Cold Pursuit by Carla Neggers Read Free Book Online

around the restaurant. “If we’re seen together—”
    “I’m one of your decorating clients. Nothing more.”
    Melanie hesitated. “Kyle…why did we kill Alex Bruni?”
    “He had enemies. One of them wanted him dead enough to pay to make it happen.”
    The equation was always so simple and direct for him. “I don’t like it that Bruni vacationed in Black Falls. He knew Drew Cameron. I don’t understand why we killed him, either. Who wanted Bruni dead? Who hired us? It wasn’t his wife—his ex-wife?”
Or Thomas. It couldn’t have been Thomas.
    “You know as much as I do.”
    Melanie doubted that. Kyle dealt with their employers. Their transactions were conducted entirely over the Internet—no names, no faces. Just codes and passwords. He claimed even he didn’t know who paid them to kill people, who served as the middleman between them and the enemies of their targets. She executed her part of Kyle’s plan and asked no questions. She was paid well and accepted that nothing short of perfection was expected of her.
    But soon none of that would be of any concern to her. “I haven’t changed my mind,” she said. “I’m still retiring.”
    “Sure.”
    “I’m willing to give up the thrills for what Thomas can offer me.”
    “No, you’re not.”
    His sarcasm—his certainty—bothered her. “You don’t know me. You think you do, but you don’t. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to marry a man like Thomas.”
    “One with a trust fund.”
    “You don’t understand. I’m talking about my destiny.”
    “Doesn’t matter right now, does it?”
    He leaned toward her, and his eyes narrowed into slits, making him look more like the coldhearted killer he was. Part of Melanie expected the handful of well-dressed Washington elites at some of the other tables to notice and quietly exit the restaurant. But no one paid any attention to her or to Kyle.
    “We still have work to do,” he said.
    Her stomach lurched. She’d hoped he’d just used the threat as leverage to get her to focus on the Bruni hit, but his mind didn’t work that way. From the moment they’d met in the middle of the murder of her client, Melanie had been drawn to his straightforward simplicity.
    She nodded, picked up her coffee, her hands steady now. She’d pushed back any irritation—any desire, even, at least for the moment. “Yes. I know.”
    Nora Asher.
    Melanie’s future stepdaughter was a spoiled, headstrong college dropout who was asking too many questions—questions that cut too close to the truth for Kyle’s comfort. Or hers. Nora hadn’t put together what she’d gathered on Melanie into a coherent whole that posed a danger to her or to Kyle—or their employers—but it could happen. With Bruni’s death, Nora could become emboldened, frightened, perhaps more determined.
    And that was a problem.
    “Nora’s just jealous of me. Thomas unconsciously looked to her for reassurance after Carolyn left him for Alex. Nora got used to being needed. There’s no reason to think she’s discovered anything that would get us in trouble.”
    “She’s a time bomb.”
    Melanie said nothing.
    “Jo Harper is in Black Falls,” Kyle said.
    “She’s from there.”
    “Perfect cover. Send the hometown girl back to Vermont in damage-control mode and let her nose around.” He got to his feet. “One hour.” He eyed Melanie without a hint of a smile. “Enjoy your oatmeal.”
    The desire returned stronger than that first tingle. Melanie trembled, hot now. Her waiter set a bowl of steaming, steel-cut oatmeal and a smaller bowl of fat, perfect blueberries and raspberries in front of her.
    She smiled, thanked him, even as she thought she would melt.
    “Your friend’s not staying?” he asked.
    “No. Just leave the muffin, anyway.”
    He set the plate on the table and retreated.
    Melanie smelled the muffin’s sweetness, felt the steam from it.
    One hour.
    Using her fingers, she lifted a plump blueberry to her lips. She