faded as quickly as it had come. “They’re in Arkansas. I haven’t talked to them since I left three years ago.”
“And you came out to L.A. to be an actress, right?” Nicole asked, feeling as if she’d dropped into the middle of a really awful B movie. Women in Prison or something like that.
“I know it sounds stupid, but I really can act.”
“And pigs can fly,” Lizzie said, creating another round of laughter.
The guard came for Nicole. “You’ve been bonded out,” he said.
“Just a minute,” Nicole said. She gave one desperate look around the cell, then leaned over to Connie and whispered something.
WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT I’d end up in a cell with four prisoners. But it could be worse. Nicole is drop-dead gorgeous and I get the feeling that Connie wouldn’t look half-bad if she had a little meat on her bones and some decent clothes. Now, that Lizzie is another matter. She’d scare the paint off a fence.
Nicole is getting out of here and I’m curious to see who made her bond. There’s another little matter to consider. I’m AWOL from the movie set and by now my humanoids have missed me. Maybe I should get on the phone to Eleanor and Peter and let them know where I am.
While I’m here, it might be a good idea for me to take a look at the report filed by the detective investigating the case. And I wonder who that might be? I guess I came off a little half-cocked, but I wanted Nicole to know she wasn’t alone. I don’t know why, but I thought that was important.
Here we go. She’s scooping me into her arms. Looks like we’re out of here. But she’s giving Connie a phone number to call. She’s going to help Connie, too. Now, that’s the ticket.
I hear the chow cart. I’d say let’s stay for a meal, but somehow I know better than to get my hopes up. I am a cat with discriminating taste, and prison food just doesn’t have the appeal that a steak does.
I have to say the checkout process is fast here. But look who’s come to take Nicole home. It sure isn’t her daddy. My, oh, my, I think there’s going to be some serious trouble.
Chapter Two
Jax saw Nicole balk as soon as she saw him. He hooked his boot heel on the chair rail and cocked a hip, playing it cool. What in the hell was he doing here? He’d acted on impulse, thinking that he’d sashay up to the jailhouse and get Nicole out, and that she’d be grateful to him. Judging by the look on her face, she was anything but grateful. He made sure his body was relaxed, striking a pose as she started toward him again. He raised his eyebrows when he saw the black cat at her heels.
“What’s the cat charged with? Is he a cat burglar?” he asked the desk clerk, earning several laughs from officers in the area.
“Maybe we should book him for consorting with a prisoner,” the sergeant said. “I don’t know how he got in here, but it’s a good thing he’s headed out. We don’t have animals in the jail. At least not the four-legged kind.”
“Well, he has good taste,” Jax commented. He turned to Nicole. “I came to give you a ride back to the set. We’ve got the action shot scheduled tonight and we can’t do it without you.”
He saw a series of emotions shift across her expressive face. One was relief, the other disappointment.
“Did John Hudson put up my bail money?”
Jax hesitated. He was tempted to answer in the affirmative, even though it wasn’t true. “John doesn’t know you were arrested. He wasn’t on the set today.”
“You came on your own?” Her surprise was evident in her voice.
“I did. We need you on the set. As stunt coordinator, my butt’s on the line if we get behind schedule.”
Nicole didn’t say anything. She took her personal belongings from the envelope the desk sergeant handed her. “We’d better get this scene shot, then. Once John Hudson knows I’ve been arrested for stealing jewelry from the cast, he’s going to fire me.”
Jax couldn’t deny that. Hudson probably would fire her—if that was all there was to the story. But Jax had a hunch there was something else going on. “John Hudson’s a fair man. If there’s another side to the story, he’ll listen.”
“I was framed,” Nicole said simply.
“Who would frame you and why?” Jax asked. It was a logical question, but he saw instantly that it annoyed her.
“If I knew the answer to that, I’d know how to start clearing my name,” Nicole said, heading out the door.
“Do you have any idea?” Jax asked. Even though he took long strides, he had to hustle to catch up with her. Nicole was long limbed and moving fast. But he couldn’t help but appreciate the rear view as she stalked away.
“Well, logically, I’d start with Angela Myers. It was her earring that was stolen and found in my trailer. I know I didn’t take it, but someone did. And that someone put it right where the cops could find it. And I’d be willing to lay you some pretty good odds that Angela told the police to search my trailer. I just wonder how she knew the earring was there if she didn’t put it there herself.”
“Why would Angela want to frame you as a thief?” Jax asked. He knew the women didn’t care for each other. The truth was, Angela didn’t care for anyone except herself—and whoever was the focus of her narcissistic passion.
“Because she’s psychotic?” Nicole asked with a heaping measure of sarcasm. “Because she’s mean? Or maybe because she doesn’t want to finish this film? I hear she got an offer from Paramount for a starring role in a drama that she’s itching to do. There’s a little time problem. She can’t finish this film and be on that set, too. If this movie were to shut down, she’d be free to rush right over to Paramount and become the belle of the studio.”
Jax pushed open the outer door for Nicole. “You really think Angela would wreck the entire movie just to get out of her contract?”
Nicole stopped dead and turned. She didn’t say a word; she only raised her eyebrows.
“Well, she is pretty self-centered,” Jax admitted. He saw the first hint of a smile at the corners of Nicole’s mouth. Before he could be certain of it, though, she bent down and swept the black cat into her arms.
“This cat’s a detective,” she said. “I read all about him. He’s going to help me figure out what’s going on here.”
“I’ll help, too.” Jax almost wanted to duck when he spoke the words. Nicole’s face showed extreme surprise, and then wariness.
“Why would you help me?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe because I’m a sucker for the underdog. It’s a fine Texas tradition. Started at the Alamo, you know. All Texans like long odds. Or maybe it’s because I don’t think you stole the earring.”
“And why do you think I’m innocent?”
That question alone told him volumes about the kind of life Nicole had led. Her father’s conviction
