RK02.5 - Trouble in Paradise Page 5
But I did get there. At least enough to recognize that my reaction was over the top, and that I wanted to give Graden another chance. So we’d been taking baby steps, getting together for coffee breaks and lunches over the past few months. Tonight had been our first real date since the breakup—or, as Toni and Bailey called it, breakdown. I’d been a little apprehensive. Would he try for a sentimental play and take us to the site of our first date, the Pacific Dining Car? Or to the romantic hilltop restaurant that had become a mutual favorite, Yamashiro? I’d hoped not. I wasn’t ready for any trips down memory lane.
“So where’d you go?” Drew asked.
“We went to Craig’s—”
Drew nodded sagely. “My man, Graden. Excellent choice.”
It really was. The leather and white tablecloth steakhouse in West Hollywood had that same Sinatra–Dean Martin feel as the Pacific Dining Car—great food and a comfortable ambience for real dining and conversation—with none of the emotional undertow of having been “our” place. It wasn’t cheap, but money was no concern for Graden, who’d made a fortune on Code Three, the video game he’d designed with his brother.
Bailey studied me for a moment. “You look ridiculously sober. You stuck with water, didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“Didn’t trust yourself?” she asked.
“Of course I trusted myself.” I cadged a cube of cheese off Bailey’s plate. “I just want to keep a clear head.”
“Time to put a stop to that,” Drew said. “What’ll you have?”
I ordered a glass of pinot noir, and Drew moved off.
“So…you didn’t trust yourself,” Bailey said.
“Nope, not for one second.”
We laughed, and when Drew set down my glass of wine, we toasted. “To knowing your limits.” Bailey raised her glass, and I clinked it with mine.
“To that.”
We took a sip.
“And he really didn’t see anyone else?” I asked.
“Not unless she worked the cleaning crew at the station. From what I saw, he was in the office night and day. I’d guess he was keeping himself distracted.”
“Know what I’d guess?”
But I never got a chance to say, because Bailey’s work cell phone rang. If Bailey was next up on the roster, she wouldn’t have been drinking, so it couldn’t be work. I listened, hoping to get some information, but all I heard was “Yep” and “Got it” and “Let me write that down.” Finally, Bailey ended the call and drained her water glass in one long gulp. Then she took my glass of wine—still practically full—out of my hand and set it down.
“Hey!”
“O’Hare’s sick, so I’m up. Got a kidnapping call. Russell Antonovich.”
Russell Antonovich. A name attached to so many blockbusters even I, who knew nothing about Hollywood hotshots, recognized it.
“Someone kidnapped him?”
“No.” Bailey made sure no one was near us, then lowered her voice. “His teenage daughter, Hayley. Antonovich delivered the ransom and was supposed to get her back within the hour. That was two hours ago.”
Bailey motioned to Drew that she’d call, and we headed for the road.
Books by Marcia Clark
Killer Ambition: A Rachel Knight Novel
Guilt by Degrees: A Rachel Knight Novel
Guilt by Association: A Rachel Knight Novel
Short Stories
Trouble in Paradise: A Rachel Knight Story (ebook only)
If I’m Dead: A Rachel Knight Story (ebook only)
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Contents
Title Page
Welcome
“Trouble in Paradise”
About the Author
A Preview of Killer Ambition
Books by Marcia Clark
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
The characters and events in this story are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2013 by Marcia Clark
Excerpt from Killer Ambition copyright © 2013 by Marcia Clark
Author photograph by Claudia Kunin
Cover design by Rebecca Lown, photograph by Siobhan O’Donoghue / Flickr / Getty Images
Cover copyright © 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: May 2013
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ISBN 978-0-316-25398-7