Read A Lethal Time (A Samantha Jamison Mystery Volume 4) for Free Online Page B

there, dumbfounded. Clay was there casually talking to this leather-clad biker guy with a white-trimmed beard. Some kind of needle contraption hovered nearby someone’s rear. I recoiled when I realized it was Martha’s. She was laying there still wearing her leather chaps.
    “He’s tattooed a butterfly!” said an upset Hazel.
    Crystal grinned at my approach. “Isn’t this great?”
    “What do you mean great?” I asked. “This is Martha’s body we’re talking about here.”
    “It’s the same spot where I got mine,” Crystal said.
    I didn’t have a retort to that one, so I turned to Clay. Maybe he would understand, but he threw his hands up.
    “Martha is one determined woman, saying she always wanted one and no one was going to stop her. I figured since she is well beyond the age of twenty-one, who was I to object? By the way, this is Giorgio, the tattoo master.”
    “Is this the guy you wanted Martha to meet?”
    Clay smiled. “The one and only.”
    Giorgio extended his hand to me. “Ciao, baby.”
    I tentatively took it. “It’s a pleasure…I think.”
    “I won’t be much longer,” he said, chuckling.
    The only one left who I had not addressed was Martha.
    “What possessed you?”
    “Have you ever wanted to do something so ridiculous and out of the norm, but were afraid to take the risk? My whole life I have lived the way others expected me to and have missed out on so much. Well, if not now, when?”
    I smiled at my crazy friend. “…Couldn’t agree more.”
    Hazel and Betty tried to object, but I held up my hand.
    “I know Martha drives you crazy. Be it good or bad, this is her choice. I’m not going to judge her reasoning.”
    Only my own.
    “Any objections?” Nobody said zip .

 
     
     
    Chapter 19
    Nibbling On The Truth, One Bite At A Time
     
     
    I had forgotten about Jackson standing there, watching this whole thing. I was sure he thought we were all a bunch of nuts running loose in the live free or die state, a likely spot-on assessment.
    I tried to imagine how all this would play out in my new novel since I was currently under a deadline once again. I needed to get the visuals just right. So the story wasn’t playing out exactly as I pictured it would. So what? I could always tweak it a little, here and there. Okay, a lot.
    When Martha’s personal statement was permanently cast, and the process finished, I realized there were two individuals standing there that pretty much didn’t care for each other. They were sizing each other up in a not so friendly way. As far as I was concerned, there was no contest. Clay was the one .
    I quickly grabbed Crystal as a distraction and told her all about the Harley that Jackson was riding. Well, that did it. She was a goner in Harley heaven as they slid easily into a conversation comparing bikes.
    Then I turned my attention to more important matters, like how do I top watching someone’s ass being tattooed? I couldn’t, so I did the next best thing.
    “How about we all go have a beer and some barbecue?”
    In unison, we headed over to a barbecue tent, Jackson included. I just hoped I wouldn’t get heartburn. I forgot to mention that ciao baby, Giorgio, who Martha seemed attracted to, said he was taking a break and joining us, too.
    After our second round of drinks, everyone chomped down on their barbecue, from pulled pork, ribs, and chicken to grilled corn on the cob.
    Things seemed to settle into a nice camaraderie thing going on and eventually I relaxed. I was sitting in between Clay and Jackson, a sort of buffer zone between the two. I wanted to hear more about the properties, all three. I turned to Jackson. “What have you heard about Robinson’s property that Sally just bought?”
    He stopped eating his ribs, wiped his hands and turned to me. “That was pure disappointment. Those relatives of Robinson’s were asking a ridiculous amount of money for that old decrepit property, way more than that developer was offering, which was a