Colorado 01 The Gamble (22 page)

“Does anyone want coffee?” I asked and Max
squeezed my shoulder.

“Love a cup,” Mick replied and Jeff
nodded.

I started to move away and as I did so Max
muttered, “Thanks, baby.”

I liked these two words and how he said them
so much, without thinking, I glanced over my shoulder and gave him
a small smile then went to the coffeepot.

“Mindy okay?” Jeff asked when I grabbed the
pot and moved to the sink.

“Hangin’ in there,” Max answered.

“She shot of Matthews now?” Jeff continued
with more than a hint of curiosity and I turned off the tap and
moved to the coffeemaker, looking him over.

He was taller than Damon, lighter hair,
leaner of build but fit and perhaps not as overtly good-looking he
was also not unattractive in the slightest. In fact, since he was
more obviously comfortable with who he was and how he looked
instead of being in your face about it as Damon was, he was
more
attractive.

Hmm.

“I’m thinkin’, yeah,” Max said but when I
looked at him he was also studying Jeff closely.

“Good news,” Jeff mumbled and I lifted the
top to the coffeemaker and poured the water in.

“So, Bitsy’s home?” Max was obviously
bringing the conversation full circle.

“Yeah,” Mick answered.

“And you’re here…” Max prompted and Mick
lifted a hand to the back of his neck.

“Wouldn’t ask –” he started.

“You need me,” Max cut him off, his words
mysterious.

Mick dropped his arm and I turned my
attention to the cupboards, finding the gourmet coffee I bought in
Denver in the second one I opened.

“Yeah, Max. I know –” Mick said.

Max interrupted again. “She doin’ okay?”

“Murdered, cheatin’ husband and life ahead
of her in a wheelchair, all alone?” Mick asked then answered,
“No.”

“I’ll go see her today,” Max said and he
didn’t sound like he enjoyed saying those words because, I
suspected, he knew he wasn’t going to enjoy his visit which was
even more mysterious since, from what he said before about Bitsy, I
thought he liked her.

I measured coffee into the filter and Mick
mumbled, “Thanks, Max.”

“You got any leads?” Max asked.

“Looks hired,” Mick answered and I was
surprised he shared this information.

“Hired?” Max sounded surprised too but
probably not that Mick was sharing.

“Hit was execution style, no muss, no fuss,
in and out, Dodd was dead before he hit the floor,” Mick shared.
“Didn’t touch nothin’, didn’t take nothin’, left nothin’
behind.”

“Got leads on who hired him?” Max went
on.

“Leads? No. List of possible suspects a mile
long? Yes,” Mick replied.

I flipped on the coffee and pulled down mugs
as Mindy hit the counter and slid on a stool.

“Hey Mick,” she greeted, her eyes skimmed
over Jeff and then dipped to the counter. “Hey Jeff.”

“Mindy, darlin’,” Mick greeted back.

“Hey Mindy,” Jeff said in a gentle voice, in
fact, his whole face had grown gentle and my eyes went to Max.

Max was watching Jeff then his eyes came to
mine. I bugged them out and then jerked my head at Jeff and Mindy.
Max shook his head and grinned.

“Coffee will be ready in a jiffy,” I
announced, leaning a hip against the counter.

“Kind of you Nina,” Jeff said and I smiled
brightly at him.

“Sure you boys could use some sustenance,” I
surmised. “Mindy makes some mean bacon and eggs. You want
some?”

Mindy’s head snapped up and my eyes slid to
Max who was looking at the floor but I could see he was pressing
his lips together.

“Haven’t had breakfast,” Jeff replied too
casually.

“Well, that’s just awful,” I noted, making
this news sound dire, my eyes going to his hands. “No wife to fill
your belly before a hard day of the God’s honest work of tackling
crime?”

Max’s head came up and he made a strangled
noise which I hoped was him choking back laughter because he
thought I was cute.

“Nope,” Jeff answered through his grin.

“Good-looking guy like you? That’s a
miracle. Isn’t that a miracle, Mindy?” I called and looked at her.
Her eyes were huge and her face was aflame.

“Uh… yeah,” she muttered.

“Come here, sweetheart, let’s make these
local heroes some breakfast,” I urged, she reluctantly slid off her
seat and headed into the kitchen.

