“Actually, no.” I jump out of the car, walk across the weed-filled path, and open the screen.
Gun in hand, I grab the brass knocker and slam it down until a bearded, sixtyish man comes to the door wearing a wife beater. He bolts across the garbage-strewn cement but Landy’s waiting. She tackles him, takes him back to the house and using a USB cord, ties him to a chair inside a kitchen that hasn’t been remodeled since the eighteen hundreds.
My stomach oozy, I sit down across from him. “Why the fuck did you shoot me?”
“Don’t be mad. It wasn’t personal.” Judging by his affronted tone and wide-eyed expression, one would think he dented my fender instead of making a fucking hole in my body.
“I beg to differ. A bullet’s about as personal as it gets.” Frowning, I study the dark, emotionless eyes of a serial killer.
“If I’d meant to off you, you’d be dead. It was a warning. No hard feelings. Okay, dude?”
I glance over at my partner. “Is it me or him?”
“It’s not you. He’s definitely over the top.” Shaking her head, she leans against the gray countertop and eyes his guileless face.
“Look, you seem like a nice couple. You need to back off the Chandler case. You’re welcome.”
Thinking my hearing was affected, I scoot my chair closer. “Let me make sure I’m hearing you correctly. You wantmeto thankyoufor shooting me.”
“Yeah. She asked me to kill you, but I convinced her I could scare you off. I’m a really nice guy, at heart.”
As I scratch the stubble on my chin, a glimmer of understanding breaks through. “Did Maureen Chandler pay you?”
“Finally. For a bounty hunter, you’re not all that bright.”
Landy’s eyes widen. “Did you kill her husband?”
“Nah. Sheaxedme to, but I said no. I was fucking her at the time, and I got scruples. Never mix bit-ness and pleasure. It’s not professional. Besides, if I didn’t buy her made-up story, no one would. Ray was no whistle blower. He was a nerdy little nobody.”
A dog barks, my partner glances out the grimy window, then frowns at the shooter. “What about the evidence she posted online?”
He scoffs. “All bullshit to cover up her plebian attempt at murder. So, can I go? No hard feelings?
“Best friends forever.” I pat him on the back and motion to my partner we should head out. The police sirens grow louder, and we have better things to do than spend the rest of the day in interrogation.
“Gotta go. Buh-bye.” After waving to him, she grabs my hand. “I don’t believe him, do you?”
“Tough call.” Glad to be out of the presence of the devil, I drive us the fuck out of there.
~Chapter 20~
Landy
“You either let me drive or I swear I will hog tie you in the back seat.” My patience has run out. “You were shot, for heaven’s sake.”
He tosses me the keys and by the time I back out of the driveway, flashing lights appear at the bottom of the street. We barely make it out of Dodge before having to spend more time in interrogation.
When I glance in the rearview mirror for the hundredth time, he swivels, studying the traffic behind us. “Relax, no one’s following.”
“Says the man who neglected to check his perimeter this morning.” At my raised brow, he squeezes my knee, and shakes his head back and forth.
“You have only yourself to blame.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Sex stole the oxygen from my brain cells… Shit, watch out.” He tucks his head in his arms, bracing for an imaginary accident.
Ignoring his theatrics, I tap on the brakes and swerve into the left lane. “Jeesh. Chill. I had at least an inch to spare.”
