Hunger Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

Author:Alexandra Sokoloff [Sokoloff, Alexandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503942721
Google: ZmditAEACAAJ
Amazon: 1503942724
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2017-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Nine

She is slung over someone’s back, being carried. Someone is climbing a rock face, seemingly straight up. The figure is slight, mere flesh and bone, but unbelievably strong. She hears muttering from whoever is carrying her.

She knows it can’t be happening. But whatever is going on, she is too weak to struggle.

She gives in to whatever it is, and slips back into unconsciousness.

Chapter Forty

Roarke and Parker walked in silence, out from the lights of the parking lot, away from the blinking neon of the cactus sign, twisting past sagebrush and real cactus. Roarke caught a whiff of creosote in the wind.

The music of the restaurant bar faded behind them and there was only the soft crunch of sand beneath their feet. The night was clear and the moon nearing full. It was no hard thing to find their way between the scrub, the delicate fronds of mimosa, the occasional Joshua tree.

Finally they were far away from the sight of the last cars, with the moon and stars the only light. Roarke stopped and motioned to a large flat rock. “Have a seat.”

Parker did as he was told, reluctantly. And Roarke rattled off what Singh had found out about him. “Your name is Corey Lewis Parker. You served in the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department from 1984 to 2013. You worked with Detective Gilbert Ortiz in Major Crimes from 2005 to 2007. You’re now a private investigator, company name Private Solutions.” He paused. “And you’re doing a little work for Ortiz under the table.”

“Sounds like you know it all,” Parker sneered.

“I want to know what Ortiz hired you to do.”

Parker was truculently silent.

“Lockup, then?” Roarke suggested.

Parker grimaced. “I’m investigating responses to—” He broke off.

“His bounty offer?” Roarke said. “Conspiracy to commit murder?”

Parker smoldered. Roarke looked out into the dark of night, and saw a Joshua tree.

For a moment he could almost see the skeleton of a girl.

Ivy.

He turned back to Parker, with barely contained fury. “A serving law enforcement official offers a bounty for rape and murder, and you’re profiting from that.” His voice dropped, low and deadly. “Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you now.”

For the first time, Parker looked truly worried.

“Oh—you’re getting it now, aren’t you? You could really not come out of this alive.”

Parker spoke fast. “I’m hired to check out people who respond to—the offer. I do background checks.”

“What are you checking for, specifically?”

Another long pause. “Criminal convictions. Firearms ownership. A history of activity in—certain online forums.”

Roarke didn’t have to ask what online forums he was talking about. “I take it none of those are disqualifiers. That’s a list of the minimum requirements.”

Parker gritted his teeth, but nodded.

“So you’re looking for people with records.”

For blackmail purposes, and to increase the chances that respondents would actually follow through.

“Yeah,” Parker answered.

“And these firearms—I’m guessing they’re not legal.”

“Right.”

Roarke paced on the sand, a million jagged stars above him. “And if candidates pass that threshold?”

Another pause. “Then my understanding is that certain information is passed on to those individuals.”

Roarke felt sick.

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