Amy Atwell - Lying Eyes

Immediately, the door was kicked open, nearly striking her in the face.

Too late, she recalled it was Sunday.

Justin waited in the backstage area at the MGM Grand. Despite his normally grounded perspective, he experienced a twinge of awe at the scope of the surroundings. The airspace soaring above the stage was filled with black drapes and dark lighting instruments. The exotic dance show they staged here was all about lights, music and bare female bodies.

He was relieved the female bodies hadn’t been invited to the technical rehearsal.

The problem was no one seemed to have been invited to the technical rehearsal. No one except Allie Fortune. And him.

A motion in the heavy draperies had him reaching for his weapon before he saw Allie slide from the darkness. Her black attire made it that much harder to track her in the darkened theater. The last thing he needed was to shoot an innocent civilian. Once was quite enough for his career.

He relaxed into a neutral posture as she approached. Her black running shoes squeaked across the wooden floor of the stage, disrupting the somber silence. A single light bulb on a short pole cast a puddle of light but made no impact on the shadows.

Frankly, the whole place gave him the creeps.

“Didn’t you say something about a rehearsal?”

She stopped before him, the light behind her casting a halo around her hair and silhouetting her lithe body. Justin swallowed and dragged his mind firmly back to business.

“I did,” she said. “But I lied.”

“You lied?”

Her features were difficult to read in this lighting, but she nodded.

“Why?” he asked.

Her gaze lifted to meet his. Dilated by the darkness, her pupils made her normally golden eyes look black. “Can I trust you?”

Justin hated that question. It was the most loaded question in history. Immediate responses triggered in his mind. Why? Are you guilty of something? What is it you need? They were all qualifiers, because no one could be openly trusted in all situations.

She watched him with those wide eyes.

He wondered again if she needed rescuing. A woman like Allie didn’t deserve crappy things happening in her life. He’d like to help her.

“Can I?” she gently prodded.

“Yes.” So much for qualifiers.

Her sudden warm smile paired with the halo around her golden hair made him think of angels and all the good things in the world. “I thought so. I knew you were on Daddy’s side.”

“But I need to uphold the law-”

“You said you didn’t think Daddy had done anything wrong. You needed him for questioning. And I want to find him. I’m worried that he’s in real trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” As casually as possible, he took her arm and turned her so half her face was lit by that one glowing light.

She hung her head, eyes downcast. “I don’t know. Daddy always told me about his projects, his plans, his crazy schemes, but in the past couple months he’s been unnaturally silent. Kept telling me to move on with my school, my career.”

“Do you think he told your sisters anything?”

That made her lift her head. “Maybe. Did you know Cory and I went to Iris’s last night?”

“Yes.” He knew because Mickey had told him while they were at the morgue. Probably best not to let her know that little tidbit.

“Thanks for telling the truth.” She turned her head to scan the expansive theater as if danger lurked in the shadows.

His senses alert, Justin started when an air conditioner kicked on. Exhaling, he said, “Allie, tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t want you to think I’m narking on them. I mean, this is bigger than telling tales out of school, right? Daddy could be in real danger.”

He nodded.

“Then I need to do everything I can to help him. And I think you stand a better chance of finding him then they do.”

“They who?”

“My sisters.”

Iris jumped back, barely avoiding the door as it slammed against the wall. A man roughly twice her size barreled in and grabbed her arm. She tried to scream, but he muffled her mouth, nose, and most of her eyes with his other hand.

A shadow entered behind him. “Gently, Pebbles. We may need answers from her.” A wiry guy stuck his ferret face into hers. “You Iris Fortune?”

She nodded, too scared to breathe.

“No screaming. We just have a couple questions for you.” He nodded to the big Pebbles guy, who removed his hand from her mouth.

“What do you want?” Iris whispered.

“We’re friends of Mickey’s,” Ferret Face said.

She wasn’t sure which troubled her more-the idea that he was lying, or the thought that he might be telling the truth. What if Mickey had sent them here to take care of her?

Pebbles gave a rumbling chuckle. “Hey, look, Jock, there’s the bunny.”

Edgar hopped from beneath the table right to Pebble’s size-eighteen Nikes. The big guy hunkered down to pet him.

“So Mickey brought you the bunny. Well, Miss Fortune, does that mean you already gave him the stones?”

Iris’s gaze swiveled from the rabbit to Pebbles to Jock. Would it be that easy to get rid of these guys? “Yes. You just missed him. Mickey left here about ten minutes ago with the, um, gems.” In case these two didn’t know about the alexandrite, she didn’t want to name what type of stone Mickey had.

“Smart girl. This will make things much easier.” Jock took her arm, none too gently. “Let’s get your things.”

Iris struggled. For his size, he had a heck of a grip. “I answered your questions.”

“Yes, you did. And if you keep cooperating, everything will be fine. If you don’t, someone’s gonna get hurt.”

Determined to escape, she balled her free hand into a fist, but her captor caught her wrist before she could strike him.

“Someone, meaning you.” His gold tooth flashed in what passed for a smile. “We’re going to take a little trip, Miss Fortune. Hey, I like that-Miss Fortune-sorta says it all.”

“Can we take the bunny this time?” Pebbles asked. He’d already picked the rabbit up and was cradling him like a baby in his arms. At the moment, the giant looked far less dangerous.

“He’ll be too much trouble.”

Watching Edgar, Iris swore he looked right at her, as if to remind her not to leave him behind. If nothing else, she wanted to keep a sharp eye on that collar. She sure didn’t need Edgar winding up in an animal shelter wearing ten million around his neck.

“There’s a box here for him,” she said. “If we leave him here, my assistant will know right away that something’s happened to me.”

Jock’s eyes narrowed on her as he considered her words. “Right. Get your purse and your keys. We’ll go out the service door.” He followed as she gathered her things with shaky fingers. “Pebbles, put the bunny in that box. I don’t want anyone seeing him. He’ll draw too much attention to us.”

Thank heavens. She didn’t need that collar changing colors in the bright sunlight outside.

She thought about making an escape attempt but knew she didn’t stand a chance against these two. Jock had a gun stuffed in the waistband of his slacks-something she’d learned to look for after being around Mickey for less than forty-eight hours.

“What are you going to do with me?” she asked as they stepped into the hallway. Maybe she could make a run for it in the parking lot.

“No worries,” Jock said. “You’ll be our guest until Mickey delivers the goods. Then we’ll arrange a little reunion for you and our friend Mickey boy.”

His snide laugh lit a fuse to sheer panic. Would anyone notice if she disappeared? Would it matter to them? She hadn’t made herself vital to Cosmo, and she’d held her new sisters at arms’ length. She’d given Mickey what he wanted. Even David would probably be better off without her. She was completely unimportant.