Maximum Guilt (Hidden Guilt Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

the girls Blake sat with on a regular basis—his favorites. And I also need a list of all the girls who worked last night and when they left the club.”
    “I’m not sure I’ll be able to get that for you, sir.”
    “Fair enough. Get me someone who can.”
    He walked inside the club. I thought about staying in the lobby, but I didn’t want them to conjure up a story for me. I decided to follow him.
    As I stepped inside, I spied a tall, slender girl dancing topless on the front stage. Five men lined the stage, holding what I guessed to be one dollar bills in their hands. All probably fifty or older. Pathetic, I thought to myself. I didn’t want to rattle everyone by giving them the cop vibe, so I just pretended to be an interested patron.
    A minute later, the guy from the lobby was at my side. “That’s the manager over there. His name is Steve.”
    “Thanks for your help with this.”
    I watched the kid go back through the double doors to the front. I figured I’d walk over to Steve and pretend to be holding a conversation about the dancer. Again, trying not to let anyone in on who I really was or why I was there.
    “Steve, Detective David Porter HPD.”
    I’d extended my hand for a friendly shake, and Steve slowly reached out to take it.
    “Calm down. This isn’t a shakedown. Just trying to gather some information. I know John Blake was here last night. He’s dead now. He was last seen entering a hotel room around nine p.m.”
    Steve folded his arms, a look of disgust on his face. “What does any of this have to do with me and my club?”
    “I think you know exactly what it has to do with you, Steve.”
    We gave each other a once-over and stared in silence.
    “You think one of my girls was involved? You accusing one of my girls of murder?”
    “Steve, I’ll say it one more time: calm down. Again, I’m simply trying to gather some information. I need two things from you, and I’ll be out of your hair. I know you keep a log of when girls come and go each shift. It determines how much their buy-in and payouts are each day. So I need a list of the girls who came in last night—when they arrived and when they paid out. I need times.”
    “You’re asking for an awful lot, considering this isn’t a shakedown. You got a warrant?”
    “Now I know why your guy at the desk was such a dick. Must have to be one to work here. I can get a warrant, Steve. As a matter of fact, I can call and get one over the phone and never have to leave. The minute I yell police , everyone’s gonna dart the hell out of here. Just need the list—oh, and thing number two. I need to know who his regulars were.”
    “I can get you the list, but I’m not giving out names of girls he liked.”
    “So let me get this straight. A regular at your club was found murdered in cold blood. One of the last places he was seen alive was your club, and video at the motel shows him going in with a woman. If your girls are innocent, then you’ve got nothing to be afraid of. If you force me to make a scene, you’re going to have more problems on your hands than you want to deal with.”
    Steve took a step into my space. “That a threat, cop?”
    I stepped toward Steve and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Yes, that’s exactly what it is, Steve. You’re a lot smarter than you look. I was beginning to wonder.”
    He and I both knew such posturing was going to get him nowhere fast. If the place was crawling with cops, it’d put a serious dent in his business the next few weeks.
    “Give me what I asked for, and I’ll be out of your hair. And I’m kind of in a hurry, so could we get a move on it please?”
    He placed a call on his walkie-talkie, and a bouncer-type guy with a shirt two sizes too small appeared a few minutes later with my list in hand.
    “Good job, Steve. That’s part one. Now look at this list, and put a star beside the girl who sat with John most often when he came in.”
    He took the list from me, scanned it, and