Melody: A Novel Part 16

"Detective Morris, I'm looking at him now and I looked at him last night. I've seen Detective Kemp many times before." She looked at him. "You were here and you sat right there. But you were gone probably by ten. Didn't you see who Cheyenne spoke to at the bar?"

Steven lowered his head.

"Uh, thanks for everything, Juney. If you can help us out, give us a call." Brianna pa.s.sed her a card. Juney went on her way. "Steven, what in the h.e.l.l is going on here?"

"Bree, I have no f.u.c.kin' idea! I wasn't here last night!"

"Well, she must have you mixed up with someone else."

"d.a.m.n straight." He shook his head. "I don't know what that's about but I don't have time to wonder. I'd like to question Cheyenne Wilson since I didn't get a chance to with you this morning."

"Okay, but I don't think we should tonight. She's been through enough. Let's let this all ride and we can head over there in the morning."

"Good, because I got some questions of my own I'd like to ask." Steven led the way out the bar.

"Say what? Melody, this is insane." Mario stood outside Keith's office the next morning. Melody would get rid of Keith if her life depended on it. For five minutes Mario had been protesting her plans to search Keith's office. She knew he'd go along with it after minor convincing. Mario had become a friend already.

The fact that he couldn't stand Keith, either, made knowing him even more worthwhile. Melody felt she'd been lucky to find at least one other mortal immune to Keith's charm.

"Mel, are you trying to get fired the same month you were hired?" Mario held his waist. "I can't stand Keith any more than you can, but this is not a good idea."

"Why not?" She rocked back and forth.

"Because you could get fired and this is against regulations, Melody. You can't go into another employee's office like this. You might as well be breaking in!"

"Shh!" Melody smiled at a janitor pa.s.sing through the halls. "I'm doing this, Mario. I won't get caught, believe me. I have no choice. Please, just wait outside the door and let me know if Keith comes, okay?"

"Melody, I need my job, okay? This isn't just some hobby for me."

"Mario, I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize your job. But you just gotta trust me. Anyway, you know in your heart that Keith's a rat. Don't you want to help me find out what he's hiding, at least?"

"I said, I thought he was sneaky, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's hiding things, Melody."

"Just wait outside the door. If I take longer than two minutes you have my permission to report me." She smiled. He walled his eyes. "Don't forget to let me know if Keith's coming." She unlocked the office.

"Where did you get those keys?"

She shrugged. "I took them from the main office downstairs."

"Jesus! Melody, do you know what kind of s.h.i.+t you could get us into?"

"This is for my sister's well-being, Mario. I have to do this." She peeked inside the immaculate office. Keith had always been neat, yet the shape of his office surpa.s.sed volumes.

"Well, what the h.e.l.l do I do if Keith comes?"

She grinned. "Distract him. I'm sure you'll think of something."

She slunk inside the office. She got a chill. She felt like Keith was standing in the room with her. Talk about being frightened. The walls seemed to watch her. The floor seemed to make note of her every movement. As terrified as she felt, she didn't care. Nothing would stop her from finding out more about him.

She thought of that briefcase he carried around like law. She hoped to find it in the office. She had no such luck. She twisted back and forth as she looked at the black file cabinets. She tried to ignore the smell of his expensive cologne that hovered around his desk. She quickly searched his desk drawers. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

She found some files. She got on her knees to search his last drawer. She found four pictures of Sarah and a stick of gum.

"Wait a minute." She struggled from the floor. "There's gotta be something." If she couldn't find anything here, she'd search his house next. She'd stop at nothing. She glanced in the tiny mirror on Keith's desk. She barely recognized herself or what she'd been doing. Maybe Craig's theory had been correct. Was she obsessed? Honestly, she didn't give a d.a.m.n at this point.

She thought of those cop shows. Maybe this wasn't the right idea. Keith wasn't your average twenty-something-year-old. He'd been graced with superior intelligence. He had the talent to manipulate the smartest people. He'd done it to Dave Lawson. He'd even done it with other bigwigs of the company, from what Melody had heard. She would have to fight fire with fire.

