battles as a one-woman wrecking crew. But what if we could offer you the resources and the leads to make a real difference? Would that interest you?”
Alexa had to smile. She’d never seen the bounty hunter speechless. The woman had truly heard what she had to say and thought about it before opening her mouth. It was a good start.
“Look, all you have to do is listen to what Garrett has to say, then make up your mind. I can arrange a meeting when you’re ready. And whatever you decide goes. But for now, let’s talk to the boyfriend together. You don’t know much about Burke, and having backup can’t hurt. I’d like to help. And with the resources Garrett has, you won’t regret letting us in on Harper’s case. What do you say?”
After a long, strained moment, the bounty hunter said, “I’m not committing to anything, no matter how much you help Harper. This is my case. I call the shots. But for Harper’s sake, let’s get moving. We’re burning moonlight.”
Jessie hadn’t turned her down cold. Alexa took this as a good sign. Shoulder to shoulder, they headed for Burke’s place, neither of them in the mood to tolerate a man who used his fists on a woman to settle an argument.
CHAPTER 12
“Who says opportunity don’t come knockin’?”
Jason Burke sucked in his gut and threw his chest out when he saw two women at his door—like that was all he needed to improve his looks. Dressed in an old pair of gray sweats and green flip-flops, the guy had a slick, bald head buffed to a high sheen and his grin showed stained teeth. He had tattoos on his arms and chest. A regular piece of work.
With enough piercings to set off a metal detector, he looked like a beefy bag of testosterone with pull tabs. Rings and studs adorned his nose, an eyebrow, and both ears. And through his wife-beater tee, Jess caught the faint impression of nipple rings.
“Yeah, and I have to admit. I feel like I’ve been slapped upside the head with the lucky stick myself. We saw your name and apartment number on your mailbox. You’re Jason Burke, right?” When he nodded, it took everything Jess had to force a smile. She’d never been good at flirting, but her companion had no trouble slipping into character.
“Hi, my name is Hilary and this is Chelsea,” Alexa jumped in, shaking hands with Burke.
Jess shot her a glance and carried on.
“We were interested in renting in the building and wanted to talk to someone who lived here. Can we come in?”
“Uh, sure.” With a goofy grin, Burke stepped back to let them in, acting as if he’d scored a major prize. “Come in. Sit. Can I get you two a beer?”
“Not right now. Maybe later,” she said.
Burke liked the sound of “later.” And by the look on his face, he was ready to party. He rushed to his ratty brown sofa, picked up a stash of old newspapers, and shoved aside an overloaded ashtray on a smudged glass coffee table littered with dirty dishes and empty beer bottles. Jess was thankful the man smoked. The smell of old cigarettes covered up something worse.
“What did you say your names were?” he asked, hauling dishes and bottles to the kitchen as they sat.
“I’m Ashley.” Jess pointed to Alexa. “And she’s Mary Kate.”
“Hey there.” Alexa grinned and waved a hand, looking…
“Hell, I don’t care. I always play my music loud.” He dumped what he had in his hands. Dishes clattered into the sink as he raced to his stereo system. “You want music, sweet cheeks? It’s comin’ right up.”
As Burke moved, Jess noticed his body art. He had the tattoo of a coiled snake on one bicep and a tribal band of thorns on the other. The bartender at Dirty Monty’s had told her that the mystery guy who dragged Harper from the bar had a tattoo on his arm. Although he hadn’t gotten a good look at it, he described it as black and curved, maybe a letter or snake.
From a distance both Burke’s tattoos, the tribal band and the snake, could pass for black and curved—at least enough to get her interest. But if Harper’s case went to trial, she’d need more than just the bartender’s vague recollection of a tattoo to keep Seth out of the gray-bar hotel for the rest of his life. Busting Burke’s I-PASS alibi would make a solid case for reasonable doubt, especially if that choice tidbit was coupled with Harper’s bloodwork testing positive for the date-rape drug. CPD and the DA’s Office would have to investigate Burke as a suspect.
For the first time since she’d learned about Seth’s trouble, Jess was hopeful.
“So how long have you lived here?”
Over a beer, they talked loud enough to be heard above the blaring music, a strange mix of metal and rap. And Burke interrupted the conversation to jerk his head and bite his lower lip in time with the beat.
His idea of sexy. Her idea of a self-inflicted wound.
There were times she fought to keep from laughing, but she didn’t dare look at Alexa. And if the jerk launched into his version of air guitar, she’d cut to the chase and pull her Colt Python—a clear-cut case of self- defense.
“We noticed these apartments are close to the bus line. It’s one of the reasons we were lookin’ here.” She wove her lie. “Sharing a car hasn’t been too bad since we moved to town. Neither of us has a job yet, but when that changes, it’s gonna be tough.”
“I might be able to help you with that…if you moved here, that is.” He winked. “What kind of work do you two do?”
Burke was circling the bait. She needed a hook, but didn’t want to appear too eager.
“Thelma here is a real good dancer.” Jess smiled at Alexa. “She does this routine with spinning rhinestone pasties that always gets good tips.”
Alexa grinned back.
“And Louise is just being modest…again. No one works a pole like she does.”
“You
He thought he’d won the sex-fantasy lotto. The guy undressed them with his eyes, probably imagining girl- on-girl action. Hell, the jerk was so balled up in testosterone and his own agenda, he hadn’t noticed they’d changed their names three times since they arrived.
“Yeah, we like it. The money’s decent.” Alexa took a pull of her beer, giving him a visual aid, then asked with perfect timing, “What were you saying about helping us out if we moved here?”
It took Burke a long moment to recall what he’d said.
“Oh, yeah…right.” A bead of sweat trickled down from his temple. The air was stale and muggy, but Burke had his internal furnace working overtime. He took a swig of beer to cool off. “For gas money plus change, I loan out my car, mainly to friends and people in the building. But with you two, maybe we could work out a…trade.”
“Wow, that’s very generous of you, Jason.” She turned to Alexa, and said, “He’s sure making it easy for us.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” The blonde returned her smile. “So what now?”
Good question. And from the look in Alexa’s eyes, Jess knew she was on the same page.
With a little legwork, the cops could run down Burke’s friends and others in the apartment building to see who might have used his car on the night Mandy was killed. At least she had enough to tip off Sam. In her mind, there was no need to continue questioning him on the car. If he were guilty, it would only give him a heads-up that CPD hadn’t bought his story on the I-PASS.
“I’m thinking I’d like to have a little one-on-one time with our new friend,” she told Alexa.
She knew the woman understood her meaning, but Burke remained entrenched in his delusional male fantasies. All that remained were questions about Mandy, and Jess was relieved. That meant she could drop playing nice. He’d need incentive to talk about his murdered ex-girlfriend, especially if they wanted to get at the truth. And taking the gloves off with a guy like Burke fit into her comfort zone of dealing with sleaze-balls. No pretense required.
