Page 23 of The Playboy Meets His Match
“You put chili peppers in Dorian’s dinner. What in blazes did you think that would do other than make him angry?”
“What makes you think I did any such thing?”
“Oh, come on—that was Keith, who was in the pharmacy when Dorian charged in. He was breaking out with hives because someone had laced his dinner with chili peppers. You’re wasting your time, aggravating him and getting his guard up, and getting in the way of our investigation.”
“So you are investigating what happened?”
“That’s between you and me—if you can be trusted.”
“You can trust me, but why don’t you let me help you?”
“Why don’t you stop doing these ridiculous things?” he shot back, sitting down again to face her. “You’re not solving anything or helping your sister either.”
His words stung because she knew he was right. Meredith wound her fingers together and looked at them. “I know you’re right, but it was so terrible to watch Holly suffer and know that Dorian was getting off scot-free.”
“Give it up and leave him to us,” Jason said grimly.
“Maybe I’m going about this all wrong, but I didn’t know Dorian might be involved in murder. I’ll stop annoying him.”
“Good. Do I have your promise?”
“Yes, but you should let me get to his computer. You’re trying to catch a murderer here and whatever has happened is tied into Wescott Oil in some manner. Money was taken, a man was murdered. Let me look at Dorian’s computer files.”
“Dorian has an alibi. He couldn’t have committed the murder.”
“Yet you suspect him anyway.”
“Yeah, maybe so. But breaking into his computer is illegal.”
She gave him a look. “So is murder.”
As Jason raked his fingers through his hair, Meredith watched dark locks spring back into place and remembered when she had touched the back of his head and his hair had curled over her hand.
He turned to stretch out his arm and snagged the phone again, placing a call.
“Sebastian, it’s Jason. I’ve got Merry Silver here with me.” He paused, listening. “That’s right. I want to ask you something. Is there any way you can get us into Wescott Oil so she can look at Dorian’s computer files?”
She waited, unable to fathom much from Jason’s side of the conversation except that Sebastian was not enthused. Obviously, neither man believed she could get into Dorian’s computer files and neither thought it worth the trouble to let her try.
Finally Jason replaced the receiver and turned to her. “How badly do you want to look at his files?”
“How badly do you want to catch him if he’s the murderer?”
“Sebastian will help us, but he said there is no way he can get us into the building after-hours. We’re on our own.”
“What do you mean—‘we’re on our own’?”
“If you want into Dorian’s office, we’re going to have to break into Wescott Oil like burglars.”
Five
“Why can’t Sebastian just let us in?”
“He doesn’t want to be seen with us. I don’t blame him and I don’t want him involved. Remember, he was recently arrested and I’m certain he’s still being watched, so he shouldn’t be seen with us.”
“I understand.”
“Up to a point, if we’re caught, you’ve got a reputation in town for doing wild and crazy things, so I think we can talk our way out of trouble with the law. If a security guard finds you looking at Dorian’s private files, that’s another matter. And I don’t want us to get caught. If Dorian has done what we suspect, we’re crossing a dangerous man.”
