BM03 - Crazy Little Thing Called Dead Read Online Free Page A

highest compliment.”
    Great . I’d been insulted by half the town and a Parisian waterworks.
    Ledroit left, and I called Steve Leftsky to see if I could get an ID on the New York plates.
    “I don’t know, Bree. I’m not sure Tom would be happy with me feeding you information,” he said.
    “For God sake, Steve, I can get it off the internet if I have to. Can’t you just give me the information?” I was pretty sure I could run plates, but I didn’t want to pay the fee.
    “Margaret LeDonne.” He sighed. “She’s been notified and the insurance is taking care of the details.”
    “Thanks, Steve. You’re a prince. I owe you one.” I was scribbling the details onto my legal pad.
    “And we both know I’ll never collect.”
    I was accumulating names. The interesting thing was that Margaret LeDonne and Victor Puccini were both Italian. Michèle Ledroit was French. And yet Ledroit was connected to Puccini. Interesting.
    I ate my lunch while I considered Michèle Ledroit. I didn’t quite know what to make of her. She was elegant but not what I would call warm or friendly. She cried over her boyfriend but somehow she seemed distant. I picked up her card and flipped it over. On the back she had written $1000 reward for the location of Victor Puccini, $500 reward for information instrumental in his recovery .
    I would keep my eyes open.
     
    ***
     
    Identity of body found at Planet Hair was as far as I’d gotten on the follow-up article when Tom walked in followed by a tall man with a shaved head. The guy’s bulging, tattooed biceps looked familiar. I couldn’t see his face, but the butterflies in my stomach were a good indication that my intuition was right. He turned from closing the door and I was face to face with Richard Hambecker.
    My feelings about Hambecker were conflicted. He’d abducted me from my home the previous winter, but only so he wouldn’t blow his cover. I’d poisoned him to get away, so maybe that made us even. I’d say he didn’t play well with others, except sometimes he did. And if I was telling the truth, I’d say there was a certain attraction between us.
    He smiled a slow smile and heat began to build in my midsection. I felt a smile start to form and squashed it. I didn’t know if I should hit him or throw my arms around him. But my first instinct was to hit him.
    “What the hell is he doing here?” I asked Tom.
    “I thought you said she’d be glad to see you,” Tom said, turning to Hambecker.
    “I think what I actually said was that Bree would be excited to see me.” Hambecker looked me over. “She looks pretty excited.”
    “Excuse me,” I said. “I’m sitting right here. You have a lot of nerve bringing him here.”
    “I take it you didn’t part on good terms?” Tom pulled out one of the chairs from the front of my desk.
    “Part on good terms?” I was spluttering. “We didn’t part . We were in the middle of a firefight, and he and Moose just disappeared. Never to be seen again, apparently. Until today.”
    “It wasn’t really a firefight, you know. No shots fired. More like a Mexican Standoff.” There wasn’t an iota of tension in Hamecker’s body. Not a twitch, a clench or a tick to show he had any feelings at all seeing me again.
    I stood up and looked at him, my eyes narrowing. “The point is, you vanished. It was your doing I was there in the first place. Anything could have happened at that point, and you bugged out. You left me there.”
    “And here you are safe and sound. I had no doubts about your ability to take care of yourself; it was a full time job keeping you contained.” Hambecker leaned against the wall not far from me, giving me the eye.
    My face was hot. My ears could combust at any minute, and I was momentarily tongue-tied. Deirdre took advantage of the silence and grabbed her purse. “If Meg comes in tell her I’ll be back in half an hour, will you? I have a feeling you don’t need me around for this.”
    I nodded and moved back