Gemma Halliday - Undercover In High Heels

Never mind the fact that just yesterday I’d been waking up in a different guy’s bed. A guy who was supposed to be my boyfriend. Oh God, had I cheated on my boyfriend? Was a kiss cheating? Was I a cheater? What would Ramirez say? I had a vision of him punching that clown.

And groaned again.

It had been the gunshots. The peril. The long day. The endless fights with Ramirez. Mercury in retrograde! That was all, right? I mean, it wasn’t as if I wanted to kiss Felix. Besides, it was just a kiss. And an accidental one at that! He turned his head. I hadn’t even meant to kiss him. I hadn’t even enjoyed it!

Much.

I popped out of bed, still in the spandex monster, and grabbed my pumps in one hand, purse in the other. I made a feeble attempt at smoothing my bed-head as I gingerly stuck my head out the door, peeking into the hallway. No sign of life. Good.

I slowly padded barefoot down the stairs, hoping to slip out before Felix woke.

No such luck. As I rounded the corner I spied him in the kitchen, in much the same place I’d left him last night.

He was standing at the counter, this morning’s copy of the Informer spread out in front of him. Khaki Dockers hugged his frame, and, despite the fact that I’d almost convinced myself The Kiss hadn’t happened, I felt myself blush as my gaze strayed to his Magnum territory.

I cleared my throat.

Felix glanced up briefly. “Morning. Coffee’s in the machine. Cups in the cupboard above.” Then he returned to his paper.

I set my purse and pumps on a stool. “Thanks. Uh, about last night…”

Felix looked up and gave me a blank look. “Yes?”

“Um, I mean, I just wanted you to know that…I mean, accidents happen and…you know, Mercury in retrograde makes people do strange things and…well, it’s not like I…”

I searched his blue eyes, but nothing stared back at me. No trace of emotion or the awkwardness that had me verbally tap dancing all over his hardwood floor.

“Did you have something to say, Maddie?”

I bit my lip again. “No.”

“Hmm.” He grabbed his coffee cup and took a long sip. “You know, you’ve got a serious case of bed-head.”

See? Scum.

I stuck my tongue out at his back as I poured myself a cup of coffee from the stainless machine in the corner. I was just taking my first heavenly sip when my cell rang from my purse.

I crossed the kitchen to flip it open just before voice mail picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Maddie, ” came Dana’s voice. “I got your messages last night. You okay?” I heard her stifle a yawn as she asked.

“Yeah. Fine. Sorta.” I sat down and filled her in on the previous day’s events as I sipped my way through my steaming cup. “By the way, ” I asked as I finished, “where were you last night? Your roommate said you were out all day.”

Dana stifled another yawn. “Oh, you know, just kinda busy.” I heard her stretching.

“SA?”

There was a pause. “Um…yeah. Sure. SA. So, where did you end up spending the night?”

“Uh…” I looked across the kitchen. “My mom’s.” I cringed. Dana was my best friend. The last time I’d actually lied to her had been when I’d seen her tenth-grade boyfriend, Eddie Van Houton, kissing a cheerleader beneath the bleachers after fifth period. As much as I’d known the truth would hurt worse, I’d hated lying to her then. So I had no idea what made me do it now.

“Yep, me and Mom, all night long.”

Felix looked up and gave me the raised-eyebrow thing. I blushed, ducking my head down.

“Oh. Okay, ” Dana replied. “Oh, hey, listen. The reason I was calling is I just got some totally good news from my agent this morning.”

“Oh yeah?” I said, only too glad to change the subject. “Do tell.”

“Okay, drumroll please. Ta-daaaaa, ” she said, drawing out the suspense. “Guess who is the one and only Mia Carletto’s new stand-in on Magnolia Lane ?”

I froze. “No.”

“Yes! Can you believe it? How lucky am I?”

“Lucky? You do realize that the last person to hold this job is dead, right?”

Dana waved me off with a pft sound between her teeth. “Oh, come on, Maddie, what are the chances of that happening twice?”

I refrained from pointing out that it already had-with Dusty.

“I’m going to be a permanent member of the cast of Magnolia Lane . Like, how totally cool is that?”

Considering that the last person to fill this role had wound up strangled with a pair of support hose, cool wasn’t exactly the word I’d choose.

“Dana, please don’t do it.”

“What? Why not?”

I bit my lip. “What about the letter Mia got yesterday? This guy isn’t giving up. And if Mia really is the target, and he tries again…well, I just don’t want you in the way.”

“Don’t worry, Maddie, there’s, like, tons of security there now.”

Right. Which hadn’t helped Dusty at all. “Dana, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“The AD said I might even be able to speak a line now and then. A line, Maddie! You know how much SAG base pay for one line on Magnolia Lane is?”

“Dana, I know this might be a good career move, but-”

“Good? It’s the best thing that’s happened to me since I got that walk-on part in the Brad Pitt movie. I’ll be a permanent member of the cast, Maddie. This is huge!”

So was the feeling of dread slowly building up in the pit of my stomach. “Dana, please-”

“Holy crap! Is it really seven o’clock? Wow, I’ve got to go.” She stifled another yawn. “Gotta be on set by eight. They can’t start blocking scenes without a stand-in. Wish me luck, Mads!”

“Dana, wait!” I called into the receiver. But she was already gone.

I stared at my cell, my heart racing, my stomach churning. Probably Dana would be fine. Probably I was overreacting. Probably the police presence on set was huge, and whoever the killer was, he wouldn’t be able to get within ten feet of Dana.

Probably.

“So, I’m your mother now?” Felix asked, folding his paper.

“What? Oh, sorry. I had to tell her something.”

“And you didn’t want to tell her you came begging at my doorstep in the dead of night?”

“I wasn’t begging.” Much. “And ten o’clock is hardly the dead of night.”

Felix shrugged. “Hey, that’s okay. If you want to keep our torrid affair a secret from your friends, be my guest.”

I opened my mouth to protest (it was an accident!), when I saw the teasing twinkle in Felix’s blue eyes.

“Jerk.”

“Sticks and stones, love. Sticks and stones.”

Felix downed the rest of his coffee. “I’ve got to go check in with my editor. There are clean towels in the guest bath, ” he called over his shoulder as he sauntered out of the room.

I swirled the dregs of coffee in my cup, that ball of dread still sitting like a lead weight in my stomach. By taking the stand-in job, my best friend had just effectively labeled herself killer bait. If someone was really intent on going after Mia, that meant anyone close to her was in harm’s way. It wasn’t like this guy was picky; he’d already gotten rid of two innocent victims. I paused. Well, okay, maybe if Veronika had been blackmailing someone, she wasn’t entirely innocent, but I was pretty sure she didn’t deserve death by control tops.

Any way you looked at it, Dana was throwing herself right into the thick of it.

Alone.

I set my cup down on the counter. Right next to Felix’s keys and wallet. The wallet was leather and looked expensive. The keys were attached to a ring that had a ninety-nine-cent plastic fish dangling from it. Total Felix.

I reached out and slid one finger down the soft leather siding of the wallet. Hmm …I wondered…