Ultimate Concealer, A Toni Diamond Mystery: A Toni Diamond Mystery (Toni Diamond Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF

platinum ringlets and freckles stood near the front. When she saw Dwayne, her face lit up. “Darlin’ Dwayne,” she cried and threw her arms around him giving him a big, smacking kiss right on the mouth.
    “Marlene, I gotta introduce you to my daughter. This here’s Tiffany.”
    Her round eyes grew rounder. “You got a kid?”
    “Sure do.”
    “Pleased to meet you,” she said, looking at Tiffany as though she couldn’t imagine how Dwayne had fathered someone so much less gorgeous than he was himself. “Right this way.”
    She led them to a table near the bar. Dwayne said “Hi” or “Howdy” to half a dozen people before they were seated. The woman brought menus, but he motioned them away. “Two of the choicest burgers you got, the ones with the blue cheese and bacon.”
    “Fries or salad?”
    “Actually,” Tiffany said, “could I just have the salad?”
    Dwayne stared at her. “You’re not some kind of vegetarian are you?” he asked in the same tone he’d use if she were an extraterrestrial, a zombie, or a communist.
    “‘Fraid so.”
    He shook his head. “I never would have thought any daughter of mine would become a vegetarian.”
    “I can do you a dinner salad, no meat,” the waitress said.
    “That would be great.”
    “Well, I’ll have the burger. And bring us a couple of beers.”
    The woman glanced at Tiffany, who was five years away from twenty-one, and said, “Sure thing.”
    “What did you think of Marlene?” her dad asked when the woman left.
    “Is she your girlfriend?”
    “Hell, no.”
    “Good because she looks like an Albino Raggedy Ann doll.” She wished she’d bitten her lip. Why did she always blurt out those stupid things? It was like she thought them and out they slipped.
    But instead of being offended, her father threw back his head and laughed. “She does. That’s exactly what she looks like. Ha-ha.”
    She sipped her beer slowly and ate her salad while her dad wolfed down his burger, tearing into it with strong, white teeth. He offered her a fry. “Or are you a frytarian too?” he teased.
    She laughed and helped herself to his fries, dipping them into a blood-red pool of ketchup.
    He finished his beer and ordered a second. “You want another?”
    She shook her head. She liked beer but she didn’t want to get wasted on her first meeting with her father.
    When they were done, Marlene appeared with the bill. “Put that on my tab, will you, honey?” he said. He pulled out a five and dropped it on the table. “And this is for you.”
    “Oh, Dwayne,” she said, sounding less than thrilled, and she took the bill folder away with her, leaving the cash on the table.
    “Okay, sweet pea. Let’s go,” he said, rising and pulling on his denim jacket.
    “Dwayne!” a man called. “Hold up.”
    Her father turned, held out his hand, looking delighted. “Holman! Good to see you.”
    Holman grabbed the hand briefly. He held the bill folder in his hand. “Look, Dwayne, we can’t—”
    “I want you to meet my daughter, Tiffany. She’s visiting her old dad for a few days. Isn’t she gorgeous?”
    The guy named Holman stared at her with hard, black eyes. “You really his kid?”
    “Yes.”
    She felt a weird vibe between the two men and she didn’t like it. After a moment, when the guy named Holman fidgeted and mumbled under his breath, he finally said, “You’re right, Dwayne. She’s a beauty. Call me tomorrow.”
    “Sure will, old buddy.”
    “This town is all about who you know,” Dwayne told her as he started the car. “You see, I send a lot of business Holman’s way. He hasn’t let me pick up a dinner tab in months. That’s how it works in Vegas.”
    “Oh.” Hadn’t looked that way to her.
    “Now, I perform at a little club in a casino. I’d be honored if you’d come and watch your old man perform. Be a real thrill for me.”
    “Yes. Of course. Sure.”
    “The old homestead’s not much,” he warned, “but I’ve got all my capital tied up