Page 35 of Resolution

“You think he planned on getting his hands on the whole cache of gems and selling them too?” Miguel asked, sounding flabbergasted.

“We know Aston thinks he’s smarter than anyone else,” Cassidy said. “And if he was in debt to the cartel to the tune of fifty million bucks, a bunch of untraceable stones worth a fortune would certainly help him settle that debt.”

“He’s gotta be the biggest idiot on the planet,” I said. “He’s playing Russian roulette with a cartel and rogue CIA agents. Aston either has some massive balls or he’s the biggest gambler of all.”

“Or both,” Cassidy said.

I looked down at Miguel when he sighed. He had his hand on his forehead again. “You need to get in bed, Miguel.”

Cassidy and Mike immediately stood up. “We’ve kept you guys too long, but it’s been good to talk through things. If it’s okay, we’re going to stop by your office to talk with Judy to look at that Cayman Island account she found.”

We both stood as well. “Of course, guys.” We shook hands and walked them to the door.

Mike frowned at us. “Stay put and don’t open the door to anyone until Lincoln’s guys get here.”

I sighed. “Fine. Do you know their names?”

The detectives exchanged a glance. “Rayburn and Perez, I think?” Cassidy said. He pointed at Miguel. “Keep your gun close and get some rest. You look like dog chow.”

I laughed before shutting the door and locking it up tight.

Chapter Nine

RAVEN

After Mike and Cassidy left the house, I sent Miguel to bed, making sure he was comfortable, and took my iPad along with a book, out to the living room. I needed to get out of my head. Everything Cassidy and Mike had shared with us had been fascinating. Of course, we’d done our own sharing, and were really happy we’d been able to give them some information they didn’t know.

As always, I was proud of Judy for digging up what we knew about the Cayman Islands trust fund account that Benedict Flores had set up for Tawny. As far as his partnership with our new client went, I really hoped Brian Leopard was innocent and had no hand in his partner’s death. He’d struck both Miguel and I as an honest man who’d legitimately come to us for answers. I really liked the peculiar man.

When Cassidy talked about Dave Reynolds’ murder, it made me sad all over again. If Aston really had orchestrated his death, arranging for a cartel goon to kill the investigator, then leaving his body to rot in an abandoned hellhole, I wanted to see him in jail. That kind of cruelty was a horror. I’d always thought there was something off about the guy. I wasn’t the best judge of character, but it was easy to believe Gregory Aston was dirty.

The fact that Aston had represented the cartel in past legal cases, kind of said it all to me. He reminded me of that sleazy mob lawyer who’d represented John Gotti back in the day. I wasn’t naïve. I believed that under our system of justice, everyone deserved their day in court, even the really vile criminals, but there was something about those high-priced defense attorneys that made my skin crawl as much as their clients.

I was determined to put it all out of my head while I waited for Lincoln’s guys to come over, so I opened the paperback and reacquainted myself with it so I could write a Nightcrawler review. I wasn’t keeping up with the blog like I should. But maybe after all this nonsense was over and done with and we’d earned a little money for these recoveries, I could take Miguel away with Nana to Arizona like I planned. I’d see to it that she visited the medicine man, and I’d alternate between screwing my beautiful partner and reading good books. I set down the paperback after familiarizing myself with it, picked up my device, and began writing.

Book title: A Pringle in Time

Author: Jonathan Staid

Publisher: Self-published

Genre: M/M Erotic Romance/sci-fi

Review/rating by Nightcrawler: <5 Stars

Synopsis:

A mysterious object appears in the middle of a football field, baffling authorities with figuring out how to determine exactly what it is. The mystery is compounded by the fact that young children are attracted to it.

My review:

I have to admit that for the first time, I’m confused by what the hell I read. I mean, I know it was a book with pages and words, and though, I’d like to leave my review there, Nightcrawler realizes that you, my loyal readers, have come to expect more from me.

This book was hard to figure out and as always, I looked at the categories and shelves where it was listed for answers. I really need to stop doing that because I consider myself a fairly intelligent person. I know that the cart doesn’t come before the horse, the tail doesn’t wag the dog, and that I really am faster than my shadow. I’ve read my share of MM Romances and even some in the sci-fi subcategory which were really good, but this book, didn’t seem to fit the MM Romance category. It had no gay characters other than a professor who did a lot of talking, and by the author’s own account, looked very “homosexual” in his Tom Ford suit, pink tie, and Manolo Blahnik boots.

PUHLEEZ

I suppose—and I preface this by saying I wouldn’t really call it sci-fi either—that the gigantic Pringle potato chip’s sudden appearance in the center of a high school football field in the midst of a homecoming game, might make it so. I guess you’d have to call that the beginning of the book. The children, parents, coaches, cheerleaders, and the players, kind of freaked out and began running from the stadium which then turned into pandemonium. Authorities were called and then suddenly young children started showing up. None of them had parents, which was unexplained. I guess you’d call that the middle of the book.

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