Page 13 of Lord of Vengeance

Ashley had already arrived, nursing a glass of wine while doing her usual, checking her emails. As one of the local doctors, she considered herself always on call. Talk about a grueling career choice.

I was only two feet away before Ashley noticed me. “There you are. We thought we’d need to hire your damn deputy to hunt you down.”

“Don’t you dare tease Damon. If you do, he’ll consider that an overture for a date.”

“Not on your life,” she mused, rolling her eyes. Damon had been hot after the stunning blonde for years. And she continued to turn the man down.

Jenika threw a dart, hitting the bullseye as usual before turning to face me, planting her hands on her hips. “You ignored my calls.”

“And hello to you as well. I had good reason.”

“Uh-huh. Unless somebody showed up dead in this town, then no excuse is good enough.” She’d forgotten about the folks who’d recently lost their lives, overdosing on the very drug found at the murder scene. That was one of the reasons I was dead set on tracking down the assholes responsible for the loss of lives. The victims all had families and friends, colleagues and lives to live.

“Oh, that was shitty of me,” she added. “I need another drink.”

“It’s fine and you couldn’t be closer to the truth than you are.”

“What does that mean?” Ashley said as she placed her phone on the table.

“It means,” Kathleen said as she made her way to the table, “that there was a recent unaliving event in town that will eventually have everyone talking.”

“Unaliving?” Jenika repeated, beckoning to one of her waitstaff to bring Kathleen and me our drinks.

“You know what I mean,” Kathleen said, winking after seeing the stern expression on my face. “It’s going to get our sheriff. In fact, there was a snoopy reporter hanging out at my office today.”

“Who?” I snarled, more than ready for that shot of tequila.

“Someone from one of the local channels. You know I don’t give any reporter the time of day.” Kathleen slipped onto one of the chairs, lifting her eyebrows as she studied the dartboard.

“Well, I’d love to know who might be standing outside my house when I go home.”

“Would one of the two of you like to include us in the conversation?” Ashley asked, wrinkling her already far too cute nose.

I sat down, shaking my head and staring at the crowd of men. While a few of them always paid attention to us when we were here, those who hadn’t already tried to take one or all of us to bed at the same time usually making it a point to make fools of themselves before the night was finished, none were within earshot. I leaned over the table. “Look, this can’t get out to anyone, but we had an unknown man murdered in one of the estates on the southside.”

“Murdered?” Ashley half whispered. “I didn’t hear about that.”

“That’s because I’m trying to keep it locked down,” I told all of them, still eyeing Kathleen. She enjoyed fucking with me and with law enforcement in general even though she’d worked so closely with dozens of officers over the years. She’d told me more than once she’d had her fair share of men who believed women shouldn’t be in the medical examiner field.

I’d tossed back she should try being a sheriff. It was still a man’s world in certain jurisdictions. While I was known to take no shit, it also helped I had a black belt in karate.

“Good luck with that.” Kathleen sat back as our drinks were brought.

Jenika lifted her glass. “Here’s to sanity and sunshine.”

Ashley and I coughed in an exaggerated tone at the same time. “Someone’s gotten laid recently,” I offered.

“Not you.”

I smacked Kathleen on the arm after her bold accusation. “I’ve obviously been a tiny bit busy.”

“Uh-huh. There could be a lull in crime for months and you wouldn’t dare touch a man. I’m beginning to think there’s an alternative reason why.”

I slowly turned my head toward Jenika, lifting my middle finger. “You know exactly why I don’t touch men.”

“I don’t know why. I’ve been here a year and I haven’t heard the gruesome story.”

“Her guy, the one she thought she was going to marry, ran off with her best friend. That’s why she moved here. Or I should say ran away from home.”