Dark Places Read Free Page B

fast.”
    I shoved my weapon back into my purse. “He sucker punched me in the side of the head, stunned me a little.”
    As I climbed down out of the cab, Bud examined the side of my face. “Yeah, your cheekbone’s already startin’ to bruise up. It’s not bleedin’ much, though. What happened?”
    â€œI bought their Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber impersonation is what happened. Let down my guard a second, but that’s all it took. Won’t do that again.”
    I sat down on the curb and watched my friends flip the two hicks onto their stomachs, cuff them, and manhandle them across the street. The one with the stiletto wound was still crying and yelling that he was bleeding and something about fathering children. I touched my cheek and winced but found only a couple of drops of blood. “These spike heels come in pretty handy, Bud. Maybe I oughta wear them all the time.”
    Bud said, “Yeah. Maybe I’ll get me a pair, too.”
    We grinned, and then he sobered. “Sure you’re all right?”
    I stood up. “I’m fine. He barely clipped me. Come on, this’s been a barrel of laughs but let’s get outta here and find our missing citizen, whoever it is.”

TWO
    â€œHey, baby, bail me out and we can still get it on!”
    I ignored that tempting invitation from Judy the Lesbian, who was sitting handcuffed in the back of our sheriff’s van but I smiled politely so I wouldn’t hurt her feelings. Dabbing at the small cut on my cheekbone with a Kleenex, I sat down in the passenger seat of Bud’s white Bronco and clunked the door shut, glad to get in out of the cold. A minute later he slid in the driver’s seat across from me.
    â€œYou gonna bail that Judy gal out, or would Black get jealous?”
    That Bud. What a riot. “I think not. I’ll put in a good word for you, though, if you wanna give it a whirl.”
    Bud grinned and fired up the engine. The car was so cold, our breaths plumed and hung around awhile for us to admire. It had to be down to twenty degrees and still dropping. “How about getting some heat on in here, man?”
    Bud flipped the heater on high and the freezing blast hit me full in the face. I turned the vents toward him and pulled my fur collar up around my ears. The radio crackled with static, and Bud snatched the handset off the dashboard.
    â€œYeah. Davis here.”
    Jacqee, the sheriff’s beloved airhead daughter, home for Christmas break from UCLA said, “You guys gonna take that missing-person report, or what?”
    Bud let up on the button and turned his big, pleading gray eyes on me. “Claire, we’ve been out here working this whole freakin’ night. You just got knocked up the side of the head. Let somebody else handle this one.”
    â€œI said I was okay. Now tell her we’re on it.”
    â€œIt’ll make you late for your date with Nick.”
    I gave him a stare that bespoke hellfire.
    Bud frowned and thumbed down the button. “Okay, Morgan and I are on our way. Let’s hear it.”
    Miss Valley Girl crackled back, obviously put-upon. “Well, like, take forever to make up your minds. I’m right in the middle of my Pilates and I’m gonna go all stiff if I don’t get back to it soon.”
    Bud and I rolled our eyes in tandem, a team in every way, but we made no clever retort. Jacqee was the sheriff’s daughter, after all, and he did love her too much to fire her, stupid-speak and all.
    â€œWell, see, this neighbor lady called in and said this guy named Simon something or other’s front door’s standing wide open, even with it snowing outside, and everything. Can you believe that we’re supposed to have a foot of snow tonight? I sure wish I was back out in L.A. I could be down at Venice Beach everyday working on my tan and watching the guys play volleyball. Oh yeah, she said she thought she saw some blood,