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Dan materialized from the bathroom, and he was equally lost in thought. He viewed Kendal s tiny
apartment from a vantage point that was beyond my experience. What did he see that I did not? The
apartment was unusual, but nothing appeared amiss to my amateur eye.
He looked through the windows to the empty fire escape, and my stomach gurgled. Dan dropped the
curtain and smiled.  Hungry?
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LB Gregg
 Little bit. If Kendal is really gone, she d have cleaned the refrigerator. I went to check.  Yup.
There s nothing in her fridge except condiments and diet soda. So& 
 So you deduce that she planned to go. There s no sign of a struggle, there s no note, no word with
the neighbor, no hastily thrown clothing or mess that would lead anyone to think she left in a hurry. It
doesn t mean much she works and maybe she hates to cook but my gut says she s gone.
I closed the fridge door and a magnet popped off. It slid in the space between the counter and the wall.
 Shit.
 I usually avoid breaking anything when I m investigating.
 Har har. You should have thought of that before you broke in. I wriggled the magnet free, sliding it
with a wiggly finger from the wall. Zippo s Costume Emporium. A big top hat with Marquee lettering it
sort of reminded me of Shep s invitation.  How did Gun find this chick anyway?
 Through Estelle. She makes a lot of their decisions. She s the one who put Gun at Shep s for the
week. Did you know Shep s assistant, that little twit Stephen, is from Estelle?
 I m sure Kendal was more effective. I handed the magnet to Dan.  I think Kendal s a seamstress.
Look at this place. I bet she stitched every seam here.
Dan nodded, but the phone rang before he could speak. Damn thing scared the shit out of me. I
clutched my chest with a wince.  Jesus.
 Quit being so jumpy. He picked up the phone. Horrified, I expected him to answer, but he just
checked the number.  Caller I.D. Relax. He pulled a pad out of his back pocket to write the number down.
He used her pen.
 We are getting out of here right now. Peeping and lurking are not in my skill set.
 No kidding. Next time you can wait in the car. Dan s eyes swept me from head to toe and for the
first time all day, he got that look. His eyes smoldered and his gaze landed on my mouth. He casually
glanced at the bed.  You know what you need to relax? Remember last time 
 And no hanky-panky either. Jesus. My heart smacked my ribs which hurt more than I expected.
 Let s go. We can have a quickie someplace else. Just not in the car.
 Fine. Dan tapped at the buttons on Kendal s phone and wrote a few things on his pad.  Go get Mrs.
Rousseau. I ll be right behind you.
I couldn t leave fast enough.
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Chapter Five: Quickie
Pretty soon we were back on board the elevator of dubious safety. I stabbed the button, the rickety
door wobbled shut, and we lurched into motion with a disconcerting crunch. Dan stood innocently beside
me, lost once again to his own thoughts. He hogged most of the air in the narrow space, nothing new, and
his head nearly brushed the ceiling it was an old elevator. His jeans hugged his ass. He blinked and
thought and chewed his bottom lip, head cocked slightly. He watched the lighted number flicker from 4 to
3. The manly scent of him minus the chicken because at this point I was blissfully immune to that odor
and his very blandness triggered something in me.
Suspicion.
He had chased me away on purpose. He d intentionally tricked me into exiting the apartment ahead of
him. He d taken advantage of my discomfort and sent me packing with a single look at that bed.
That manipulator.
My eyes narrowed. Goddamn him. I wasn t interested in why he d sent me away he d done me a
kindness in a way because when he was arrested, I wouldn t have to lie for him under oath but it still
pissed me off that I d been so easily handled. He had my number all the damn time. One of these days, I
was going to have his.
I stared at his strong profile. The bold chin. The T-shirt clinging to his pecs. The heavy crotch cupped
by his fly. I stared at Dan s bulging package, and my anger morphed into something else. Something
earthier. Something that would drive him nuts. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]