilized on the surface but underneath it was a street fight to the death.

“It is, baby. Dog eat dog, and all that. Apparently Tom threatened to sue so Bruce signed a promissory note to pay the money back, but he hadn’t so far. Maybe Tom got tired of waiting.”

“Let me guess. Tom is here this weekend?”

The rich and famous were certainly different. In Aubrey’s experience, people who owed each other money didn’t hang out together and act like friends. In fact, they usually avoided being in the same room.

“He is. I think we should pay him a visit tomorrow and see what he has to say.”

“I hope we have more luck than I did today. Do you know him very well?”