Page 120 of Hard Evidence
“Shiro!Come!”At least most of the podcasters had slithered back under their rocks, or gone down to the courthouse, or whatever.“I’m glad I didn’t put the peach cobbler in the oven yet.”
“You made peach cobbler?My grandma used to make that.”
“We have so many peaches that I’m making peach everything right now.”
“Are peaches in season?I thought that was fall?”
“Our neighbour went to the grocery store and—” A twig cracked behind me, and I froze.
“Hello, Jessalyn.”
My blood ran cold at the sound of his voice, and the phone slipped out of my hand.
Oh, fuck.
CHAPTER44
JERRY
“The loan shark just rolled into town,” Ari said.
Oh, really?Jez perked up—she needed something to fill the time while they waited for the DNA results.The preliminary autopsy report was…interesting.And signified a bigger problem than they’d initially anticipated.
“What a coincidence—so did I.Want me to meet you there?”
Was that a groan?“Sure, why not?He’s lurking outside Sophy’s apartment.I figured I could get Echo to run his licence plate.”
Run the licence plate?Cute.Maybe they could write him a strongly worded letter while they were at it.
Five minutes later, Jez pulled in beside Ari’s Ford compact at the rear of the building.They had differences of opinion about vehicles.Ari liked a small car that blended in during surveillance and was easy to park.Jez preferred an SUV big enough to carry a sniper rifle, an assault team, and a body, bonus if it was heavy enough to ram another vehicle off the road.She wedged her Escalade between a Fiat 500 and a dumpster, checked the batteries on her stun gun and the magazine on her Glock, pulled her ball cap low over her eyes, and hopped out as Ari meandered around the corner carrying two takeout coffees.
“Here.”She held out a cup.“There’s a motorcycle parked around the front.I’ve taken photos and sent them to Echo.”
“Is the guy still inside?”
“There’s a figure loitering in the third-floor hallway.”Ari gestured to the rear of the lot.“If you stand back there, you can see him.”
“So let’s go have a chat.”
“Is it wise to tip our hand?”
“Is it wise to waste half a day waiting around in a parking lot?Are you getting paid by the hour for this?”
It was cold.It was raining.It was really fucking boring.
“Technically, yes, but I was planning to give Justin a discount.”
“Well, I’m on a salary.Demelza cuts us slack for personal projects, but if some tinpot dictator kicks off overseas, I’ll have to ditch this shitshow and deal with it.So I’m going in.”
“I was afraid of that,” Ari muttered.
“Are you coming?”
“Someone has to help you hide the body.”
“Attagirl.”
Jez drank half the coffee and tossed the cup into the dumpster, then thanked a guy who held the building’s door open for her.Boobs had advantages.Choir: one, inadequate security measures: nil.On the third floor, the loan shark saw them coming and pretended to check his phone, leaning against the wall, faking casual.Jez sized him up.Six feet of gym muscles wrapped in a pristine leather jacket.Artfully tousled hair, cowboy boots that had never been near a horse, and a fucking manicure.
