Rapid Death: The Desert Pines Mystery Series Book Two by Julie Titterington

Author:Julie Titterington [Titterington, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

False Flags

After the dishes were done, the party wound down. Hector, with evident regret, told Joe he had family plans for the rest of the day, and could not assist with interviewing Diane Montoya.

“It’s alright,” Joe said. “I’m happy to do it”

“Are you sure?” Kowalski asked. “I can take it on. You’ve worked six days in a row.”

“Nah. Keep an eye on Peters. That should keep you busy enough. Besides, Jane will come back to the station with me and keep me company,” Joe said, again with that queer streak of defiance. “Won’t you?”

Surprised but not unwilling, she agreed. For once, there really wasn’t somewhere else she needed to be. Vanessa gave Jane a hug, kissed both cheeks again, and told her to enjoy the rest of her day with her friend in a voice dripping with Victorian italics. Bidding a very cordial farewell to the Garcias, Jane and Joe headed back into town.

“Let’s make a day of it!” Joe suggested as they buckled into his car. “I asked Tom Campbell and David Williams to meet me at the Station at noon, and I’m more eager to talk to them than ever. This business with Diane changes things considerably. Once we’re done talking to them, we can grab some lunch and maybe meet up with Diane at her house.”

When they got to the Station, Jane settled herself down in the scratchy-backed orange chair across from Joe’s desk.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Fire away,” Joe said, pulling out a few file folders in anticipation of the interview.

“Last night, I said we were friends. What would you call us, exactly?” Jane began, and then losing courage, stopped herself from going on.

There was a lengthy silence.

“We’ve always been friends,” Joe agreed, finally.

“Right. But are we, uh, do you want—”

“I think I’ve made it pretty clear what I want, Jane,” he replied, seriously. “You’re the one who doesn’t know.”

"Bret asked me out," she blurted.

Joe scowled, started to say something, and bit his tongue.

"And?" he said eventually, turning his back on her to pull out another file from the cabinet.

"I think I said yes."

"You think you said yes?"

"It all happened so quickly!"

"Well, good for you both," Joe said, caustically.

"If you don't want me to go out with him, I won't."

"What matters is what you want, Jane. That's what I keep saying."

Jane flushed miserably, spotted David and Tom in the parking lot, and abandoned ship altogether. This was not a good time to define the relationship.

“Uh-oh, there they are. We can talk about this later. And oops, I know I should have told you about this earlier, but David Williams and I had a bit of a run-in yesterday.”

“How so?”

“He came into Hot Lava Java looking for me, with some crazy idea that I work undercover for the Desert Pines PD. He kept shoving money in my face, trying to bribe me into telling him where the raft is. I thought Tom might actually keel over from embarrassment.”

“What is wrong with that guy? I looked the raft over yesterday and ran the serial number to see what it originally sold for.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.