2

ALLIE WHITMAN COASTED HER SNOWBOARD TO THE END OF THE GUNBARREL run at the Heavenly resort in Tahoe. She rode the board until it came to a dead stop. She sighed and popped it off. The last run of the day was always a little bittersweet.

But by the time she was on the bus she had stopped missing the snow and started looking forward to the casino. She wasn’t much of a gambler, but the casino had a great nightclub and cheap drinks. Plus, Erik would be there waiting for her. She smiled and leaned back into her seat as the bus pulled out of the parking lot.

Twenty minutes later, she walked into her room and was greeted by the sight of Erik dressed for a night out—though that was more or less how he always dressed in the evening. After all, he was the lead singer in a band that was “on the edge of a big breakthrough” (and had been for five years) and needed to keep up appearances.

His handsome, angular face broke into his trademark brilliant smile. “Hey, babe, how were the slopes?” he asked as she stowed her gear in the closet.

“Sweet—best boarding of the season.” She eyed the outfits hanging in the closet. Erik had on black pinstripe pants with sharp creases, a white shirt, and a black silk vest, so she needed to be a little more dressed-up than she had anticipated. The best she had was a gold minidress. She held it up. “What do you think?”

“Perfect. I managed to get us a VIP booth at Vex, so you’ll want to wear something with a little flash and hot sauce.”

She paused for a heartbeat. A VIP booth at Vex was not going to be cheap. “Wow, are we celebrating something?”

His smile broadened. “Just that Alex called to say that he’s added more gigs to the tour. We’re going to be playing two more dates in Kansas. One is at Kansas State and another one’s at a town near there—Salinas or something like that.”

“Hey, that’s great! Let me get ready and then let’s grab something to eat and hit Vex.”

She showered, redid her hair and makeup, put on the dress, and evaluated the results. Not bad. She’d picked up a little color on the slopes, and it worked well with her shoulder-length blond hair and the shimmery gold fabric. She also liked the way her black cat tattoo peaked out over the neckline of the dress. Just the right look—what had Erik said? A little flash and hot sauce.

Something on the top of the toilet tank caught her eye. She walked over for a closer look. It was a glass pipe half-hidden by a towel. She picked it up and sniffed. The scent of fresh meth smoke assaulted her nose. She frowned and tapped the bowl of the pipe against her palm. Erik knew how she felt about meth, and he had promised not to get high while they were on vacation. She wanted to smash the pipe on the counter or walk out and throw it at him.

But she didn’t. What would it accomplish? Nothing, except to ruin what was looking like a great night out. Why focus on the negative? That only caused problems.

She put the pipe in the glass that held his toothbrush. Maybe he’d get—and take—the hint.

He was lying on one of the beds and watching TV when she came out of the bathroom. “Okay, let’s go,” she said, hearing a cold tone in her voice.

“Cool.” He got up and was walking toward the door when her cell phone started playing “Sympathy for the Devil.”

“Hey, it’s my lawyer,” she exclaimed as she grabbed the phone out of her purse. Sure enough, Connor’s slender face smiled back at her from the cell phone screen. She liked this picture of him: he had the same intelligent, confident expression that had made her trust him almost immediately at their first meeting. It was something about his brown eyes and the way he always seemed to know exactly what he was supposed to do or say. “I was wondering when he’d call.”

Erik frowned. “Just let it go into voicemail. I’m starved.”

She ignored him and answered the phone. “Hi, Connor. So, how did it go? Did we have a good day?”

“A very good day. I tried calling you earlier, but you must have still been up at Heavenly. What did you think of Killebrew Canyon?”

“Loved it—perfect snow and it scared me half to death, just like you promised.” She imagined being on those slopes with him, but then pushed the thought away. It could never happen, so why think about it?

“I’m glad to hear it. And glad you made it back off the mountain. When I couldn’t reach you earlier, I was a little worried that you might have done some involuntary tree hugging at sixty miles an hour.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I did come close to splattering myself a couple of times, but that’s all part of the fun.” Erik caught her eye. He pointed at his watch and glared. She realized she was getting too friendly and pulled back to safer ground. “But give me the skinny on what happened. Is DOJ going to intervene?”

Connor paused before going on in a slightly cooler tone. “They haven’t made a decision yet. All that happened today was that Max Volusca and I interviewed the CEO of Hamilton Construction. He had some credibility issues that both Max and I noticed, and that seemed to irritate Max. The CEO also didn’t have an immediate explanation for the discrepancy between the invoices you found and the ones they sent to the state. Also, by the end of the interview Max and I both thought that there might be more to this case than the Oakland DMV building contract. It’s still early in the investigation, but overall today was certainly positive.”

“Connor, is that all hypercautious lawyer-speak for ‘yeah, they’re probably going to intervene and it looks like there’s serious money here, but I don’t want to get your hopes up?’ ”

He gave a low chuckle. “Something like that.”

“Excellent! Hey, I’ve got to go, but thanks for the call.”

“Hot date with your pet rock star?”

She laughed, but felt a twinge deep inside. “Something like that. Talk to you.”

She hung up, turned to Erik and kissed him hard, trying to convince herself that she really did want to be with him tonight. “Okay, now I’m ready to celebrate!”