Ice Lady by J Clayton Rogers

Author:J Clayton Rogers [Rogers, J Clayton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-03T04:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ringing, banging, window pane-tapping that resolved into loud pounding. Ari had never had a hangover this noisy. He sat up on his mattress and stared at the empty fold where Sphinx should have lain. The cat had been missing for several days, now. Getting eaten by a coyote would serve him right.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Shut up, you idiot!" Ari moaned lowly, knocking aside an empty whiskey bottle as he rolled off the mattress. It was a good thing he had not yet invested in a real bed. He might have broken his arm in the fall. He had burned the candle well beyond its midnight nub. Both the Americans and the insurgents had a great fondness for digital images of atrocities, many of which showed up on Ari's computer screen. In addition to identifying the killers, he was tasked with trying to supply names of their victims. Time-consuming, stomach-churning, a great robber of sleep.

The door shuddered under renewed blows. It couldn't be Karen and Fred. They had copies of the house keys and could let themselves in any time the whim took them—which was all too often, to Ari's thinking. Could it be the police? They knew where he was, but not who he was. Well, RPD Officers Jackson and Mangioni had learned the truth from his own lips, but they knew how to keep a secret. And they certainly would not tear down his door. They had too much respect for Ari to do something like that. And an assassin would be far more discreet. He could not imagine the Midget behaving in this manner.

Pulling himself up, he slopped his feet across the bare wood floor and tottered down the carpeted stairs. The entire house gonged with wrath. Could it be the children of Peter Pan, the man once hired to protect him? Had he come to harm? They had warned Ari that they would be back if something happened to their father. But he had not seen Peter for many weeks now. Ari could not be held to account if the former SEAL tripped over his own feet. Could he?

Convinced this could not be a killer, Ari flung open the heavy door and almost caught a roundhouse from a fist aimed at the wood paneling. DeJune lost his balance and fell into Ari's arms.

"Good catch, Ari," said a half-thwarted voice at the base of the stoup. "I'm surprised you weren't knocked over. I can smell you from here. Didn't know my cat-sitter was a lush."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Constable. I am currently indisposed."

DeJune pushed away and bumped into Horace coming up behind him.

"Maybe all of you are drunk." Lawson began plying his stout rubber-tipped cane like a missionary beating off a charge of heathens. They quickly cleared out of the way as he rumbled into the foyer. Ari, in his current state, could not hide his surprise. Lawson produced a snarl that had been boiling in the depths of his personal hell. "Didn't think I knew where you lived? I've got eight full-time detectives on my payroll and a whole slew on call.

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