No One Else to Kill (Jim West Series) Read Online Free

I looked over at his table and saw
his glass of water.   He must have thought
he brought the glass with him, but since I didn’t have anything else in front
of me to drink, it shouldn’t have been difficult for him to figure out the
water wasn’t his.
    “If I remember right, this place has great food,” he said.
    “This steak is good,” I admitted.   I wanted to add that my water wasn’t bad
either.
    The server returned to our table ..
    “Hold on,” he instructed.   “Jim, do you drink wine?”
    “Sure.”
    “Well, you need to try this.   Discovered it myself at the
Heritage Oak Winery out in the Sacramento area.   It’s a Zinfandel, but all their wines are
excellent.   Can I offer you a glass?”
    “Sure,” I said to him, and after he instructed the server
to bring us another glass of wine, I asked for another glass of water.   Cross had no reaction to my request for
another water, but the waiter looked at me quizzically and then at Cross’
original table.   He smiled to himself and
walked away.
    “Last year, I saw that they carried this line of
wine.   I told them to keep it on their
wine list.   I’m glad to see that they
did.”
    “How long are you all planning to stay here?”
    “Four nights.   We’ll head back south on Monday.   This trip is always stag, no spouses.   The spring is with spouses, so we make a full
week out of it.   Did a
cruise out of Galveston this year.   Fun, but seems like when the spouses are along there’s a lot more
stress. We have one husband and five wives that make the spring trip. You’d be
surprised; we get as much whining from the one husband as we do from all the
wives.”
    “I believe it.”
    “One rule on the fall trip, though.   What goes on in this trip, stays on this trip.   I don’t mean to
imply we’re a very wild group, because, believe me, we’re not.”
    From the looks of Cross, closer to seventy than sixty, and
not in very good shape, I wondered how wild they could get.
    “A good rule to have,” I said, not meaning it at all.
    “It’s a good group.   I’ll have to introduce you to Randi.   She’s the one without a husband.   Although just between you and me, you might have just as much luck with
Geri.”
    I assumed Geri was another woman, but ignored his comment
anyway.
    His dinner came out and our conversation dwindled while I
finished my meal and Cross attacked his.   I had to admit the wine tasted excellent.   I ordered a second glass without any
prompting.
    All in all, Cross wasn’t bad company.   We drank coffee and discussed the current
woes in the commercial real estate business after our plates had been taken
away.
    “If you’re shrewd,” he said, “there’s still money to be
made out there.   Just not as much as
there was a few years ago,” he paused, and I thought he had finished with his
comment. Then he said softly, almost to himself, “but you still have to watch
your back.”
    The rest of his group entered the dining room.   They were loud and unsteady. More than
likely, they had come directly from the bar.
    “I had to give up everything but a little red wine.   It’s probably a blessing,” he remarked in
response to seeing his companions.
    For him or them, I wondered.
    “Doctor’s orders, you know,” he said.
    I nodded, but of course I didn’t.
    “And, my wife’s quite the enforcer.   Goes overboard if I simply look too long at a
glass of scotch, but I have to admit that I feel a lot better now that I’m off
all that stuff. Are you married, Jim?”
    “Not anymore,” I didn’t elaborate.
    His turn to nod.   Give him credit for not asking me about it.
    “Hey Cross, who’s your new friend here?”
    I had watched her break away from the rest of the group
while they were being seated and come our way.   She had a medium build, medium height, and medium looks. Her mid-length
cut brown hair was closer to a true brown than seemed normal for hair.   Not too dark or too light. She wore