Bounty Hunter Ransom. Kara Lennox

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СКАЧАТЬ or they’d make her go to the hospital for sure.

      “Tell me what happened,” he insisted. “Did you get a look at the guy?”

      “No. He came at me from behind. He was white, and I can make an educated guess about his height, but that’s it. Oh, wait a minute.” She thought for a moment. “I bit him.”

      “What?” Beau actually grinned. “You tiger, you.”

      “Oh, shut up. I did some damage to his right forearm. I remember tasting blood.”

      Beau grew serious. “You might have some biological evidence in your mouth. We should swab it out right away, before your own saliva washes away the—”

      “It’s no good. I, um, threw up afterward and rinsed my mouth out.”

      “Hell.”

      Aubrey felt a bit calmer now, and she had to admit she was actually grateful for Beau’s presence. Whatever he’d done in the past, he’d never intended to hurt her, and she knew he could protect her better than just about any man alive. He’d been good as a cop, and was even better as a bounty hunter. Unfortunately.

      A squad car pulled up and a young, lone patrolman got out. Aubrey quickly told her story. He looked at her and took a quick tour of the house to make sure the perpetrator was really gone, then called for an evidence team, a detective and paramedics.

      “I don’t need the paramedics,” she objected.

      “Let them at least look at you,” Beau said.

      The cop, who’d ignored Beau until now, suddenly focused his attention on him. “Who are you?”

      “A friend,” Aubrey answered quickly before Beau could smart off. He’d left the force with a lot of bitterness. The whole department, he’d claimed, had been riddled with incompetence and downright corruption. Aubrey’s brother had been only a small part of it but Beau’s superiors were unwilling to go after the big fish. Beau had quit in protest.

      “And where were you when all this happened?” the cop asked.

      “He wasn’t here,” Aubrey said.

      “I can answer for myself,” Beau said evenly. He handed the cop a card that read First Strike Bounty Hunters. It featured a logo of a coiled snake and the motto, Code of the Cobra.

      “Beau Maddox,” the cop read aloud. “I know who you are. You’re the one who brought in Gavin Schuyler.” He glanced down at his notepad, then at Aubrey, then back at Beau. “Schuyler?”

      “Gavin’s my brother.”

      “And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll drop the subject before she gets started,” Beau said, as if she were the one who’d done something wrong.

      “Okay, that’s it.” She pointed toward the street. “Go.”

      The cop shrugged as if to say, Women. “Better do what she says. She might bite you, too.” The two men shared a look that infuriated Aubrey further. Men were such jerks sometimes.

      An unmarked car pulled into Aubrey’s driveway behind the squad car, and a detective with reddish-brown hair got out. He wore a long-sleeved shirt despite the oppressive heat, his tie neatly knotted.

      Then she realized she knew him, which wasn’t all that surprising. She’d met lots of men and women from the force when she hung out with her brother and his friends, including Beau, once his very best friend. That seemed a lifetime ago.

      The detective was Lyle Palmer. He’d been one of the regulars, along with Beau and Gavin, who hung out at Dudley’s Blue Note after hours. Dudley’s was a cop bar that hadn’t changed one square foot of Formica since the fifties. The cops liked the no-frills atmosphere and the cheap, strong drinks.

      Aubrey had spent quite a few hours there, too, during grad school, always hoping Beau would finally notice her. Looking back on it, she found her previous crush on him pathetic. She’d brought Patti with her a couple of times, hoping to get her interested in a higher caliber man than she normally dated. Lyle had taken an instant shine to Patti, but she’d rebuffed his flirtation—rather rudely, Aubrey recalled. Later she’d said there was no way she was dating a cop, especially one that reminded her of Howdy Doody.

      “Aubrey.” Lyle treated her to a warm smile. “When I heard your name, I volunteered—” His gaze flickered to Beau, then fixed on him. “Maddox? Might have known I’d find you in the thick of trouble.”

      Aubrey recall that the two men hadn’t liked each other, but the specifics eluded her.

      “When did you make detective?” Beau asked mildly, not rising to the bait.

      Lyle puffed up a bit. “Around the first of the year.”

      “Yeah? Whose ass did you have to lick to get the promotion?”

      Lyle’s eyes narrowed. “I could make your life miserable, you know.”

      Aubrey cleared her throat. “This isn’t helping.”

      Lyle returned his attention to her, looking contrite. “Sorry. What the hell happened here?”

      So she told her story again, adding little bits as she remembered them, and the patrolman added his two cents before taking off.

      “Listen, Lyle, I’m really worried about my cousin Patti. You remember her, right?” She tensed, waiting for a negative reaction. But Lyle remained ultraprofessional.

      “Yeah, I remember.”

      “I was in a meeting when she called me on my cell phone sounding terribly upset. And when I got here, she and the baby were gone, and some guy was in my house.”

      “But you say her car wasn’t here when you arrived home?” Lyle asked.

      “That’s right.”

      “Maybe she knew bad news was on the way and she cleared out ahead of it. She’s, um, been in a bit of trouble in the past.”

      Aubrey glanced at Beau, who was still here just to drive her crazy, she was sure. She pleaded with her eyes for him to keep quiet. “Patti has kept her nose clean for over a year, ever since she found out she was pregnant.”

      “Is it possible someone from her past has come back to bother her?” Lyle asked, jotting a few notes.

      “I suppose. Oh, wait, maybe that’s it! There’s Charlie Soffit, Sara’s father. He’s a low-life biker. He kicked her out when Patti told him she was pregnant, but then he keeps coming around to harass her. But he’s never been violent. I think…well, Patti’s father is rich.”

      “I know who Patti’s father is,” Lyle said, which wasn’t surprising. Wayne Clarendon was one of Payton’s most prominent citizens, a descendant of the town’s founder.

      “I think Charlie wants a piece of that,” Aubrey continued, “and he thinks he can get it by using Sara.”

      “Does he have any visitation rights?” Beau asked.

      Lyle СКАЧАТЬ