Lucky Break by Deborah Coonts Read Free Book Online

that he had a style when it came to murder, but you know what I mean.
    “You know the guy he keeps talking about?   The one in the white dinner jacket with the gold buttons?”   Romeo paused for my nod.  
    “The Irv Gittings look-alike.”
    “What?”   Romeo said, clearly not following.
    “Something about him reminded me of Ol’ Irv.   I know, weird, but Irv used to dress that way—white dinner jacket, red bow tie.   Random thought.   Don’t mind me.”   My past haunted me from time to time.
    “Teddie said that guy, your Gittings look-alike, came up to him and whispered that somebody wanted to see him in the kitchen.”
    “Who?”
    “You.”
    I reared back as if he’d slapped me, which he sorta had.   “You know I didn’t!”
    Romeo held up his hand.   “Never a doubt.   I’m just telling you what Teddie said.”
    “We need to find the guy in the dinner jacket.” I pointed out the obvious—I didn’t have anything else; grasping at straws made me feel better.
    “No luck so far.   I’m hoping Jerry has something on the security tapes.”
    “What about the murder weapon?”   I could picture Teddie telling me to check it out.   The memory sent a chill through me.   “This is real, isn’t it?” I asked Romeo.
    He gave me an awkward hug.   “We’ll figure it out; don’t worry.”   He stepped away and back into detective mode.   “The murder weapon is being processed into evidence.”
    “Can you give me a look?” Raised in the wilds of Pahrump, Nevada in my mother’s whorehouse, I knew a few things about weapons.  
    “Sure.   Wait here.”   He stepped to the door, pulled on the handle and then stepped back, holding it open for someone on the other side.
    My father, accompanied by a uniformed officer, stepped through, buttoning the sleeve of a fresh shirt—apparently he’d summoned a Babylon clerk to bring him a new set of clothes.   Romeo spoke softly to the officer, who listened, then turned and followed the detective back through the doorway, both of them disappearing and the door closing behind them.   My father looked like himself, his cool and control back in place as he reached for a smile.   But subtle lines of stress bracketed his mouth and worry clouded his eyes.
    “Hell of a thing, this.”   He gave me a hug, holding me tight.   “How’s your mother?”  
    Shorter than me by a head, he still gave good hugs.   I didn’t linger in his embrace.   Fatigue and fear eroded my control.   His hug would do the rest if I let it.   I needed my strength for a bit longer … for me … for Teddie.  
    I eased away, putting a bit of distance between us. “Holding up.   I dropped her by the hotel on my way here.   She took some convincing, but I told her she couldn’t do anything and would only make things worse.   And then there were the babies; she couldn’t just run off.   I’m sure she’s apoplectic by now, though.”
    “You haven’t heard from her?”   My father seemed amazed, and with good reason.   It was a wonder she hadn’t called out the National Guard or something.
    Frankly, I was surprised Mona hadn’t at least gotten the governor out of bed and down here to fix things.   “I turned off my phone.”
    My father grimaced, anticipating my future. “Long-term pain for short-term gain.”  
    “The worst she can do is kill me.”
    My father graced me with a smile.   “Oh, child, that’s far from the worst she can do.”
    He was learning.   We shared a moment of familial bonding.
    “What did Teddie tell you happened?” I asked him, since I’d been ushered out of the first-hand telling.   Something I understood, but I’d love to watch Teddie’s face, look into his eyes while he recounted his evening.   Of course, my incredible powers of deduction and intuition had let me down before.
    Grabbing my elbow lightly, my father steered me toward the entrance.   “Not here.”
    Those words, acid on the steel of my resolve.   My