High Noon Read Free Page A

to jail?”
    â€œFor a little while. But we’re going to get started on that help right away.”
    â€œWill you call Lori? If she’d come I could…I could show her I’m sorry.”
    â€œI sure will. I want that sunburn treated, and he needs some water in him.”
    Joe kept his eyes downcast as he pulled on jeans. “Sorry, man,” he mumbled to Duncan.
    â€œDon’t worry about it. Listen, I’ll get you a lawyer.” Duncan looked blankly at Phoebe. “Should I?”
    â€œThat would be between you and Joe. You hang in there.” She gave Joe’s arm a light squeeze.
    He was led out, a cop on either arm.
    â€œNice job, Lieutenant.”
    Phoebe pulled out the gun, opened it. “One bullet. He was never going to shoot anyone but himself, and the odds are fifty-fifty he’d have done that.” She handed the gun to her captain. “You figured he needed to talk to a woman.”
    â€œIt leaned that way for me,” Dave agreed.
    â€œAll in all, looks like you were right. Somebody needs to track down his wife. I’ll talk to her if she balks at seeing him.” She swiped at her sweaty brow. “Is there any water in this place?”
    Duncan held out a bottle. “I had some brought up.”
    â€œAppreciate it.” She drank deep as she studied him. Rich, dense brown hair, tousled around an angular face with a good, strong mouth and soft blue eyes that were currently pinched with worry. “Are you pressing charges?”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œFor what he nipped out of the till.”
    â€œNo.” Duncan lowered himself to the arm of a chair. Closed his eyes. “Christ, no.”
    â€œHow much was it?”
    â€œA couple thousand, a little more, I guess. It doesn’t matter.”
    â€œIt does. He needs to pay it back, for his own self-respect. If you want to help him, you’ll work that out.”
    â€œSure. Fine.”
    â€œYou’re the landlord, too?”
    â€œYeah. Sort of.”
    Phoebe lifted her brows. “Aren’t you the busy one? Can you manage to float the rent another month?”
    â€œYeah, yeah, yeah.”
    â€œGood.”
    â€œLook…all I got was Phoebe.”
    â€œMac Namara. Lieutenant Mac Namara.”
    â€œI like Joe. I don’t want him to go to jail.”
    A good guy, Joe had said. He’d likely been right on that one. “I appreciate that, but there are consequences. Paying them will help him. He was crying for help, and now he’ll get it. If you know where he owes the five thousand, he needs to make that right, too.”
    â€œI didn’t know he was gambling.”
    This time she let out a short laugh. “You own a sports bar, but don’t know there’s gambling going on in it?”
    His back went up. His gut was already in knots, and now his back went up. “Hey, listen, Slam Dunc’s a friendly place, not a mob den. I didn’t know he had a problem, or he wouldn’t have been working the stick there. Some of this was my fault, but—”
    â€œNo. No.” She held up a hand, rubbed the cold bottle over her damp forehead. “I’m hot, I’m irritable. And none of this was your fault. I apologize. Circumstances put him out there on that ledge, and he’s responsible for those circumstances and the choices he made. Do you know where to find his wife?”
    â€œI expect she’s at the parade like everyone else in Savannah, except us.”
    â€œDo you know where she’s living?”
    â€œNot exactly, but I gave your captain a couple numbers. Friends of theirs.”
    â€œWe’ll find her. Are you going to be all right now?”
    â€œWell, I’m not going to go up on the roof and jump.” He let out a long sigh, shook his head. “Can I buy you a drink, Phoebe?”
    She held up the bottle of water. “You already did.”
    â€œI could do better.”
    Hmm, a quick