Hardheaded Brunette by Diane Bator Read Free Book Online Page B

to a wake."
    She shivered. "I'll call Café Beanz and put in an order. Do you want anything else?"
    "No, I think that'll be good." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "But I am starting to think I should get into a different line of work."
    She smiled and picked up the phone. That made two of them. "Maybe I'll go drop my resume off at Happy Harvey's."
    Mick kissed her. "You do and I'll come looking to win you back."
    Gary del Garda, local bookie and Gilda's personal fairy godfather, met her at the front door of Café Beanz. He didn't seem to waste much time when it came to showing up where he was least wanted. He ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair as worry filled his blue eyes. "From the abundance of police cars in front of the school, I'd say you've already heard about the body they found on Ponderer's Point."
    "Heard it?" Gilda winced. "I found him."
    Gary covered his eyes then rubbed his face. "Oh, honey. I really wish you'd get a new hobby. For the record, Sherlock, I didn't kill Charlie Hunt. I didn't have anyone else do the deed either."
    Gilda stopped to stare. "Wait. You knew Charlie?"
    "It's a small world."
    "Why would you even bother to say you didn't have him killed?" she asked. "Is there a reason someone would actually think you'd want him dead?"
    Gary, a renowned gangster, never ceased to amaze her. Particularly when he'd taken her under his wing a couple months earlier to help protect her. Gary seemed to feel he owed it to her dad, a former cop who'd once arrested him, to come to her aid and keep her safe.
    "Ah, you know, it's the whole bookie thing." He blew out a breath and straightened a lock of hair the breeze had tossed to one side. "I've heard people tell stories about me fixing fights and threatening fighters like I have some influence."
    "Do you?" Gilda stared him down.
    Gary shrugged. "Meh."
    She walked into the coffee shop and greeted the lady behind the counter. She paid for the carton of coffee before she turned back to Gary. "Did Charlie?"
    "Have influence or fix fights?" He frowned.
    She shrugged. "I don't know. Both, I guess."
    When Gary's cell phone rang, he glanced at the screen and swore. "His holiness, your ex-boyfriend Thayer, requests an audience at the new karate school. He must have heard I was in the area of the front door." He ordered a large coffee and grinned. "Lucky me. I'm surprised it took him this long to track me down. I thought I'd be number one on his list."
    "You should bring him and Fabio coffee." Gilda said. "Butter them up."
    "Great idea. What do they take?"
    "Fabio takes cream." She hesitated and feigned innocence. "Thayer takes double milk, double sugar." Actually, Thayer took his coffee blacker than crude oil. Mick loved cream and sugar. Not that she wanted to get Gary in trouble, she simply had to torture Thayer for old time's sake.
    Gilda picked up the coffee carton and waited out front for Gary. When he walked out the front door, she frowned. "Did you know Charlie personally?"
    "Our paths have crossed several times. He made some trouble for a friend of mine a long time back. I don't know all the details. I guess they resolved the issue, because Charlie did some legwork for him a short time back, if you know what I mean."
    "Not really. Spell it out."
    Gary glanced around them. "Charlie became an enforcer."
    She blew out a breath. "Oh, wow. Is that why people had a problem with him?"
    "This was way before he started coaching fighters." Gary walked her back to the school. "He gave up the enforcer gig when he found out he could legitimately train guys to get their heads bashed in and he could screw his fighters out of money and fix their fights so he could rake in double the dough."
    "Is that what he did to Kane?" she asked.
    "Kane?" Gary stopped, his eyes wide. "Kane who?"
    "Kane Garrick. The guy Mick hired to teach some classes at the school." She studied the wary expression that flickered across his face. "Do you know him?"
    "Do I know him? I know of him. Kane