Fade-out: Take 2 of the Kanyon and Daylen Series, page 10
Kanyon closed the gap between them, liking how Daylen’s body had responded to her touch.
Daylen tried to prepare herself as Kanyon moved toward her, a hungry look in her eyes. Daylen’s breath caught when Kanyon picked her up and sat her on her desk.
“We have two issues here. One,” Kanyon held up one finger. “I think you have an oral fixation issue.”
“What!” That was so not what she had been steeling herself for, Daylen thought. “I don’t have an oral fixation issue!” Daylen protested a little too loudly.
Kanyon moved closer, making Daylen part her legs to make room as she leaned forward, placing her hands on both sides of Daylen’s hips, leaving only a breath of air between their lips. “You sure?” Kanyon purred teasingly.
Daylen watched the side of Kanyon’s mouth curl seductively. “I…” Daylen bit her lip. “I…” she swallowed hard. “No.” At Kanyon’s amused grin she corrected quickly, “I mean yes. Yes, I’m sure I don’t have an issue.”
“I beg to differ. Yesterday you were staring at my lips, now today…”
“I don’t at all,” Daylen said, then of course recognized that she was staring at Kanyon’s mouth. “Whatever.” Daylen shot defiant eyes up to Kanyon’s. “I’m not… I can’t help…” She diverted her eyes again. “They’re just all right there and everything.”
Kanyon smiled slowly. “I could put them somewhere else, somewhere they aren’t so in the way?”
Daylen swallowed hard, desperately wanting to know exactly where that would be. She could think of a hundred places they would not be in the way.
Kanyon moved to whisper in her ear. “Just say the word and I’ll-”
The door banged open as Theo burst into the room, still typing one-fingered on the laptop he cradled in front of him. “Guys!”
Kanyon kept her eyes locked on Daylen’s. “Not exactly the word I was waiting for.”
Daylen recovered enough to reply, “It was your idea to hire him.”
“If I wasn’t planning on bribing him to do all my homework, I would so kill him right now,” Kanyon confessed, as she turned slightly to sit hip to hip next to Daylen. “What did you find, Theo?”
“Miranda is the great, great-niece of Doris.” Theo finally looked up from his computer.
“We knew that much,” Kanyon said flatly.
“Right, and you probably knew that Doris was never married. But did you know she was very much in love with someone or should I say obsessed with someone?”
“Who?” Daylen inquired, because she was curious and she needed to think about something more than Kanyon’s words in her ear, her mouth inches away from her own, and all the places she could have put those lips. “Who?” she asked again on a choked cough.
“Okay, hold your horses.” Theo looked up at them again. “Hey, speaking of horses… Did I mention I have been reading up on horses and equestrian stuff? I even YouTube-ed a bunch of videos. I think I would do much better riding this time. You know, if you want to go again.”
Kanyon stopped him. “Info now, we’ll talk horses later.”
“Right. Okay, it’s probably just easier to show you.” He walked over to the big flat screen Kanyon installed on the wall; hit a few buttons on his laptop, then a photo flashed on the screen. “Claude E. Millhouse, he was a farmer.”
“A farmer? Everything we have researched suggests Doris had very wealthy, powerful and famous men falling at her feet.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. But that’s not the good part. Claude was married to Doris’ sister. What I could gather so far is, Claude committed suicide. He actually threw himself off Doris’ rooftop on April…”
“April 19th, 1922,” Kanyon answered for him. Both Daylen and Theo looked from the photo on the screen to her. “Doris has a picture of them together on her desk and there was also a desk calendar. The entries stopped on, drum roll… April 19th.”
“And when did Doris die again?” Daylen asked Theo.
He clicked a few buttons. “Three months later. She died in her sleep, no known cause. It could have been anything though, medical diagnoses weren’t that sophisticated back then, obviously,” he said. “By the way have I said how cool this is, working with you guys?”
“Not in the last hour.” Daylen smiled at him then said to Kanyon, “So you go and see if we can get the diary and-”
“And ask Miranda about the family love triangle?” Kanyon finished.
