Acts of Malice Read Online Free Page A

nonchalance of an attractive man who was very comfortable with women. She caught the scent of the lotion on his skin again. Something tropical and warm smelling. Almonds?
    With his head slightly cocked, he scrutinized her. ‘‘That’s what I need. Someone I can relate to. Someone on my side.’’
    ‘‘I agree that you need help. I’d like to try to help you.’’
    ‘‘I like it that you’re a woman. I feel good with you.’’ Seeming satisfied for the moment, he went back to his chair.
    ‘‘So Heidi blames you for your brother’s death,’’ Nina said. Might as well be blunt about it.
    The twist of the mouth again. ‘‘So it seems.’’ ‘‘You have no idea why?’’
    ‘‘No idea.’’
    ‘‘You’ve had some marital problems?’’
    ‘‘Just the usual.’’
    Now she was sure he was evading her questions. ‘‘What happened at home the night before she left you?’’
    ‘‘We came home from the hospital. I was exhausted. She wouldn’t talk. Not a word. I thought she was in shock. She’s known Alex as long as she’s known me. She went upstairs. I drank some tequila—a lot. I crawled into bed. She was there, sleeping. I woke her up. We talked and . . .’’ He cleared his throat, let her fill in the blanks. ‘‘Then it was morning, and she was gone.’’
    Tenderly my love

Returns my caresses
    ‘‘Brazilian music. Marianne plays that stuff all the time.’’ He thumped the desk with one finger to the beat. ‘‘How can you hear yourself think?’’ Before Nina could answer, Sandy had turned off the CD. In the silence that followed, he pulled out his checkbook.
    ‘‘Please. Find Heidi,’’ he said. ‘‘And I also want you to get this mess about Alex straightened out. Can you do that?’’
    He clamped his lips shut before the question degraded into a plea, although she thought she could see the urgency of his need behind the hot eyes.
    She pushed her chair slightly away from her desk and from Strong. Did she want him as her client? She could tell him she had to think about it.
    Once she was in, she would be all the way in.
    She spent a moment mentally reviewing her other obligations and wondering where Strong might take her. He could have gone to anyone in town, to the loathsome Jeff Riesner, for instance. But he’d come to her. He could afford it, and his problems, ambiguous though they were right now, seemed comfortably within her zone of competence.
    ‘‘Okay,’’ she said after a moment. ‘‘I’ll see if I can get a copy of Heidi’s statement, and find out if the police really are continuing an investigation into Alex’s death. Maybe they know where Heidi is. If they do, I’ll try to put you in touch with her.’’
    ‘‘Primo,’’ he said. ‘‘Excellent,’’ looking relieved and nodding his head. ‘‘How much do you want up front?’’
    ‘‘Ten thousand. I charge a hundred fifty an hour. If this gets resolved fast, you get the rest back.’’
    He wrote out the check and handed it to her, saying, ‘‘You’re cheap. Our business lawyer charges two fifty an hour.’’
    ‘‘Yep. I’ve been called cheap. And a few other things.’’
    ‘‘Gorgeous. I bet you’ve been called that, too.’’ He smiled at her.
    There was no heat in the smile. The heat was probably reserved for Heidi. Nina liked that. She smiled back and stood up. ‘‘I’ll give you a call tomorrow. At Paradise?’’
    ‘‘If you find out where Heidi is, sure, call me at the resort. Otherwise—I’d prefer you called my home. I don’t trust my reactions. You know?’’
    He got up too, and she noticed again that he was much taller than she was, long and lean with a trim waist. She could picture him turning gracefully between the tall trees, the even line of teeth as white as the snow all around him. . . .
    ‘‘Jim,’’ she said.
    ‘‘What?’’
    ‘‘I’d better keep Heidi’s note.’’
    ‘‘Why?’’
    ‘‘So it doesn’t get lost.’’
    He hesitated.