She hadn't the slightest idea how to put out a rising flame like Keith Taylor. It wouldn't be easy. She thought of giving up. Maybe she should let Sarah handle this. She leaned against the desk. No matter how angry Sarah made her, Melody couldn't let her fall in love with such danger. Keith was dangerous. She didn't know how she knew it. She just did.

She searched the first few drawers of his file cabinet. She found a middle-sized black box stuffed behind a folder. She grabbed it. She'd overlooked the suede box. She grinned. This had to be a sign. If Keith went through so much trouble to hide this, it must have been important.

"Mel!" a woman yelled from behind. Melody nearly fell over. She threw the box on top of the file cabinet. She turned around to see Sarah glaring at her.

"Sarah!" Melody leaned over. "Jesus, you gave me a heart attack!"

"What in the h.e.l.l are you doing in here?" Sarah looked at the box. "Answer me, Melody. What's going on here?"

"Well, I work here, for one!" Melody struggled to catch her breath. "You scared the s.h.i.+t out of me, Sarah. What in the h.e.l.l are you doing here yourself?"

"Don't ask me questions with your hand caught in the cookie jar. What are you doing in Keith's office?" Sarah crossed her arms.

"I, uh..." Melody looked at the box. "Looking for Keith. Why else would I be in here?"

"And you thought he'd be in the file cabinet?" Sarah sat on his desk. Her piercing green eyes had the power to make anyone crumble. Melody hated getting caught but she didn't necessarily feel guilty. Keith had the problem here. Soon everyone would know it. "You told me to trust you. Isn't that what you said, Melody? But I come here and find you going through Keith's things?"

"I was not doing that, Sarah. I was..."

"Don't you dare lie to me. I saw you with my own eyes! Now I wanna know what in the h.e.l.l you're up to, and I want to know now!"

"Jesus, what the h.e.l.l happened to Mario?" Melody mumbled. "Okay, I was looking through his things, Sarah. But can you blame me? Even if you can I don't care. I'm doing this because I love you." Melody grabbed the box.

"Put that down," Sarah ordered. "Melody, do you even think before you do things?"

"I don't know. Do you even think before you start sleeping with a man and realize that you don't even know him?"

"Well, the way things are going these days, I feel like you're the one I don't know, Melody. I don't recognize you anymore. You're beginning to scare me."

She laughed. "I scare you? What the h.e.l.l does Keith do then?"

"Melody, I'm beginning to think you're obsessed."

"What are you doing here, anyway, Sarah?"

"Keith spent the night at our place." Melody walled her eyes. "After you stormed out, I was so upset. I didn't wanna be alone, so he stayed the night. He left his cell phone this morning and I was bringing it to him." Sarah sighed. "Mel, what did you expect to find by doing this?"

"Something," she whispered. "Something to make you believe that what I say is true."

"Melody, I'm asking you to please stop this."

"Are you going to stop seeing Keith?"

"No!" Sarah looked away.

"Then let me do what I got to do. You've protected me before so it's my turn."

"Melody, I don't need you to protect me! You're way off base here!"

"Sarah, why are you so against me finding out things about Keith if you're so sure about him?" Melody stared at her. "Unless...you have doubts about Keith yourself."

She turned away. "That's ridiculous."

Melody shook her head. "Doesn't seem that way to me. Maybe you want me to stay out of his life because you're afraid of what I might find."

"That's not true! I want you to stop this because it's my life and I love him!"

"You don't even know who he really is! How could you love him?" Melody yelled.

"I know what he is," Sarah whispered.

"If that's true, then what are you so afraid of?" Melody stood in front of her.

Keith whistled into the room. "Wow." He looked at the sisters. "Both of my beauties are here. You don't know how thrilling this is." He looked at Melody. "Melody, you look beautiful." He set his briefcase on the desk. "May I ask why you're in my office?"

Sarah slid from the desk. "Well, I came to return your cell phone, and I caught Melody in here snooping."

Melody shook her head. "I can't believe you'd call me out like this, Sarah."

