Page 18 of Fear the Reaper
“Late meetings. Early meetings. Business trips. Emergency hearings…”
“I’m sorry, Star.”
“Yeah—turns out I was falling in love with the jerk and all I was to him was a fucking meeting.”
She covered her ears for a moment and I assumed it was from ringing. That often happened when someone was close to a blast. I gave her time.
When she dropped her hands into her lap, I cleared my throat. I cringed to ask her anymore questions, but I had to. “Do you think he’s holding a grudge?”
“I don’t know.” She met my gaze. “Probably. He’s serving a life sentence for murder.”
“That escalated quickly.” I muttered. “Who did he kill?”
“His secretary. Blames her for getting caught.”
“How the hell does that work?”
She shrugged. “Because she wasn’t at her desk to stop me when I arrived at the office. Things just went terribly wrong with the whole thing.”
“Okay. I’ll find him and have a little chat. In the mean time we need to verify—”
A knock interrupted our chat and I rose. The weight of the gun in my waist reminded me of its presence as I made my way to the door. A woman stood there, red hair and fiery green eyes. She was hugging a couple of large grocery bags to her chest.
I opened the door. “Yes?”
“You must be Reaper,” she said. “Tadaa! The Calvary is here!”
I chuckled. “Molly, I presume.”
“Yes. Be a doll and help me with these bag, would you?” Molly asked. “I have a couple more in the truck.”
I nodded, stepped aside so she could enter then hurried out to her truck. I gathered all the bags I could find and carried them back into the house. After I set them down on the kitchen counter, I went back to lock up.
Star made an appearance then and the two women hugged. I made myself busy in the kitchen by unpacking the bags as they left me alone to chat in peace. I figured Star could use a woman’s presence after all she’d been through.
Nova “Star” Shuman
Molly,I hadn’t been used to. But if she was sent over by Montana, she was cool in my books. I’d seen her twice before and though we hadn’t had a chance to speak, she seemed okay.
I stood by the window, back to the glass, hands pressed in behind my back. The room around us fell into silence. It made my heart race. The fear of another bomb lurking around was enough threaten to drive me mad—so much so, me head pulsed behind my eyes.
“What are you thinking?” Molly asked.
“I think the better question should be, what am I not thinking?”
Molly chuckled. “Okay. Let’s break it all down. Throw one at me.”
“Has Reaper ever been married?” It was out my lips before I could silence it.
Molly smiled and I bowed my head.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Molly said. She got up to close the door before sitting again. “I don’t suppose so—I mean, Montana would have told me, right? I’ve only met him just now. I’m sure you know he kind of vanished after he retired from the force.”
I nodded.
“I, personally, don’t really know much about him.” Molly continued. “But the guys trust him. They think he’s good people and that’s enough for me. Why?”
Without thinking, I shrugged.
