Shadow of Doubt (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 1) by Hailey Edwards

Author:Hailey Edwards [Edwards, Hailey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-06T22:00:00+00:00

Nine

The cleaners arrived as Ford threw his truck into park, telling me that Midas had placed his calls back to back, and they started squawking about contamination before their bootied feet hit the ground. I didn’t have to look far to find Midas. He stood beneath a tow-away sign in front of the rear entrance, the one directly off I-20 West, dressed in the same clothes he had worn on his date.

The outfit was carefully bland and a size too large. I could see Midas hanging the stiff khaki pants and saggy button-down shirt in his closet on a hanger labeled Mate Repellant for the nights his mom set him up with women. If he hoped the drab outfit detracted from his looks, he was out of luck.

The man was beautiful. Physically perfect. As long as you didn’t look in his eyes. That’s where his truth lived, and it was stark, a silent scream that I alone seemed to hear.

“Wait here,” I told Bonnie, who was alibied for this murder. “You don’t want to see what’s out there.”

The corgi, who had seen worse, seeing as how she had scouted Perkerson Park, disagreed with me.

“I can’t draw attention to myself, or to you, by bringing a pet on-scene.”

Ears pinned to her skull, Bonnie bit my hand just shy of breaking skin, and I yelped.

“She’s right.” Ford attempted to reason with her. “You need to stay put for this.”

When she turned her head to look out the window, ignoring us, I took it on faith that she would behave.

We hit the asphalt in the parking lot, but Ford kept glancing over his shoulder as we crossed to Midas.

“Are you scared she’ll pee on your seats?” I elbowed him in the ribs. “Or worse?”

“Definitely or worse.” He threw a companionable arm around my shoulders. “You should have seen her tackle the elevator doors. Her teeth and jaws are like fu—, I mean, freaking can openers. Bonnie will get to you if she decides she needs to, truck or no truck.”

“You can curse in front of me. I’ve heard worse.” I had a big brother with a big mouth, not that I could admit it to Ford. “I won’t clutch my pearls or swoon or do anything girly.”

Not that there was anything wrong with acting feminine, but girly was shorthand that encompassed a set of behaviors men automatically understood thanks to a lifetime of societal programming.

Midas stood with his hands in his pockets, and his gaze traced the curve of Ford’s arm where it wrapped around my shoulders.

“Another tip?” I shrugged off Ford and approached Midas. “Did you speak to the caller directly this time?”

“Yes.” He craned his neck. “Where’s Snowball?”

“In the truck.” I hauled him back on track. “Tip? Caller?”

“The caller was male. He dialed the den’s landline and asked for me. Dispatch doesn’t hand out our numbers, but they did transfer him to my cell. He sounded young, Southern, and he told me that he stumbled over a packmate on his way to the parking lot.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.