Page 6 of The Beachside Cafe 3
He laughed as the doors opened. “Sorry. Had to. Never saw the appeal of crime. Money isn’t worth spending your whole life in jail when you’re caught. I wouldn’t want to commit a crime and then live as a fugitive either. That just doesn’t sound like much fun to me.”
“Nor me.”
They stepped off the elevator and walked to the glass doors that let out of the building.
“Hey, let’s try that café we passed on the way here. It’s just up the street and we don’t have to drive there. I need a good cup of java.”
Jaymee raised her eyebrows at him. “Is there something wrong with the coffee at my place?”
Cameron chuckled. “The coffee at your café is the best. But we’re not on that side of town right now, are we? Otherwise, why would I want to spend money when I can get it for free just because I’m your friend?”
Jaymee stopped him in the middle of the sidewalk and turned to face him. She gave him a warm smile, a feeling of affection filling her chest and making her heart pound. The look in his blue eyes told her everything she wanted to know. Sporadically, she lifted up on her tip-toes and kissed him on the lips. It was quick and felt better than she ever expected it would.
His eyes widened like he’d never been surprise kissed before.
“What was that?” he asked.
She felt a bit of anxiety. Her breath caught and she blinked at him. “A kiss?”
He laughed, shaking his head. “That wasn’t a kiss. This is a kiss.”
Cameron grabbed her, one arm around her waist and the other supporting her back as he dipped her, giving her a passionate kiss in the process. Tingles rippled through her body. Doug had never kissed her that way. He wasn’t an outwardly loving man. Jaymee was starting to think he wasn’t an inwardly loving man, either. She doubted he’d ever really loved her. He was probably sticking around only because of Cheyenne.
She’d revisited the theory that Doug might have run off with another woman. There had been absolutely no leads to determine that, though. Going through his finances had revealed the blackmail he was involved in, but any money that came from them was already accounted for. If he had a hidden business account somewhere that would allow him to leave the country and disappear, it must have been extremely well hidden.
When he’d first disappeared, Jaymee didn’t want to even think that the man was with another woman. Now, she hoped he was. She would sue him for adultery, which was a crime punishable with fines and jailtime. That would suit her just fine. He could ride out his sentence alongside the blackmail charges that would be leveled against him.
They got to the café and took one of the two person tables by the front windows overlooking the street outside. The ocean was on the other side of that street, after a huge parking lot nearly filled with vehicles and a very long, wide beach with white sand that reflected the sun almost as bright as the star itself.
When they were settled in with their drinks and Jaymee was about to bite into her grilled cheese sandwich, Cameron asked, “Did you see Amanda come out of Dylan’s office?”
Jaymee gasped. “That’s right! I was going to ask if you saw her. You kind of looked at me like you knew but I wasn’t sure and didn’t have time to ask. So that links those two together. I get that everyone worked at IDL, those are the people Doug was blackmailing. But we have a stronger link between these two now. And there’s nothing in Dylan’s or Amanda’s behavior that makes me think they might be innocent. I mean, they’re guilty ofsomething.”
“Lianetti had a portrait hanging on the wall, did you see it?”
Jaymee nodded. “The one with him and his wife and their children?”
“Yeah. Classic family pose. No way it was done more than a year or two ago unless Lianetti never looks older. So maybe he and Amanda are having an affair.”
“Maybe,” Jaymee said, thoughtfully. “She did look really upset when she came out. They might have had a lover’s tiff. Then again, Lianetti is a criminal lawyer. He might be helping her with something she’s been caught up in.”
“I wonder if they know they were both being blackmailed.”
Jaymee raised her eyebrows, chewing the delicious sandwich and answering after she swallowed. She pointed at him with the sandwich. “If they found out they were both being blackmailed, maybe they’re working together. Maybe they’re holding Doug somewhere or… or…”
Cameron nodded. Jaymee was relieved she didn’t have to say it. No matter how much Doug hurt her or broke the law, she didn’t want him dead. Although if they ever found him, she might choke him to death.
“So should we go tell the cops what we know?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No. We have absolutely no proof of any of this. If we find out more or find out something that is a real solid lead, we’ll go to them. Right now, all we have is conjecture and a bunch of guesses. They know IDL is involved. That’s their focus right now. They want to find out what’s going on in those labs. Speaking of labs…”
Jaymee nodded when Cameron didn’t finish the sentence. “We should go see Alex. See what he can tell us. Do you know what he’s working on right now?”
“He said he was going to try to hack into the IDL computer servers and see what he could find. That was earlier this morning. I’ll bet you he’s in already.”
“Wouldn’t he have called you if he was able to get in?”
Cameron shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to go by there. Unless you’ve got something else you want to do.”
