Emily Kimelman - Sydney Rye 05 - The Devil's Breath by Emily Kimelman Read Free Book Online

loan you one.”
    “That’s fine, I’ll get myself a car.”
    “Without a license?”
    “There are ways.”
    “I’ll have it delivered.” He waved to the secretary at the end of the hall and she hurried over to us. “Ms. Jelson, please arrange for the midnight blue Audi A4 to be delivered to Ms. Rye’s hotel by 5 pm.”
    “Of course, sir,” she hurried back to her desk and immediately picked up the phone.
    “I’ll see you tonight,” he said, reaching out a hand and squeezing my shoulder before turning away and walking down the hall. I watched until he rounded the corner for the elevator.
    #
    M ulberry took me to a restaurant for breakfast, pointing out that I’d avoided the bagels. We sat outside under a big orange umbrella and ordered coffee and eggs with sausage on the side. Blue settled himself under the table and the waitress, who wore skin tight black shorts and a half top in bright pink with the restaurant’s logo across her breasts, brought him a bowl of water and a biscuit. He lapped at the water gratefully and accepted the treat once he’d checked with me it was okay.
    Once she’d left, I pointed out to Mulberry he’d picked quite the place for breakfast. “Her outfit is awesome.”
    He smiled. “That’s just the culture down here. Everyone is half naked. See,” he said, pointing to a man who rollerbladed by wearing only a small pair of cut-off jean shorts, his hairless chest glistening in the sun as he sped by. “It’s equal opportunity,” he said. I looked down at my outfit and felt my jeans clinging to my legs. I should buy some linen I thought, letting my mind drift back for a moment to my clothing in India, my sarong and T-shirts, how much I’d enjoyed not wearing clothes most of the time. 
    The waitress returned with our eggs and we ate in silence for a few moments. Mulberry leaned back with a smile, holding his cup of coffee. “I like it here,” he said. “Not a bad place to spend a couple of months, maybe half a year. I’m thinking about an apartment in this neighborhood.”
    “Yeah, I guess,” I said. “Though I’m hoping not to be here that long.”
    Mulberry smiled and leaned across the table toward me. “Sydney, this is going to take time. The wheels of justice are slow.”
    I took a bite of my eggs and chewed it, watching a man wearing an American flag bandana, leather mini skirt, and pink boa bike by, a stereo bungie-corded to the back of the bike playing something with a Latin beat.
    “Then why did I have to race over here?” I said, turning back to Mulberry. “If this is all going to take so much time, if we have to wait for the actual justice system to grind out a solution, why did I have to drop everything and get on a plane with you?”
    “I thought you’d want to be here,” Mulberry said, his brow creasing. “Robert arranged a private jet for you. I was supposed to tell you the night before but…”
    He left the sentence open and I felt my face flush as I remember how few words we’d spoken that night.
    Mulberry continued, “We got him out on bail only by some kind of miracle.”
    I coughed on my coffee. “Miracle? Those seem to show up around Bobby Maxim.”
    “That’s why he’s good to have around,” Mulberry said quietly. He picked up his napkin and wiped at his face. “The man is impressed by you. He wants to work with you. He’s the head of the largest and furthest-reaching private investigation firm on the planet. If you don’t want to be a part of something like FGI, what do you want to do?”
    I took another bite of my eggs.
    Mulberry shrugged. “Seems like there is a little punching-the-gift-horse-in-the-mouth thing going on here.”
    “What?” I asked, angry.
    “Don’t go all postal on me, Sydney. All I’m saying is you’ve got an unreasonable dislike for the man.”
    “He tried to kill me,” I said, slamming my fist down. It hit the spoon in the salsa flipping a couple of chunks onto me. “Crap,” I said and went to grab