Page 49 of Once a Killer

Bree kept her hand on her gun as she walked into the small foyer. Smith had two black eyes and tape across his nose, as if it had recently been set. “Airbag break your nose?” she asked.

He touched his nose gingerly. “Hell, yeah. That wasn’t much fun.”

“I imagine not,” she said coolly. She looked him up and down. Medium height, dark hair, dark eyes, on the slender side. Not the kind of guy most people would find threatening. Which made him even more dangerous.

He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes carefully blank. “Might as well sit down and get this over with,” he said, motioning toward two chairs and a couch in the living room.

She studied the way he walked as he headed for the couch. He had a slight limp in his right leg. Probably hit the steering wheel when the car slammed into the post. “John Smith isn’t very original. Couldn’t you think of a better name than that?”

He sat straight and stared at her. “Believe it or not, it’s my real name. Parents didn’t have a lot of imagination. Unless they were grifting.”

He’d glanced away when he said it, which made her certain it wasn’t his real name. She kept her hand firmly on her gun. His eyes flickered at it, then looked away.

He sat with his hands on his thighs, as if showing her he wouldn’t go for his own gun. But his right hand was close to his pocket. Probably had a gun in there. Wouldn’t take more than a second or two for him to slide his hand inside and fire that gun.

“Okay, Mr. Smith. I just have a few questions for you. Who hired you?”

“I have no idea,” he said immediately. The fingers on his right hand twitched, and she watched his hand. “I was hired via an intermediary. A guy I use to book jobs. He didn’t give my name to his customer, didn’t give the customer’s name to me. And no, I won’t give you my intermediary’s name. He keeps me working and pays me well.” His eyes flicked to her gun again.

“Okay, then who gave you your orders?”

“Communicated with the client via email. An untraceable account. When I tried to trace it, I got an ‘account doesn’t exist’ message.”

“What were your orders?”

“To ram my car into his. Hurt the guy, but don’t kill him.”

“Why hurt the guy?” she asked.

Smith shrugged. “Client didn’t tell me. Guess he just wanted to throw a scare into him.”

He’d said it all with no hesitation. No stumbling. So either he was telling the truth or had rehearsed his story. After she’d taken his IDs, he’d probably been expecting her. “You know I’ll have to report you to the police,” she said, her hand still resting on her Glock. “You almost killed him the first time you rammed his car.”

Smith stared at her, his eyes flat. “The other day was the first time I hit him.”

Bree stared right back. He was lying. He probably had a whole set of lies worked out. Her fingers curled around her gun’s grip. “You really expect me to believe that? There were two attempts to hit my guy. Two days ago, and a week or two before that. You think it’s reasonable to believe that two different people were involved? I don’t, and the police won’t think so, either.”

He sat straight, and his right hand moved a little closer to his pocket. He glanced again at her hand on the gun, as if assessing how quickly she could fire it, and she tightened her grip a bit. He was way too focused on her gun. Which was okay, because she was focused on his.

“What was the date of the first collision?” he finally asked.

Bree pulled out her phone and used one hand to open her calendar. She’d scribbled down everything that had happened to Jameson -- it helped to see it all laid out in one place. “It was two and a half weeks ago.”

“Date?” Smith asked, pulling out his own calendar.

“July 16.”

Smith shook his head. “I was out of town that day. On another job.”

“That’s convenient,” Bree said.

He lifted one shoulder. “Don’t care if you believe it or not. On July 16, I wasn’t in Chicago.”

“Where were you?”

He looked up at that. Turned off his phone and slid it into his pocket. “None of your business. Wasn’t connected to your guy in any way.”

“Can I see your calendar to confirm that?”

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