BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (38)
  1. Also by Jennifer Estep
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 1

I raised an eyebrow. “And what would I do with a store up here in coal country? I already have a barbecue restaurant to run. That’s plenty for me. So no, I don’t want their land. Believe it or not, detective, I occasionally lend out my services for free. Pro-fucking-bono, as it were, when the situation warrants it.”

“But why?” Caine persisted. “Why do you want to kill Tobias Dawson so badly?”

My gaze flicked to Violet. The image of her ruined face flashed before my eyes, and the sounds of her choked sobs rang in my ears. Despite the fact Jo-Jo Deveraux had healed her, Violet had lost some of her innocence last night. Some small, pure, happy part of her that she wasn’t ever going to get back. Just like I had the night my family had been murdered, when everything and everyone I’d loved had been burned to ash in the space of a few hours.

Maybe I wanted to make sure Violet didn’t end up like me—hard, cold, distant from all but a very few. Maybe I wanted to get her revenge for her, since I was having so much trouble getting mine. Maybe I just wanted her to be able to sleep a little easier at night, knowing that Tobias Dawson was feeding the worms.

I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason myself, and I couldn’t tell the detective all that. I didn’t want to reveal that part of myself to him. Besides, he wouldn’t have believed me anyway. So I went for my usual flip answer.

“Because Tobias Dawson is nothing more than a rich, spoiled bully who wants to be a cowboy,” I said. “Because I’m bored. But mainly, because I’m going to thoroughly enjoy knocking his pompous ass out of that ridiculous hat and ugly boots before I slit his throat.”

17

17

There was no further argument about my services or murky intentions, so we got to work.

Finn retrieved his laptop from his SUV and set it up on the counter inside Country Daze. Violet rustled around and found an extension cord so he could save his battery. Finn gave her a saucy wink and a sly, charming grin, working his magic. Violet smiled, ducked her head, and leaned down to get something else for him.

Behind Violet, Warren T. Fox narrowed his dark eyes, crossed his arms over his thin chest, and cast a significant glance at the shotgun on top of the counter. Finn cleared his throat and turned his attention to his laptop.

He might be able to charm women, but Finn always had considerably less luck with their male relatives. Especially ones as protective and suspicious as Warren.