smiled with a nasty grin, “the door got left open for the staff sergeant just a hair. Ms. Blair, go ahead and unload and make safe.” Toni released her empty magazine and held her pistol up for inspection by one of the assistant RSOs. He patted her on the shoulder, and she holstered her weapon. The RSO turned to Gunny and raised his hand.
“The line is clear,” Gunny said. “Let’s see if shooter number two can take advantage.”
As I stepped up to the line, Toni said, “Check your fly, dude.” I smiled. Psych!
I was in a tough spot. This was going to be a difficult shot. I like to win as much as she does. Lord knows she would’ve liked nothing better than to beat me on the firing range. In four years, it had never happened before. If she won one, she’d be delighted. This could be a good thing. Maybe it was her time. Thinking about it made me consider maybe giving her one-pulling the shot on purpose. But if I did that, I still needed to make it close. She knows I’m a good shot, and if she suspected I’d thrown the round, she’d have my ass. I made my decision.
“Shooter number two, load and make ready!” I slapped the magazine with the single round into my sidearm, released the slide, and lowered the weapon to the low ready position.
“Shooter, watch your target!” I crouched and tightened my grip.
We said our good-byes to Gunny Owens at 11:00 and jumped in my red Jeep for the drive back to our office. Our company is Logan Private Investigations-or Logan PI, as we like to call it. We have a small office on Westlake Avenue on Lake Union, right in the middle of Seattle, less than a mile from I-5. Unfortunately, the south end of Lake Union where we’re located was currently wrecked by construction. Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen had decided to single-handedly rebuild Seattle, and he was starting with the South Lake Union area. As a result, traffic was stop- and-go. Actually, more stop than go-it was going to take a while. I hit the play button on the MP3 player, and the sound of a very sweet piano started to flow from the speakers.
Toni listened carefully when the singer started. “Is that-is that Brandi Carlile?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“I’ve never heard this before.”
“I know. That’s because it’s brand-new. It’s called
She listened for a minute, tapping her foot to the beat. Then she said, “Awesome. I love it. She sounds like Adele.”
I considered this. “Yeah a little, maybe. On this song, anyway. Maybe a bit more country.”
We listened to the new music for a minute while we waited for the traffic to move. Toni’s cell phone rang, and I turned the music down.
“Okay,” she said into the phone. “Tell her to wait. We’re down by the park-only about a half mile away. As soon as traffic moves, we’ll be there.”
She hung up and turned to me. “That was Kenny. He says Kelli’s at the office.”
Kelli-Racquel Genevieve Blair-is Toni’s eighteen-year-old little sister. I hadn’t seen Kelli in a couple of months, although we’d been planning to go to her high school graduation the following week.
“He say what she wants?” I asked.
“She wants to talk. To you and me both.”
Curious.
Twenty-five minutes later, we walked into our office. No one was in the lobby, so we made our way toward the back, where we heard laughter coming from the office of Kenny Hale-our technology guru. I followed Toni into Kenny’s office. He was at his desk with Kelli sitting across from him.
“Hey, guys,” Kenny said when we entered.
“’Sup?” I said, looking from Kenny to Kelli. “Hey, Kelli.”
Kelli and Toni look the same but different. Bear with me-I haven’t lost my mind here. Toni’s tall-a solid five foot eight. Kelli’s a touch shorter-maybe five seven or so. Both girls have striking figures-something they inherited from their mom, I suppose (although I’m not sure I’m supposed to have noticed that). Both have thick, dark hair, although Kelli’s is long with no bangs and more of a brunette color, while Toni’s is more mid-length with long bangs and almost black. The biggest, most noticeable difference, though, is not their height or their hair, but their eyes. Toni’s eyes are a brilliant blue-the color of the Hope Diamond. Kelli’s are a deep emerald green. Both are beautiful. So, like I said-the girls look the same but definitely different.
“Hi, Danny,” she said. She turned to Toni. “Hey, sis.”
Toni walked over to Kelli. “Hi, sweetie,” she said, leaning forward and hugging her sister. She straightened up and eyed Kenny warily. “I see you’ve met Kenny.” Kelli probably missed the look. I didn’t.
“Yeah,” she said. “We’ve just been talking.”
Kenny’s a young guy-he just turned twenty-six a couple of months ago. He’s maybe five eight and a buck fifty soaking wet. He’s got an unruly mop of dark hair that he pushes over to one side. In fact, he looks just like what he is-the quintessential computer geek. When it comes to anything to do with computers, Kenny’s the real deal. He’s got aptitude and native talent that’s off the charts. He grew up with computers in ground zero of the computer world: Redmond, Washington. I’m not certain, but I’d be willing to bet his first toy was a laptop. Knowing Kenny, he probably took it apart, tricked it out some way, and then put it back together. He’s got to be one of the most brilliant PC dudes in the Pacific Northwest. His consulting services are in high demand-I’m sure he makes at least as much moonlighting for the big tech companies around here as he does from his Logan PI paycheck. Still, lucky for us, he likes the excitement of detective work. I say “lucky for us” because computer skills are a near prerequisite for PI firms these days.
Despite the fact that he’s no physical specimen, Kenny is surprisingly successful with the ladies. I have a theory about this. I think that like a lot of nerdy guys, he was probably teased in high school by the jocks and shunned by their pretty cheerleader girlfriends. Back then, geeks were people to be, if not outright, scorned, at least avoided. Now, seven or eight years down the road, presto-chango! Role reversal! Now the smart-guy propeller- heads like Kenny have all the money and run around in their Porsche Cayenne Turbos. Now it’s their turn to date the pretty girls while the majority of high school jocks (meaning all those who didn’t get Division I scholarships) work low-paying, manual labor jobs (if they can still find them). Kenny was simply playing his new role for all he was worth. It’s just a theory. Anyway, I like him. He’s a good guy with a good heart.
Toni feels the same way, but to her, Kenny’s a target she can’t resist for some good-natured teasing. She teases him about his hair, his height, his weight, even his girlfriends. And he gives as good as he gets. He teases her about her hair, her height, her tattoos, and-until recently-her lack of boyfriends. Normally, there’s a good- natured banter between the two of them. Today, though, Toni’s little sister was here to talk about something, and no doubt, Toni wondered if Kenny had tried to put some kind of move on Kelli while they’d been waiting for us. I doubted this-Kenny goes out with younger women to be sure, but even Kenny has a lower age limit, which seems to be twenty-one or so. But what the hell. Toni’s the big sister, and it’s her job to be protective-thus, the stink eye. It continued, even as I led Kelli out of Kenny’s office to our conference room.
Kenny noticed. “What?” he mouthed silently, holding up his hands.
Toni glared at him for a second, then she turned and followed us. Message sent.
“So,” I said, when we entered the conference room. “Long time no see, Kelli. I haven’t seen you since your birthday.”
“I know,” she said. She looked at Toni then back at me. “You guys had just started going out. I’m so happy for both of you.”
Toni smiled. “Thanks, sis. We’re happy, too.”
“And now it’s time for graduation,” I said. “You all ready to go?”
“Sure am,” she said.
