Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“A fake date?’ Jayden asked.
“That isn’t important,” Shanti said.
Jayden’s lovely brown eyes narrowed, making them still lovely, but also scary. “So you want info from me, but you aren’t offering full disclosure in return?”
I could see this wasn’t quite fair.
Shanti could too.
“Okay, so Kev was stealing stuff from women he met on dating apps,” Shanti said.
Bad idea.
Jayden looked mad again.
Or madder.
We all scooted back another step.
This time, when we did, Willow made a strange noise, so I looked to her to see her cheeks aflame.
I then looked beyond her to see she’d bumped into Gabe and was now butted up against his tall, built frame. It was then I saw Gabe’s rugged, gorgeous face seemed carved from stone, but he had a hand curled around her waist.
Interesting.
Jayden brought my attention back to him by demanding of Shanti, “And you didn’t tell me?”
“We were in the midst of catching him in the act when Trev showed,” Shanti explained.
Jayden stared at Shanti.
Shanti stared at Jayden.
They kept doing this.
We all waited.
Finally, Jayden said, “I’m not your guy. I do not like you’re doing whatever it is you’re doing. I want that on the record.” His gaze went through all of us. “And in case you don’t get this, you try to bring another officer into your fold as your man on the inside, let me save you the trouble. No one is gonna help you because we all think you’re lunatics.”
“Well, that isn’t very nice,” Luna mumbled.
Jayden raised a single brow Luna’s way.
After I got over thinking that was ridiculously hot, I had to admit maybe we were a little crazy.
But we weren’t lunatics.
I mean, now that Javi was in my life, and his mom had mental health issues, was it even okay to call anyone a lunatic anymore?
I’d have to ask.
Luna’s parents dealt with a lot of disenfranchised people in their work with the homeless, not to mention, they were proud progressive liberals. They’d know all about what was politically correct.
I’d ask them.
“And I’m telling Aunt Tandi you’re into this shit,” Jayden threated.
“Go ahead,” Shanti said breezily. “Mom already knows.”
Jayden scowled at her.
“Thanks for being such a great help with us solving a murder or something,” Shanti said as she turned and hustled us toward the door.
Cap and Gabe fell in behind us.
Willow asked Shanti under her breath (but she still did it incredulously), “Does Miss Tandi know you’re an Angel?”
“Hell no. Mom would lose her ever-lovin’ mind,” Shanti replied. “But maybe Jayden won’t say anything if he thinks she already knows.”
“Yikes,” Willow said.
“Uh, yeah,” Shanti agreed.
This made me want to meet, at the same time afraid to meet, Shanti’s mom.
We all piled into our cars with Raye saying, “I texted Jinx. She’s meeting us at Titus’s.”
I hoped we were going to get an update about her accountant.
Cap and Gabe got into the Jeep, and we all rolled out.
We were well under way when it happened.
“What the…” Raye, who was driving the Sportage, started, her eyes to the rearview mirror, then she finished, “Hell!”
She slammed on the brakes.
My seatbelt bit into my chest as my head thrashed forward and back.
Cars around us swerved and honked.
“What’s going on?” I asked as she whipped us into the left lane.
“Call Luna. Tell her to circle back.” Then suddenly she was screaming, “Circle back! Circle back! Someone just forced Gabe into a right turn!”
I got out my phone and then nearly dropped it when Raye swung a uey in the middle of the street, more cars swerved and honked at her, regardless of the fact that, in Phoenix, a city that refused to shirk off the mantle of the Wild West, this maneuver was pretty standard.
She raced back the way we came.
Jess answered Luna’s phone, and I put it on speaker.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Some—”
I stopped talking because I had to lean with the car and try not to scream, because Raye cut a left turn at high speed right through traffic.
More tires screeching, more horns blowing, but by some miracle, we made it through.
“What the fuck is going on!” Jess shouted.
She’d seen us.
“Someone cut off Gabe and Cap. Forced them into a right turn,” I explained. “We’re following them.”
Willow’s hand went between our seats from the back, her finger pointing.
“There they are!” she cried. “They took another right.”
“Circle back,” I said to Jess as Raye’s phone started ringing.
She dug it out and tossed it to me.
I caught it, looked at it, and it said Caveman Calling.
Okay, that took it to another level. Seriously, she was really pissed about that caveman stuff.
I took the call, again on speaker, and said a shaky, “Hey, Cap. You’re on speaker.”
“Do not follow us,” he ordered. “Go straight to Titus’s.”
“Fuck that!” Raye yelled.
“Honey, listen to me,” Cap said. “We’re closest to his place. Titus knows we’re coming. He’s preparing. We’re gonna lead whoever this is there and do a takedown. Go to Titus’s.”