Cheat (Karma Inc. Book 1) by Gillian Zane Read Free Book Online Page B

other direction.
    I wasn’t tired. Physically, at least. When you’re dead and working for Afterlife, you don’t get tired. You don’t sleep. You don’t feel the cold, or the hot. You don’t get hungry. It’s like being stuck in the in-between. In-between everything. We didn’t even necessarily have to eat, but old habits die hard. And I have to admit, my refrigerator was stuffed full of ice cream, honey ham, and cookie dough. Luckily, we could alter our appearance too. No ass expansion after hoovering the pint of brownie chocolate explosion.
    When I walked into my apartment, I noticed the view was set to Vegas. Another city I hadn’t had the chance to visit. I hadn’t done that. Brandon must have changed my view. It was the middle of the night in Vegas, almost early morning. I could see a slight brightening peeking out from behind the mountains in the distance. The sun hadn’t quite crested yet, just a slight lightening of the sky. The strip was in all its glory, it was full on party time there. I watched as revelers scurried back and forth over bridges that spanned the streets, signs flashed, and fountains burst into the sky.
    I stood there at my window and watched. It was who I was now. An observer. I couldn’t take part, I was there to do my job. My time of participating was over.
    When I turned around, I noticed a card on my table. I picked it up and remembered what Brandon had told me. He was letting me dig into my life. I could find out what happened to me, I just couldn’t do it myself.

    Drake Greco
    Finder
    F inder . What an interesting job description. I wonder what he generally found.

Chapter 9
Find Me
    “ Y ou’re looking for your friend?”
    “Yes, didn’t I say that?”
    Drake Greco had me nervous. He was not what I expected. I had expected some stereotypical gumshoe sort sitting in an office and smoking a cigar. What I got was so far removed from that, I felt like an idiot for my assumptions. My idea of a private investigator would have been fit, but with a slight paunch. He would have thick hair slicked back and his suit would be cheap. He would be helpful, for the right price. He would reassure me that he could do the job with ease and send me on my way with maybe a few subtle sexual innuendos.
    Drake Greco was none of these things. He was shadow come to life. He was all dark shapes and sharp lines. He made my palms sweat. His suit was impeccably tailored and the opposite of cheap. The cut and fabric was dark, like him. I could feel my heart pumping in my chest, the whir whir whir of the blood pumping overpowering everything else, when I looked at him. The red power tie he wore was the only color to offset his starkness. It screamed power and danger. I didn’t know if he scared me or excited me. I was too nervous to figure it out.
    He was a big man. When he stood from his chair to shake my hand as I was shown in by his secretary, he towered over me, even though I was a tall girl in this form. He also held himself with a strange poise; it was almost gentle, as if each one of his movements was carefully controlled. When he sat back as gently as he had stood, he placed his hands on the desk and waited…
    I didn’t know what he wanted. I couldn’t read him. He was closed off from me. I couldn’t even sense his energy. Nothing registered. He was neither positive nor negative. A battery gone dead.
    “I’m repeating your statements to make sure we both understand each other, Ms. Hail,” he responded.
    “Sorry, Mr. Greco.” I kept up the formal routine for his benefit. “I don’t like repeating myself.”
    He was a handsome man, if you liked apex predators. I had no love for predators, but I could appreciate their dangerous beauty. His dark, almost black, eyes bored into me as if he knew all my secrets from just a glance. His chiseled chin jutted out, waiting for me to incriminate myself.
    “Noted. Now, as you were saying,” he urged me on, sitting back in his chair. His jacket fell