Pretty Dead Read Online Free PDF

was how it worked for him. Except when it came to Elise . Females chased him, and he didn’t have to do anything. He could pretty much have his pick, so he’d thought Beth would always be around. Didn’t even consider the possibility of her looking elsewhere. Didn’t even consider it . Dumb, cocky bastard that he’d been.
    “There!”
    He and Elise spoke in unison, their eyes on the monitor.
    An eight-point match. The fingerprint came with a mug shot they both recognized.
    “That’s our girl,” David said.
    “Victim has a record.” Elise scanned the on-screen rap sheet. “Arrested several times for drugs, car theft, vandalism. Prostitution.”
    They knew prostitution and drugs often went hand in hand.
    David dropped back into his chair and grabbed the landline phone. At the same moment, Elise said, “Call Strata Luna at Black Tupelo.”
    David punched in numbers and went for the lounge position: legs out, one hand supporting the back of his head. “Already on it.”
    When Strata Luna, Savannah’s infamous madam, answered, David small-talked a few moments, then got to the reason behind his call. “Do you have a prostitute working for you named”—he motioned for Elise, who slid a piece of paper across his desk—“Portia Murphy?”
    “No, honey, but I recognize the name. Bad news. Really bad news. She tried to get a job at my place, but she was an addict and probably carrying diseases. I think she worked with a pimp named John Riley Blackstone for a while, but no decent pimp’s gonna keep a girl like that for long.”
    David decided it wasn’t the time to point out that the words “decent” and “pimp” didn’t belong next to each other in a sentence. “Okay. Thanks. Oh, and Strata Luna? Confidential conversation.”
    “I never heard a thing, sweetie.”
    “You’re a doll.” He smiled and hung up.
    “Doll?” Elise asked, eyebrows raised.
    “Criterion Collection. I’m slowly going through all the noir movies, and I’m kinda liking the period jargon. I invited you over for movie night,” he reminded her. “You declined.”
    She looked at him a long moment. Those eyes. Those weird, weird eyes were just like her father’s.
    “Right,” she said with feigned disinterest.
    He knew this game. Knew it way too well. Enough to also know there would never be any winners.
    “Who did you invite when I said ‘no thanks’?” she asked.
    Oh man. She’d heard something. But he couldn’t keep waiting for her, waiting for something that was never going to happen. Love the one you’re with. And yet he shouldn’t have done it. He’d known better. And since Elise was bound to find out, he decided to confess.
    “Major Hoffman.”
    She recoiled in shock, and then her eyes went flat.
    He’d seen that expression on her face before—when she discovered he’d helped her dad find a place to stay. David didn’t like that expression.
    He could go into excuses, saying Hoffman came on to him—which was true. It was damn true. The woman wouldn’t leave him alone, but still . . . Someone from work. His boss. Their boss . Not good. Not good at all. And it didn’t escape him that it was close to the very excuse Elise had used for avoiding him. Partners can’t be lovers. So maybe he was trying to prove she was wrong.
    Don’t look at me like that , David thought, then childishly added, You didn’t want me.
    Elise pulled in a deep breath and straightened in her chair. “The major is . . . nice.” She didn’t sound at all convinced by her own words, most likely because lately Hoffman had been summoning Elise to her office more than usual, and David could only guess there was jealousy at play there even though he’d never told Coretta how he felt about Elise. But of course she knew. Hell, the whole department probably knew.
    “She’s funny. Funny clever, not funny weird,” David explained. His words were a weak attempt at convincing Elise that the fit wasn’t bad. Maybe even a weak attempt at