Page 30 of Three
“Really? And it’s an ordinary occurrence for you to be seen with a murderer.” His tone is flat, his eyes have turned stony.
I don’t fucking like that, I want his serious, angry look back. “Yes, actually, a daily occurrence.” I can see he thinks I’m joking. But I’m being honest here. I’m a killer like the rest of my family. But it doesn't seem to work, so I try a different approach. “You paid for your crime. You were sent to prison and released early for good behavior.”
“The fact that you can get inside databases and read police reports or find old newspaper articles doesn’t mean you can get to the truth of a matter. But only to the half-truths that float on the surface.” His heated speech hits me right in the gut. Because finding him guilty is what is wrong with our society. It was just a way for the police department, together with the judicial system, to show to the public that policemen too have to follow the law. Even though what Hunter did was fucking justified, he was made the example. A fucking pawn.
I can see he’s close to standing up and leaving, so I add, “You’re right, the truth comes only by talking to a person and observing them and listening to them. That’s what I’m doing.” I load my words with sincerity.
His gaze sharpens on me. I could very much do this by myself, I don’t need help. But after reading about Hunter’s past? I feel like there’s something about him, and I’m not talking about his dick. Although at first, it was the only reason I looked into him because,duh, he’s a fucking vision. But he’s good at what he does. We could work well together. His physical appearance is more like an incentive now.
So, I tell him, “August Baker was a hitman, and the next person on his list was Malcom Bindy.”
“Was?”
He saw me kill the mercenary, I don’t need to put into words what I did to August.
“Did he tell you that?” he asks.
“Would you believe me if I said I tickled his feet till he confessed?” Maybe he felt a tingle when I cut one off.
“Did you pop one of those pills from Malcom’s?”Is he teasing me now? So, he does have a light side to him.
I smirk. “I have my methods. Like you have yours, Grizzly.” The way he worked Marcus Baker to get information is impressive. Just like the rest of him. I slowly blink and slide my eyes over his wide chest. I want to open the rest of the Henley’s buttons and see more of his skin.
“I do shake people to get information.” He runs his hand over his shaved head, displaying his huge bicep and mountainous pec. If this is his idea of flirting, he’s damn good at it.
“I bet,” I cough into my fist.I wish he’d shake me. Too many wishes lately. “Tell me about the attacks.”
“A car tried to run my bike off the road and into a pile of wooden planks. Thirty minutes later I’m pretty sure I saw that same car driving away after I got shot at,” he calmly says, fumbling with his bracelet.
“When did that happen? Where? Did you see their faces?” I ply him with questions, even though I know Hunter is a skilled investigatorwho’s been through worse.
“Three nights ago. On the way to St. Benedict Cemetery. The shooting inside the cemetery. No, but I got a partial plate.”
“A cemetery at night? Kinky.” I wink at him. I want to ask him what he was doing there, but seeing how hard it was to make him talk, I’ll get an answer faster if I dig myself. I tap my bracelet to put my AI on speaker. “Serena, I want visual on St. Benedict Cemetery three nights ago.” I instruct Hunter, “Tell her what street you were driving on, at what time, what cemetery entrance, and the partial plate.”
“I have someone working on it already,” Hunter replies.
Since he’s been a P.I. for two years, he must have some techie. “Serena is better, right, darling?”
“Yes, Daddy,” she answers.
Grizzly must see the wince on my face because he says, “Not into daddy kinks.”
“Are you taking notes for later?” I pucker my lips, and his eyes fall there.
He grunts unfathomably and then gives Serena the information she needs.
When he’s done, he asks, “Why does she call you Daddy?”
“A petty, vengeful brother-in-law and the fact that I created her may have something to do with it,” I let him know.
“Can’t you simply make her stop?”
“I could. But I won’t. Serena is my baby, I don’t like to screw with her brain.” Which may sound stupid to most people since she’s an AI, but she is unique and perfect as she is. “Also, the easy way out is boring. I’m sure I can convince her to stop calling me that somehow.”
“The first time I saw you, I thought you were a bum. Never would’ve taken you for a tech genius.” He gives me that soul-deep stare of his.
“Well, we can’t judge a book by its cover, can we?”
