Read Online You Know Who I Am (The Drusilla Thorne Mysteries Book 2) by Diane Patterson - Free Book Online

Stevie was going to need some kind of massive therapeutic intervention, because she was repeating herself, losing her train of thought, having nightmares. When Colin offered me ten thousand for a simple marriage ceremony, of course I said yes. As it turned out, hibernating for six months in a dinky, featureless Las Vegas box worked some kind of magic. I never did find her that therapist.
    Depending on what Colin had gotten me involved with, I might be the one in desperate need of a professional head-straightener.
    My sister was looking at me over the edge of her knees, her hair draping the sides of her face. She started rocking back and forth, holding herself in a tiny ball. “What happened?” she whispered.
    I told her.
    She closed her eyes and rocked a little harder. “What do you think he did?”
    I went straight from fear into fury. I had no idea what the hell Colin had been doing, but I was supposed to figure a way out of it for him, just as I’d figured out how to revamp his show and I’d figured out a way to turn the middle of the act from the draggy bit it had been into one of the highlights by doing my mind-reading act. “Hell if I know. Again.”
    Sometimes I get so damned tired of figuring things out for everyone else.
    Stevie saw something on my face she didn’t like. “Dru, don’t.”
    “Don’t what?” I snapped.
    She tucked her chin back into her knees. “Don’t do whatever you’re thinking about doing.”
    I knew what she was saying, of course. How could I not? She knew better than anyone what could happen when my temper gets the best of me.
    I tried to smile. It probably came out as a fixed, evil stare. “I’m not thinking about doing anything.”
    She reached out one thin, bone-white hand and put it over mine. Her hand was so much smaller than mine. And cooler. “Everything’s going to be okay, Dru. You didn’t have anything to do with what he’s talking about, so there’s not a problem, right?”
    I pushed back the black bangs off her face. “Here’s what I want you to do while I’m gone. Sit tight, and watch the telly. I’ll give you a call when I’m done with Colin and reassure you that he’s still alive and in one piece, okay?”
    She nodded. I kissed her forehead and grabbed my purse.
    I was glad Stevie had faith that I was going to deal with Colin in a rational, careful, adult manner. Because at the moment, I was so furious I had no such faith in myself.

C HAPTER F IVE

    IT WAS MIDNIGHT before I arrived at Colin’s apartment. I found a space a block away and considered myself lucky, because I hadn’t seen much parking. The streetlights cast little skirts of light here and there, leaving enough dark patches to make me hug the street-side of the sidewalk. I can take care of myself and I don’t seek out trouble. It finds me often enough anyway.
    As I neared Colin’s apartment, I saw a light brown sedan at the end of the block, near one streetlight. A common enough car, but a light brown sedan sat outside my Las Vegas apartment every day for six weeks, Vin Behar sitting in it, watching my comings and goings morning, noon, and night. What a coincidence that a similar light brown car, down to the dent on the front bumper, was right here, by Colin’s apartment.
    In my universe, there’s no such thing as a coincidence.
    I walked right past Colin’s building. In the front seat of the car was the glow of a cigarette held in a beefy hand.
    Vin Behar was here.
    How in the hell was Vin Behar here?
    As I got nearer, the passenger side window slid down. The odor of sweat and cigarettes and sour cheese wafted out of his car. “So you found him after all,” he said to me. “Congratulations.”
    Vin Behar, as large and ugly as ever, was right in front of me. This was a long way from the Marrakesh Casino. Vin looked like the cop he used to be, except older and meaner and with extra gut. He gave me the creeps the first time I’d met him and my feelings hadn’t changed since then. I