Jasmine (13 page)

He’d read the paper today about
the girl and her being this famous writer. He’d not read any of her stuff, but
had gone to the local bookstore to pick up one that they’d had on display. He’d
been surprised about that, her being an author and all. The woman, Ginny, had
made is sound as if the girl was just this side of retarded. He hated that word
and didn’t use it often, but he thought it apt. He compared the picture he had
of her to the one in the paper.

She was pretty, though Tank was
sure that most would think her beautiful. He didn’t care for her looks himself.
He preferred his woman to be on the plump side and a little homely. To his way
of thinking they were more grateful about his inability to have a good erection
unless he was cutting them and he thought they tended to stay with him longer.
Though lately that theory was proving a bit on the wrong side. He sat at his
little table and picked up the money.

He didn’t need the money. He’d
been a hired killer for nearly all his life. Tank had killed his first person
at ten and had enjoyed it so much he’d killed four more people before he’d
turned fifteen. But he’d known of Roscoe Waite and had heard the man had hated
his kids. Plus, there was the fact that Roscoe had saved his daddy from being
gang raped in prison and, in Tank’s book, that made him an all right guy.

He looked at the newspaper again. Ginny
had said she wanted the girl dead by next week. There was this book thing she
was going to do on Monday afternoon so he tried to remember where the bookstore
was. When he realized it was near the mall he decided that it would be the best
time to do the job. Tank liked when things came together and he went to call
Ginny. And he decided to try and convince her that she should sleep with him.
Hell, he might even let her see the real him if she was as good as she looked. Chubby
and sort of pretty with just enough age on her to make him want her bad enough
to risk putting himself out there.

