Page 33 of Shenanigans

Dutch narrowed his eyes. “Did you get his last name? Address? Phone number? A description?”

“Nope.”

“We have to work on your interview skills.”

I eyed Dutch suspiciously. “We?”

“We’re joined at the hip until I locate and arrest Tomas Lopez.”

Dread knotted my stomach. Was he serious? “I have a business to run and I don’t have time to play cops and robbers.”

“Make time,” Dutch retorted.

Jana scowled. “You can’t force Kandi to work with you.”

“Can’t I?” Grim amusement came and went in Dutch’s eyes. “Her Ninja Nun antics allowed Tomas to escape.”

“I. Am. Not. The Ninja Nun,” I protested.

Dutch raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Funny. Those steel-toed boots you’re wearing are an exact match to the ones the Ninja Nun had on.”

“What?” I stared down at my boots. There’s no way he could tell that.

“Anyone can buy a pair on Amazon,” Jana insisted.

The detective smirked. “True, but those chew marks on the heel are quite distinctive.”

“Nice try, princess, but today is the first time you saw the chew marks,” I responded.

“Did I?”

The sneaky detective was trying to trick me into saying it was too dark in the warehouse for him to see the chew mark. “Yes.”

A smile touched Dutch’s mouth. “You have two choices Kandi. Help me or sit in jail for the next week. You pick.”

“Gee. Tough decision.”

“I knew you were a smart girl.” Dutch said, a gloating note in his voice.

My hands curled into fists. Forget the hot monkey sex, I’d settle for punching him in the mouth.

“I’m calling my lawyer and don’t do anything stupid Kandi,” Jana proclaimed and stormed off.

Define stupid. I held up my phone. “I need to call my client.”

“There’s no cell service in the sub-basement,” Dutch advised.

I looked around for a land line but didn’t see one.

Dutch prompted, “What else did Dead Maria tell you?”

“Tomas threatened to feed her sister to his killer pit bull if she didn’t tell him where Julio was.”

“And,” Dutch prodded.

“Maria thought Tomas might be hiding out at his meat packing plant on Broadway,” I responded.

Dutch nodded. “I know the place. Lopez has a slew of vicious pit bulls guarding the slaughterhouse.

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