Tara Sivec - Shame on Him

“Lorelei Warner.”

There’s a snort on the other end of the line. “Wow, you even answer the phone all pretentious.”

Clenching my teeth, I take a deep breath before answering. “What do you want, Dallas, and how did you get my number?”

“Awww, don’t be like that, Lawyer. You know you’ve been waiting by the phone for my call,” he tells me with a clear effort to sound sexy.

No. There is nothing about Dallas Osborne that’s sexy.

“Sorry to bother you. I’m sure you’re quite busy sitting at home on a Monday night, thinking about how much you hate the male species,” he adds with a laugh.

“I’m hanging up now.”

Pulling the phone away, I hear him shout through the line and I slowly bring it back up to my ear.

“Look, I don’t like you and you don’t like me. Can we call a truce for just one second?” Dallas asks with a sigh.

Waiting for him to continue, I don’t say a word.

“I’m going over Ted’s notes from your statement and I can’t read a damn word of his chicken-scratch handwriting. I just need to know whether or not you noticed the front door had been tampered with when you entered Richard Covington’s house,” he explains.

He wants my assistance with the case that should have been mine. This jerk actually thinks I’m going to help him?

“You’re absolutely correct. It would probably be the best thing for this case if we put our differences aside. After all, the goal right now is to find out who did this.”

I hear Dallas sigh in relief. “Exactly. It’s good that you can be the bigger person about this, Lorelei.”

Hearing my name fall from his lips gives me pause. He’s never said my name before, just variations of insults. I ignore the tug on my heart that it gives me and remember Kennedy’s words: shock him so much that it will throw him off his game.

“Oh, I’m definitely the bigger person in this instance, Dallas,” I tell him sweetly. “Grab a pen and jot this down.”

I can hear him rustling around through the line.

“I’m ready. Go.”

Channeling Kennedy, I toss aside my uptight nature for just a moment. “I’m going to wipe your ass with this case, Dallas Osborne. When I find out who killed Richard Covington, and I will, I’m going to point and laugh while you’re busy sitting at home on a Monday night with your dick in your hand.”

Ending the call, I toss my phone onto my coffee table and smile to myself.

Getting inside Dallas’s head might just be the best advice Kennedy has ever given me.

I don’t know why I’m even shocked that you carry tools with you for breaking and entering,” I tell Kennedy as I watch her crouch down in front of Richard Covington’s door.

It’s been a week since I walked in this house to find Richard shot dead on the floor of his library. I had two cases to try and spent the rest of my time pulling up as much information as I could find on Richard and Stephanie. I probably never should have told Kennedy that I wished I could have an hour inside of Richard’s house to see if I could find anything that would help with the case. An hour later she knocked on my door and told me to wear black and bring a flashlight.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this. You know I could be disbarred for this, right?” I complain to Kennedy as I turn my back on her and stare out over the dark lawn. If I’m not watching it happen, I can just plead ignorance if we get caught.

“I thought you were going to quit. Who cares if they fire you?” Paige whispers as she aims her flashlight at the door so Kennedy can see.

“There’s a big difference between being fired and being disbarred, Paige. If we get caught, I could lose my license and never be able to practice law again.”

I should really be more concerned about the ramifications of what we’re doing right now. I shouldn’t be standing here while my friend breaks into a crime scene. At least one problem would be solved—my parents would finally know what I’ve been doing when they have to bail me out of jail.

“First rule of thumb if you’re going to make it in this business, Lorelei: always carry a paper clip and a torsion wrench in your back pocket and stop being such a candy ass,” Kennedy explains as she carefully sticks the tools into the lock with the precision of a surgeon performing open-heart surgery.

“I thought the first rule of thumb was to stick it to the man?” Paige says with a laugh.

“What the hell are we going to do if the alarm goes off?” I whisper, glancing behind us nervously.

“The alarm isn’t going to go off because Ted told me they had it disabled for the next few days so detectives can come and go whenever they please,” Kennedy says, her eyes never leaving the door as she fiddles with the lock.

A few seconds later, I hear a loud click.

“Got it!” Kennedy cheers.