“Exactly,” Daylen confirmed.
“And you’re sure you don’t…” Kanyon started.
Daylen laid a hand on Kanyon’s leg, squeezed, then released her. “I trust you can handle it.”
Kanyon stood. “Okay, but when we get back we’re still going to need to deal with that other issue…”
“What issue? I can handle it,” Theo asked eagerly.
“No, you can’t!” they both shouted over each other.
Theo slinked back. “Okay, geezzz. I was just trying to help.”
“And we appreciate it,” Daylen said. “There is no real issue. Kanyon is just being… Kanyon.”
“Oh.” He gave a confused look. “Okay, then I’ll head back to my office now and-”
“Get your coat so we can go talk to Mr. Steele,” Daylen inserted.
Theo spun on his heels in a poor impression of a Michael Jackson move, then went up on his toes. “EEE-EeeHhhee! You are the best!” he said to Daylen, then shot a look at Kanyon. “I mean you are… the best too.”
Kanyon chuckled. “Go get your coat, Michael.”
“I’ll come and get you in a minute,” Daylen yelled after him as he high-fived the door frame on his way out.
“Okay, so we’ll meet back here in a couple hours?” Kanyon asked grabbing her coat.
“Sounds good.” Then remembering Kanyon’s earlier comment, “Kanyon?”
Kanyon looked back at Daylen. “Yeah?”
“What was the other thing? Number two?”
Kanyon quirked a smile. “The unsettling fact that I kind of like you being jealous.”
“I’m not…” Daylen let out an exaggerated huff as she picked up a pen and threw it at the door. “Just go away.”
“Hey! Ruby said running in the halls isn’t covered on workers’ comp so I’m guessing ink poisoning isn’t either.”
“Go!” Daylen pointed a finger at the door then swiped it toward the back of the house.
Kanyon smirked. “Fine. Bye.”
“Hey,” Daylen yelled as Kanyon swung out into the hall.
Kanyon popped her head back in the doorway. “Issue number three, separation anxiety?”
“I just wanted to say be careful and try to stay out of trouble.” Daylen said, adding a smile.
“Damn and I was going to run up and down the halls with scissors, get a tattoo from a back alley tattoo guy named Tiny with dirty fingernails, and then finish up my little outing with shots of illegally imported tequila out of a dirty hooker’s navel,” Kanyon quipped.
Daylen gave Kanyon her ‘really?’ look.
“I’m just going there and back. That has an extremely low possibility for problems,” Kanyon replied.
“You are going so that does increase the probability for problems.”
“True… just remember I suggested supervision.” Kanyon wiggled her eyebrows. “You try to keep that oral fixation issue to a minimum until I get back.”
“I don’t have an oral fixation,” Daylen protested while using all of her power and strength to not let her eyes drop to Kanyon’s lips.
“Keep telling yourself that.” Kanyon winked. “Until I get back.” Kanyon pointed at her as she backed out of the room.
Daylen took a few minutes to replay Kanyon standing in front of her, their lips only a moment apart from... “Ugh,” Daylen groaned, as she dropped her head to her desk, hoping the impact would clear the thoughts. It worked, ish, as they were simply replaced with thoughts of Kanyon’s slow to rise smile and the gentle way her breath teased her ear. Kanyon was too alluring, too attractive, and too desirable. “And I just sent her into the lion’s den and said here kitty, kitty.” Stupid. She stood, needing to move. Kanyon would be fine; she would get the diary, ask a few questions, plus they agreed to meet back here in a few hours. What could happen in a few hours? She grabbed her coat as flashes of what she could do to Kanyon if she allowed herself a few hours, played in her mind. Stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it. She was still repeating her mantra as she exited her office and went down to Theo’s.
“Theo, I need you to do a full background search on Miranda Chase. I want everything on her you can find. I want you to go all the way back to high school, middle school, heck, elementary school. I want yearbook photos. I want you to find out that she was in chess club, played the flute, and please tell me she had a horrible acne problem.”
