Dead and Kicking Read Free Page B

was a computer security
consultant for the Magister.”
    Salvador Arroyo, the Magister. Based on the company he kept, it really came
as no surprise that Bryce ended up a bloody smudge in a back lane. The Kingpin of the underworld, Salvador
Arroyo was the most powerful Vlad in Riverton and as the Magister for the Cimmerian
it made him the leader of the entire supernatural community. Arroyo owned a multinational corporation and
had his fingers in a lot of pies, mostly those that involved sex, drugs and
alcohol. Gambling was another of his
cornerstone industries. It wasn’t much
of a stretch of the imagination to figure he might own a few corrupt cops as
well.
    “And how do Detective Nash and his
partner come into play?” I asked Bryce, but he had disappeared again.
    I looked over to the mouth of the
alley only to see Nash and his partner staring at me. Just great, they probably saw me talking to
myself. I made a show of getting up from
the bench and gathering up my things.
When I turned around, Detective Nash was standing beside me. I looked up into his eyes and, this is going
to sound totally cliché and corny, but time stood still. Seriously. It was like everything ceased to exist except
his startling green eyes. My heart
thumped in my chest. For a moment, he had
a look of complete shock on his face and then he inhaled and a frown replaced
the shock and time started to move again.
I let out the breath I didn’t know I had been holding.
    “Detective Nash.” I held out my hand for him to shake. “Harry Russo.
Nice to meet you, well, I mean it’s not nice under the circumstances
but…” Damn, I was totally babbling. “I…can
I go now? I gave my statement to the
officer and I really have nothing more to add.”
    “You’re Harry Russo?” Detective Nash shook my hand and held onto
it. “Harry? Really?”
    “Yes, that’s me. It’s a nickname.” I tried to pull my hand back but it was held
fast. “Could I, um, have my hand back?”
    “Your hand?” He looked at me in confusion then looked down to see our hands
still clasped together. “Of course.
Sorry. It was the name. You’re not what I expected.”
    He released my hand and I pulled it
back and held it protectively against my chest.
My whole hand tingled from his touch.
    “No problem. I get that all the time. Kind of goes with the territory when you’re a
girl named Harry.”
    “Yes, I guess it does.” He gestured to his partner. “This is Detective Mayes. We just have a few questions for you.”
    “Yes of course. But I really don’t know what I could add to
the statement I already made.”
    “It won’t take long. Would you like to sit down?”
    “No thanks. I’ve been warming that bench for almost two
hours now. I’d really just like to get
back to work. They’ll be wondering what
happened to me.”
    “Yes, I see. So you didn’t call them to let them know you
were being detained?”
    “No.
The officer said I shouldn’t make any calls.”
    “Then who were you talking to just
now?”
    “Talking to? I wasn’t talking to anyone.”
    “But we just saw you talking to
someone a minute ago.”
    “Oh that.” I smiled self-consciously. “I wasn’t talking to anyone. I was just making some notes on my
phone. Gotta love voice recognition.” I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and
gave it a little shake. “Can’t live without it these days.”
    “Right. May I see?” He held his hand out for my phone which I
reluctantly gave him. He pressed a key
and the screen lock came on.
    “Oh, you just…” I swiped my finger
over the screen and then punched in the lock code. The home screen flashed on with a picture of
me and my two roommates posing like Charlie’s
Angels .
    He selected the call log and saw that
there were no incoming or outgoing calls in the last two hours then thumbed the
button to take him back to the home screen.
    “And these two others are?” He gestured to the picture.
    “Those are my roommates, Holly and
Tess.