Austin Malone, Private Eye

by Paige Tyler

Chapter One

Taylor Cavanaugh stared at the gold-leaf lettering on the glass door. Austin Malone, Private Investigator, it read. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she just stepped onto the set of one of the movie studios there in LA instead of the office building whose address was scrawled on the piece of paper in her hand. She shook her head. Even his name sounded like it belonged in some old, black-and-white private eye movie, she thought. How could he possibly help her find her missing sister when the LAPD and the other private investigators she talked to couldn’t?
But she really didn’t have much of a choice, she supposed. And it was why she had come there, so she might as well go inside and see what this Austin Malone had to say, she told herself. Straightening her shoulders, she smoothed her hands down the front of her jeans to wipe off her suddenly damp palms. Opening the door, she walked into the office of Austin Malone, Private Investigator.
And felt like she had stepped back in time. A wood desk dominated the small room, and other than the two simple chairs positioned in front of it, the only other furniture in the office was an old leather couch along one wall. Framed black-and-white pictures hung on the wall above it, while next to it was a plant that obviously wasn't real. And even though it was sunny outside, the room seemed darker than it should be. Though old-fashioned, the office didn’t come off as tacky, however. And if it weren’t for the computer sitting on top of the desk, she almost would have believed she actually was back in some private eye’s office from the 1940’s.
But the dark-haired man wearing jeans and a button-up shirt seated behind the desk definitely didn’t come out of the 1940’s. Spotting her from the corner of his eye, he looked up from the phone call he was taking and Taylor felt her breath hitch as his piercing amber eyes met hers. His gaze roved from the sunglasses perched on top of her head, down past the brightly colored tank top and finally settled on the curve-hugging jeans she was wearing. Only then did he tell the person on the other end that he’d catch them later and hung up.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
Taylor said nothing for a moment. Austin Malone wasn’t what she had expected. For one thing, he was much younger than she’d thought he’d be, probably in his mid-thirties. And nothing at all like she pictured a private eye would look. Maybe she really had made a mistake and stepped onto a movie set, she thought, because Austin Malone, Private Investigator was way too gorgeous for some Hollywood producer not to have discovered him. She liked to think she was immune to men who were as handsome as he was, but the truth was, she was just as mesmerized by those chiseled features and broad shoulders as any other woman would be.
Abruptly realizing that he was still waiting for a reply, she gave herself a mental shake and walked over to the desk. “I’m Taylor Cavanaugh,” she said. “Detective Ames from the LAPD gave me your name. He said you might be able to help me.”
Austin Malone didn’t react to the name she’d dropped one way or the other as he gestured to the chairs in front of his desk. “Have a seat,” he said, and then waited for her to take him up on the invitation before asking, “So, what can I do for you, Ms. Cavanaugh?”
Taylor reached up to tuck her long, dark hair behind her ear. “My sister has been missing for three days,” she said quietly. “I really think she’s been kidnapped.”
Austin frowned. “Since Detective Ames gave you my card, I’m assuming the police don’t share your belief that your sister was kidnapped?”
Taylor’s mouth tightened. “No,” she said. “They’re of the opinion that Tiffany eloped with her boyfriend, which is absolutely ridiculous.”
Behind his desk, Austin Malone’s frown deepened. “And why is that so ridiculous?”
“Because I know my sister!” Taylor said. “She barely knows this guy. She wouldn’t just run off and get married without telling me first.”
He considered her words for a moment. “Sometimes, siblings don’t know each other as well as they think they do,” he said.
Taylor felt her hackles rise. “Well, we do!” she said hotly. “My sister tells me everything!”
Actually, Taylor and Tiffany were closer than most sisters. But that made sense considering Taylor had been forced to raise her younger sister after their mother’s death. Their father had already left them years earlier, so at eighteen and with no other relatives, Taylor had been both big sister and mother to her ten-year old sister. As a result, the two had become extremely close. And even though Tiffany had moved out when she’d started college eight months ago, the two girls still spent a lot of time together. Which was why Taylor had been so alarmed when her sister hadn’t shown up for their usual Friday dinner. It was also how Taylor simply knew her sister hadn’t gone off and gotten married to some random guy. Even so, she shouldn’t have snapped at the private detective like she had.
Behind his desk, the detective’s jaw tightened. “I see,” he said. “And what do you know about this boyfriend?”
Taylor shrugged. “Not much, really,” she admitted. “I don’t even think you could really call him a boyfriend. That’s what the police think he is, but Tiffany hardly mentioned him, so I assume he’s just an acquaintance, someone she met in college and hangs out and studies with, you know. If Tiffany had been dating him formally, then I would have met him.”
