3 Men and a Body by Stephanie Bond Read Free Book Online Page A

had suffered. He’d been a slight kid,
    with a genius IQ, and the creative capacity to concoct all
    kinds of stories about why their parents had left.
    Eventually he’d decided that their father was some kind of
    secret agent forced to go underground. She knew Wesley
    had outgrown the elaborate tales intel ectually, but she
    wondered if he stil entertained some of those childhood
    fantasies emotionally.
    Over the years, she’d vacil ated between hoping their
    parents were found and hoping they were lost forever. But
    she was starting to worry that Wesley would be at
    dangerous loose ends until there was some resolution to
    the jagged tear in their family.
    Was their father close to turning himself in? Was he
    growing tired of life on the lam? Was that why he’d gotten
    sloppy and left fingerprints at a crime scene? She shook
    her head, trying to imagine her parents as a crime duo—
    her dad wielding a gun while her mom walked around
    holding open a designer bag for everyone to deposit their
    wal et in.
    Frankly, the most ludicrous part of it all was the thought of
    Valerie entering a Holiday Inn. If her mother had any say,
    they would hold up only five-star establishments.
    No, Carlotta couldn’t picture her parents as armed
    robbers. They wouldn’t have to resort to anything so
    overt. Randolph Wren could charm anyone out of his or
    her life savings, and Valerie was the kind of woman that
    men threw money at. Model-thin and beautiful, with an
    aura that mesmerized those around her, she was movie-
    star glamorous, and everyone had been happy to be in her
    entourage. Carlotta suspected that being on the run had
    been hard for her mother, who was accustomed to lavish
    attention. But it only demonstrated how emotionally
    dependent she was on Randolph…and on her vodka.
    The phone rang, rousing Carlotta from her dark thoughts.
    “Hel o?”
    “It’s Coop.”
    She smiled into the phone. “Hi, there. You just missed
    Wesley.”
    “That’s okay. It’s you I want.”
    She gave a little laugh, enjoying the easy flirtation. “In that
    case, what can I do for you, sir?”
    He groaned. “So many things. Seriously, though, did I catch
    you at a bad time?”
    “Are you kidding? I’m so bored, I’m cleaning.”
    “I figured you might be going stir-crazy being off work, so I
    have a proposition.”
    She pursed her mouth. “I’m listening.”
    “Wel , this isn’t exactly romantic, but I have a VIP body
    pickup in Boca Raton, and I wondered if you’d like to ride
    along. We could leave tomorrow and have a couple of
    days of fun in the sun beforehand.”
    “Boca Raton? Oh, my God, is it Kiki Deerling?”
    “You know her?”
    “Just from television. She’s hard to miss.”
    “Yes. This trip is to pick up her body, but no one can know
    about it. I signed a confidentiality agreement, so mum’s
    the word.”
    “Don’t worry. I won’t tel anyone.”
    “So how about it? Want to hit the road for a few days?
    Separate rooms, of course…unless I can persuade you
    otherwise.”
    She laughed at his teasing tone, but entertained a little
    shiver of excitement. A few days alone with Coop, getting
    to know each other, no pressure. He wasn’t holding a ring
    for her, and he wasn’t hel -bent on capturing her father.
    His only angle was tempting her with sandy beaches and
    icy drinks.
    Suddenly Carlotta’s mind raced to assemble disparate bits
    of information. “I’ve never been to Boca Raton and my
    geography is a little rusty. Would we be driving close to
    Daytona Beach?”
    “Right through it, as a matter of fact.”
    A wicked smile curved Carlotta’s mouth. “What time do
    we leave?”

    7
    Wesley squeezed the hand brake on his bike and grunted
    when pain seized the muscles under the bandage on his
    forearm. He’d convinced Peter not to take him to the
    emergency room for stitches, but that meant the wounds
    would take longer to heal.
    His opinion of Peter Ashford had never been high. Wesley
    had been young when