Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“When you find this floorboard, will you just yank it up with the hammer you keep in your back pocket?” I asked, teasing. “Or would you like my help?”
Lowering her voice, she said, “Maybe I do keep a hammer in my back pocket. It’s not as if I’m incapable.”
“I don’t think you’re incapable at all. I’m simply offering to assist.”
“Because you keep a hammer in your back pocket?”
“No. But because I know how to do things. This is what I do—track down and retrieve stolen items.”
“In other words, a retrieval expert.”
I hid a smile as she fitted the pieces together. “Six years in intelligence gave me a lot of insight into how people think and how to solve problems. And I’ve been in this line of work long enough to develop some key skills, including, but not limited to, picking locks, opening safes, removing floorboards quietly, climbing through windows silently, and jumping out of windows without a sound. Running across the roof, shimmying down the trellis, then darting through the bushes, and doing it all without being seen.”
“My, my,” she said, arms folded. I couldn’t tell if she was secretly impressed or still annoyed. “Aren’t you a jack-of-all-trades?”
“I sure am,” I said, ignoring her mocking tone.
“So you want me to do the legwork, sniffing out information, so you can be Captain Adventure?”
When she put it like that, hell yes. “I think that’s a perfect partnership. One that maximizes what we both bring to the table. Or think of it like this—you’re the sniper; I’m the gun.”
“But what if I don’t need a gun, Jake? What if all I need are my eyes?” She pointed to her blue eyes. Her gorgeous, pretty-as-a-picture blue eyes that were sweet and sexy, just like the tone she was using now. This woman could work me over if I wasn’t careful. I had to stay on my guard.
“Tell you what, Ruby,” I said, in a let’s-make-a-deal voice. “Go to Eli’s on Thursday night. If he does have the diamonds lying around the house somewhere, stuff those beauties in your pocket and run back to Miami with them. I’ll call Andrew and say I failed at my mission. And you’d win.”
She didn’t answer right away. She simply watched me, studying me. “Hypothetically, if we’re partners and I went to his house to scope out the scene, would you wait quietly in a bush or behind a trellis for me? You know, in case there are dangerous guard dogs you need to rescue me from?”
“I doubt you’d need rescuing from anything. But yes, I could do that. And by the way, I know there aren’t trellises on your stepfather’s property.” I picked up one of the dessert forks, keeping my voice cool and casual.
“How do you know that?”
“It’s my job to know that. And to know that his house is on the water. He has palm trees, an orchid tree, a rose bush, an infinity pool, and a boat in a private dock. He lives in a two-story stone house with a stucco roof, purchased a year ago in a condo development called Corey’s Landing.”
“I haven’t actually been yet,” she said, chagrined, “but that all tracks with the kind of life Eli likes to lead. You do your homework.”
“Maybe I’m not just muscle. Maybe I have the brains too,” I said, tapping my temple. “So what do you say? Are you in? If we find the diamonds, we return them to their rightful owners, the Eli Fund.”
Then, I zeroed in on her soft spot, which was mine as well—looking out for others. “Look, let’s say he didn’t do it. Let’s pretend someone else did. What if you dig into this and run into that person?” I was convinced Eli was guilty, but I couldn’t rule out him having accomplices. “What if you find someone else is involved? Someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart. I’ll be your backup.”
“Like a bodyguard?”
“I give good backup, Ruby,” I said, and she managed a small smile. “And good protection.”
“That sounds kind of dirty.”
“I know. But I mean it too. What do you say? You won’t rat me out and I won’t rat you out, and we help each other find where the missing money went.” I picked up the other fork and handed it to her, holding my breath as I waited for her yes. This job would be finished a hell of a lot faster with an inside woman.
Ruby took the fork but didn’t dig in. The fork hovered over the cake. “The diamonds might be in his nightclub,” she said, like she was hot on the trail of them already. “Eli invited me to go tonight. He won’t be there.” She paused meaningfully. “But, then, they might be in a bank. In which case, I doubt your hammer or lock-picking tricks would do much good.”