Austin regarded her thoughtfully, his amber eyes narrowing slightly. “I have to say, you sound more like her mother than her sister,” he observed.
Taylor swallowed hard. “Our mother died when Tiffany was little, so I raised her since she was ten,” she explained.
That seemed to take Austin Malone by surprise. “I’m sorry about your mother. That must have been tough for you.”
She nodded. “It was hard on both of us, but thank you,” she said, and then took a deep breath. “I prefer not to talk about it, though. I’d rather stay focused on finding my sister. This guy’s name is Andrew Wallace and he goes to college with her. They both go to Cal State.”
“And you’re sure they weren’t dating?” Austin said.
“Not seriously,” she said. “If at all.”
He let out a sigh. “So, if your sister didn’t elope with this guy Andrew Wallace, what do you think happened to her?”
Taylor lifted her chin. “Considering Andrew Wallace is missing as well, it seems obvious that he took her.”
“You mean that you think he kidnapped her,” Austin said.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Tiffany never would have gone with him otherwise. Certainly not without telling me. I’m sure of it.”
Austin was silent a moment, and then took a notepad out of the drawer. Picking up a pen, he scribbled something on the top page. “When did you see your sister last, Ms. Cavanaugh?”
“About a week ago,” Taylor told him. “But I talked to her on the phone the day before she disappeared, and she never said anything about going out of town, which is why I know I’m right about this.”
Austin Malone sighed. “Ms. Cavanaugh, I’m not exactly sure what you’d like me to do that the police couldn’t...” he began.
Taylor leaned forward in her chair. “Please don’t say you won’t take the case, Mr. Malone,” she entreated before he could say any more. “The police won’t even start a file until she’s been missing for seventy-two hours because they feel there’s no foul play involved. And to be truthful, I’ve already talked to some other private investigators. None of them would even hear me out. If you don’t help me, I don’t know what I’ll do. Something has happened to my sister. I just know it.”
He said nothing for a long moment, and Taylor held her breath. “All right, I’ll look into it,” he said finally. “I really have my doubts, but it’s your money. My standard fee is two-fifty a day, plus expenses.”
Taylor nodded. She didn’t know what the going rate was for a private detective, but she supposed that seemed reasonable enough. She’d never even gotten to a dollar amount at the other PI firms. Not that it really mattered; she would pay any amount to find her sister. “That’s fine.”
Austin wrote something down on the notepad in front of him. “I’d like to take a look around your sister’s apartment, if I could,” he said, glancing at her. “See if there’s anything the police might have missed.”
She jumped to her feet. “Of course. I’ll take you over there right now.”
Austin nodded. “We’ll take my car,” he said, coming around the desk to head for the door.
Taylor was caught off guard when the detective slipped past to open the door for her. The gentlemanly gesture surprised her somewhat. It wasn’t very common here in LA. Maybe the private investigator was as old-fashioned as his office suggested. As they walked down the steps toward the entryway of the building, she couldn’t help but wonder what else about him was old fashioned. Did he drive one of those old cars like in the movie The Untouchables? she mused. He probably did, she thought. Maybe he even had a Fedora, too.
But to her surprise, Austin drove a very modern Jeep Wrangler, and she was almost disappointed when there was no sign of a Fedora anywhere.
“So, did you and your sister grow up here in LA?” he asked after she had given him the address for Tiffany’s apartment.
Taylor shook her head. “Anaheim, actually,” she said. “I still live down there, but Tiffany wanted to move up here when she started college. I knew it was a mistake. If she were still sharing an apartment with me, then this wouldn’t have happened.”
Austin gave her a sidelong glance as he drove. “I’m sure your sister is just fine, Ms. Cavanaugh.”
Taylor wished she could be so certain. But in her job as a social worker in Los Angeles, she had seen way too many girls get themselves into trouble they couldn’t get out of. She could only hope her naïve, little sister hadn’t done the same.
Tiffany’s apartment was close to California State University, which put it right in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, but because it was maintained by the university, it was well-kept and in one of the better sections of town.
“Tiffany used to have a roommate, but she graduated last semester,” Taylor explained as she let Austin into her sister’s apartment thirty minutes later.
Austin stood in the entryway for a moment, surveying the apartment. Though small, it had all the amenities, including a living room, dining room, kitchen, bath, and two bedrooms. All in all, Taylor had to admit that it was actually rather cozy. And Tiffany’s scholarship easily covered the cost.
“Does anything look out of place to you?” Austin asked as he walked into the living room.
Taylor shook her head. “No.”
