Page 25 of The Perfect Crime

“Okay, Marcus Vega is a two-faced liar,” he said, his voice rising and his face starting to turn red.“He’ll spend months wining and dining you to make a deal, then drop you like a bad habit the second that things get complicated.But I don’t want to speak ill of the guy.”

“No, definitely not,” Jessie said sarcastically, egging him on.“Sounds like you’re not his biggest fan though.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” he said.“So what did he do—cheat someone else?”

“Did he cheatyou?”Jessie challenged.

Forrester took a moment to ponder the question before answering.

“Maybe not technically cheat, but he’s not a stand-up guy.”

“Why do you say that?”Ryan asked.

“Because we had a handshake deal and then he backed out of it like a weak-kneed little bitc—like a baby—because his overlords in San Franscisco got cold feet.”

“Why did they get cold feet?”Jessie asked innocently.

Forrester looked briefly like he might not answer, but then did.

“They claimed I was too volatile to work with.”

“What would possibly make them say that?”Jessie wondered, sounding offended on his behalf.

“Just some stuff in my past,” he said with a dismissive wave, “from years ago.”

Jessie decided that now, when he seemed to think she was on his side, was the ideal time to pounce and see how he reacted.

“Were they concerned about the DUI?”she asked, “or was it the drunk and disorderly charge?Or maybe the assault on a co-worker?”

She smiled sweetly as his already red face turned a deeper shade of scarlet.He suddenly stood up again and pressed his palms flat on his desk, pushing down so hard that his knuckles turned white.

“Oh, I see,” he said acidly, “so this whole curious Pollyanna routine has been a front.You’re actually just as two-faced as Vega.”

He took his hands off the desk and squeezed them into tight fists.Jessie wasn’t sure if he was doing that in anticipation of getting physical or if it was just an involuntary response to being pushed so hard.Either way, she didn’t back off.

“I guess I am,” she said sharply, standing up herself.“You care to share what you do when confronted by two-faced cheats?”

The question hung in the air like a challenge.She waited to see if he’d accept it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“How about everyone sit back down?”Ryan suggested, trying to sound casual despite the tension in the room.

“How about you tell your lady friend not to cast aspersions on my character?”Forrester shot back as droplets of sweat magically appeared on his forehead.

“How about you answer the question I asked instead of acting like a pouty little schoolgirl?”Jessie demanded.

“Ms.Hunt,” Ryan said, his tone calm but his eyes intense, “let’s turn the temperature down and give Mr.Forrester a chance to answer your question.”

It was clear that he thought she’d pushed too hard, to the point of being counterproductive.And maybe he was right.She realized that she’d become less interested in studying his body language as he squirmed at her questions and more intent on getting him to make a mistake that would let her take him down.

Her nerve endings were jangling and she felt a strong desire to punch the man in the throat but she did her best to ignore, pretended like nothing was amiss, and sat back down.Forrester reluctantly followed suit.

“So where were we?”Ryan asked.

Jessie was happy to remind him.

“Mr.Forrester was about to explain why Marcus Vega backed out of their deal.”

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