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slow puff on
his cigar, closing his eyes and savoring the taste. When he opened
his eyes, he looked at Dagger and smiled. “Good thing I put a
clause in the contract that I could cancel up to twenty-four hours
beforehand. I knew that wedding wasn’t going to take place.”
    Dagger settled back in his chair and crossed
his right ankle over his left knee. He felt a little too old to be
lectured to, especially by the likes of Leyton Monroe, who had made
his money by crafty legal maneuvers.
    “Well then, I guess we both got what we
wanted,” Dagger said.
    “My daughter deserves better than you—a
private dick who lasted six months in the marines, two years in
college, and was kicked out of the police academy. Your father was
a two-bit hustler who lived at the race track and died crossing a
street, too greedy with his winnings to see a semi big as life
barreling down on him.”
    Dagger’s eyes challenged him. “You two are a
lot alike. You just do your hustling behind people’s backs. They
never see you or your high-priced lawyers coming.”
    If he was ruffled, Leyton didn’t show it. It
didn’t surprise Dagger that Leyton had checked him out. Dagger
would have been surprised if he hadn’t.
    “See, I know my daughter pretty well. You’ll
never make the kind of money that would keep Sheila in tennis
bracelets and Gucci pumps.” Leyton paused to take a sip of his
brandy. “She likes to push my buttons, always has. Had her navel
pierced when she was sixteen. Went to her high school prom with a
Hell’s Angels wannabe. Dropped out of college her first year
because she didn’t like the weather in New York. She wanted to go
to college in Hawaii. My daughter is not marriage material.”
    “Finally, we agree on something.” Dagger
shifted in his seat and played with the earring in his left
ear.
    Leyton took another long drag and blew the
smoke out slowly toward the ceiling light. His cheeks reddened as
though exhaling was too strenuous. “Sheila does not want to be
strapped down by kids or a stove. She’d be hiring nannies and
having meals catered. Now, what I like about you is you also aren’t
marriage material. The only reason she wants you is because she
knows I don’t approve. So if she holds a torch for you, she’ll
never have the chance to meet Mr. Right, who just might lure her to
that little cottage with the picket fence.”
    Dagger was finally getting the picture. “So
as long as she’s pining for me, she’ll always be right where you
want her.”
    “Now you’re getting it.” The broad smile
brought his plump cheeks close to kissing his eyeballs. “She’ll
stay at the newspaper and take over when I retire, keep it in the
family. She’s my only child, so who else do I have to follow in my
footsteps?” Leyton’s eyes twinkled. They were like two college
roommates joined by a masterful plan, co-conspirators.
    Fat chance, Dagger thought.
    Leyton reached into his pocket and pulled out
a piece of paper. “You should find this quite adequate. If
anything, you should be able to replace that shit-can you call a
car.”
    Dagger’s blood pressure hit boiling point as
he stared at the check made out to him for two hundred thousand
dollars. He glared at Leyton as he slowly folded it in half.
    “Not enough?” Leyton’s eyes mocked him.
    What Leyton didn’t know was that money didn’t
matter to Dagger. Leyton thought money mattered to everyone, that
everyone had a price.
    “Exactly what am I supposed to do for this
money?”
    Leyton gave a nod of his head as if perturbed
he had to spell it out. “Do what you do best…keep stringing her
along.”

    CHAPTER 9

    “You seem shocked, Sara.” Nick took a long
swallow of champagne and emptied his glass.
    “It’s just that she was so young. For your
father to have lost two wives is such a pity. When did she
die?”
    “About five years ago.”
    Sara tried to hide her surprise. Five years
ago. Then who was it that was murdered? “How did she die?”
    Nick