She watched as Austin wandered over to the coffee table and picked up the stack of magazines that were there. Her brow furrowed. “What are you looking for?”
He glanced at her. “Something that might give me a clue to where your sister may have gone.”
Taylor gave him a skeptical look as she walked into the living room. “By checking out what magazines she subscribes to?”
Austin tossed the magazines back onto the coffee table. “If one of them was a travel brochure from wherever it is that she went, then yes.”
“Did you find one?” Taylor asked, hurrying over to the coffee table to scoop up the magazines and leaf through them excitedly.
“I said, if one of them was a travel brochure,” he told her dryly. “None of them were.”
She dropped the magazines back on the table and gave him annoyed look. “Well, why didn’t you just tell me that, then?”
He shrugged. “I did.”
Taylor made a face at his retreating back as he walked into the kitchen. She wondered if the two hundred and fifty dollars a day she was paying him covered that dry wit of his or if he threw that in for free.
In the kitchen, Austin had opened the door of the refrigerator.
“What are you looking for in there?” she asked.
“Some people throw out things like milk if they know they’re going to be away for awhile,” he told her.
Taylor edged closer to get a better look and immediately spotted the container of skim milk on the top shelf. “I was right!” she said. “Tiffany didn’t throw out the milk, so that proves she must have been kidnapped!”
Austin closed the door. “Or it could mean that she just didn’t throw out the milk before she left. It’s skim milk, after all. The stuff can barely be called milk in the first place, so it’s not surprising that it lasts forever.”
Taylor had to bite her tongue as she watched him make his way around the kitchen, opening drawers and cabinets, and fingering through all kinds of things. She couldn’t imagine what he possibly hoped to find, but she made no comment as he continued his search.
Finally done in that room, Austin left the kitchen and headed for the bedrooms, only to stop and turn back to Taylor when she started to follow him.
“Perhaps it would be better if you just sat out here on the couch and let me do my job,” he told her.
Taylor bristled at the condescending tone in the private detective’s voice. Folding her arms, she lifted her chin to look him squarely in the eye. “No way!” she said. “I just met you a few hours ago. I’m not about to let you go through my sister’s personal things without my being there.”
If she thought her words would insult him, Taylor was wrong. His expression barely changed at all.
He regarded her coolly. “Ms. Cavanaugh, you hired me to find your sister and I can’t work with you hovering over my shoulder demanding to know what I’m doing every second. If you’ve reconsidered hiring me, just let me know and we can leave.” When she said nothing, he continued. “I didn’t think so. Now, if you would be so kind as to go sit on the couch like I asked you to do.”
Taylor stared up at the handsome private investigator in stunned silence. How dare he order her around like that? And in her own sister’s apartment, too! She should tell him to get the hell out, she thought. In fact, the words were on the tip of her tongue, but for some reason, she couldn’t make herself say them. Right now, Austin Malone was the only option she had for finding her sister. Was she prepared to let him walk out the door simply because he was an obnoxious ass? No, she could put up with his arrogance if it meant getting Tiffany back safely, she decided.
“Fine!” she told him through gritted teeth. Turning on her heel, she stomped over to the couch and threw herself down on it. Then, folding her arms and crossing her legs, she gave him a glare.
Though Austin scowled at her obvious show of petulance, he said nothing, but instead turned and walked into Tiffany’s bedroom.
From her vantage point on the couch, Taylor couldn’t see much of the bedroom, but she could hear Austin moving around in there. From the sounds of it, he was looking through the dresser. An image of Austin Malone rifling through her sister’s panty drawer suddenly popped into her head and she frowned. Without another thought, she jumped to her feet and hurried into the bedroom.
Austin was standing beside the bed, a small, leather-bound book in his hand. Her brow furrowed as she walked over to him.
“What are you reading?” she asked.
He looked up from the book to give her a frown. “I thought you were going to wait in the living room.”
She shrugged. “I was, but I got curious,” she said. “So, what are you reading?”
“Your sister’s diary,” he said.
Taylor’s eyes went wide. “Her what? You can’t read that! It’s personal!”
But Austin only turned the page and continued to read. “Of course it’s personal; it’s a diary. Which means that it could give us a clue where she might have gone.”
“She didn’t go anywhere! She was kidnapped!” Taylor corrected. “And I really doubt you’ll find an entry in there that says Get kidnapped before lunch!”
Taylor didn’t know what infuriated her more, the fact that Austin was still reading her sister’s diary, or that he was ignoring her. Refusing to put up with it anymore, she reached out and snatched the book from his hand. He gave her an exasperated look.
“What is your problem?” he demanded. “I’m a professional and could care less about your sister’s personal life, except where it relates to her disappearance. I need to read that diary, so give it back.”
