Unscrewed by Lois Greiman Read Free Book Online

flushing clerk to stare after him in shiny-eyed admiration, he stepped forward to take the captain’s hand in both of his own. “How’s Lilah?”
    “She’s fine.” Kindred nodded once, tension tight across his massive shoulders as he crunched his hands to fists and zipped my memory back to the roiling emotions I’d felt from his men the previous night. Admiration, nervousness, fear. Captain Kindred was not a man to be trifled with.
    “And the kids?” Armani continued. “Maria must be, what? Seventeen now?”
    “This May.”
    “Still playing the violin like a gifted angel? Some hot-blooded vaquero hasn’t swept her into matrimony, has he?”
    “God forbid!” The captain relaxed a little, almost smiled. “She’s been accepted to Juilliard.”
    “Ahh…” Armani shook his head, eyes growing misty, as though the revered daughter were his own. “That’s grand. Just grand. You must be very proud.”
    “Yes.” Kindred nodded, shuffled oversized feet, fisted oversized hands. “Thank you for your help in that regard.”
    “I was happy to do it,” said Armani, and everything about him suggested it was true. “It was nothing. Nothing at all. It was Maria who plied the horsehair. And your Lilah who carried out the threats.
Si?
” He nodded. “It is not a simple task to raise a successful child in these days. This I know.” A trifle of sadness shaded his stately features, firing his rich liqueur eyes, forcing his back a little straighter.
    “Listen, Miguel,” said the captain. “I’m sorry about this damned circus. I wouldn’t have—”
    “I know.” He interrupted easily, sweeping away the emotion with an elegant hand and two simple words. “I am certain you’re doing everything in your power to set things right.”
    The captain’s gaze snapped to me, then away. “Come into my office. We’ll—”
    “No.” Armani shook his head. “No. I’ve nothing to hide, Leighton, and the same, I am certain, can be said of my son.”
    “I wouldn’t have locked him up, but he was scaring the shit out of my…” Kindred paused, deepened his scowl so his eyes were almost lost beneath the cliffs of his brows. “If the press catches a whiff of a cover-up, the mayor will fry my ass.”
    “But he is well. He is safe?”
    “Yes. Absolutely.”
    “What happened?”
    The big shoulders tensed again. “I’m sorry, Senator. I can’t tell you any more than I did on the phone.”
    Senator! Reality zapped me like a Taser. Mr. Armani was Rivera’s father. Elaine and I turned toward each other like ventriloquist dummies. Seconds passed in wordless silence as my mind seized every scattered piece of rumor I’d ever heard about the former politician.
    “…maybe tell you more than I can.”
    I glanced to my right. Both men were staring at me. I squelched a weak-kneed desire to scrunch back in my chair like a cornered rat. Captain Kindred had turned toward his office. Miguel Rivera was already making his way across the floor toward me, his handsome features solemn, his eyes like eagle lasers.
    That’s right…eagle lasers.
    “Ms. McMullen.” He had a rich, graceful accent that made plain English sound pale and wobbly by comparison.
    “Yes.” My voice squeaked like a poor soprano’s. “Yes.” I stood up. The chair teetered against the backs of my knees.
    He reached for my hand. Our fingers met. His were slightly calloused, long, perfectly groomed. I wished to hell I’d made time for a manicure…and taken a shower, washed my hair, worn matching shoes.
    “I am told you are my son’s psychologist.”
    I opened my mouth, blinked, adjusted my thinking. “No. I’m his…” What the hell was I? “I’m not his therapist.”
    “No?”
    “I’m just a…just a friend,” I stammered.
    The glimmer of a smile shone in his eyes. He leaned in a bit and tightened his grip slightly. “Ahh, not
just
a friend, I think. A Rivera could not be so foolish as that.”
    “I…” I could actually feel myself blush. Holy