Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
He nodded. “I like the pace here, but her family is there. We were having problems before I took this job. I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry.” Bud was a great guy. “You deserve to be happy.”
He glanced at me. “Everybody deserves to be happy. Aiden seems solid.”
I hid my surprise. That was as personal a statement as Bud had ever made to me. “He is. I like him a lot.”
“The man must be a saint.” Bud looked back at the snowy road.
Had Bud Orlov just made a joke? I decided not to push my luck and stopped questioning him. Plus, we’d pulled up to the once-again-empty parking lot in front of the Rustic Relic.
Bud looked around. “Cute place. Didn’t know it was here.”
I nodded. “That’s the general consensus. They need to start advertising because they have some pretty cool stuff. At least they did before they were robbed.”
“Huh,” Bud said.
We both stepped into the snowy day and stomped up the wide wooden steps to push open the door, which made the little bell jingle merrily. I kicked the snow off my boots as Bud did the same, both of us looking around. Lisa had cleaned up the mess, but many of the shelves remained empty.
She came around the corner, dusting her hands off. “Hello? May I—?” She scowled. “What are you doing here?”
Bud instantly stepped in front of me, blocking my view.
I angled to the side to see around his square body. “Hey, Lisa. I just wanted to talk. This is Bud Orlov.”
“You brought a cop with you,” she said with a sneer.
“I’m under police protection. One of the robbers ended up being dumped at my office with an arrow through his heart.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Like dead?”
I nodded. “Definitely dead.”
“The hot, sexy one?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No. One of the other guys. In fact, both of the other two are dead. Only the tall, sexy guy is still around.”
Bud cut me a frown over his shoulder.
I shrugged. “Compared to the other two, the guy is fit.”
Lisa sighed, her shoulders going down. “Fine. What do you want?”
“A couple of things.” I edged carefully to Bud’s side and ignored how he bristled. “First, Wayne and Spencer Wilson came into my office. They want to sue you for assault and battery.”
She looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. “What a couple of morons. Honestly, if that Wayne had kept his wife satisfied, I’d probably be happily married to Richard Basanelli right now. We’d be sailing off around the world and having fun.”
What was it with Richard Basanelli and sailing off? I shook my head. “Maybe. Or maybe you’d be dead in the basement of a mansion, your bones having just been discovered.”
She snorted. “That’s a good point. Are you their attorney now, too? The Wilson twats?”
I guess I was their attorney. “How about you pay for a new suit for Spencer, and they’ll drop the case?”
She eyed me. “Spencer was the redhead, right?”
“Yeah. The guy with the suit you ruined by throwing paint.”
“It wasn’t a very nice suit,” she retorted.
I saw Bud’s lips twitch from the corner of my eye. Was he actually smiling? Close. Not quite there, but close. This was certainly a whole new side of him. Perhaps he’d accept being my friend.
“Fine,” Lisa said. “I will pay for a new suit for the redhead. I’ve always had a thing for redheads.”
“No, you haven’t,” I protested instantly. “Richard Basanelli was as Italian as they come.”
“Yeah, he had a little bit of red in his hair,” she said.
No, he hadn’t, but the argument wasn’t worth it. “I think Spencer’s single.” He and Lisa seemed to be about the same age.
“Yeah? Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten so angry. I mean, his brother was the dope that let Imogen get away. Spencer didn’t do anything wrong. He’s a lawyer, right?”
I nodded. “Yes. I believe tax law, maybe estate planning, over in Montana.”
She crossed her arms, wearing dark jeans and a light green sweater that somehow made her look softer and more approachable today than she had the other day. “If he’s a lawyer, why are you here?”
“He’s licensed in Montana, not Idaho.”
“Oh,” she said. “I figured y’all could practice everywhere.”
We did have reciprocity with some states, but it took paperwork and effort. “No, different states have different laws.”
“I see. Tell you what, I’m going to counter your offer.”
I cocked my head to the side. “All right.”
“You tell that Spencer that I will buy him a new suit if he doesn’t sue me, and if we can go out to dinner for Valentine’s Day on Thursday.”
Spencer wanted a new suit and not a date. But I could promise to ask. “I like that idea. I don’t suppose you have a friend who could go out with Wayne?” It was time for the guy to move on from his deceased wife, but not with me.