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He opened one eye and gazed at her. “Anything?”
“Within reason.”
His hand traveled up beneath her blouse. “Is this within reason?”
She shivered but was not yet ready to abandon her case.
“When did you do a background check on Nina and Tully?”
“After you discovered all your boxes in the garage had been rifled.” He leaned in to begin nuzzling her neck.
“Mmm… Hey, wait a minute!” she yelped, trying unsuccessfully to evade his wandering hands and lips.
“You thought I had the money and that they had stolen it from me!” she complained weakly as his fingers worked their magic under her blouse.
“I think all sorts of things when I’m working,” he murmured idly, fumbling only a moment before releasing the clasp on her bra.
“Tyler…oh! Stop… I mean, don’t…stop…wait!” she protested feebly, gasping. She straightened away from his probing fingers.
“When…when did you stop thinking I participated in the robbery?”
“After I saw how you parlayed a few dollars into a viable business,” he said with a long-suffering sigh. “Smart, stubborn, and proud—too proud to steal.”
“Did you think that before or after I came to your motel room?”
“Stop splitting hairs, woman, and start worrying about what I’m thinking right now.”
“What would that be?” she wondered aloud.
With a hungry growl, he pulled her up onto the couch and proceeded to show her.
15
“Where have you been?” Stormy yelled, hurrying from the garage to accost Tyler the moment he stepped from his car. “You said a couple of hours. It’s been half the day.”
“I’ve spent a boring two hours waiting for my slow-as-molasses-rolling-up-hill printer— You’ve had a productive morning, from the looks of it,” he said, ushering her back into the garage, where row after row of finished candles stood like soldiers waiting to march off to war on one of the makeshift tables.
“I had to do something to keep my mind off—dammit, Tyler, don’t keep me in suspense! What’d you find out?”
“We’re grasping at straws.”
Stormy sank down onto a stool, defeated. “Oh, no! I had so hoped—”
“I didn’t say all was lost. I just said we’re grasping at straws.”
She lifted her head. “Then you did find out something!”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out some folded papers. “This is all I got, and it ain’t much.”
Stormy snatched the papers from his hand, spread them out on the table, and began to read. “These are copies of Foley’s credit-card charges.”
“Look where they’re from. Casinos in Las Vegas. At first glance, it seems meaningless because Foley was there for a banking conference.”
“He gambles!” Stormy gasped. “That’s motive, isn’t it?”
“Those are his wife’s charges. She gambles.”
Stormy glanced again at the printouts. Most of the charges were cash advances ranging from three-hundred to five-hundred dollars. “Foley steals to cover his wife’s gambling losses!” she breathed. “That’s it.”
