Read Online Big Bad Easy by Ursula Whistler - Free Book Online Page A

understand their meaning. “Slow down, Ms. Yates. Tell me where you saw it?”
    “Damn right, I did. Yesterday.” She calmed herself, and Zara rubbed her back. “At the parking lot at the park. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but I noticed this man walking around doing nothing. He looked odd, and I was about to back up and leave. I don’t want my car broken into again. I couldn’t, though. One of the caretakers, or whatever they are, of the golf course was parked behind me in his cart. He wrote something down, and I think it was the license plate of the car next to me. That,” she stabbed the photo, “was the car. So weird. I don’t know if this guy was the same guy. They’re close enough, but this was the car. I noticed it, because it was so ugly.”
    “And you say a man in a golf cart wrote down the plate?” Jameson’s leg shook with anticipation. This could get him the guy, address, everything. Possible jackpot for him and a big loss for the creep.
    “Yeah, it’s the older man, grey hair, not Vinnie. Vinnie’s got brown hair, and he helped me clean out my car so I could drive home the day my window got smashed.”
    Zara and the other woman nodded and said, “Vinnie helped me out, too.”
    Jameson squashed a crazy thought that Vinnie could be a suspect. All the women had called the police, and that always caused a crowd of onlookers. With Vinnie being a caretaker of the golf club, he’d want to know what was happening. Jameson decided a quick background check couldn’t hurt, though. “Any other great tips, ladies? If not, I’m taking off right now to talk to this guy.”
    Zara answered, “Not from me. I’ve never seen this guy, and I don’t remember the car.”
    The other woman shook her head. “Nothing here.”
    “Sergeant, if you find this guy, let us know, please. It would make me so happy and much more relaxed to know that he might get caught,” Ms. Yates said.
    “Ms. Yates, I’m on it, and thanks to Ms. Robinson,” who sat too close to him, with her leg next to his reminding him of how her touch could send shocks of need, “I’ve got your phone numbers. I’ll be in touch.” He nodded at Zara, which was all he could do in front of the others. His captain might not mind that he had more than business relations with her, but these two ladies would.
    “Good. Great. Awesome. Thank you, sergeant, for following this through.” Ms. Yates smiled as she put her hand out for him to shake.
    He gave her a return shake, but cautioned, “Don’t thank me until I get the guy. We’re close, and that’s good.” With reluctance, he left the table. “I’ll get one creep off the streets.”
    ****
    Later that day, Jameson knocked on the door of the twenty-four hour gym feeling exhausted, excited, accomplished, and worried. Some parts of the case were solved, but not all of it. He’d gotten real results today, and even Decker’s constant harping and joking didn’t bug him. When Decker congratulated him on finding the thief, Jameson shared his biggest worry.
    “This guy already admitted to three of the break-ins. He clearly said he didn’t touch the small red car. Know what he said?”
    “Let me guess,” Decker laughed. “He was afraid the warrior woman would catch him and beat the crap out of him.”
    “Damn straight, he did.” He shared a laugh but snarled at the end. “If he didn’t do it, who did? There’s no good surveillance of whoever used Zara Robinson’s card. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
    “You mean that our murder victim might have had her purse stolen, too?”
    “Yeah, could be a coincidence, but it could be a connection.”
    “Sure. Let’s talk it through. Might shake something loose for me, too.”
    For the next two hours and through a dinner of takeout, the two detectives sorted through the murder case and everything they had on Zara’s perpetrator. Both of them agreed that there were too many similarities for it to be a coincidence. The