Night Eyes (The Detective Temeke Crime Series Book 2) Read Free Page A

a populated part of town. It must have been attracted to all the rotting food in the dumpsters.
    A silver-yellow moon illuminated the way back to her apartment and the rich scent of cedar wafted towards her in the windless air. She bolted through the parking lot and across the road to Calle Cuervo, spine sheathed in a film of sweat. Took the steps to her second floor apartment, two at a time, and unlocked the front door with one flick of her key. Not much of a run, but at least her heart was pumping now.
    Breathless she stared at the laptop on the kitchen table and grazed the mouse with her middle finger. Typing in her username and password, she saw a single message in her inbox from WingMan.
     
    Love the photo.
     
    Wait… that was it? She felt the slow, steady thud of her heart, felt her fingers tapping the keys.
     
    Good to talk to you.
     
    She waited for a moment, heard the clock ticking on the mantelshelf and the loud breath of the heater. The screen glared back at her for nearly a minute. Three dots and a bubble. He was typing.
     
    I’ve been waiting for you.
     
    Malin blew out a loud sigh and sat back in her chair. She wanted to know what he’d been doing. Instead she typed just three words.
     
    Where are you?
     
    I could be outside your front door?
     
    Malin listened to the leaves outside as they skittered down the stairwell and the high pitched moan of the wind. He wasn’t the dark shape behind the café. She’d be in his arms in a heartbeat if he was, asking him if he missed her, wanted her. Did he?
     
    Do you miss me?
     
    She winced after she pressed SEND . A fool never learns. A fool knows if a man doesn’t call, doesn’t send flowers, doesn’t say those three glorious words it’s because he doesn’t want to.
    She stared at that screen, thoughts fading in and out, knowing the excitement they once had was all but gone. He made her wait. Always made her wait. Three minutes this time as she made a cup of tea and sat in front of the computer mashing that bag with a teaspoon until it was a heap of leaves and soggy paper. The cloud popped up again and the same little dots flickered back and forth.
     
    Know what I think? You shouldn’t have said goodbye.
     
    So that was it. He didn’t like the night they’d spent together, the night where she slept in his bed without taking off her clothes. He hadn’t exactly been the model of good manners, picking at her bra with his fingernails, grunting like a pig in a pen. It scared her, that’s what. Malin bashed out a message and hit ENTER .
     
    You’re full of it.
     
    He wasted no time, the dots virtually vibrated now.
     
    That’s my Malin. That’s my girl. Plenty more bullets in your chamber. So…been jogging?
     
    She was about to type something when he beat her to it.
     
    Lost any weight?
     
    Malin scratched her chin. There wasn’t a squelch of fat around her stomach and thighs. All hard and mainly muscle.
     
    Fifteen pounds. I look like Barbie.
     
    You’ll always be my Barbie.
     
    All of a sudden she wished she hadn’t said Barbie . There were loads of bottle-blonds in the Camden pubs all looking for good night out, all happy to give themselves away without a wedding. ADA Valerie Weeks for one, or the twenty-two year old from the liquor store on Madison Street.
     
    Malin wrote : Thought you didn’t like blonds . He didn’t like assistant district attorneys either.
     
    More blinking dots: A guy can change his mind, can’t he? Now, now, no need to be jealous.
     
    She gulped in air, felt like she had been winded in the stomach. He was playing her and if she wasn’t careful she would plummet down a mine shaft and never get out.
     
    Who said anything about being jealous? Two minutes passed this time, not that she was counting. Are you still there?
     
    I’m always here.
     
    Part of her wanted to ask him if he thought of her during his down time. She stared at that screen, took a sip of tea and peeled a stray leaf from her lip. Why