Free 9 The Hitwoman's Downward Dog by JB Lynn

that I was none too pleased with Patrick Mulligan at the moment?
    After all, he was choosing to stay with his wife, who was engaged in an affair with another woman whose husband had tried to kill him. Sure I might have my quirks and a bizarre family, but surely, if he truly cared, he’d choose me over that insanity.
    "Brian Griswald is helping me look into Armani’s disappearance," I said in a rush, needing to make it clear that I wasn’t the one adoring the cop/hitman. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but I hoped it would be enough to goad Patrick into thinking he should have done something to help me.
    "Good." He nodded his approval.
    Not exactly the reaction I’d been hoping for.
    "What about Jack Stern? Is he helping you?" Patrick’s voice was deceptively bland, but the corners of his eyes tightened when he asked the question.
    "Sort of," I admitted.
    "Sort of? Do you really need me to tell you that the guy’s job is to investigate crime and report the truth? Do you want him finding out the truth about you?"
    "Is that why you are friends with him?" I countered snippily.
    " I met him through police work. How do you know him?"
    "I met him at the hospital."
    "Where you meet regularly with a known crime boss," the hitman pointed out.
    He had a point there, but I wasn’t about to let him win anything in this conversation, so I didn’t react.
    "Be careful with him," Patrick warned. "He’s a black-and-white kind of guy and wouldn’t understand the gray area we operate in."
    "I don’t understand the gray area you operate in," I countered.
    He raised his eyebrows. "You don’t? I thought our gray areas kind of blend together, being people who kill for money and all."
    I winced. It might be the truth, but I still didn’t like thinking of myself as a hired killer. "I’m talking about your wife."
    "It’s complicated."
    "So you’ve said."
    He stopped petting the animals and leaned forward. "I care about you, Mags."
    And I believed him. But I wasn’t sure it was enough.
    "Why else would I be here?" Patrick pressed, trying to convince me his feelings were real.
    "You wanted to talk to me about Armani?" I reminded him, pointedly leading the way out of the quicksand of our relationship.
    "Are you angry at me?" he asked quietly.
    "Yes."
    He blinked, taken aback by the succinct, blunt answer, but I have to give him credit, he recovered quickly. "Do you want to talk about it?"
    "No."
    "So this is going to be a monosyllabic conversation?"
    I shrugged.
    "Mad, Maggie, you?" DeeDee panted worriedly.
    "Not at you, honey," Piss assured him with a chugging purr. "She’s none too pleased with this tomcat, though I must admit I found his declaration kind of romantic."
    It would have been nice if she’d made a show of siding with me, but instead she rubbed the top of her head against Patrick’s palm.
    He sighed, rubbing his other hand over his face as though that would erase the tension between us.
    I lifted my chin, refusing to apologize or do anything to improve the mood.
    "So about Armani," Patrick began, resigned to the fact nothing between us was going to be resolved any time soon. "The reason I can’t help you find her is that I’ve been assigned to another case. A high-priority case. A police officer has gone missing."
    "Yeah?" I asked like I didn’t care, like I didn’t already know Joy Gilbert was in danger, like she and Armani didn’t have a connection. There was a time when I would have told Patrick everything I knew without bothering to take a breath, but not now. Now I played my cards close to the vest, collecting information rather than sharing it.
    "So it’s going to take a lot of my time. I’m under intense scrutiny."
    "And yet you’re here," I drawled sarcastically.
    "I wanted to explain why I can’t help you."
    "Well you’ve done that, so if there’s nothing else…" I pointed in the direction of the cellar door.
    Disentangling himself from the cat and dog, he stood.
    "Thanks for stopping by," I said with a