Greed in Paradise (Paradise Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

questions lined up for when I hear the first Creole-induced screams coming from your bedroom.” She continued to laugh.
    My cheeks burned and I turned and stared out the window at the choppy Gulf waters, the waves pounding against the rocks. I fished my phone out of my pocket. “Hello, Mr. Harder, Detective, sir.” I put him on speakerphone so that Fab wouldn’t wreck trying to listen.
    Fab had to know everything; she boldly snooped, eavesdropped, and had no shame. She’d stare a person down with a dare-me-to-shoot-you look on her face. It only annoyed me in that she didn’t always reciprocate.
    “What do you want?” he half growled.
    “Tolbert Rich’s best friend, Gus Ivers, just died. Cause of death is officially listed as kidney failure. Just for his peace of mind, would you have a thorough look-see at the toxicology reports when they come in?” Harder and Tolbert had become friends when he rode the church bus to catch a couple of criminals, and now he attended intermittently.
    “I’ll look into that and go visit Tolbert myself. Thanks for telling me about Gus.”
    “Tolbert could use a new best friend. I’m going to hook him up with some other old men, and you could do your part.” I knew perfectly well Tolbert had twenty years on Harder.
    He snorted. “I’ll bring him in for free lunch at Jake’s. We’ll pay our respects to the murder spot. So sad, there is one less criminal no longer among us.”
    “Phil painted a star on the floor and it’s become quite the attraction,” I said.
    “I’m planning on arresting Zach.”
    Fab and I looked at one another. I raised my eyebrow. She shook her head, indicating that it was the first she had heard the news.
    “What for?”
    “I’ll think of something. You okay?”
    Since Harder and I had forged a friendship, he’d come through for me on a couple occasions. He never liked Zach; they’d clashed once on a big case and neither got over it.
    “I’m fine. If I was standing in front of you, and we were huggers, I’d think about it,” I said. We both shared the same aversion for handshakes and body touching.
    “You’ve wasted enough of my time. You and that crazy girlfriend of yours, stay out of trouble.” He hung up.
    “Who knew he could be human?” Fab said. “You’re getting your old sparkle back.”
    I looked at her. “Shh, don’t tell anyone. I even miss Brick a little. I’m sad I can’t take the Hummer to Famosa Motors to get serviced.”
    “You never did tell me what happened between the two of you.”
    “Brick summoned me to his office. I marched in full of nerve and threw the envelope of eviction notices on his desk and told him to go to hell.”
    I had worked for Brick Famosa to get the hours needed for my own private investigator license. My last assignment had been to serve eviction notices on an apartment of retired seniors living on fixed incomes. He should have known that would backfire. Instead of serving the notices, I stalled for a few days and then called in a few favors to get them a pro bono lawyer who would stall the process even longer and get them relocation money.
    Bitsy sat in her usual place at the receptionist desk when I cruised through the doors of Famosa Motors. The stripper-turned-receptionist looked confident. Ever since she screwed Fab by selling bad information, we’d both taken a dislike to her, knowing that she couldn’t be trusted.
    “He’s expecting you,” Bitsy said with disdain, and went back to filing her nails.
    I stood inside Brick’s door waiting for him to get off the phone, surveying the busy street below. I never tired of staring out his window. His office encompassed the entire second floor and had an amazing panoramic view of his luxury car lot and the surrounding area.
    “Here, sign these.” He pushed a stack of proof of services across the desk; he needed my signature to get the legal ball rolling.
    “What in the hell made you think I’d be a part of evicting senior