Redemption Key (A Dani Britton Thriller) by S.G. Redling Read Free Book Online Page A

the way he liked it. Whatever her story was, there was no denying that Dani Britton fit right in at Jinky’s.

    12:15pm, 98° F

    Dani climbed out from behind the bar with an empty bucket on her arm and a white bar towel draped over her shoulder, bright against her black knit dress. She stopped by a table of sunburned women and started collecting empty beer bottles, dumping them into the bucket. A breeze caught the hem of the short dress, raising it almost high enough to reveal the scar on her thigh, but Oren noticed she kept the bucket strategically placed. After giving the table a quick pass with her towel, she hoisted the full bucket and headed back to the bar.
    “Stop back here after you take care of them,” Oren said, and Dani nodded. She delivered a half dozen beers in her bucket for the women who cheered, and came back to Oren.
    “Room’s ready,” she said. “Need it tomorrow?” She banged the empty bucket against her leg, ignoring the water that dripped down onto her red flip-flop.
    Oren nodded, sipping his drink. “You turned on the fan, right? I can smell Juan from here. God only knows what they’ll smell like by tomorrow.” He didn’t wait for her to answer, knowing she had taken care of everything. “Crank the AC too. This Bermingham’s a Canadian. Word is the farthest south he’s come is Miami. I can’t imagine he’ll be a fan of this heat. You don’t know Bermingham, do you? Ever heard of him? No, you wouldn’t, would you? You didn’t work in Miami, did you? No, you were in Key West, weren’t you? Not that you would know someone like him. I mean if Caldwell doesn’t know him . . .”
    Oren knew he was rambling. The vodka wasn’t soothing his nerves but it was certainly loosening his tongue. Dani stood by, swinging her bucket, waiting for him to either dismiss her or ask her a question she could answer.
    “It’s funny you haven’t met Caldwell before today, isn’t it? How’d that happen?”
    Dani shrugged, scanning the bar to see if anyone needed drinks.
    “He says he’s seen you around but he hasn’t had a chance to meet you. He says you’ve been ducking him. Have you been ducking him?”
    She looked up at him, her pretty, tan face clear and smooth. “Usually when someone tries to get my attention by the units, it’s to unstop their toilets or to get a rat out of their room.”
    She said nothing else, just shrugged as if that explained everything. Oren supposed it did, although couldn’t help but think that her excuse sounded an awful lot like an explanation of the bullet wound on her leg.

    Dani felt a dribble of water slide down her right leg where the bucket bumped against her. She loosened her grip on the plastic handle to dry the sweat that coated her palm. If Mr. Randolph was asking about Caldwell, Caldwell had been asking about Dani.
    Caldwell and Mr. Randolph were more than just drinking buddies or acquaintances. They trusted each other. That’s why Dani had kept her distance from the agent. If Mr. Randolph went to Caldwell for background information on Dani, Caldwell would go to his bosses at the FBI. Who knew what story the powers behind this whole mess would tell about her? It probably wasn’t a good one, she would bet. She did bet. She was betting what little shred of normalcy she had carved out here on the generosity of a nameless authority.
    Mr. Randolph thought the Wheelers were bad news. The people she had worked for made the psychotic drug dealers look like a Little League team.
    The couple at the end needed another round of margaritas, and Dani nodded to them. She could run. She could walk off the deck and climb into the car and be halfway out of the state before sunset.But where would she go? She had her money, but they had everything else. They had the roads and the law and the cameras and the manpower to find her anywhere she went. They could say anything about her they wanted; they could give her a criminal record and put a warrant out for her arrest.