“You boys sit down, we’ll have breakfast for
you in no time,” I said to Mick and Jeff as they shuffled out,
Mindy shuffled in and Max came to me.

Max made a show of reaching into the
cupboard for sugar, hiding me from Jeff, Mick and Mindy but when
his hand came down with the bag of sugar, his mouth went to my
ear.

“Bullshit’s so thick in here, Duchess, we
might need gumboots,” he whispered.

I tried to look innocent when I tipped my
head back and asked, “Sorry?”

“Sorry my ass,” he muttered on a grin,
closed the cupboard and moved around me to stand with his hips
leaned against the sink and his arms crossed on his chest.

“So!” I called cheerfully to Mick and Jeff
who were both now at the stools. “With a town full of suspects and
a hired killer, how do you go about nailing down the culprit?” Then
before Mick could speak I turned and prompted, “Jeff?”

“Um…” Jeff mumbled and Mick answered.

“Sorry, Nina, we don’t usually discuss the
specifics of an ongoing investigation.”

“Oh, right,” I murmured, foiled, as Mindy
passed in front of me from getting the bacon and eggs from the
fridge then I suggested, “If it was me, I’d check bank records. A
hired killer probably costs a lot of money.”

“Good idea, Nina,” Jeff said considerately
since I was certain they’d already thought of that.

“Oh!” I cried, turning from pulling the
bread out of the cupboard. “I know! See if anyone sold anything of
value. You know, like their car.”

Mick was smiling broadly. “You wanna
job?”

Before I could answer, Max put in, “I think
they got a handle on it, honey.”

I gave Max a look, put some bread in the
toaster and went to the fridge to get the milk, wondering what
other topic of conversation I could put us on to make Jeff sound
interesting.

“Why does everyone dislike this Curtis Dodd
so much anyway?” I muttered as I closed the fridge and missed Jeff
and Mick exchanging glances.

“Land developer,” Mick said to my back as I
started pouring out coffee.

“Yes?” I asked when he said no more.

“Folks like town the way it is, Nina,” Jeff
told me as I handed Max a cup, black, and I turned to take Mick’s
to him.

“What does that mean?” I asked Jeff then
smiled and enquired, “And how do you take your coffee?”

“Black, sugar, one spoon’ll do,” he
replied.

“You see the housing developments on your
way in, ‘bout twenty miles out?” Mick asked as I went back to the
coffee.

“Kind of, it was snowing. It doesn’t snow
much in England so I was a bit anxious and concentrating,” I
explained as I made Jeff and Mindy’s coffee.

“Those’re Dodd’s. Even twenty miles out,
they changed the landscape and the economy,” Mick said. “Then he
put in a coupla strip malls close to the developments, more change
to the landscape and the economy.”

“Houses are big, people in them loaded. They
got money to spend, sometimes that’s good, sometime’s it isn’t so
good,” Jeff put in.

I touched Mindy’s back and set her coffee by
the range where she was studiously frying bacon like taking her
attention from it would mean it would combust, igniting us all in a
fiery inferno then I turned and walked Jeff’s coffee to him.

“Money in the town would be good,” I noted.
“Wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, for shop owners, some more jobs. The
rest live like they live. When there’s not much to compare it to
they like that life just fine. When a bunch of fancy cars and folks
with fancy clothes and fancy attitudes sweep through town, they
find reason not to like their life so much,” Jeff said.

I nodded and went back to the coffeepot.

Well that possibly explained Sarah the
restaurant hostess’s face closing down on me when she saw my “fancy
clothes”.

“People here like a small town, some good
tourist trade, neighborly folk,” Mick explained as I made my own
coffee. “Town’s bigger now, not everyone knows everyone else, not
everyone’s so neighborly anymore.”

“And crime’s up,” Jeff added. “Petty stuff,
nothin’ big, but more people means more people misbehavin’. Last
ten years, we’ve had to add three more officers to the payroll to
keep up with it.”

I turned and leaned against the counter with
my coffee, taking a sip then I said, “I can see your point.”

“Well, seein’ it then knowin’ that those
developments you drove through, those are only coupla ones Dodd put
in. He builds in four counties, changed them all. Within a twenty
mile perimeter ‘round our town, he’s put in twelve developments,
four strip malls and he was plannin’ to put in even more.”

“Don’t strip malls have to be, um… on a
strip?” I asked.