She pulls another tool out of her back pocket, this time a Swiss Army knife, and slices through the police tape stretched across the door. She stands up, pushes open the door, and we follow her into the dark house.

“I’ll replace that when we leave. Keep your flashlights low to the ground. We don’t want anyone driving by to see the light bouncing around through the windows,” Kennedy warns.

We all turn on our flashlights and aim them at the ground.

“You’re sure the guard at the front gate won’t tell anyone we were here?” I ask her nervously as we step into the foyer.

“Positive. I went to high school with the guy and a few months ago his ex-wife had me confront him about wearing her underwear and heels. I told him I would send out a mass e-mail to everyone he knows,” Kennedy tells us.

“Oh, my God, that was the guy who pranced around his kitchen in fishnets and stilettos?” Paige asks in shock as I close the door behind us.

Kennedy nods as she shines her flashlight from left to right. “That’s him. The ex came home early from work to see him doing the entire final dance sequence from Dirty Dancing.”

Paige and I stand behind Kennedy while she looks around and decides which direction to head.

“This place is really creepy. Someone died here,” Paige complains quietly as we inch slowly through the foyer and toward the library.

Even though it’s dark and Kennedy has her back to us, I can tell she’s rolling her eyes. “Oh, stop being such a baby. It’s not like his body is still in here.”

“You can’t tell me this doesn’t freak you out a little bit. You just stepped over the exact spot where his body was. That’s just gross,” Paige says with a shiver as we all walk around the bloodstain on the cream carpet.

Kennedy ignores her and makes her way over to the giant oak desk on the far side of the room. “I’ll start with this room. Lorelei, you check the rest of the first floor. This dude has a house the size of a small country. He could have ten offices in a house this large, but instead, he uses the library right on the ground floor. Obviously he’s weird. Paige, you can start going room to room upstairs and see if you can find any other file cabinets or some place where Richard would keep paperwork. He’s got to have a safe in this house—see if you guys can find that too.”

“Why the hell do I have to be the one to wander through the upstairs by myself?”

Paige stands by the doorway with her arms wrapped around herself.

“There is nothing to be afraid of. It’s just an empty house. Suck it up and get to work,” Kennedy tells her. “Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll come across the ex’s closet. She moved out a while ago, but I heard the officers talking the other day when we were here that she left some things behind.”

Even with just the faint beams of our flashlights I can see Paige’s eyes light up with excitement.

“If you need me, I’ll be upstairs.”

She turns and races out of the room and a few seconds later I hear her feet pounding up the stairs quickly.

For the next twenty minutes, I stroll from room to room downstairs, not finding anything of any interest. I make my way back to the library and see that Kennedy has pulled out all the files from the desk and is reading through them.

“I can’t believe Paige was creeped out coming in this house,” Kennedy says with a laugh when she sees me walk in. “She is the biggest puss—SON OF A FUCKING BITCH, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?”

The uncharacteristic girly scream from Kennedy has me racing over to her. I watch as she jumps up on the chair behind the desk, whipping her hand with the flashlight back and forth under the desk.

“Something touched my leg! SOMETHING TOUCHED MY FUCKING LEG!” she screams.

Aiming my flashlight under the desk, I walk slowly around it until I’m right next to Kennedy’s chair.

“I don’t see anything. Are you sure you didn’t just bump up against the desk?” I ask as I crouch down to get a better look.

“I didn’t bump against the Goddamn desk! Something reached out and smacked my ankle,” she argues angrily.

I try to hide my amusement at how upset Kennedy is right now.

“What were you saying to Paige a few seconds ago?” I ask as I continue my way around the massive desk. “Stop being such a baby?”

I can’t contain a snort of laughter.

“Don’t make me come down off of this chair and kick your ass, Lorelei.”

I laugh again and shake my head at her. “There’s nothing here. I think you just—OH, MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT?!”

Something that sounds like a cross between a rattlesnake and a dying person keens from under the desk. I scramble away from it, tripping over my feet and landing on my butt. My flashlight falls from my hand and rolls across the floor, the beam flashing around the room like a strobe light.