“Okay, but I don’t really see how knowing if she had an acne problem helps with-”
“It helps. Trust me. It will help a lot.”
Chapter 6
Kanyon took the winding road up to the museum too fast, but she needed to release the pinned up emotions in some way, as her growing need and attraction to Daylen had her wound tight. She thought after the Blood Ring and her I-didn’t-bleed-to-death love confession things would have changed in her and Daylen’s relationship. But there, as Ruby had confirmed, seemed to be a wall around Daylen that she couldn’t infiltrate, at least not entirely. She had never had a problem getting anyone to sway to her affections before, but Daylen, she was different. Daylen called her out on her crap and she could and would stand toe to toe with her, not backing down just because she is Kanyon McKane. The only other people in her life who had ever treated her that way were her mother, Roz, and Dodge. She could now add Ruby to that mix, she guessed. This just so happened to be the exact same, sadly, short list of people in the world that she trusted and let into her life. There was also Theo. He swayed to her will, but she trusted the little runt. Trusted him to have the worst timing ever!
Kanyon replayed the moments just before Theo had barged in. She had relied on her acting skills to get her to and through, well, almost through, the moment. What she was feeling for Daylen was one hundred and ten percent real, no acting there, but she needed a little bit of fake courage, a little bit of fake confidence, even though Ruby had made things easier by telling her that she should go after Daylen. She assumed that Ruby, being the Queen Guru of the Voodoo Seeker Sight, maybe knew something that she didn’t; that Daylen would actually be, could actually be interested in her. Kanyon still couldn’t fully believe it was possible, but with Ruby backing her along with the reaction she received from Daylen the few times they’ve been close, maybe, just maybe, there was a chance.
Kanyon squirmed in her seat. I need to stop thinking about Daylen,” she told herself, trying to switch gears to the case she should be working. She started playing out the different scenarios. Nothing really caught hold because her mind kept drifting back to Daylen sitting on her desk, Daylen’s breath quickening, Daylen’s heartbeat in her throat, beating hard under her touch… “Okay, seriously I need to stop. Princess Kate I need you to talk to me.”
“My pleasure, Kanyon,” the dashboard purred back to her. “Anything in particular you would like to talk about?”
Getting my hands on Daylen. “Not really, ahh, why don’t you talk to me about the Queen?” That should cool my thoughts down a bit.
“Very good. Queen Elizabeth II is, and has been since her accession in 1952, Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and Head of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth was born in London as the elder daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York…” Princess Kate continued to raddle off Wiki information on the Queen until Kanyon pulled up to the Hoyt Museum.
“We’re here. Thank you Princess. I’ll be back shortly. Wish me luck.” She heard Kate wish her just that as she slid out of the car and shut the door.
“Damn.” Kanyon looked at the sprawling estate again. The house was huge, which was saying something since she had been to Lucas’, Aniston’s, Leno’s but there was something about this one that made it stand out. She examined the roofline, wondering exactly where Claude had taken his little leap as she made her way to the front door. It was locked this time so she rang the doorbell.
A few long minutes later, Bea answered. “I’m sorry we don’t open ‘til… Oh, it’s you again.”
Kanyon cocked her head, there was something different about Bea. She took in her clothes, simple off the rack, nothing remarkable. Her hair was still dull brown, wrapped up into a tight bun on her head, not that… her eyes. She had actually met her eyes this time. Kanyon found it ironic that Bea’s eyes were a pale brown, almost beige to match the rest of her. “Hello, Bea,” Kanyon said.
Bea immediately lowered her gaze.
And so much for that. “Is Miranda around?”
Bea nodded, motioned her in, and then closed the door behind her, locking it.
“You guys open today?”
“Yes, but not until noon,” Bea answered, as she led Kanyon back up to the set of offices.
“Glad things are able to get somewhat back to normal. We’re tracking down some good leads so hopefully you’ll get your items back soon and-”
Bea stopped at the landing and gave Kanyon another quick flash of her pale eyes. “You have leads?”
