Busted: Promise Harbor, Book 3 Read Online Free PDF Page A

grandfather’s to change. Although tempted, she decided on professionalism over showing up to question Gerald looking like something from a design show nightmare.
    By the time she got cleaned up and to Gerald’s workplace, she discovered he’d gotten off early and was probably at Stone’s playing darts. The parking lot was already filling up when she pulled into her family’s sports bar. Matt would be happy about that. The wraparound deck was half full with people chatting, drinking and smoking. A handful of them waved or said hello by the time she got inside.
    It took a couple minutes to get Matt’s attention and pass on the beer he offered her. “Where can I find Gerald Capshaw?”
    He gestured to the last dartboard at the far end of the bar. “Guy with red hair and his stomach sticking out of his shirt.”
    “I thought you were with the guys tonight?”
    “Got too busy here, but Allie and the girls are still going strong. Jackson and a couple of the guys are around here somewhere too.”
    Everyone’s favorite hockey player must have decided on another beer after Barney’s. Lucky her.
    Weaving around tables, Hayley noticed a few friends and at least one of Allie’s bridesmaids in the middle of the bar’s almost nonexistent dance floor. Next to it, Jackson sat surrounded by four women, one of whom held out a marker, her free hand already tugging at the hem of her shirt.
    Hayley rolled her eyes. May lightning strike her dead if she ever wanted a celebrity to autograph her breasts. Still, she glanced over her shoulder on her way past, mildly annoyed by how quick Jackson was to accommodate the brunette.
    She never pretended to have a high opinion of most jocks in high school, but she’d once believed Jackson was different. He’d always acknowledged her presence with a nod or an easy smile and never stooped to making snide comments he knew she’d overhear like others had. And for one very brief, very naive moment, she’d thought…
    Focus, Hayley.
    She was here to work. Not to contemplate Jackson Knight’s possible redeeming qualities. Matt had often defended Jackson, especially after the scandal surrounding his car accident and early retirement from the NHL, insisting he wasn’t like the rest of the guys. But when another woman slid into his lap, all but rubbing her boobs in his face, Hayley decided her original opinion of jocks probably applied to Jackson after all.
    Getting back to business, she managed to pull aside her potential witness for a brief conversation out on the deck.
    Gerald hadn’t seen any more than the retreating shadow the security camera picked up, leaving them no further ahead with their investigation. It took exactly three minutes to realize he didn’t have much to offer, but she followed him back inside anyway, listening to the man’s grievances about his neighbor’s fence being on his property, among other things.
    The mention of Jackson’s name behind her split her concentration. She dutifully nodded at Gerald while eavesdropping on the other men’s conversation. With the satellite radio playing from a speaker overhead, she only caught a few words.
    “…fuck up…”
    “…alcoholic…”
    “…cheater…”
    “…gonna tell that prick what I think about him.”
    Cutting Gerald off, she told him to call the station if he remembered anything else, and moved a little closer to the three guys talking about Jackson. For every hundred people who idolized the town’s only sports hero, there was at least one who mocked him. The talk tonight was likely just that—talk—but it might not hurt to stick around.
    One of the men stood up so fast his chair tipped backward. He didn’t bother to set it upright. The guy was pushing giant status with a height of at least six foot six and was built like a grizzly bear, right down to his frizzy auburn hair.
    Not just talk then. Not from the way he was knocking into the few tables between his and Jackson’s.
    Hayley glanced in Matt’s