Read Online Grand Theft Retro (Style & Error Mystery Series Book 5) by Diane Vallere - Free Book Online Page B

me off in front of my house. I gave him a healthy tip and he gave me his card. “I am Mohammed Jones. My company tells me about you. You like to ride in taxis, correct? Please, take my card. I am new to the taxi world. I will drive you where you want to go.” His English was very proper, as if he’d learned it in a classroom and not on the street.
    I thanked him, asked him not to leave until I was inside the house, and got out. Surprisingly, he did what I asked. I secured his card to the refrigerator under a magnet shaped like the Liberty Bell. Perhaps we could work out some kind of a deal.
    I locked the front door, closed and locked the windows, and spent the next hour going through the house making sure I was alone. It was a slow and systematic process that left me wondering what exactly I would do if I’d found someone on the premises. By the time I’d finished, I had a shopping list of things that would make me feel safe. Pepper Spray. Security alarm. Bull Horn. Police on speed dial. Possible adoption of pit bull.
    I opened a bag of Unique Splitz pretzel shells and a bottle of Birch Beer and sat at the kitchen table. What had happened today? I didn’t really know. I’d gone to work. I’d left work and gone to Jennie Mae’s house. It was very possible that while I was enjoying spiked tea with the lady of the house, she was being robbed. Had she known the tea was bourbon? Or had the tea been spiked for my benefit? Jennie Mae appeared to trust Mr. Charles, but I didn’t.
    And then there was Pritchard’s behavior. Not only had he acted suspicious the day I’d overheard him in the attic, but after Jennie Mae’s sample wardrobe had gone missing, he’d shown up in my office and threatened me. He was after something, and despite the missing clothes, it sounded like he still hadn’t found what he wanted.
    Which left a whole lot of what I didn’t know: what was Pritchard after? Where did he come from? What had happened to Jennie Mae’s collection? Was Mr. Charles on the up and up? And who was going to take care of all of those cats?
    And the niggling question that didn’t seem to relate to anything but clearly was at the center of it all was, what did any of this have to do with my job at Retrofit ?
    The house felt quiet. Scary in its solitude. In the past, when I’d gotten mixed up in less than savory situations, I’d always been able to come home to Logan. He’d been my rock, my companion, ever since I’d adopted him when I lived in New York. He’d watched me date my way through three different deli counter employees (I blame it on my love of cured lunch meats), work sixty-five hour weeks while I climbed the corporate ladder at Bentley’s, and gained and lost the same twenty pounds depending on the year. He’d stood by me through my rocky new start in Ribbon even when one particularly harrowing adventure had put him in harm’s way. He hadn’t judged when I dated not one but two men since relocating: Nick, who he’d been hearing about for years, and Dante Lestes, a hot (with a name like Dante, how could he not be?) private investigator who felt it was his duty to make me his protégé. Logan hadn’t even shown a preference for either man, leaving the choice up to me.
    Since Nick and I had slowly reconnected after our abrupt break-up, Dante had become a faint memory. After I’d made it clear that I wasn’t over Nick, Dante had left town. And I’d been okay with that. Dante’s attention had felt good, but it had also felt dangerous. Like living too close to a flame. Nick’s attention was exciting, too, in a different way. When we were in the same room together, it was like nobody else mattered.
    But now, I had to distance myself from him too. The hair on my arms stood up as I remembered the way Pritchard had listed off details about my life, my parents, my sister, my cat. I didn’t know how much he knew about me or what he was trying to protect by scaring me into submission, but I wasn’t willing