Austin reached for book as he spoke, but Taylor jerked it further away. “No!” she said. “I told you that I don’t want you reading my sister’s diary!”
His eyes narrowed as he took a step toward her. “Do you actually want your sister found, or not?”
She lifted her chin. “Of course I do,” she said. “I just think it’s completely inappropriate for you to be reading her diary, that’s all.”
Austin scowled. “I don’t have time for this,” he said. “There could be something in there that might put us on your sister’s trail.”
Taylor thought for a moment. She really doubted there would be anything relevant in her sister’s diary. But if Austin was right and there really were something in it that could help them find her sister...
“I’ll read through it and let you know if I find anything suspicious,” she finally conceded.
Austin gave her an impatient look. “I’m not going to sit here while you read that whole diary. Besides, you’d probably miss anything important, anyway,” he said. “Now, stop playing around and give it back to me.”
When he reached for it again, Taylor backpedaled, putting the edge of the bed between them. “I said, no!”
He swore under his breath. “Okay, that’s it!”
Before Taylor could even react, Austin Malone had closed the distance between them and plucked the diary from her hand. Infuriated, she made a grab for the book, but he tossed it onto the bed. She immediately reached for it, but the bastard caught her arm and steered her away from it. He was going to throw her out of the room, she realized.
“Hey!” she protested. “You can’t...”
But to her surprise, Austin wasn’t heading for the door. Instead, he sat down on the padded bench at the foot of the bed and, with a yank on her arm, sent her tumbling headlong over his knee. For a moment, Taylor was so stunned that she simply lay there with her head hanging down and her bottom up in the air. She regained her senses quickly enough though, and when she did, she immediately tried to push herself up off his lap. She didn’t even get halfway up before a strong hand on her back shoved her down and held her there.
Taylor had no choice but to put her hands on the floor to steady herself. Craning her neck, she looked at him over her shoulder. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“Something someone obviously should have done a long time ago!” he ground out.
Her brow furrowing in confusion, she opened her mouth to retort, only to let out a startled, “Oh!” when she felt his hand come down on her upturned bottom. Her blue eyes went wide. Oh my God, the jerk had actually just spanked her!
Taylor struggled like a wildcat to free herself even as his hand smacked the seat of her jeans again. “Let me up, you...owwwww!”
“Not until we get a few things straight. If you want me to work for you, then this attitude of yours has got to stop,” he told her, punctuating the words with a series of hard slaps right on the most rounded portion of her asscheeks.
Ouch! She couldn’t believe how much the spanks stung! What was he, crazy? Did he think she would just lay there and put with it? “My attitude!” she shrieked at him. “What the hell are you talking about, you jerk? Let me up right now!”
That earned her a sharp smack on each jean-clad cheek and she yelped. She wanted to say something biting right then, but the heat building up in her bottom was making it difficult to come up with a suitable retort. She pushed against his muscular leg with all her might, but didn’t succeed in getting herself off his lap. God, she hadn’t realized he was so strong!
“I’m talking about the fact that you’re irritating as hell, Ms. Cavanaugh!” he told her, bringing his hand down on her ass yet again. “You may be paying me, but that doesn’t mean I have to put up with you second-guessing me the whole time. This is my job and I’m damn good at it. But you seem to think that you know more than I do. And despite the fact that we just met, you seem to have an almost unnatural ability to aggravate the hell out of me. In fact, I’m betting that I’m not the only one you annoy. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s why your sister took off. She was probably tired of putting up with her pain in-the-butt sister!”
Austin punctuated every other word with a sharp smack, and while it stung like crazy, Taylor was more outraged by his words than by the spanking he was giving her.
“How dare you say something like that about me!” she yelled. “You don’t even know me, you arrogant jerk!”
“No, I don’t,” he agreed, his hand resting on her throbbing ass. “But I do know that you’re not letting me do my job. Now, are you going to stop being such a pain in the ass and let me do what’s necessary to find your sister, or do I need to start spanking you all over again, Ms. Cavanaugh?”
Again? Taylor thought in amazement. Her bottom couldn’t take even one more smack! But Austin must have taken her silence for resistance because he said, “I suppose I’ll just have to spank you some more then.”
“No!” she squealed. “Okay, I promise I’ll stop bothering you. Just let me up!”
But to her chagrin, the private detective continued to hold her in place. “Do I have your word on that?”
Taylor seethed with anger. “Yes,” she said through gritted teeth. “You have my word.”
He had her word all right, she thought to herself. Her word that she would be finding another private investigator as soon as she got off his lap!