Page 99 of Never Die for a Sinner
“Enough.” The look Christian throws Levi’s way sends a chill down even my spine. Levi, fortunately, has the good sense to shut his mouth for once.
“Where did you meet Cherise?”
“I would reckon that if she’s a bartender, I met her at a bar,” Levi sighs.
“What bar?”
“Don’t know. Just went to a bar.”
“You went to a bar, but you don’t remember which one?”
“You want a list?”
“I get the feeling you’re feeling defensive, Mr. Cross.”
“I get the feeling you’ve overstayed your welcome.”
“You know, death seems to follow you, Mr. Cross,” one of the detectives says, and a humming silence falls over the room. “First, your mother. Then your father. Now, it’s seeped into your work. Who’s next?”
“Guess we’ll find out.”
“We’ve been told someone showed up uninvited at the Columbia Club last week and broke Donovan Palmer’s nose. That ring a bell?”
“Can’t say it does.”
“He’s lying,” the other detective growls, but I’m too busy going over what he just said.
Suddenly, my heart’s beating like a drum.
“You got evidence?” Christian asks, kicking back in his chair. I get the feeling he knows more than he’s letting on.
“Camera had an outage at the same time as the attack. Oddly convenient, isn’t it?”
“Sure is,” Levi retorts.
“Mr. Cross—”
“It’s Levi,” he interrupts. “And if you have nothing else to assume, I’ve got somewhere to be.”
There’s a moment of silence before the polite-ish one speaks up.
“No. Nothing else.”
“For now,” the other adds. “We’re going to find out what happened to Senator Wright one way or another. No matter who we have to take down along the way.”
“Be my guest.”
Heavy footfalls sound on the other side of the door, and I jump back in a frenzy, rushing to the spare bedroom beside Christian’s office and ducking inside.
“Oh, and Cross,” the second detective calls, and the footsteps stop. I imagine Levi turning back to them.
“We’re going to need that list.”
Seconds later, I hear them pass over the sound of my racing heart.
Senator Wright . . . As in the Senator whose body just washed up in Seattle a month ago? My mind races a million miles a minute, trying to process the information.
The Burelli crime family sounds serious.