"Well, it's the truth. If you can do something so sneaky you should own up to it." She took Keith's hand. "I apologize for this, Keith."

"Sarah, I don't need you to apologize for me. Yes, I was sneaking, Keith." He smirked. "I don't care what happens to me beyond this point. You can tell Mr. Lawson or whoever else, but I had just cause to do this."

He played with his car keys. "I'm not gonna tell anyone, Mel. I guess I understand why you did it."

"What?" She grimaced.

"I want to apologize for what I said to you last night, Melody. I was way out of line. I love Sarah too much to come between you two. I care about you, too, you know? I wouldn't want you to lose your job."

"See how he cares for you, Melody? How can you keep treating him like this?"

Keith held Sarah. "She doesn't trust me and maybe that's my fault. I should have been more open from the beginning. Melody, I really hold no hard feelings for you. I hope we can put this behind us."

She rocked. "Oh, you're good, Keith."

"Excuse me?" He blinked.

"You are good. I can see why people don't dispute what you say. You almost had me going up until that last part. You should quit while you're ahead, buddy."

"Melody, I wish I could make you see that I do want us to all get along."

Sarah glared at her sister. "Melody, why can't you at least make an effort?"

"Keith, I may not have found enough, but I did find this." Melody handed him the box. He looked at Sarah. "Seems to me such a fancy-looking box wouldn't be in the back of a file cabinet unless, say...you wanted it hidden?"

"Mel." Sarah grunted.

"Wow." Keith looked at the box. "Seems to me you're pretty good yourself, Melody." She nodded. "I was hiding this. I hate that you found it but I can't do anything about it, now, can I?"

"You can come clean. What's in the box, Keith?" She smirked.

"Well, uh...I was hiding this from Sarah."

"I know that!" Melody grinned. "Why, though? What's in it? A picture of your wife or something about your prison record?"

"Melody, shut up." Sarah stared at the box.

"Neither." He grinned. He handed the box to Sarah. "Go on and open it." She pulled out a diamond necklace. Melody nearly hit the floor. She didn't know exactly why. Could it have been because it was such a lovely gift? It also could have been because she looked like the biggest t.u.r.d on the planet at that moment.

"Oh, Keith." Sarah examined the astonis.h.i.+ng necklace.

"What the..." Melody sighed.

Keith nodded. "Sarah, I remembered how much you liked it when we pa.s.sed that jewelry store that time. You kept going on and on about it, but said you could never afford it. When I saw it, I knew it could never look as beautiful on anyone else as it would on you."

"Oh, Keith." She hugged him. They exchanged sloppy kisses. Melody turned from the disgusting display of affection. She felt absolutely beaten.

"You like it?" Keith smiled.

"Keith, this is the most beautiful gift I've ever seen!"

"Good." He pulled Sarah close. "Because you're the most beautiful gift I've ever had." They kissed.

"Oh." Sarah pulled away. "I'd better get to work myself." She looked at Melody.

Melody rolled her eyes. "I suppose you're at a loss for words, huh, Sarah?"

She twirled the necklace around. She put it back in the box. "Seems to me I should ask you that, Mel. I was p.i.s.sed at you, but you'd better be glad Keith's gift took my mind off that."

He smiled. "And there's more where that comes from." He kissed her. Sarah glanced at Melody, then left. Keith shut the door behind her. "What a woman. Well..." He walked toward Melody. "Bravo, Mel. I gotta give you an A for effort."

"Get out of my way."

He blocked her. "You not only have Sarah's beauty but her s.p.u.n.k, too. I like your tactics but they need a little work. What were you expecting to find, anyway?"

"Anything to prove that something is wrong with you!" She reached for the door. He picked her up. He forced her against the wall. "Let me go, Keith!"

He exhaled. "You have any idea how much this turns me on?" He shoved his lips against her face. She struggled. "Any idea how much I like playing this game with you?"

"Let go!" she shrieked. He kissed her. She tore her lips away. "Don't! Get off me!" He held her tighter.