Don't Mess With Texas Read Online Free Page B

ex-husband.” Juan waved to the car with the open trunk. “Another case of marital bliss.”
    Tony and Juan moved in and Dallas followed.
    “Nasty,” Tony said. Dallas stared at the body covered in vomit. Peeking from under the man’s expensive suit coat was a white shirt. Or what was once a white shirt. Blood always did a number on white cotton.
    “CSU on the way?” Tony asked Juan.
    Juan nodded. “Supposedly Blondie puked on him.”
    Tony took his pen out and lifted the suit coat up to inspect the wound.
    “Looks like a knife wound,” Dallas said.
    “Yup.” Tony looked at Juan. “Does Blondie have a name?”
    “What we got?” Rick Clark, another homicide cop and one of Tony’s friends, walked up. Dallas nodded. He didn’t care much for hanging out with cops, but they were his brother’s friends so he tolerated them.
    “Looks like a stabbing. Found him in the ex-wife’s car. And her name is…” Tony looked back at Juan.
    Juan opened a pad. “Nikki Hunt. Dead guy is Jack Leon.”
    Jack Leon?
The name bounced around Dallas’s head and hit some familiar bells.
    “She copping to it?” Tony asked Juan.
    “Swears she doesn’t have a clue how he got there. Said she had dinner with him at Venny’s. That’s a high-priced place that people like us can’t afford. Supposedly, hubby skipped out and left her to pay the bill. Claims she left therestaurant and came here. But get this… she was talking about killing him with the cashier inside the store.”
    Tony glanced at the suspect. “I do love it when they make it easy for us.”
    Juan continued to stare at the blonde. “Why are the pretty ones always guilty?”
    “She didn’t do it,” said Clark, sounding almost cocky. “Look at her angel eyes. A woman with those eyes—”
    “Forget the eyes, check out that body,” Juan said. “Black widows are always hot.”
    Dallas looked at the woman. She’d raised her head and her round blue eyes seemed to stare at nothing. Her shirt clung to curves. Juan was right. She was hot. Dallas envisioned another hot-looking woman with angel eyes. Betrayal hardened his gut when he recalled arguing with his ex last week.
    “The eyes can fool you,” Dallas said. “They can suck you in and then stab you in the back. And never even blink with guilt.”
    Clark looked at him and pulled out his pad. “You ready to put your money where your mouth is?”
    “Money on what?” Dallas asked.
    “On her guilt,” Clark answered.
    “Wouldn’t be a very fair bet. Everything here points to her being guilty,” Dallas countered.
    “Everything but me,” Clark said, and tapped his forehead.
    “That’s not the head you’re thinking with right now,” Dallas said.
    “Maybe.” Clark smiled, and let his gaze shift back to the blonde.
    When Dallas didn’t have a comeback, Clark continued.“Give a guy a chance to win back some of the money you walked away with last weekend in that poker game. I’ll make it easy—if we still consider her the main suspect in twenty-four hours, you win. If we’re seriously looking into new leads, I win.”
    “Count me in,” Juan said. “I’ll go twenty.”
    “We got a job to do here.” Tony, his professionalism showing in his actions, walked over to talk to the suspect.
    “You in?” Clark asked Dallas, tapping the pen to the pad.
    “You really want to give away your money?” Dallas’s phone rang. He checked the number—Austin.
    “Come on,” Clark said. “You didn’t mind taking my money during the poker game.”
    Dallas nodded.
    “Twenty?” Clark asked.
    “Fine.” Stepping away, he took the call. “What’s up?”
    “I’m so damn good,” Austin said.
    “What? You got another clown gig?” Dallas teased and rolled his shoulders to get the tension he felt just from being back on a police scene.
    “I found the girl Nance said he’d talked with the night of the robbery. She also jogs at Oak Park. She remembered Nance, confirms his story, said they talked a good twenty