Read Online By Hook or By Crook by Linda Morris - Free Book Online Page A

knew things, too. She read cowry shells and communicated with Oya, goddess of the whirlwind. She passed the gift along to me.”
    Phil rolled his eyes. Ramirez had been with him for years, ever since they started out together running numbers rackets and loan-sharking. Phil scarcely noticed Ramirez’s freaky talk about Santeria goddesses and spells anymore. It had creeped him out at first, but he’d stopped listening after a while. That mumbo-jumbo could bug the shit out of him if he paid attention, so he never did.
    “Like I need your opinion. We’ve got to get him. The fight manager said some guy and a girl were poking around, asking questions about him.”
    “And you think they know where Pock would have gone?”
    “They’re the best lead we have. Get on them, and don’t let them get away.”
    “You got it.”
    The finality in Ramirez’s voice reassured him a little. He clicked off the call and pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket. Smoking wasn’t good for you, but what the hell, he thought with a humorless laugh. He didn’t expect to live a long life anyway.
    ****
    Indian Springs sat in the vast desert like a bleak outpost of civilization. Only a small army installation kept the tiny town from total obscurity. Ivy looked disbelievingly at her watch, realizing they’d been in Vegas a mere hour ago. She glanced at Joe.
    “I like to drive fast,” he said with a shrug. “Got any complaints?”
    “Not if it means we can find my sister faster, I don’t.”
    Plugging the address for the credit card swipe into Joe’s cell phone GPS, they located the gas station in about ten minutes. They entered to the ding of an electronic door chime and browsed the aisles for a few minutes until the short line of customers had dissipated.
    The chubby young clerk pushed his glasses a little higher on his shiny nose and stared expectantly. He reminded Ivy of a graduate assistant in one of her master’s classes, the one who had pestered her to meet him for coffee after class several times. Suspecting he knew her net worth, she’d politely declined. Repeatedly.
    “We’re looking for a couple who might have passed through here a few hours ago. Were you on duty then?” Joe asked as he put a couple of granola bars and bottled waters on the counter.
    “Maybe.”
    Ivy stared. “You aren’t sure if you were working a few hours ago?”
    “I think this enterprising young man is trying to tell us that a little cash might improve his memory.” Joe didn’t trouble to hide his sarcasm as he handed a twenty to the clerk.
    “Twenty bucks doesn’t help my memory that much.”
    Joe held up another twenty, but yanked it back when the clerk reached for it. “You get nothing else from me until I hear something useful. The guy would have been a big guy, tattoos, a tough guy. Close-cropped hair. The girl would be pretty, with long blonde hair. Both in their twenties.”
    Ivy pulled up a photo of Daisy on her cell phone and showed it to the clerk. “It’s my sister.”
    The clerk looked briefly at the phone. “Yeah, I remember her. The guy with her was a big tough guy, like you said.”
    “How did she seem?” asked Joe.
    “She was cute.”
    Ivy shot a sidelong glance at Joe, who scowled. His patience was about to run out. So was hers.
    “Look, dick, did she seem upset? Were they angry, or fighting? Scared?”
    “Hell, no, they were all over each other. I almost told ‘em to get a room, you know?” The clerk grinned. He’d obviously enjoyed the spectacle her sister had apparently made of herself. Lovely.
    Daisy had always been up-front about her sexuality, in a way that often made Ivy uncomfortable. Ivy preferred to keep bedroom activities in the bedroom, thank you very much. Frankly, she’d never been unable to wait for privacy.
    “Did they say anything about where they were going?” Joe asked.
    “Nah, not really. Although, come to think of it, the girl was kind of screwing around, and the guy said