Page 30 of Long Gone

We both knew he wasn’t talking about the whiskey.

“I should have turned you in,” I stated, sweat breaking out on the back of my neck. No one knew I was back here. He could kill me and get rid of my body. I had something huge to hold over his head, and he was trusting me with his secret. Then again, we both knew I was part of the whole showdown, and if I tried to turn him in, I could end up implicating myself.

If I were an honorable person, I would have done just that, outcome be damned.

We both also knew that I wasn’t going to do it.

“Do you really want to talk about that?” he asked dryly. “I thought we covered that this afternoon.”

I took another sip of my drink, a smaller one this time, letting it linger on my tongue. God this was good.

“No,” I finally said. “I don’t.”

He nodded in acknowledgment. After a moment, he said, “You like filing at Morgan, Hightower, and Adams?”

“Would I be looking into Hugo Burton’s disappearance if I did?” I asked with a wry laugh.

“Thought about working somewhere else?”

I sat up, wondering if he was about to offer me a job. I needed to shut that down ASAP. “I got my P.I. license. This is my first official case.”

His eyes brightened. “Is that so? You freelancing for now?”

“This case is for my father’s firm, one of the partners, but yeah, I think I’d like to start my own business.”

He took a sip from his glass. “Hale could probably throw a few things your way.”

“Why would you help me?” I asked, suddenly on guard. “I understand why you’re giving me information about Hugo Burton and Brett Colter, but why tell me that Hale might have work for me? What’s in it for you?”

He laughed, his eyes sparkling with it. “Are you always so suspicious?”

“Yes.”

“You said you know why I’m giving you info on Burton and Colter. What did you deduce?”

I took another sip, my gut beginning to warm as the muscles in my neck began to loosen. “Obviously, you’re interested in finding out what happened to Hugo Burton. I don’t know exactly why, but you hope to gain something from it.”

“Why can’t I just want to help out a down-on-her-luck fired police detective?”

“First of all, I wasn’t fired, and second, you’re not the altruistic type.”

He took another drink, finishing off his whiskey. He set the empty glass on the arm of the chair. “We worked well together on your last case. Maybe we could work on this one too.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Which man are you interested in?” I held up my free hand. “Wait, don’t tell me. Brett Colter.”

He was silent for a moment before he said, “Let’s just say one of the men involved in this did something truly heinous, and I intend to make him pay for it.” The look in his eyes was murderous.

Colter or Burton? Did he want to find Burton and exact his revenge? But what could Hugo Burton have done that was truly heinous? And what was the connection to Larkspur Limited?

“And you plan deliver your own justice,” I said flatly. “Just like with the Sylvester brothers.”

He gave me a dark look. “You think the law is on our side?”

“Hey, I’m not on your side. I’m on the side of truth.”

“Maybe I’m on the side of truth too,” he said.

“I could lie and tell you I’m tempted to use your help, but I’m too tired.” I finished off the whiskey and set the glass on the table. “I think I’d like to try to solve this one on my own.”

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