Doin' a Dime - Vale, Lynn (epub read online books .TXT) 📗

only forty-two minutes ago,” the second officer said. “Where were you before you arrived here?”

Stella swallowed hard. “Oh, driving around?”

I snorted. “How about you just tell everyone the truth?”

The officer settled his eyes on me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I work in the analytical computer science field. And this woman is also suing my wife, her niece, for half of her estate. Let’s just say that I’ve done a lot of digging into their financials lately, and I know that she hired a hitman to kill my wife’s parents.”

“That is why we’ve been trying to find her,” another officer came up, this one dressed in plain clothes. “Miss Villin, ma’am. You’re a hard woman to find. I’d love to ask you some questions.”

“Not without my lawyer, you’re not.” Stella shook her head.

“One will be appointed to you and meet you at the station.” The newcomer nodded. “Boys, please escort her there.”

“But my ankle. It needs attention,” Stella tried.

“Oh, please.” Wyett rolled her eyes. “You’re always putting on a show. I’ll bet it doesn’t even hurt that bad.”

Stella’s irate eyes turned toward my woman, and I couldn’t stop myself from protectively coming up behind her.

I may not be able to move fast right now, but I could protect my woman.

“How do you sleep at night?” her aunt hissed. “Knowing that you put me out of my own house? Knowing that I’m sixty, and now I have to go get a job because of your selfishness? That I might go to jail?”

My hand tightened on Wyett’s hip, letting her know without words not to say a word to her aunt.

I knew she understood moments later when she nodded her head.

Engaging in anything at this point would just bite her in the ass, I knew it.

“You really want to know how she sleeps at night?” I asked with an imperceptible calm that made Wyett shiver with anticipation.

“Yes,” her aunt hissed again. “I would love to know. Because I just can’t see how she does.”

My grin was mischievous.

“She sleeps with her panties off, to make it easier for you and people like you to kiss her ass,” I drawled, sounding civilized and calm, unlike the crazy storm I could practically feel vibrating my every muscle.

Her aunt gasped in outrage. “That’s just vile.”

“It’s not vile,” I disagreed. “She has a very kissable—and lickable—ass.”

Stella roared in outrage. “Get out of my sight!”

Wyett snickered, as did one of the cops.

“I’d come over there and kill you right now with my bare hands if my ankle wasn’t broken.” Stella glared.

“Actually” —Dr. Garrick came up with an X-ray in his hand— “there’s no break. Just a sprain. All you need is ice and rest.”

“Perfect,” the newcomer officer said. “In that case, please help her out, boys.”

And that was exactly what they did.

Kicking and screaming, Stella went.

The new officer turned toward Wyett and me with questions in his eyes. “Were you our anonymous tip?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

The officer shook his head.

“My name is Lynch. If you ever need a job, or help, or anything really, possibly to give any more helpful tips, I’d love to hear them or have you.” He held out his hand and Hunt took it before releasing it as quickly as he could. “Have a good one.”

With that, he was gone, leaving me swaying on my feet.

“Let’s get you back to bed,” my wife whispered as she wrapped her arms around my waist.

I leaned more heavily into her than I intended, causing her to grunt in surprise.

“Damn, you’re heavy,” she grumbled.

I grinned wickedly.

“Sure am, aren’t I?” I griped. “Now, let’s talk about that name change. I don’t like you having the same name as a criminal who tried to take you away from me.”

“Not that your other arguments weren’t good, and that I haven’t already agreed, but you just won me over with that one,” she mused.

She was Mrs. Wyett McJimpsey, to the entire world, twenty minutes later.

Two minutes after that, I took another hit of the good stuff and slept half the day away.

CHAPTER 22

I’m slowly losing my mind. But as long as I keep the part that tells me when I need to pee, I should be okay.

-Text from Wyett to Hunt

HUNT

“Hunt!”

I paused in what I was doing, my glasses perched on the edge of my nose, and turned toward the door.

“Yeah?” I called out.

“Come here!”

The fear in her voice had me standing up despite being in the middle of coding and heading in her direction.

I stopped in the doorway of the room she’d taken over for her office.

“Yes?” I asked.

“There’s a spider,” she whispered, pointing down near my feet.

I blanched. “Ewww.”

“Kill it!” she insisted.

I shook my head. “I’m not wearing shoes. What am I going to kill it with?”

Her mouth opened in outrage.

“You have to find something to kill it with! If I move, it’ll run and hide, and I’ll never be able to live in this house again,” she cried.

I nearly rolled my eyes.

“Wyett…” I started.

She leaned over and picked up a bottle of shampoo that was by her side.

“Here, use that,” she tossed it at me.

I rolled my eyes that time and leaned over, squishing it with the bottle.

Only, a moving mass started to explode from the squished spider’s body, and all of a sudden the big spider morphed into hundreds of baby spiders.

They spread over the floor like a cup of water being knocked over.

They went everywhere, and all of a sudden, I realized that she was right.

We’d have to move.

She screamed and jumped toward me.

I caught her mid-leap and twisted and turned, watching as the spiders disappeared into every crack and crevice in the bathroom that they could find.

That’s when the dogs started barking.

They’d followed us in, and I wasn’t sure if they were barking because of how we were reacting—I mean I was now standing on the toilet for Christ’s sake—or if it was because they didn’t like the spiders, either.

Whatever the case, I was glad that they were here.

“Kill them, puppies!” Wyett cried.

They left