Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies Read Online Free PDF

blue apron, worn jeans, and longsleeved T-shirt. Two scarlet tomatoes decorated the top of the black cotton.
    “Gin.”
    “Detective.”
    We stood there staring at each other. An invisible electric current hummed between us, firing off sparks of hot desire in every direction. I breathed in. The detective’s clean, soapy scent filled my nose, overpowering the cumin, red pepper, and other spices in the air. Donovan looked away and cleared his throat.
    He jerked his head, and I followed him to the far side of the restaurant, out of earshot of everyone else.
    “You want to tell me what happened?” he asked in a low voice.
    “You want to tell me why you’re here?” I countered.
    “Detectives don’t usually come out for Southtown robberies, especially those that are thwarted.”
    Donovan stared at me. “All right. I asked dispatch to let me know if there were any incidents at the Pork Pit.”
    “Why? Afraid I might take to killing people in my own place of business? You must not have gotten the memo, but I’ve retired, detective.”
    His black eyebrows drew together in surprise. “Retired?”
    I nodded. “Retired. Now I spend my days here at the Pork Pit serving up the best barbecue, cole slaw, and blackberry iced tea in Ashland.”
    Some emotion flared in his amber eyes. It might have been relief or even hope, but it was gone before I could decipher it. “Well, good for you, I suppose.”
    I shrugged. My quitting the assassin business wasn’t good or bad. Fletcher Lane had been after me to retire for months before his murder. After his death, I’d decided to honor the old man’s final wish. Nothing more, nothing less. But as my eyes slid down Donovan Caine’s body, I couldn’t help but wonder if my revelation would be enough to get the detective back into my bed. Certainly couldn’t hurt.
    Donovan dug a pen and notepad out of his hip pocket.
    “So tell me about it.”
    I recapped the events of the last hour. After I finished, Caine stilled, his pen frozen on his notepad, turning over something in his mind. Then he raised his golden eyes to me.
    “Why didn’t you kill them?” he asked in a soft voice.
    “We both know you could have.”
    “Easily,” I agreed. “But one of the girls was on the floor next to me.”
    “And you didn’t want her to see you do it?”
    I shrugged. “Witnesses are bad, detective. I’ve told you that before.”
    He snorted. “And here I thought you were developing a heart.”
    Disappointment tinged his words. I ignored the longing the sound stirred in me.
    “Oh, I’ve always had a heart, detective,” I replied in a breezy tone. “I just don’t let it keep me from doing what needs to be done. That would be weak, and I’m not weak. Haven’t been in a long time.”
    “No, weak is one thing you’re definitely not.” Donovan eyed me. “You may be retired, but you really haven’t changed at all, have you, Gin?”
    “That depends on your definition of change . Am I suddenly going to morph into a soccer mom or a bleeding heart who lets people walk all over her? No, and I don’t want to. But I’ve reevaluated my life, my priorities, and I’ve decided to change them accordingly. That being said, if somebody pushes me, comes at me like those two clowns did, I’m going to push back—three times as hard. Being an assassin has been my way of life since I was thirteen, detective. I’m not going to forget what I did for the last seventeen years just because I’m not doing it anymore.”
    “I see.”
    This time, the disappointment was as sharp as one of the silverstone knives hidden up my sleeves. Donovan Caine still wanted me, but he wanted his conscience to be clear about it too. I wasn’t the only one who needed to change.
    Caine cleared his throat. “You know who the blond kid is?”
    “Jake McAllister. Jonah McAllister’s nearest and dearest. The giant cop told me—then asked if I still wanted to press charges.”
    Donovan looked at the cop, who could be seen