Read Positively Criminal for Free Online Page B

peered directly into the camera and winked.
    “Damn,” Mace repeated.
    Brian gave a full, hearty laugh. “That’s code for everything’s okay here .”
    Jake released the breath he didn’t realize he held. Code, for fuck’s sake. Still, she sat in that chair. Half naked and blonde. Lucky chair.
    “Who’s that next to her?”
    Mace’s question caught him by surprise. He hadn’t even noticed the other woman, yet she sat next to Bri, just as half naked and blonde. Except he was willing to bet the other woman’s hair was truly blonde and her pale blue eyes were too unique to be fake.
    “That’s Sunny,” Jimmy answered. “She’s new.”
    Jake took a moment to analyze Bri’s body language and his mood immediately softened. Her gentle smile and the watery cast to her eyes told him she was in therapist mode, desperate to embrace yet another lost soul. He almost shook his head in disbelief. Leave it to Bri to use a gentlemen’s club as her psychiatry couch.
    Under severe protest, he dragged his gaze off Bri and back to Jimmy.
    “Did you know Melissa is the niece of Joe King, Sheriff of Dexter County?”
    “I had no idea.”
    “She doesn’t have a brother and she’s still missing.”
    “Sonuvabitch!” Brian turned to face them.
    “I called the number, I swear.”
    “We know Jimmy, relax. Cell phone records back up your story. Obviously someone else had the phone.”
    “We’ve always followed up with our girls.” Brian ran a hand across the top of his head.
    “You’ve accounted for all of them?”
    Jimmy nodded. “Always. Unless we’ve been duped before.”
    “Lombardy trusts your research?”
    “Yeah, and then he provides a replacement.”
    “Where does he find these women?”
    Jimmy shrugged. “He doesn’t share that with me. We usually let the girls tell us what they want us to know. Sapphire seems to know the most.”
    Jake winced. Sapphire had a lot of explaining to do. He stood, convinced he had enough information to process for one night. “Thank you gentlemen, we’ll be in touch if we have any more questions.” He gave the monitors one more glance, partly to catch sight of Bri, but mostly to assure she still occupied the chair and not the catwalk.
    “She’s still there, Detective.” Brian snickered. “Except, she’s not dressed to dance.”
    Jake moved his gaze onto the other man. “How often does she perform?”
    “Never can tell.” Brian folded his hands behind his head. “She does her own thing.”
    “Of course she does,” Mace mumbled as he opened the door.
    Jake simply shook his head in silent agreement as he followed his partner down the stairs and finally out of the club, now even more suspicious of Bri’s role in this whole screwed-up situation.
    “Bri knows something,” he told Mace as they climbed back into the cruiser. “A whole lot of something.”
    “So ask Dara.”
    “Oh, she’ll tell me everything,” he drawled.
    Mace grinned in response.
    “You think you can make Bri talk? Be my guest.”
    Mace ran a finger under his collar to loosen his tie. “Bri and I are pretty tight, but I don’t think she’ll tell me either.”
    “I wasn’t talking about her. Show me how it’s done. Use your charms on Dara and see what you can find out.”
    His partner narrowed his eyes. “Is that a challenge?”
    “More than a challenge. How about a bet?”
    “What kind of bet?”
    “Twenty bucks says Dara won’t give you anything useful.”
    Mace leaned to the left, extracted his wallet from his back pants pocket and slapped a twenty dollar bill onto the dashboard. “You’re on.”
    Jake steered around a corner. “I’ll give you three days to get something.”
    “Three days? I won’t need that long.” Mace smirked. “You just get ready to lose your twenty bucks.”
    “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
    “Hey, pull in there.” Mace pointed at a nearby shopping center.
    “What? It’s late and I’m tired. What do you need to buy that can’t wait until