Snow Blind-J Collins 4 Read Online Free PDF

slacks, her reddish-brown face visible beneath a rabbit fur trimmed hat.
    Our tour guide, Dee, walked an elderly man out and met the woman on the sidewalk. He wasn’t the crippled old-timer I’d described. Maybe this was someone else.
    “That’s him,” Kevin said. “Vernon Sloane.”
    “You sure? He looks pretty spry for an eighty-five-year-old guy.”
    “Alzheimer’s is a mental defect, Julie, not physical.
    He’s exactly how Amery described him.”
    I skipped the smart-ass retort. Vernon was feisty; he wouldn’t let Luella help him into the car. She skirted the back end and they were off.
    32

    Kevin put the Jeep in gear.
    Luella putzed along little-old-lady-style; her speed never surpassed the posted legal limit. People like her caused traffic problems and gave people like me road rage.
    First stop: Boyd’s Liquor Mart on Mt. Rushmore Road. Well, well. Wasn’t that interesting?
    Kevin parked by the Dumpster.
    “Who’s going in? You? Or me?”
    “You.” I rummaged in the backseat until I found his brown Dakine knit winter hat. “Put that on.”
    “Anything else, bossy?”
    “Yeah, get me a pack of cigarettes and a pint of Jack Daniels.” I tossed him a crumpled fifty.
    “Martinez’s drinking habits wearing off on you?”
    “No. The Jack is for Reva.”
    His mouth dropped open. “In the short amount of time you spent together she told you her favorite whiskey? What? Are you two drinking buddies now?”
    As I watched Luella and Vernon enter the package store, I said, “It’d be nice to have someone to drink with since Kim is pregnant.”
    “Don’t you spend all your free time sucking down free booze in Martinez’s bars?”
    “No.” I faced Kevin and fussed with his collar.
    “That’s better. Go.”
    “Thanks, Mom.” He slammed the door.
    I lit up, considering how long I’d do my Eskimo imitation in the freezing cold. On a whim I dialed Martinez.
    33

    He answered on the second ring. “Everything okay, blondie?”
    “Yeah. Why?”
    “Because it’s rare for you to call me during the day.”
    “You’re always busy.” Shit shit shit . This was exactly why I didn’t call him; he made me feel guilty when I did. “Is it a bad time?”
    “Hang on.” A clunk followed a muffled thump.
    The line crackled. Background noises disappeared.
    “Where are you?”
    “On a stakeout. Where are you?”
    “My office at Bare Assets.”
    I flicked an ash out the window. “You alone?”
    “I am now. Why?”
    “I wondered if you wanna have phone sex.”
    “With you?”
    “No, with Kevin, Martinez. Jesus, yes with me.”
    He paused. “Wells isn’t in the car with you.”
    “Nope. Just little ol’ me, feeling horn -ibly naughty.”
    “You’re just bored.”
    “Pretty much.”
    “I should be insulted.”
    “You aren’t. You’re actually thinking about saying yes.”
    Martinez laughed softly.
    “So I’ll take a rain check on the phone sex if you promise me the real deal tonight.” I inhaled, holding the smoke in my lungs a good long time before I exhaled.
    He didn’t respond, but I heard him sigh. I could 34

    almost see the resignation on his face.
    “Forget it. I’ll talk to you later.”
    “Julie, wait—”
    “Crap. Our guy is on the move. Gotta go.” I punched the Off button and snapped the phone shut.
    It’d drive him crazy if he couldn’t reach me. Might be a petty thing, but it guaranteed the outcome: Martinez in my bed tonight. We’d been hit-and-miss on the sex front lately, and I needed a grand-slam home run in a bad way. A doubleheader would even be better.
    I finished my cigarette, staring in the side mirror.
    Luella and Vernon climbed in the Cadillac. Kevin appeared a beat later.
    He tossed the brown paper sack on my lap, eyeing the passing vehicle before he started the Jeep.
    “What did they buy?”
    “A liter of Jim Beam Select, a bottle of Prairie Berry Wine, chokecherry blend. A jug of that pre-mixed Mudslide crap, and a box of Swisher Sweets.”
    “That’s