Page 80 of Lake
“Petra said she owned the block,” I said with a nod.
“Yeah, for almost five years now.”
“So you looked into her?” I asked just because I was curious about the woman. And maybe a little bit about her business too.
“Had to.” He didn’t say anything else on the matter and I figured it was more for the club than for me. “The name you gave me was shit too. Common enough name without being obvious. There are three in this town alone. One is in her nineties and in a nursing home with Alzheimer's. One is six feet under. And the third is fifteen years old. So none of them are what you’re looking for.”
I snatched the file out of his hand and leaned my forearms on the railing as I flipped it open.
“None of this makes sense,” I said scanning the lack of information he had found. Which I didn’t fault him for because I was pretty sure there wasn’t much to find on what I needed. Because I was almost positive this case was shit.
“I don’t think I need to tell you that it looks like a bum case. Or maybe someone ran with the wrong intel. I don’t know. I can look into more if you want me to.”
There was a long pause and I wasn’t sure how to answer. I appreciated his help and I hated to take up more of his time. Especially if it was all for nothing.
“Have you talked to the client?”
“No,” I said shaking my head thinking, not for the first time, how it was strange that Art hadn’t given me that information in the file.
I had brushed it off thinking that maybe he was getting a little loopy in his old age. But I also got the feeling that he wanted to be the one to contact the client since he’d been the one to take the case.
I had no reason not to trust him.
Or did I?
“I didn’t see that info in the file.”
“Because it wasn’t there when Art— my partner, handed the case off to me.”
“I don’t need to tell you that something isn’t right here, right?” He had a softness in his tone that made it seem like he cared more than he should have. But only because he didn’t really know me and it was odd to me that a stranger would care like that.
“Yeah,” I said in a daze. “I just need to figure some things out.”
I started to walk off, my head a spinning mess. I hadn’t even thanked him but I was too worried about what the fuck was going on to think about it.
“I’ll keep looking. If you need anything, I’m here,” he called after me.
“Yeah, thanks,” I tossed out over my shoulder as I ducked into Lake’s room.
I dialed Art again.
“Art, I need you to call me back. This case is bullshit and I need to talk to the client. I’m going to be livid if I got myself into this shit for nothing. Call me the fuck back.”
Yeah, I was a little pissed. I was miles away from home, away from my own bed. I had a broke down car that I had to pay to get fixed, which wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have to make the trek up here. Something that I wouldn’t have minded so much if it was for something real.
I was frustrated. It was time to move on. There was nothing here. So, with a mad-as-hell fire running through my veins, I stomped my way up to the garage to find out how much longer it would be until I could get on my way.
Only, the sight of Lake elbows deep in some random car had me practically skidding to a stop. I wasn’t mad that he wasn’t working on my car and maybe I should have been right now. Only, I figured he knew what he was doing and I didn’t expect him to be sitting around waiting on parts or whatever when they had a business to run.
No, I stopped for another reason altogether.
Okay, the man was hot. He had a great ass. One that was currently rendering me speechless.
And there was so much more than his looks that got me all hot and bothered. Not that he wasn’t sexy, because I found myself attracted to him even when I might have been trying to ignore it when we first met.
I would miss him, I could no longer lie to myself about that.
His dark hair that had almost a candy apple red tint to it when the light hit it just right. The freckles that dotted the bridge of his nose, so light that you really had to look to notice them. His long fingers that I imagined were smeared with grease right now. Those fingers that seemed to know my body so well. His eyes, I think I liked those the most. The way the color was cool but the way he looked at me made me feel so warm inside.
