Fangs for Nothing(32)
Josie Lynn’s stomach dropped and all thoughts of impending gator death vanished. Slowly she looked back to Drake. He’d seen her take the money. Great, he thought she was involved. Hell, she thought she might be involved, too, but purely by accident.
“They were a group of transvestites who said they were friends of the bride.”
“All dressed like Cher, right?”
Josie Lynn nodded, and he looked almost relieved, but that expression quickly faded as his dark eyes narrowed with suspicion.
“You didn’t think it was weird a group of trannies wanted to come in through the back door?”
“Yes I did, but they said they wanted to surprise the bride, and given what the rest of the wedding guests looked like”—she gestured to the shirt she now wore, his shirt—“I didn’t think it was terribly weird that transvestites all dressed like Cher would be her friends.”
He didn’t argue that, but he did bring up the very thing that had troubled her for the moment it happened.
“So why did they give you money?”
She had wondered that, too. Would they have done that if they were just friends? There was something rather desperate about that action. And she’d been rather desperate to take the money.
“They just offered it to me as—a way of thanks, I guess.”
“Or as a payoff.”
“No,” she said shaking her head, even though she wasn’t sure that wasn’t what it was.
“And we’ve already figured out the one thing we have in common is the punch. And who made the punch?” He gave her a pointed look.
Josie Lynn gaped at him. Now that she knew she’d had no part in. “I did not tamper with the punch.”
“Well, you’re going to say that, aren’t you?”
“But I didn’t. That punch was right out in the open on the buffet table. Anyone could have laced it. Besides I drank some, too. Why would I drug myself?”
“It’s a pretty good alibi,” he said, eyeing her even more distrustfully. “If you are drugged-out and with us, then your band of Chers can do the dirty work and split the money with you at a later date.”
“That isn’t what’s going on. My stuff is missing, too. Including the money they gave me for letting them in.” She frantically gestured to the fact that all she wore was his shirt. She had nothing, just like everyone else. Except—
“That Frenchwoman with your friend. Who is she? And why is she the only one who has a purse? Or a cell phone? Maybe she’s somehow involved.”
He seemed to consider her suggestion, then shrugged as if he didn’t really care and he’d already made up his mind that Josie Lynn was the culprit.
“The way I see it, there is only one solid lead, and that’s to find the Chers and find out what they did with all the stuff you guys stole.”
“I didn’t steal anything,” she insisted more frantically. He had to believe her. His accusation was a whole lot worse than just losing her catering company. If he told his friends about her taking the money and his theory that she was involved, who were they going to believe? Even she could admit that she looked like a likely suspect.
“I want to help you find them,” she said, knowing she had to locate these guys—gals—to clear her own name.
“Oh, I have no intention of letting you out of my sight,” he informed her. “A woman who is willing to drug herself, even sleep with one of her victims—”
“One of my victims!” she exclaimed. He could not be serious. “You are not one of my victims. If anything, I was your victim. You forced yourself on me at the reception. You grabbed me and kissed me.”
“I seem to recall you grabbing me and kissing me, too,” he pointed out.
“One of my many stupid mistakes last night,” she muttered.
“Like getting involved with underworld Chers, who got you to do their dirty work, then left you out to dry?”
She clenched her teeth and groaned. There was no point defending herself to his man. He’d clearly already made up his mind about her, and the only way to defend herself was to find the Chers and find out the truth.
Which meant staying with this jerk. Great. And she likely did have sex with him last night. This was just great.
Behind them she heard the door open. She turned, expecting to see the handcuffed couple darting back into the room, but instead two women sauntered in looking so calm that Josie Lynn wondered if the alligator had somehow gotten out of the hallway and was now lying in wait somewhere else.
One of the women was tall and svelte with red hair and pale skin, while the other was petite and almost waifish with blond hair and a wide smile. They were both stunning and utterly unfazed by the scene before them.