Dead Case in Deadwood Read Free Page B

other, smoothing my dress on my thighs, remembering
Cooper’s parting shot earlier. "He also said I have a big nose."
    Doc looked up from my legs. "He’s right."
    "Gee, thanks."
    "Metaphorically speaking, that is. But that doesn’t
mean he has to be so rough on you."
    "I think Cooper enjoys roughing me up."
    "That’s what concerns me."
    "Because of my current mental state?"
    "No, Violet, because I like you." Rising from his
chair, Doc walked over to the plate glass windows that faced the street. "What
I don’t like is the detective making you look at decapitated bodies in the
basement of a funeral parlor first thing in the morning when your hand shakes
just holding your latte."
    "I’m not shaking." I placed the plastic cup and my
cell phone on his desk.
    "Okay, when your hand trembles." He lowered the
blinds on both big windows, shading the room. "Better?"
    I nodded, but didn’t remove my sunglasses. "It was no
big deal. Harvey was there with me."
    "Having your self-appointed bodyguard on site doesn’t
change the fact that for most people examining a dead body is a bit stressful."
Doc moved to the door, dead-bolting it. "And most people haven’t witnessed
death up close and personal like you have twice now within a month’s time."
He flipped his Open sign to Closed. "What else did Cooper have to say?"
    "He wants me to keep my nose out of his case."
    "Great idea. You’re going to listen to the detective,
right?"
    "Sure." No lie there. I had other things to figure
out, such as what my coworker, Ray the asshole, and the Mudder brothers were up
to on the sly. Playing Nancy Drew regarding a decapitated body was low on my
list of to-dos.
    "Why do I feel like you’re just feeding me a line of
bullshit?" he asked, holding out his hand, which I took without thinking.
    "I’m serious."
    He pulled me to my feet, then released my hand and stepped
back, sitting on the edge of his desk.
    "I don’t know why the dead guy had my card, nor do I
care."
    Well, I cared a little since the corpse had ended up on
Harvey’s ranch, which I was trying to sell, but not enough to get involved. I
was happy to stand back and let Cooper do his job on this one.
    "Doc, what are you doing?" I asked when he made a
circle motion with his index finger.
    "Turn around, Boots."
    The nickname he used for me whenever he wanted more than
just conversation shot shivers up my legs and down my back. Doc had a thing for
my purple cowboy boots ever since the first time I’d dug my boot heels into his
bared flesh and held on tight while he rocked my world.
    I lowered my eyelids a little, trying to look all sexy, then
remembered that I had my sunglasses on. "Why?"
    "Just humor me."
    I did as told, adding a little sashay with my hips as I obeyed
his command.
    He whistled under his breath. "Damn, those sandal
straps wrapping around like that make me want to lick your ankles. Turn all the
way around."
    I faced him again.
    He shook his head. "That is one hell of a dress."
    I’d hoped he’d like it when I picked it out the other night
at the mall down in Rapid City. I’d lied and told Natalie the dress was to
snare clients, avoiding her eyes in the dressing room mirror. But my Aunt Zoe
had taken one look at the flirty dress and the way it hugged my chest and
smiled at me. She knew which "client" I was trying to snare.
    "You like it?" I adjusted the form-fitting bodice,
using the twisted knot to shift the thin cloth over my breasts.
    Doc watched without blinking. "I’ve been wanting to
tear it off of you since you waltzed through my front door."
    The images his words conjured stole the breath I needed for
a response, so I just grinned like a big idiot.
    "Take off your sunglasses."
    I hesitated, not wanting him to see the interstate map
lining my eyeballs.
    He reached out and pulled them off for me, setting them on
his desk next to my drink and cell phone. His forehead furrowed when he looked at
my eyes. "Another Visine morning, I see."
    "You know how it is, too