Page 63 of Hard Luck (Blackstone House)

“If I don’t get an answer in fifteen minutes, a jackass is going to piss all over the holding cell, and nobody wants to clean that up.”

A pause. Then, “My darling, you’ll have to finish that later. Just wipe off the oil as best you can.”

The next voice was Alexa’s. “What do you need?”

CHAPTER 21

JEZEBEL

Whoever invented the dark web should be shot.

No, shooting was too good for them. Make it hung, drawn, and quartered.

T-Rex’s login details checked out, and Echo had control of his account now. He’d contracted with a user named AceInTheHole and was due to be paid five thousand bucks upon confirmation that the job had been carried out. T-Rex—whose name was actually Dylan—had admitted he was supposed to take a picture of me after he’d roughed me up. His phone had been broken during the fight, but we’d retrieved the SIM card and obtained details of his identity through that.

“Ace in the hole” was a poker reference—another possible clue. Had any players lost their shirts at the poker tables in the Galaxy recently? We’d passed the information we’d gleaned to Ari for follow-up. Predictably, she hadn’t been impressed with our methods, but we’d gotten further than she had, so tough shit. As for T-Rex, he was still in the basement, now chained by the ankle, and that was where he’d stay until this was over. We couldn’t risk him talking. Iwas ninety-nine percent sure he’d keep his head down, but why take a chance on the remaining one percent?

“Cheer up,” Marcel said, taking a tray of cookies out of the oven. “I thought you caught the slimeball you were looking for?”

“Not yet.”

“Then who’s the gentleman with the tiny hands in the holding cell?”

“Tell me you didn’t go and talk to him.”

“Ugh, no. I saw him on-screen in the security room.”

“He’s just a foot soldier. We’re still looking for the person who hired him.”

“Bummer. Cookie?”

“Do they contain weed?”

“No, only raisins.”

“In that case…” I held out a plate. “I’ll take a couple.” Marcel used tongs, and I ended up with three. I picked one up, blew on it, and still burned the roof of my mouth. “Fuck.”

He pointed to the swear jar, which was more of a bucket really, and I tossed in a purple poker chip from the stack beside it. Two years ago, after Spider went on an expletive-ridden tirade whilst unknowingly being within earshot of Marcel’s uptight soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, Marcel had introduced a new rule. We could swear as much as we liked, but every time we did, we had to put a buck in the kitty so he could indulge in a little retail therapy after his next breakup. We used the poker chips as IOUs because who carried that much cash around? Last year, he’d used the proceeds to buy a BMW.

“Did you do the right thing and call your boyfriend yet?” he asked.

“Please, don’t start.”

Ari had secured the use of a property in McNeil, and Sin had offered to stay there, just in case the shit hit the fanbefore Cole left the country. As for Cole himself, he’d texted me several more times today, but the messages were tailing off. Good. I simply wanted to find AceInTheHole, break his spine, and get on with the rest of my life. Thanks to that prick, I’d already wasted four hours at the hospital this morning because Doc Martinsson insisted on a CT scan to see whether I’d done any further damage to my leg when I cracked the cast. I hadn’t, thank fuck. He’d given me a new cast and a lecture and then grudgingly let me go with instructions to come back next week for a checkup.

I checked my watch. In a few minutes, I’d leave to have lunch with Ari and discuss the case. Seeing as Ari was staying at the Galaxy and I had to avoid the place, we’d decided to get together at the Black Diamond. Meanwhile, her buddy Lila was helping to trawl through the Galaxy’s accounting system—Ari swore Lila knew how to keep her mouth shut—and Erin was working another case. Something to do with Ari trading investigative assistance for access to a primo surveillance spot.

Anyhow, the Black Diamond served excellent food, so maybe I should only eat one cookie? My gym use had been patchy for the past month, and now that energetic sex was no longer on the agenda, I’d have to watch my waistline.

“I’m only saying it because I care,” Marcel said. “Did you know Cole was homecoming king in high school?”

“Who the hell told you that?” And more to the point, why would I care?

He put a finger to his lips. “My sources are confidential. And you owe a buck for swearing.”

“‘Hell’ isn’t swearing, and stop poking around in my?—”

“Jezebel,” Priest warned. He’d arrived back late last night, thankfully without another wedding ring.

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