Read Online Up in Flames by Starr Ambrose - Free Book Online Page B

about fear and disgust. About having doors slammed in your face because of who and what you’re associated with.”
    “Really? Did you tell Hooter that?”
    He frowned, unable to say what he was thinking aloud, that Hooter didn’t have a good reputation to lose. Thankfully, Hooter offered his own explanation. “I’m a man, sugar. Anyone disrespects me, they pay for it.”
    She flicked a glance at Hooter, then raised an eyebrow at Zane, waiting for a more intelligent argument. He didn’t have one.
    “Come on, I thought you wanted to make things tough for me, Zane.”
    “Not like this.” The words came out gruff and low, because he hated to admit it. But no one deserved the kind of hate the Thorsons aroused.
    She cocked a hip and gave a loud sigh of impatience. “Look, I don’t see a lot of guys lining up to work here, and I know you’ve got at least one contract on the line, but if you can’t finish it, you aren’t likely to get more. There goes your business, and take it from me, unemployment sucks. Now, do you want help or not?”
    It was the one argument he couldn’t counter, and it was a crucial one. He’d scraped and struggled for years to make his business work, and he couldn’t throw it away now just to shield her from rumors. Especially not when she wasn’t the least bit grateful for that consideration.
    He nodded curtly. “Okay, you’re hired.” A grin lit her face like a sunbeam, but he refused to return it. “Help Hooter load the slate tiles.”
    “In a minute. There’s one more thing.”
    “What, do you want me to paint the flatbed pink? The answer’s no.”
    She didn’t smile, and she stepped closer, lowering her voice enough that Hooter wouldn’t hear. “I want to know why you told me not to dig in that field.”
    Finally. He’d wondered when she was going to ask. “You think I didn’t want you to find the body I buried there?”
    She gave him a sour look. “If I did, I would have told the police, and I wouldn’t be here right now.”
    It made sense, and eased a tightness in his chest that he hadn’t realized was due to that uncertainty. What she thought had mattered. He considered it a failing and didn’t need to let her know about it, so he kept his face expressionless. “I was preparing it for planting some young trees this fall so I won’t have to buy so much from outside sources.”
    She nodded. “Okay, thanks.”
    He wasn’t about to show the tiny flare of gratitude he felt simply because she believed him. “Get to work.”
    She did, hustling into action, her pert ponytail swinging like a pendulum. He watched, reminding himself that she was here because she needed a job. Not because she cared. Lack of money trumped everything else, even associating with a possible killer. He should be grateful that fear wasn’t as terrifying for her as it apparently was for Annie’s husband.
    Afraid or not, he would have to watch out for Sophie. He hadn’t voiced his most important concern, that being near him might put her in contact with a killer. Someone had buried a body in his gated and locked equipment yard rather than dumping it in the vast wilderness of the surrounding mountains. Why?
    There was only one possible answer—because if it was discovered, suspicion would be focused on Zane. Otherwise police might look harder for a suspect. This way, the obvious one was standing right in front of them.
    It had to be someone local, someone who knew the abrasive relationship the cops had with anyone named Thorson. Someone who’d found a way to sneak onto his property, or to be there without arousing suspicion.
    Possibly someone who worked for him.
    Would the killer avoid work in order to distance himself from the crime? Zane tried to imagine Cory, brash and cocky, losing control with a girl and becoming violent. Or Manny, quiet, married, but possibly hiding a violent urge to hurt women.
    Or would the killer stick close, coming to work so he could watch the investigation at the