Crash and Burn by Allison Brennan, Laura Griffin Read Free Book Online Page A

grabbed it.
    “Moreno,” she answered.
    “Is this Scarlet Moreno?” a woman’s voice said.
    Hadn’t she just answered the phone with her name? Scarlet rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
    “I’m Wendy Anderson. We met yesterday when my ex-boyfriend rear-ended me.”
    Please, God, let this be a joke.
    “I remember,” she said flatly.
    “I want to hire you.”
    “For what?”
    “To get my stuff back from Jimmy.”
    No no no. Scarlet didn’t want to touch this with a ten-foot pole.
    Wendy continued. “I have a list. I have a restraining order on him. It’s not like I can just go over to his house.”
    “Do you know where he lives?”
    She hesitated. “No.” The pout was evident in her voice. “And he won’t bring my things to my parents’ house. I asked. Repeatedly. And then he just up and moved.”
    “It’s the weekend,” she began, trying to think of a way to get out of this.
    “I’ll pay double your rates. What do you make? My dad pays his lawyer two hundred fifty dollars an hour. Is that enough?”
    She would have spewed coffee if she’d been drinking. “Yes, but—”
    “I have a condo in Huntington.” She rattled off an address that Scarlet knew cost a minimum of a million per unit, more if there was a view. “Please, Scarlet, I want my stuff and Jimmy is being an ass.”
    Hadn’t she just been lamenting that she hadn’t been bringing in business? That Krista was really the only one looking for work? This job just landed in her lap. How could she say no?
    “We require a one-day minimum, plus expenses.”
    “Great!” She sounded overjoyed. “I’ll have a check for you when you get here.” She hung up.
    Two thousand dollars for a day’s work. How could she turn it down?
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    Wendy Anderson’s top-floor condo had a view. Two of Scarlet’s studios could fit in the bright, white living room. She also had an espresso machine, and fresh coffee greeted Scarlet as well as Wendy’s overly bright smile.
    “I’m so glad you came,” she said.
    “I said I would,” Scarlet mumbled.
    “Coffee?”
    Scarlet wanted to say no because she didn’t want a social call, but the coffee smelled incredible and she needed more caffeine.
    “Thanks.”
    “Cream? Sugar?” Wendy asked, her eyes wide and perky. A completely different personality from the raving woman by the side of the road yesterday, or the nut job Douglas had described.
    “Black.”
    Wendy grimaced, then laughed. “To each her own!”
    They sat at the glass dining table. There was art on the walls—the kind of contemporary art that must be expensive because it made no sense to Scarlet. There were also several picture frames of Wendy and her girlfriends and Wendy and Jim. Wendy and Jim in Hawaii. Wendy and Jim in this condo. Wendy and Jim on the beach.
    Maybe Jim was right and she was obsessed. Why would she have pictures of her ex if she also got a restraining order against him?
    “Thank you for coming,” Wendy repeated. “You must have a fascinating job.”
    Scarlet didn’t want to engage in small talk. “You have a list of the personal items your ex has?”
    She frowned. “Yes. But don’t you want to know what happened?”
    “No.” Wendy’s face fell and Scarlet realized her bedside manner was atrocious. But she hated drama, and drama was written all over Wendy’s expression. “Can you give me the abridged version?”
    “I love Jimmy.”
    “You got a restraining order against him,” Scarlet said flatly.
    “I didn’t mean to.”
    Scarlet stared at her. Didn’t mean to? It wasn’t exactly an easy, painless process.
    Wendy continued. “It’s just that when we fight, he’d go all possessive on me, thinking I was cheating on him, or some such stupid thing.”
    Not so stupid, considering that adultery was Scarlet’s bread-and-butter.
    “And it got all out of control. And then he wouldn’t give me back my stuff—every time I came to get my things, he’d go all crazy.”
    Crazy . Exactly what Douglas said