“Dodd’s are in the middle of nowhere, though
they’re close to the road. Not exactly what you expect when you’re
drivin’ through the beautiful state of Colorado,” Mick
answered.

“Again,” I remarked, “I can see your
point.”

“
And people here don’t only like bein’ in a
small town, lot of them live here
because
they like it
and
they’re pretty damn proud of the beautiful state of
Colorado,” Mick went on.

“If it’s that unpopular, how’d he get zoning
permission?” I asked.

“Can’t say,” Mick answered.

“Bribes?” I guessed.

Mick nodded but said, “Can’t say.”

“Really?” I whispered, my eyes big and they
were on Mick.

Mick kept nodding and Jeff grinned at him as
he repeated, “Really can’t say.”

I smiled at Mick, the toast popped up and I
went to the fridge to get the butter.

“Anyone want jelly?” I asked the room at
large.

“Not for me,” Mick said.

“Nope,” Jeff answered.

“Crazy,” I muttered and Max chuckled.

I took out a plate, grabbed the toast, put
in more bread and started buttering before I asked, “Mindy,
darling, you working tonight?”

“Yeah,” she answered and I looked at
Jeff.

“You know, Jeff,” I called and his eyes,
which were resting on Mindy’s bottom, jolted to me. I ignored
catching him checking Mindy out and asked, “It’s asking a lot,
considering how much responsibility you carry in your day to day
job –”

“Nina –” Max muttered low but I kept
going.

“Because I know your job is super important
–”

“Nina –” Max muttered again but I ignored
him.

“But, if you could look in on Mindy tonight
at The Dog, it would be appreciated.”

Mindy twirled around, fork in hand, and
stared at me.

“No problem,” Jeff said quickly.

“I’m…” Mindy whispered and turned to Jeff,
not meeting his eyes. “That’s all right Jeff. You don’t have to do
that. I’m fine.”

“Don’t have to, but I’m gonna,” Jeff said
back and Mindy’s face flamed.

I smiled.

Then I was jerked back with a steely arm
around my waist and my back hit a wall of solid Max.

“Stop it,” Max whispered in my ear.

I twisted my neck to look at him and
whispered back, “What?”

“Really, I’m good,” Mindy said to Jeff and I
looked back into the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Jeff replied firmly. “We’ll see you
stay good.”

My smile came back.

The steely arm gave me a tight squeeze that
pushed the breath out of my lungs.

I gave a quiet but happy wheeze when Mindy
grinned shyly at Jeff, tucked her hair behind her ear and turned
back to her skillet.

Max’s arm loosened but didn’t go away and I
heard him call, “What’d I say, Mick?”

Mick’s eyes were moving between Max and me,
Mindy and Jeff.

“Yeah, Max,” Mick grinned in Max and my
direction. “You were right, Nina’s somethin’ else.”

“I still don’t know what that means,” I
complained.

“Trust me,” Mick said, still grinning. “It’s
definitely a compliment.”

“Well,” I muttered, “then I guess that’s all
right.”

Then the toast popped up.

* * * * *

I was making the bed upstairs and I could
hear Mindy in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast when Max came
up after walking Mick and Jeff to their SUV.

I looked at him briefly but didn’t pause as
I smoothed the covers and then my head bent to watch what I was
doing as I rearranged a pillow that was slightly askew.

“Everything all… oof!”

I stopped speaking when I was hooked at the
waist, pulled up, twirled round then I was falling back, Max coming
with me. I hit the bed, his big body hit me, the breath evacuated
my lungs but I didn’t have time to process this predicament because
his mouth came down on mine and he kissed me.

He did it
hard
and he did it
long
.

My body was liquid under his, my fingers in
his hair, my other hand under his t-shirt at his back and I was
breathing heavily when his head came up.

“What was that?” I asked on a mini-gasp.

“It was either kiss you breathless or tan
your ass. First is quieter with Mindy in the house.”

All the delights of post-Max-kiss
with
his hard body on mine
in
a bed
and
my hand experiencing for the first time the planes
of his muscled back evaporated at his words, my brows went up and I
asked, “Sorry?”

“Your intention was sweet, babe, and the way
you went about it fuckin’ hilarious, but my girl down there was
raped three weeks ago and her man publicly proved himself an ass
last night.”