Read Online Alien Heat by Lynn Hightower - Free Book Online

me at the door?”
    â€œI didn’t.”
    â€œYou said Detective.”
    â€œWell. I am psychic.”
    David tilted his head to one side. “The desk clerk called you.”
    She shook her head at him. “A nonbeliever.”
    The tank top was oversized, and the armholes dipped all the way to her waist. She wore a white lacy half shirt underneath. David did not think she had on a bra. Maybe the lacy thing was supposed to be instead of a bra.
    Her toenails were painted livid red. David looked away from her long slender legs, glancing at the television.
    â€œWho you for?”
    She glanced back at the screen. “Volunteers, of course. That’s my team.”
    â€œYou from Tennessee?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhat player you hooked into?”
    She grinned at him. “This hotel’s not what you’d call equipped, Silver. You have to watch it the old-fashioned way.”
    David glanced around the room. She was reading, watching TV, and listening to the radio, all at the same time.
    She turned the music down. Over her shoulders, a coach signaled time out.
    â€œHang on,” she said.
    She opened the white pizza box on the bed, put a piece on a Styrofoam slab, then handed it to him. “Hope you like sausage.”
    She went to a tiny refrigerator that was stashed next to the dresser and a dirty coffeepot, and got out a beer. Retro Beer, the cheapest brand on the market. David hadn’t had one since he was a broke kid in Little Saigo. He wondered if it was as bad as he remembered.
    â€œI’m not hungry,” David said.
    â€œPretend. I feel funny if I eat and you don’t, and this pizza just got delivered. Carpe diem .”
    David took a bite. The crust was crisp and chewy and the cheese was hot. There was a lot of sausage, oozing orange fat over the cheese and the onions. It tasted wonderful.
    â€œI didn’t think these places delivered anymore.”
    â€œNot in this neighborhood, that’s for sure. Friend of mine picked it up.”
    David remembered the vice cop running up the stairs. He cocked his head to one side. There seemed to be an interesting microcosm of society in this hotel, and Teddy Blake fit right in. The desk clerk warned her of cops at the door, and the guys in vice brought her pizza.
    David opened the beer, watching her eat. She was dainty about it, but fast, like she was starving.
    She caught his eye. “Excuse me. Haven’t had a bite all day.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œForgot.”
    It seemed like her, forgetting to eat. She opened the pizza box and gave him another slice. Cheese threaded from the bottom of the box, then pulled away. The beer had a bitter, watery taste, but it was cold.
    â€œJenks and his boy are at the Rialto,” David said.
    â€œYou think I don’t know?”
    â€œHe wouldn’t put you up there? This isn’t the greatest hotel in the world, for a woman on her own. Or a man, for that matter.”
    â€œI do okay.”
    Not good enough for Jenks to put her up in style, David thought.
    â€œJenks got me a suite there, or tried to. I just told him no. I bill for expenses, and I don’t gouge people.”
    â€œHow much do you charge?” David said.
    â€œThat’s kind of rude, just to ask.”
    â€œMaybe I want a reading.”
    â€œI don’t do readings. And I don’t believe in astrology, so don’t tell me your sign. I don’t read palms or tea leaves or tarot cards, and I don’t charge for what I do. Just expenses, if I go out of town or something, ’cause otherwise I couldn’t go. I’m not rich, you know.”
    David nodded. She did not look rich. But she’d have it socked away, lots of it, good as she was. This was just for show.
    She chewed a piece of crust. “Besides, I’m from a small town. Hotels like the Rialto make me uncomfortable. They don’t want people like me there.”
    Her eyes were very large and