Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) by Straight, Nancy (read full novel .txt) 📗

“Oh, pa-lease, no one come to a party that want a soda. You look so white that you’ll need all the liquid rhythm I can dump down your throat. I’ll get you one of my concoctions. Don’t worry. You’ll love it.”

Just like that she put her back to us and was gone. I raised my eyebrows to Max as if to say, “What the heck was that?” but kept my observation to myself.

Dennis started walking toward Max and me with his hand held out in a friendly gesture. “I see you two met Ebony? She didn’t give you a hard time, did she?”

“I’m not sure, a little bit, I guess.”

“She’s someone most people can only take in small doses, but she throws great parties and is my best source for intelligence when it comes to police investigations. You’d never know by looking at her, but she is connected to every sleaze ball and dirt bag in the county.”

“She’s a friend of yours?”

“I keep her in my friend column, but she’s not someone I spend any one-on-one time with.”

“So why did you want us to meet you here?”

“I know you two have been nosing around trying to talk to Jimmy. I still want to know why.”

Before I could answer, Ebony appeared with two very large, very tropical-looking drinks. “Okay, this one is called Sweet, and this one is called Sassy: which one do you think will knock you on your Assy?” She giggled at her own riddle as she wobbled both drinks in front of Max and me.

A quick look Max’s way made me sure he wasn’t up for this make-shift “frat party” any more than I was. Dennis warned, “Her pink drinks are usually fine. It’s the ones she dilutes with pineapple juice that’ll have you waking up in another state without any clothes on.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Speaking from taking calls from unintended victims the following day.”

Ebony bumped her shoulder into Dennis, “Enough, Dennis, let them loosen up a little. They’re so stiff my other guests are going to call an undertaker.” She looked directly at Max, as if I weren’t there, “Max, a man like you may not want a little fruity drink. If you’d like something a little more fitting, I’ve got some top shelf inside. I’ll be happy to show you where I keep it.”

“No, this is fine. Thanks for offering.”

Ebony looked at me with a wicked smile, then turned her attention to Max, and asked, “So, Max, may I give you a tour of my estate? It looks as though your girlfriend and Dennis are otherwise engaged.”

Max looked at Dennis, and Dennis nodded. “Ebony, I’d love to see your estate, but I’m sure Lauren would like to see it, too.” Max squeezed my hand, as if telling me he didn’t want to be alone with this woman.

Dennis looked apologetically in Max’s direction and said, “Actually, Lauren, if I could talk to you privately for just a minute, that would be great.” He leaned into Max, and I overheard him say, “Don’t worry, she’s not dangerous, but if you don’t get her out of here for a few minutes, I won’t be able to answer anything with her around.”

Max nodded and smiled brightly at Ebony, “I’d love to have a look around.”

Ebony didn’t wait for my protest. She must have known it was only a matter of time, so she’d better get moving before I put a stop to it. She slid her arm through Max’s elbow and said, “I think we should start in the stables.”

Once they were out of ear shot, “Sorry about that, Lauren. I have to be very careful about what I say about the investigation. The last thing I want is for anyone I work with to hear that I’ve got loose lips. I can’t share any details at home, because . . . well, I just can’t. What do you two want from Jimmy? Are you friends of his victims or something?”

“No. We just wanted to talk to him. We thought maybe we could help him.”

“Help him, how?”

“Dennis, it’s a little hard to explain. We. . . Max and I. . .there isn’t anything specifically we wanted to do for him. . . We just wondered if he needed anything.”

“What are you, with a newspaper or something, writing a book, trying to get an inside story?”

“No, nothing like that. We just met Jimmy a few months ago and have a little more insight on his . . . behavior. Max thought that maybe if he talked to Jimmy, he might be able to help him. That’s all.”

“What makes you think you have any special insight?”

“There isn’t anything I can say that you would believe. I just think we can help him.”

“If you are some sort of counselors or something, you can hang it up. He isn’t remorseful at all. Two of those kids were his friends, and he doesn’t seem to be the slightest bit upset about it.”

“So, there’s no way to see him?”

“Not any way that I can think of. Like I said, I’ll pass him a message if you want. I have to be careful that the guys don’t see me hanging around him too much, but I check on him a couple times a day for Maggie.”

I looked around for Max, not comfortable with how much to share with Dennis. Max was nowhere to be seen. “You sure Max is okay with Ebony?”

“We can go look for them if you want. She’s a hopeless flirt, but harmless.”

“Where are the stables?”

“Over there,” pointing off to our left. We began walking. “So, any idea why he did it?”

“He says he was going to set a bomb, his friends knew about it, and he didn’t want one of them going to the police.”

“That’s awful. Do you think he would have?”

“There would have been some sort of an explosion, but our counter-explosive team says he was working on his own