Kanyon stopped on the stair below Bea. “Yeah, a few.”
“Good, that’s good. It’s long over-due that things are in their rightful place,” Bea muttered then continued up the stairs.
Kanyon figured Bea was one of those OCD types that aren’t happy when things are out of their rightful and well-organized places. Glad Bea didn’t live in her house or the girl would need a fifth of whiskey and a monthly anxiety prescription.
They walked silently the rest of the way until they reached the closed office door. “You can wait out here and I’ll get her for you.”
“Okey dokey,” Kanyon chimed. As soon as Bea entered the office and closed the door behind her, Kanyon smirked. “Sucker.” Kanyon moved quickly down the hall and into Doris’ office. She stepped over the velvet ropes to take another perusal around Doris’ desk and its contents. She noted the datebook again, now knowing why the entries abruptly stopped on April 19th. She picked up the photo of Doris and Claude. “What made you jump, Claude?” she asked out loud as she took in his tall, thin frame and his shy, quiet smile. Focusing on Doris she noticed the pure want, desire, and admiration coming from her eyes as she looked up at him. “What was so special about you?” Kanyon asked Claude’s image. He was a handsome enough guy and looked nice. Her gaze rolled over his smile again, then she noticed for the first time that he wasn’t exactly looking at the camera, but off to the side of it, making her wonder if that smile had actually been for someone else and not just the camera. There was something else that drew her to the photo, something that tickled at her mind but she didn’t have time to assess it as she heard high heels coming quickly toward her from down the hall.
The heels slowed dramatically a few steps before the door and Kanyon set down the photo to see Miranda breeze coolly into the room, as if she just hadn’t sprinted down the hall to get to her.
“Good morning, Miranda.”
“Good morning, Kanyon,” Miranda purred back. “I wasn’t expecting to have the pleasure of seeing you again so soon.” Miranda’s eyes swept the room, undoubtedly looking for Daylen and by the smile on her face, she was extremely happy she hadn’t located her.
“I just have a few follow up questions for you. Is this a good time?”
“Why of course. I’m available to you anytime,” Miranda offered fingering the necklace draped seductively between her breasts.
“During our investigation we discovered in the photos taken of your great, great-aunt, she often had a notebook, a brown leather one. We were curious if that was a diary or journal of some sort?”
Miranda made her way across the room to come to stand with Kanyon. “Yes, it was her diary of sorts.”
“Of sorts?”
“Not many people know this about my aunt but she was a little, ah, we will say,” she moved a few inches closer to whisper, “eccentric. We don’t have the diary on display because, well, it’s just a bunch of ramblings. Ramblings isn’t really the right word. It’s more like affirmations. I will have… I will get… stuff like that over and over again. My aunt, as you know, was very successful so I think the diary was simply her goals if you will.” Miranda looked at Kanyon for understanding.
“She was all Tony Robinson, before Tony Robinson was a thing?” Kanyon offered.
Miranda laughed. “Yes, exactly.”
“Is there anything else?”
“Yes, there is also more diary like entries in there as well. Things about our family. Affairs. Business dealings. But mostly the affirmations, all things that well… if they got out it might lead people to believe she was a bit… you know.” She swirled a finger clockwise at her temple in explanation.
“Understood. Do you have the diary? Can I see it?”
Miranda looked hesitant. “I don’t understand why you think it will help you with the case?”
Kanyon put on her best ‘give me what I want’ smile and chose her words strategically. “I just like to be thorough… in everything I do.”
“Right. It’s um… actually kept over in the desk. I’ll get it for you.”
Miranda went over to Doris’ desk, pulling out a key at the end of the necklace that was concealed in the low cut v of her dress. “We keep it locked.”
Miranda used the handle to lower herself, only to have the drawer move in her grasp. She shot a nervous glance over the desk to Kanyon.
Understanding what had just occurred; Kanyon came to stand behind Miranda, examining the drawer.
“It’s always kept locked. I don’t know how-” Miranda started.