Tank went to his bathroom to jerk
off. But that only ended up frustrating him. He couldn’t stay hard long enough
to make anything happen more than his hand getting sore and his dick hurting. He
went to bed pissed off and not a little horny. He was finding a hooker first
thing tomorrow when he got up. One less of those kind in the word wouldn’t be
missed.

~~~

Payton sat in the mall dining area
and watched the people. He’d been sitting here for over three hours and hadn’t
moved much more than to go to one of the eating places and get a snack. He
tended to nibble when he was nervous. And Payton was really nervous.

His wife Sin was expecting him an
hour ago. And she wasn’t happy. He knew this because she’d texted him five
times in so many minutes. But he had a job to do and he had to finish it. When
his assignment came toward him Payton sat up in his chair and glanced down at
his phone when it vibrated again. He typed a single letter and slipped the
phone into his pocket as he stood.

He was nearly out the door after
his guy when he saw someone who he knew. Well, he thought, not really knew, but
had seen recently. As recently as the wanted posters hanging in his office he
shared with his brother-in-law McKee. He pulled out his phone again and made a
call this time. Sin answered on the first ring.

“You’d better have a fucking good—”

“I see someone that could be
connected to your family’s problems.” He heard her take a sharp breath. “I need
you to go to the office and send me a pic of one of the men on the wall. I need
to make a comparison. There is something that’s just…something is different.”

“Where are you? Do you need
back-up?” He could hear her running as she spoke. “I can see Shamus’ car in the
drive. Let me send him to you.” He told her to go ahead and where to find the
picture he wanted. She said she’d have to take a picture of it with her phone
and send it because she didn’t have time to fuck with his fancy equipment.

He walked about fifty yards behind
the man. He knew the face, just not a name he could put his finger on. Payton
stepped into the candy shop as the man did and spoke to Sin again. “I know,
honey,” he said to her when the man stepped close. “But for now let me just get
her a box of those chocolates. Yes,” he continued in code. “You know the place
in the mall, the one with the large cherry over the door?”

“All right. Shamus is leaving now.
He said that you’re old college buddies and you invite him to the bar. There is
one at both ends of the place and you can go either way after the man.”

“I think that’ll be okay. Did you
say white chocolate or was it that really weird kind?” He loved listening to
her cuss at him. He had no idea why that turned him on so much.

“Fucking ass, will you just write
this fucking shit down? I’m assuming a white male that looks weird. Weird how,
you fucking ass? Does he have three eyes?”

He laughed. “No, just the normal
amount. Remember the ones with designs on them. I love the small dragon ones,
but I don’t see one here.”

“Dragon tat on his eye. Okay, can
you tell me what color shirt he has on, smart ass?” Payton laughed again as the
man purchased three pounds of dark chocolate and another five pounds of peanut
butter fudge. He either had a very greedy girlfriend or the guy had some
serious cravings.

“Dark chocolate,” he said as the
man walked by him and out the door. “He’s on the move again. Do you know McKee’s
ETA? And by the way, very good on the code. I might make a detective out of you
yet.”

She snarled at him and he laughed
as he slipped his Bluetooth in his ear and his phone in his top pocket. He
watched his new target walk toward the bar and told Sin where to send McKee. The
picture came through when he was talking to her and he hung up to look at it.

It was him, but it wasn’t. The
tattoo was new and the hair was different. It was a bit on the blurry side, but
he was sure he was missing something. McKee sat down next to him and ordered a
beer.

The two of them watched the man
for several minutes. He didn’t speak to anyone, only the waitress and then only
to order another beer. He ate a piece of his candy and drank. When he got up
and left the chocolate and a beer on the table to go to the bathroom, McKee
stole his bottle and put it in his pocket. He was careful not to touch the lip
as he slipped out of the busy bar. When the man returned there was a fresh beer
in its place and nothing else was disturbed.

Payton snapped ten pictures of the
man as he walked to the bathroom himself and another three when he walked by
him to leave. He had no idea if any of them were going to be usable, but he’d tried.

He met his wife and his partner
McKee in the parking lot. He kissed his partner on the cheek and shook hands
with Sin. He knew that the likelihood of making McKee pissed enough to hit him
for kissing him was slim, but Sin…? She told him she was going to murder him
when she got him home. Life was grand as far as he was concerned.

“I asked a buddy of mine to run
some DNA on the bottle. Might get a hit, but maybe not,” McKee said after he’d
threatened him with bodily harm. “What made you follow him anyway? The one that
is paying us wanted you to follow someone else, I might add.”

He took the picture Sin had
brought with her and asked McKee to look at it and tell him what he saw. Payton
had never met a more controlled mind than McKee’s. The man was scary in the way
he could break down a crime scene and even more scary when he was reading a
report.

“Brothers? Nah, father and son
maybe? He’s been heavy at one time too,” MrKee told them after a few minutes. “I’d
say really heavy by the way he looks so…well, I was going to say loose, but
he’s more like one of those dogs with too much skin and not enough to fill it.”

“Chinese Shar-Pei,” Sin said without looking up from the
file. “They are pretty loyal to their families. Very unlike the man you guys
followed, or at least the one in the file is. His name is Michael Ross, also
known as Major. He has a list as long as me. Says here that he died five years
ago from AIDS. The man claimed he was…get this,” Sin said, smiling as she
looked up. “He was friendly with none other than Daddy Dearest in the state
pen. According to this, Daddy Dear saved Major from a major butt-fucking—wonder
if that’s how he got his nom de plume.”

Payton kissed her and took the file. She was having
entirely too much fun and he wanted to be the hero. He started reading over the
file when McKee’s phone rang. He knew it was too soon for the test to come back
so he sat on his car and read on. There was enough bad stuff in this file to
have put the guy away for several lifetimes and couldn’t understand why he’d
been let out after ten years of a double life sentence.

They’d found every known associate to Roscoe Waite in
prison and out. The man had made a great many enemies on the inside and even
more when he’d gotten out. But the few that he had been loyal to had remained
so even after Roscoe was killed. But Roscoe didn’t have enough pull to get a
guy out on…then he saw it. He looked over at McKee as he finished up his call.

“The fucking bastard got out because the star witness in
his case suddenly had second thoughts and all the evidence from the case disappeared.
It seems that someone had gotten into the lock up and destroyed it.” Payton
looked at his wife. “It claims that your mother was questioned.”

Chapter 13

Jazzie walked in the bookstore she was supposed to be doing
the signing in on Friday, three days from now. She immediately fell in love. It
had the local business charm that she’d missed when she’d gone to the bigger
stores, yet she could see that they had a great many of the best sellers she
loved to read too. She was wandering through the section on cook books when
someone approached her.

“Hello, are you finding everything you need? We have quite
a selection of cook books in the do it yourself section too. Men don’t like to
shop in this area so we try to accommodate them.”

Jazzie laughed. “No, I’m just…I’m Jazzie Waite. But I think
you might know me as Jas—”

“Oh my, the author,” she exclaimed as she took Jazzie’s
hand. “Oh my, oh my. I’ve been so looking forward to meeting you. And oh my, oh
my, I read your book last night. All in one night too. Oh my, oh my.”

Jazzie was charmed. She tried to pull her hand free, but
the woman seemed to be pumping it for some other reason than Jazzie could
fathom. When she finally released it, Jazzie put it behind her in the event
that the woman said “oh my” again and reached for it.

She kept staring at Jazzie. Then she noticed the name
badge. Mildred, it read, the woman she was supposed to meet within an hour.
Jazzie smiled. She really liked this woman and her seemingly befuddled nature
around her. “You’re Mildred.” The woman nodded. “You said to come by.” Another
nod. “I’m here.”

“Oh my. Oh my, so you are. Yes, the meeting. You’ll have to
forgive me. I’ve only owned this shop for just over twenty-five years and you’d
think I’d know better than to let a famous person…why don’t we have a seat?
I’ve got some seating places over here. The kids seem to like it. And oh my,
the older generation seems to have the best time over here. And oh my, I love a
good gossip session as much as the next.”

They were no more than seated when a younger version of
Mildred, including the occasional “oh my” joined them. The daughter, her badge
claimed her to be Shelly, had read the book too.

“I couldn’t put it down. And the steamy parts…oh my. I told
Mother we’d have to put it in the paper about you being here and to tell the
parents that you have a sensual twist to your books that might be a bit too
much for the younger crowds.” Shelly leaned forward and in a loud whisper said,
“Though I think they have a better understanding of sex than some adults.”

Jazzie agreed. She’d been aghast at what information she’d
found on the Internet and even more so when she’d realized that a lot of her
books were being bought by teenagers. But she knew that trying to control who
bought her books would be like trying to control a fast moving river. She’d
only frustrate herself and piss off her customers.

“I’ve never done a book signing before. Have either of
you?” She didn’t want them to be disappointed that no one showed up so she
wanted to be honest with them. “I’m not sure if anyone will come to this. I’ve
got some books out on the market, of course, and they sell well, but…well, I’m
still trying to figure out why anyone buys them.” She flushed when they both
laughed.

“Honey, we’ve probably taken a thousand calls from all over
the state wanting to know the times and if we will have enough books. We called
that publisher of yours, Miss Midland? She set us up with a couple of vendors
who said they’d help us out. I don’t think you’ve gotta worry about anyone
showing up. You should be more worried about having enough ink in your pen to
sign them all.” Mildred patted her on the knee as she continued. “You sure are
a pretty thing too. Draw them men in like droves if we can put a picture of you
in with the thing they are a running on Thursday.”

Jazzie nodded her agreement and before she knew it she was posing
with Mildred and Shelly and having a wonderful time. She only hoped she didn’t
look as nervous as she felt. She did make a note in her little book to maybe
ask Drew or Chastity about having some pictures made that wouldn’t have her
looking like a dork.