The Right Man For Revenge by Dan Ames

Author:Dan Ames
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Slogan Books

Chapter Twenty-One

There wasn’t much to choose from in Pine Beach for lodging. Pauling had secretly hoped she would be on her way back to Seattle right then, but it was a no-go. After the scene in the morgue, she wanted to stay.

And drink.

She wasn’t normally a drinker, but suddenly she wanted to feel the warm buzz from a couple glasses of wine. Or maybe a good, strong martini.

In any event, she found an overpriced but quaint hotel on the water and checked into her room, showered, and changed into jeans and a fleece pullover. Down by the bar there was a fireplace with a pair of leather chairs and a rough-hewn table. She ordered a dirty martini at the bar, sunk into the chair and when her drink was handed to her, she drank half of it in one long pull.

The fire was fake. A gas flame with artificial logs looking like a discarded prop from a B movie.

Oh well.

Why have a real fireplace in a location like this? Where would you get firewood? It’s not like the area was surrounded by towering pine trees or anything.

Sarcasm wasn’t the place to go, Pauling thought to herself. Besides, it was kind of pointless when it was an audience of one.

Pauling took another drink of the martini and thought about what she’d seen. Not good. Not good at all. It had taken a very powerful rifle to do that kind of damage and create such difficulty in being able to identify the body.

The sight of that body, Pauling thought. She gave an imperceptible shake of her head, thought about her past with Jack Reacher.

They were good memories but in light of this situation, they felt like bad thoughts.

The last of her martini went down the hatch and Pauling popped the olive into her mouth. It had been stuffed with blue cheese.

It was good, but she couldn’t have another one.

The server noticed her and Pauling asked for a glass of chardonnay.

Chief Jardine had seemed to be satisfied with her identification of Reacher. They’d exchanged business cards and Pauling was honest in telling her she was going to stay put for the night and probably leave in the morning.

Pauling wondered what it was like to be a female police chief in a place like this. It had the look of a town that would be filled with rugged lumberjacks on the weekends. Plaid shirts. Lots of facial hair. Plenty of drunk-and-disorderlies.

Rough-hewn folks who probably liked to get rough on the weekends.

Then again, Jardine seemed like she could take care of herself. A hard woman who looked like she’d seen her share of challenges and stared them down until they turned tail.

It had been that way for Pauling in the Bureau.

Most of her colleagues had been decent men, but there was always an old-school personality somewhere, sometimes even lurking in someone very young. Attitudes toward women were learned early. It took a lot of life experience to change those beliefs. She almost wished Jardine was here to compare notes.

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