Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 80391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“Annalise,” I nodded. “How are you?”
“What have we got?” She said briskly, ignoring the niceties that I tried to engage her in.
Annalise didn’t know why our relationship didn’t work, and I never had the desire to explain to her that she was too much like one of the guys, rather than a girlfriend. I didn’t think she’d appreciate that too much. Instead, I’d just told her I wasn’t interested in her anymore and left it at that.
Harsh, yes, but in the end it saved some hurt feelings on her part.
Sebastian answered her question when she raised her eyebrows at me in question. “Older male, late seventies. Dead. Sword through the chest.”
“Witnesses?” She asked.
They both shrugged.
“Alright, back off and let me do my job.” She ordered and left to speak with the officer that was first on the scene.
“You heard the man,” Sebastian said.
At my glare, Sebastian laughed.
“Funny.” I growled.
Chapter 2
She asked me to say something sexy to her, so I whispered, “I’m a fireman.”
- Kettle to Adeline
Adeline
“Can I help you?” I asked the woman on the front porch of my apartment the next morning.
I’d just come out to get my daily fix of the hot firefighter and found the woman on my doorstep about to knock.
That was the second time in two days that I nearly got smacked on the face.
“I’m Detective Annalise Hernandez,” she said flipping her badge open and shut again. “I’m here to ask you a few questions. May I come in?”
“Actually, I was on my way to sit on the porch anyway. You may join me.” I said politely, closing the door firmly behind me.
Wouldn’t do to have Monty get out with her here.
She looked annoyed that I wouldn’t let her inside, and I’d had to contain the urge to laugh. I wasn’t a naïve little girl. I wasn’t bringing some cop into my house. I knew better than that.
“I have some questions for you about last night.” Detective Hernandez began.
“Shoot,” I said just before my eyes locked on the heart-stopping, panty wetting man running down the middle of the parking lot.
Today he was in red Nike shorts, a pair of neon yellow running shoes, and nothing else.
Oh, boy.
And now he was looking at me. Should I wave? Yeah, I should wave.
He smiled at me and waved back before turning his attention back to the ground in front of him.
“You know Tiago?” Detective Hernandez asked sourly.
I didn’t turn to face the woman until he rounded the corner and disappeared from my sight.
“Tiago?” I asked curiously.
I thought I’d heard his friend calling him Kettle, not that that name was any better, but still.
“Yeah,” she indicated the direction the man had disappeared from just moments before with her head. “That’s Tiago, AKA Kettle. Do you know him?”
If I wasn’t wrong, I detected a hint of jealousy coming from the woman, but I couldn’t be sure. Detective Hernandez was what you would call stoic. In the five minutes she’d been here, I hadn’t seen the woman do anything but glare and look mildly annoyed.
“No, I met him last night, but that’s it.” I replied, taking a seat on the rocking chair and taking a sip of my coffee. I had things to do today, and sitting here being interrogated wasn’t one of them.
“Can you tell me what happened last night?” Detective Hernandez finally asked.
I explained what happened from the time I smelled the smoke, until I went to bed later that night.
“Did you know the deceased?”
“No. I’ve never seen him before. Although I just moved in a little over a month and a half ago.” I explained.
I’d heard them, but not actually made their acquaintance.
“And did you hear anything?” The detective persisted.
“No, I was watching a movie. I had the surround sound on.”
“What movie?”
It was obvious to me that the detective was trying to catch me in a lie, but my explanation seemed to appease her some.
“I watched Black Dog. It started about an hour after I got home at six in the evening, and then went on until around nine. I smelled the smoke about twenty minutes after that.”
The questions persisted, one after the other, until she made me start over again.
“What did you do between the hour you arrived home and when the movie started?”
“Jesus Christ, lady. I took a shower, masturbated on my bed to that tall, dark and handsome man who just ran past us, and then ate a frozen dinner. A kids’ one that had a brownie in it. Anything else?” I snarled.
I was getting tired of the bullshit, and when I lost my patience, I seemed to lose the filter on my mouth. I probably shouldn’t have told her I’d masturbated, but with a quick glance at my watch, it showed I was twenty minutes late for work, and she’d been sitting here for well over thirty minutes now.
A low masculine chuckle brought my face from the very pissed detective to the satisfied male eyes at the very bottom of the stairs.
Kettle was still dressed in his shorts and tennis shoes, except for the shorts were about twice as sweaty.
A dark red line went from the waistband of the pants to about mid-thigh, and up close, I could make out each individual drop of sweat that rolled down his chest and met the waistband of his underwear.
I hadn’t realized I’d licked my lips until Kettle started laughing and Detective Hernandez snarled.
“Well, I’ll leave you two alone. Stay in town.” She directed towards me and stomped down the steps.
Kettle moved over slowly so the now extremely pissed off woman didn’t run me over in her exuberance to get the hell out.
In the meantime, I was in the process of figuring out what the hell to say to him. I’d just admitted to masturbating to the man the previous night. Before I’d officially met him. He’d probably realize I was a perv and watched him run every morning. Then he’d get a restraining order
But before I could come up with something intelligent to say, the cocky son of a bitch decided to throw it in my face.