Attorney's Run (A Nick Teffinger Thriller / Read in Any Order) (31 page)

“You dyed your hair,” he said.

“You noticed.”

He laughed and said, “I like it. You could be on the cover of a book.” He meant it too. He couldn’t remember ever seeing a woman as sexy as she was at that moment. He had no more qualms about falling in love with her after finding out she had a solid alibi for when Alan English got murdered.

She kissed him, grabbed his hand and said, “Follow me.”

They entered a stone building near the Paramount Café and walked up to the second floor. Venta opened a wooden door with a key and they stepped into an empty three-room suite that looked down on the 16th Street Mall.

The oak floors were scuffed.

The walls needed painting and repair.

The windows were dirty.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“I’d call it a unique fixer-upper,” he said. “Are you looking to rent this, or what?”

She nodded.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about where my life goes from this point, now that I have more money than I could ever spend.” She grabbed his hand and led him to the window. Outside, downtown Denver bustled. She put her arm around his waist and said, “Here’s what I think I’d like to do. Rather than buy a big fancy house somewhere, I’d just like to keep staying at your place.”

Teffinger exhaled.

Perfect.

“Then, me and Hannah are going to rent this space and run our two businesses,” she said.

“And what might those be?”

“Well, the first one is our P.I. business,” she said.

“You’re going to keep doing that?”

“Of course,” she said. “And the second business is to wipe that Bangkok dungeon off the face of the earth.”

“Are you serious?”

She nodded.

“I promised Mackenzie Vampire that I’d find out if her sister Rebecca is alive,” she said. “Now I have the money to start.”

“That’ll be hard to do from here,” Teffinger said.

“Impossible is more like it,” Venta said. “That’s why I’m going back.”

“To Bangkok?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry about me.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Really,” she said. “I’ll be totally safe.”

“And what makes you think that?”

“Because you’re coming with me,” she said.

THAT NIGHT IT RAINED.

Stormed is more like it.

Thunder stormed is even more like it.

They drove to the trailhead at the base of Green Mountain and pulled into the back corner of a dark, empty gravel parking lot. Teffinger killed the engine and the sound of the weather immediately intensified.

Perfect.

They got in the back seat and talked for an hour.

Then she slipped out of her shorts and straddled him. Just as she started to rock, he said, “By the way, just for the record, I’m not going to start being nice to you just because you’re rich.”

“Trust me, Teffinger, I never worried about that for a second.”

THE END

Copyright (c) R.J. Jagger

All rights reserved

R.J. Jagger is the author of over 20 thrillers and is also a long-standing member of the International Thriller Writers. He has two series, one featuring Denver homicide detective Nick Teffinger, set in modern times; and a noir series featuring private investigator Bryson Wilde, set in 1952. His books can be read in any order. For complete information on the author and his ebooks, hardcovers, paperbacks and audio books, as well as upcoming titles, news and events, please visit him at:

Rjjagger.blogspot.com

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