Free A Decadent Way to Die by G.A. McKevett

winced.
“Most pleased to make your acquaintance,” she said through gritted teeth. She pulled her fingers out of his grasp and waved toward Dirk. “Chad, I’d like you to meet my friend, Detective Sergeant Dirk Coulter.”
Dirk received a smile from Chad, too, though Savannah noted it wasn’t as bright as the one he had given her.
The handshake was just as firm; she could tell by the way Dirk flinched and scowled.
“It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” Chad told him. “Tammy’s told me so much about you. I’m a great supporter of law enforcement.”
“ Are you, now …?” Dirk’s eyes bored into Chad’s, and Savannah could see the younger man grimace as Dirk returned the crushing grip—plus a bit more for good measure.
Tammy looked alarmed and whispered to Dirk, “Nice … nice …”
Savannah jumped to the rescue. “How about some cookies, Chad? Chocolate chip … still warm and gooey.”
She decided against offering him a glass of milk to go with it. Now that she had seen him in all of his six-feet, three-inch, two-hundred-twenty-pound frame, a kindergartner’s snack seemed inappropriate.
“I can make a fresh pot of coffee to go with the cookies, if you’ve got time to sit a spell,” she said instead.
“No, thanks,” Chad said, rubbing the fingers of his right hand, which no doubt ached after Dirk’s revenge shake. “We have to get going, or we’ll be late for the auto show. I want to be there when they open the doors. I don’t like being late.”
He glanced up and down Tammy’s turquoise suit with an obvious look of disdain on his handsome face.
Savannah decided it was a face that was getting less handsome by the moment, sparkling teeth or not.
“I’m going to have to take you home first,” he told Tammy, “so you can change. You aren’t going anywhere with me wearing that outfit. Where did you buy that? The local thrift store?”
When Savannah saw the hurt and embarrassment on Tammy’s face, her temper flared. For a moment, she imagined what it would be like to lop off Chad’s head with a sword and watch it roll across the floor.
Would it still be smiling ear-to-ear, white teeth flashing?
“We had a special client appointment this morning,” Savannah told him, keeping her voice low and even. “I asked Tammy to dress up a bit for the occasion.”
“I guess I’ll have to teach you how to dress,” he told Tammy. “Anybody with a smokin’ hot body like yours shouldn’t wear something out of an old lady’s closet.”
Savannah couldn’t hold back any longer. “Whoa, Chad, you really need to watch your—”
“It’s okay,” Tammy said, grabbing Savannah’s arm. “Really. I do need to change before we go out. I don’t know what I was thinking wearing this. I just …”
Tammy gazed up at her date with a mixture of adoration, nervousness, and fear that made Savannah’s stomach churn.
“We have to go,” Tammy said, releasing Savannah and scurrying to pick up her purse from the table. “Chad is a very punctual person, and, well … I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” Savannah watched as the two of them turned and walked toward the back door.
“Nice meeting you,” Chad called back over his shoulder.
He didn’t wait for a reply before he walked out the door, leaving Tammy to follow dutifully in his wake.
Savannah barely waited for the door to close before she said, “Oh … oh, how I hate him.”
She turned to Dirk, and one look at his face told her he was feeling the same as she was. Sick and furious.
“What I just told you about all men being scum …?” he said.
“Yeah?”
“That’s just us regular guys. That one there … he’s in another category all together.”

Chapter 7
S avannah wasn’t sure what she was expecting when she arrived at Strauss Doll Works, Inc. But whatever image her imagination might have conjured up as the birthplace of all those beautiful dolls, it hadn’t been this.
She hadn’t thought she would find a Bavarian, storybook