Snow Blind - Lori G. Armstrong [133]
She didn’t take long to mull it over. “Fascinating theory. How is it that Kevin came crawling back for some of that hot sex last night if he’s so suspicious of my motives?”
I mock-whispered, “You think you’re the only one who can use sex to get what they want? He was in your bed last night? Interesting. I sure hope you didn’t fall asleep too hard and leave him unattended in your house.”
473
Little girl lost morphed into the “old soul” Kevin mentioned, but I just saw her as a cunning monster who’d led a man to an icy grave.
“I’m sure those unnamed ‘people with a vested interest’ won’t question your theories at all. Because you’d never drag your agency through the press, just for the press. Things’ve been awful slow without new cases coming in. Gee, it’s been months since you’ve been the lead story.
“And you’ve personally killed, what, two people in the last year? Now you’re going after a grieving woman whose only living relative was found frozen to death? After your agency was snooping around the very facility where he was found? A few days later you just happened to stumble upon the victim? Maybe you could’ve prevented the tragedy if you’d done your job. And, oddly enough, I heard that from your . . . partner. It’s such a shame when miscommunications and legal matters break up partnerships and friendships, isn’t it?
And there’s nothing you can do about it?”
Conniving bitch. She’d had this all planned from the beginning. Picking our small agency. Playing Kevin. Playing me against him. Using the storm. Finding her grandfather was just sheer bad luck on my part, and yet she’d discovered a way to spin it. Her crafty grin alerted me to the idea she thought she’d won.
Wrong.
Amery checked her watch. “Like I said. Fascinating 474
theory. But I am running behind. So if you’ll excuse me—”
“Sure. But you forgot the other teensy thing. I mentioned two, remember?” I inched on my left leather glove a finger at a time. “Better hope that lawsuit lottery holds up, because according to my sources, Grandpa dearest wrote a new will, and you ain’t in it. At all.” I locked my gaze to hers. “Oh, and that’s not just a fascinating theory; that’s a fact.”
I waved at Buzz through the window to let him know I was done before I waltzed out.
475
Jimmer called my cell while I was leaving
a message for Martinez. I clicked over and heard,
“Lemme talk to Buzz.”
“One of these days, Jimmer, you are gonna call just to talk to me, right?”
He snorted. I passed the phone to Buzz.
“You’re sure?” Buzz shot me a sideways glance.
“With her along? No fuckin’ way.”
Not good.
“Don’t matter ’cause I ain’t gonna ask her.”
“Ask me what?”
“Fine. Jimmer wants to know if you’ve got your gun with you.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Buzz sighed. “Five minutes. But if he—” He closed the phone and clutched it in a fist the size of an Easter ham. “Shit. Get to Highway 44. Fast.”
476
“What’s going on?”
“Jimmer’s got a lead on Jackal.”
“Jimmer? Since when did he turn into a divining rod?”
He shot me a look. “You’re fuckin’ kidding, right?”
I shook my head. Switched lanes when I saw the Blue Lantern Lounge. Waited for the light to change, and turned right on the ramp merging onto Highway 44 South. “Jimmer’s a hunting guide.”
“Tracking people is the same as tracking animals. Except people leave better trails.”
I Hate Myself for Loving You blasted out of my cell phone and I smiled. During the hours I’d spent attached to my cell, I’d programmed ring tones for my frequent callers: Joan Jett for Martinez, Aerosmith’s Janie’s Got a Gun for Jimmer, Mamma Mia by ABBA for Kim. Once I started, I couldn’t stop, pegging Private Eyes by Hall & Oates for Kevin. Yeah, I was pretty pleased with myself when I decided Ben’s special tone would’ve been Half Breed by Cher.
However, Buzz wasn’t amused when I said,