Toxic by Carol Ericson

Author:Carol Ericson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Ronnie gave Maya a hug before dropping her arm from her shoulder. “J.P., this is Maya.”

Should he pretend not to remember the name? “Hey, Maya.”

“She’s the waitress who took off a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, Maya. Isn’t it a little late to be coming back to work?”

He stepped down into the room and parked his backside against one of the tables, cocking his head.

“Maya’s not here to work, obviously. She heard about Diego.”

At the sound of the bartender’s name, Maya choked and covered her mouth.

J.P. nodded. “Yeah, that’s rough. Good friend of yours, huh?”

“Yes.” Maya sniffled and dragged the back of her hand under her nose.

“Cops talk to you yet?”

“No.” Maya clutched Ronnie’s arm.

“Maya doesn’t want to talk to the cops.” Ronnie patted Maya’s hand. “She’s scared.”

“Why are you scared?”

“D-Diego and I had a thing going on.”

“Then maybe you should talk to the cops. Did Diego have any enemies?” He had one if Hal Donovan knew the bartender was fucking his girl.

Had Donovan offed Diego and sent him down here to look for Maya so Donovan could do the same to her? Donovan wouldn’t hire him to kill Diego or Maya. Although J.P. had no love for the police after the way they’d parted company, he wasn’t a killer, and Donovan had to know that.

Maya’s bottom lip trembled. “I don’t want to talk to the cops. I just want to get out of town.”

“Then why are you here?”

“She came back to see me.” Ronnie wedged a hand on her hip and drew her brows over her nose. “I’m fronting her a little cash so she can get the hell out of Dodge.”

“You don’t have much cash to front.”

Maya broke away from Ronnie and swept a small, cloth bag from the top of the bar and thrust it at Ronnie. “That’s why I want her to have this. Take it, Ronnie. I-it’s not much, but it should more than cover the money you gave me.”

“Okay, but it’s totally not necessary.” Ronnie took the bag from Maya’s shaky hand and crossed her arms over it. “Are you sure you don’t need a ride somewhere?”

“How’d you get here?” J.P. jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I didn’t see any other cars in the parking lot.”

“I came through the back.”

“You swam across the swamp?”

Maya straightened her shoulders and mopped her damp face with a napkin. “I took a boat, and I’m leaving the same way.”

“Maya.” Ronnie tossed the soft-sided bag containing Maya’s collateral on the bar. “If you’re taking extreme precautions like that, don’t you think you should go see Sheriff Culpepper? He’ll protect you.”

“I don’t think he can, Ronnie. I don’t think anyone can.”

Ronnie asked, “Why are you afraid of Diego’s killer? Do any of the rest of us have anything to fear from him?”

“No. I have to go, Ronnie.” She wrapped her arms around Ronnie. “You’re the best. Thank you so much.”

“You let me know when you get settled, okay?” Ronnie stroked the other woman’s dark hair.

Should he let Maya just walk out the door? If he detained her or followed her and she wound up dead, it would be on him.

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