Pretty Dangerous by Lynn Emery Read Free Book Online Page A

Aguilar leaned both elbows on the table. He gazed at her with
a “Gotcha!” expression.
    “I saw him at a court hearing or maybe a
police photo spread,” MiMi replied, not missing a beat. She didn’t
look away from the detective’s scrutiny.
    Estrada looked at Aguilar. “Is that all,
detective?”
    Aguilar continued to eye Roderick for a few
seconds before he slid the note pad back into his jacket pocket. “I
believe so. We have your contact information in America should we
have more questions.”
    “Of course. I hope you catch the killer,
detective. I really do. His family needs closure.” Roderick stood
and glanced at his cell phone as he talked.
    The detective wore a frown of contempt for a
brief moment. Then his impassive mask dropped into place. He stood.
“Thanks for your cooperation. Have a safe flight.” He gave Estrada
a curt nod and then strode out.
    “We handled him alright,” Roderick said and
grinned at the others.
    MiMi sprung from her chair toward him. “One
more word and I swear, Aguilar will be investigating another
homicide.”
    Roderick raised both hands, palms out. He
took a step back from MiMi. “You’re under a huge strain, baby. I
understand. I’ll give you some space for a minute.”
    “Give me space? Give me space?” MiMi
sputtered more sounds in speechless rage.
    “We leave now,” Estrada said quietly.
    The lawyer pulled Roderick by the arm and
they left. Fortunately, only three other people were in the lounge
watching, and all of them were strangers. MiMi took in gulps of air
to calm down as Willa continued to counsel her about self-control.
Jazz left and came back with more drinks on a tray.
    “We need these.” Jazz drank half the beer in
her mug and sighed.
    “Damn, MiMi. Couldn’t you just get the usual
vacation trouble like everybody else? You know, lost luggage,
insect bites, diarrhea.” Willa drank a mouthful of white wine.
    “I’m going to make Roddy pay,” MiMi said
through tight lips.
    “Stay away from Mister Bad News That Gets
Worse.” Willa put down the wine glass and shook MiMi by the arm.
“Hey, you better listen to me.”
    “I hafta agree with Willa, girl. Take a
cooling off period before you hook up with him again.” Jazz nodded.
She hissed when Willa scowled at her.
    “Cooling off period? Dump that chump,” Willa
shot back.
    “I guess you missed the part about him being
rich.” Jazz waved a hand at her sister and looked at MiMi. “I say,
don’t write him off completely.”
    “Unbelievable,” Willa muttered into her wine
glass.
    An hour later, they went through boarding and
got on the plane. MiMi sat in the window seat. Jazz squirmed to get
comfortable in the aisle seat. She made eye contact with a handsome
man on the next row. Soon they were flirting in Spanish. Willa
sighed deeply, but didn’t say anything to her sister. Then she
looked at MiMi.
    “It’s finally over, okay? I know you’re
disappointed Roderick turned out to be an asshole and all, but at
least you found out. You can move on to somebody better.” Willa
gave her hand a pat.
    MiMi smiled at her with a sigh. “You’re
absolutely right.”
    MiMi gazed at the clouds through the glass.
She looked forward to the hours she’d spend with Sage. The happy
mental images faded when she thought about work and her boss.
Providing for Sage was her top priority. If only she found that
missing cash, Sage’s future would be secured. So MiMi decided on
her to-do list. She would keep her job and find the money Jack had
so carefully hidden away. Then she added another item; figuring out
a way to deliver some much deserved payback to Roderick Conwell
Jefferson.
     
     
     

Chapter 4

     
    Willa and Jazz napped on the flight from the
Dominican Republic to their stop at the Atlanta airport and again
on the flight to Louisiana. During their stopover, MiMi called her
sister to check on Sage and arrange to pick her up. Adrienne
cheerily described how much Sage loved being with her