GUNNER (ALTON RHODE MYSTERIES Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

preferred switching to wine, but I wanted to see where the little domestic dynamic was going.
    “Sure,” I said. “Just one more.”
    Nathaniel Yorke looked annoyed. The others looked slightly embarrassed. The drinks came. As if in retaliation, Yorke started chatting up Alice. Teresa nudged me.
    “Don’t worry about Nathaniel showing so much attention to your girlfriend,” she whispered. “He likes to flirt. Men his age have to convince themselves they still have it. He doesn’t. He’s harmless.”
    The second martini was apparently doing its job. I got the impression that Teresa Yorke still had it, even if her husband didn’t.
    “Are you harmless, Alton? I bet you’re not. Big, handsome private eye. I bet you have lots of interesting stories. The women must swoon. Do they?”
    I was saved from answering when the first course arrived: veal scaloppini and filet mignon sautéed with peas and mushrooms in a sherry wine sauce. The waiter poured wine for everyone. Teresa had thankfully finished her martini and started on the wine.
    “You must be wondering at the obvious age difference between Nathaniel and me,” she said.
    I hadn’t. I knew from what I’d read that Yorke had married relatively late in life. Beyond that, I didn’t particularly care.
    “We met at a wedding in Boston,” she said. “I was 27 and he was 49. I’d just come out of an unsatisfying relationship and Nathaniel seemed so strong and mature. Such a vibrant, handsome man. He’s still quite handsome, don’t you think?”
    I said I did. And I also noticed that she left out the word ‘vibrant’.”
    “I was quite swept off my feet,” she continued. “That was 15 years ago. Neither of us wanted kids, which has helped me keep my figure. That, and working out. I run, swim and do Pilates. It seems to be working. What do you think? Would you guess I’m in my 40’s?”
    There is only one answer to that question when a woman asks it. So I told her what she wanted to hear. In fact, on closer inspection, Teresa Yorke did have a splendid body. As if to emphasize the point, she leaned forward.
    “I’m not wearing a bra. I bet you thought I was.” She was slightly drunk. “Your girlfriend has a nice figure, too. But, then, she’s young.”
    “Alice was on her college swim team. She coaches the sport at Wagner.”
    “How nice,” she said, her mouth turning down at the corners, revealing some 40-ish age lines. “A real jock.”
    “She’s also a tenured professor of philosophy. She can both think and swim rings around me.”
    Teresa drummed her fingers on my arm.
    “I bet I could teach her a thing or two. You look like you are in shape.” She had a strange cast in her eyes that I didn’t think was the result of the wine. She was now on her third glass. “It’s important to keep your body in shape. Mine is in the best it’s ever been. You should see me in a bikini. Too bad it goes to waste so often.”
    “What are you two so engrossed in?”
    It was Nathaniel Yorke, who was looking daggers at us. Then he emitted a funny little laugh. Alice looked amused. She was used to women throwing themselves at me, “especially when they are drunk and can’t see straight.”
    The next course arrived. I was never so glad to see a red snapper. The rest of the meal went along uneventfully. Mike and Yorke steered the conversation toward politics. Teresa Yorke yawned and looked bored, but at least she didn’t undress.
    After we finished a meal that would have embarrassed Caligula, none of us wanted dessert. Until the kitchen sent out a complimentary tiramisu. We demolished it.
    ***
    “Well, that was certainly interesting,” Alice said. We were driving home after the dinner. “I thought the snapper was a bit much.”
    “I guess the owner wanted to impress us. It was delicious.”
    “I wasn’t talking about the fish. I meant Teresa Yorke. She did everything but gobble you up at the table.”
    “Ah, you noticed.”
    “Everyone noticed. I