Page 40 of Rest In Pink

Pete shrugged. “Got to love all those law-and-order politicians living in gated communities with private security letting everyone outside have guns. Hard to tell the good guys from the bad."

I spotted someone heading this way out of the corner of my eye and so did he. We both turned to look. George was walking down the street in his ridiculous cowboy boots with a pump shotgun in one hand. He looked pretty damn good to me.

Pete nodded. “Nice town,” he said again and put on his sunglasses. He cranked his engine. His two partners looked startled but followed suit. By the time George arrived, they had roared away toward Route 52.

“What the hell was that?” George demanded.

“A probe,” I said.

“A what?”

“They wanted to see what would happen.” I watched them disappear around the bend.

“And?” George asked. “Will they be back?”

“I don’t know.” I looked him in the eyes. “Thanks for backing me up.”

“Well, hell, Vince, did you think I wouldn’t?” he said, sounding pissed.

“No. I just didn’t know you were in the neighborhood.”

“Where the hell else would I be?” he said.

Burney was often a pain in the ass, but there were some really good things about it.

Chapter Seventeen

I got a call from Ken Porter right after lunch as I was finishing up the Chapter Three rewrite.

“Why do I have a feeling this is bad news?” I said when I answered.

“Hello to you, too. Not bad news, just a head’s up. Faye Blue came by about ten minutes ago wanting to break the rental agreement for the Blue House. She said it hurts her heart that her dear little granddaughter is in the family home with strangers.”

“I’ll kill her.”

“No, wait,” Ken said. “I told her that would probably not be a problem—”

“What?”

“—and that all she’d have to do was get Margot’s permission, since the house actually belonged to her as part of her inheritance from Navy. And give the rent money back. As soon as she put a cashier’s check for forty thousand dollars on my desk, I could refund Anemone the rent money she’d paid, all four months in advance. And then she could move back in.”

I closed my eyes in relief. “She doesn’t have it.”

“Of course not,” Ken said. “And Margot is not going to allow her. Faye’s position is that Anemone has so much money, she wouldn’t ask for it back.”

“How does she think Anemone got all her money? By being stupid?”

“Faye doesn’t think,” Ken said. “She needs. Everybody else is supposed to get out of her way. I also told her I couldn’t act for her since she was breaking contracts and in real estate, my word is my bond.”

“I thought real estate had the same amount of graft as everything else.”

“Probably more,” Ken said. “I just don’t want to deal with her ever again. She’s coming after that kid, Liz.”

“She’s not going to get her. Margot will be back at the end of the month, clean and sober, and Faye will be out of luck. Peri’s got me and Anemone and Vince on her side.”

“And me,” Ken said.

“See?” I said. “I wouldn’t bet against the four of us on anything.”

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