Page 108 of Pleasure Island

“Detective Hodge,” I said, surprised I could remember his name.

He nodded and took a seat across from us. His eyes strayed to Mila. “Mila, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

I smoothed a hand down her back, uncertain if she’d even heard the cop.

But she stirred and lifted her head. She blinked and focused in on the man in his rumpled suit.

“Are you up to this?” Millie asked from a few feet away, her hands clutched together at her waist.

“I’m okay,” Mila said, nodding. She offered her grandmother a wobbly smile then looked back at the cop. “What do you need to know?”

Mila tensed as the cop started to talk, but she answered each question in a fairly steady voice.

The cop nodded and jotted down some notes on the pad he held. He lapsed into silence then looked back at Mila, head cocked. “The man who attacked you – he’s given us a name. Do you know a Charles Gamble?”

I tensed, my gaze sliding to Millie.

She gave the cop a bewildered stare. “What does Charles have to do with this?”

The cop barely glanced from Mila’s face. “Do you know Charles Gamble, Miss Golding?” he pressed.

Before I could say that I’d only met my grandmother’s attorney once, there was a knock at the door.

I looked up, narrowing my eyes as a round man with a red face came rushing in. “Millie…Mila…I just heard…” He lapsed into silence at the sight of Mila sitting on my lap, his gaze jumping from me to the detective then back to Mila.

“Charles, this detective is asking about you,” Millie said in a stiff voice.

The cop turned then, rising from the seat he’d taken across from Mila and me.

“Asking about me…?” Charles offered a tight smile. “What can I do for you, detective?”

Blood roared in my ears as the cop calmly said, “Mila was attacked earlier. The man who attacked her said you sent him.”

Charles froze.

“He…I’m sorry, what?” He recovered quickly, but I’d seen the fear in his eyes.

Carefully, I started to ease Mila off my lap. The cop had his hand on his weapon and was looking at Charles with the same mistrust I felt.

“He said he’s an associate of yours and that you sent him after Mila.”

“That’s…” Charles forced a smile. “That’s absurd.”

“He gave us his phone – there are numerous calls to a Charles Gamble on it.”

“I’m a lawyer,” Charles sputtered. “Any number of people have my phone number.”

“You son of a bitch,” Millie said from behind Charles.

He spun around to her.

Millie threw the carafe of hot coffee she’d been brewing into his face. He screamed and jerked up his hands, but not in time to keep Millie from swinging out with the coffee pot.

It hit him square across the cheek, and he stumbled, falling to the side.

He curled up into a tight ball, but a cop from outside the room had rushed in, grabbing Millie’s arm before she could do anything else.

Well, except yell.

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