Free Next to Die by Marliss Melton

with his razor.
    For the most part, he liked women. They were entertaining, mysterious, with physical attributes that drove him crazy. But in his experience, they were also ambitious, conniving, and calculating. Women wanted Joe for what he could give them. Some were after his money. Others got off on the fact that he was an officer, with plenty of prestige. Some just wanted to be with him so they could screw around when he was overseas. The way he figured, Penelope Price wasn’t any different.
    She would bear watching, he decided. If she turned out to be as selfless as her little sister insisted, he’d apologize. On the other hand, if she became a thorn in his side, she’d soon regret it. He valued his privacy above all things.
     
    Vinny DeInnocentis pounded on the apartment door in a tidy but aging complex two blocks from the oceanfront. A peek through the window revealed a lavishly furnished, whimsically decorated apartment. It looked exactly like the kind of place where the flame-haired beauty who’d crashed into his car would live. He nearly had her now.
    “Can I help you?” demanded a voice from across a breezeway.
    Vinny found a middle-aged woman glaring at him. She wore curlers and a housecoat, her feet stuffed into pink slippers. “Yes, ma’am. I’m looking for the young lady who lives here, Ophelia Price?” He’d passed her license plate number to a friend in law enforcement, who, in turn, gave him her name and mailing address. “Do you know when she’ll be back?” he asked respectfully.
    The woman took quick inventory of his battle-dress uniform. “
Nein,
she von’t be back. She mooft out last veek,” she said, revealing German origins.
    “But her furniture’s still inside,” he pointed out.
    “She rents the place to friends of hers,” the frau replied, tightening her robe against the cold.
    “Well, do you know where she went to?” Vinny asked, doubting the woman’s story. Perhaps she was Ophelia’s self-appointed watchdog.
    “How many more men vill come around askink me that question?” the woman groused, rolling her eyes.
    Vinny didn’t like the way that sounded.
    “She don’t vant no strange men comink after her,” she insisted, hunching her rounded shoulders.
    “I’m not a stranger, ma’am; I’m a friend. I just want to give her this ring back.” He pulled it from his pocket and crossed the breezeway to show it to her.
    The frau seemed to recognize the ring. “Vell, you don’t seem like a bat man,” she allowed. “Vat do you do?” She gestured at his uniform.
    “I’m a Navy SEAL.” He was also a student, taking classes at the local community college, and this was his first night off in a week.
    “Oh,
ja?
My son is in the Navy.” Her frown grew more relaxed. “Ophelia vent to stay vith her sister,” she suddenly divulged.
    Her sister! Vinny’s heart faltered. “Where does she live?” he asked. Not far away, he hoped.
    “Just a minute,” she said, disappearing into her apartment.
    Vinny waited, his blood thrumming impatiently. Thoughts of the copper-haired beauty who’d crushed in his taillight had obsessed him all week. Her feisty tongue and slippery tactics had amused him. She was about to find out that Navy SEALs were tenacious sons-of-bitches and they didn’t like being stood up.
    “I forward her mail to her,” admitted the frau, coming out again. She had an index card, which she handed to him.
    Vinny glanced at the Virginia Beach address and nearly let loose a war cry. He bestowed the woman his best Boy Scout smile. Of course, he’d never been a Boy Scout. “Thank you so much, ma’am,” he said, slipping the card into his pocket as he turned away. “She’ll be grateful to you.”
    “I hope so,” said the woman. “You’re not like the other man.”
    Vinny turned slowly back around. “What was he like?” he inquired blandly.
    “Older,” she said. “Quiet and . . . creepy.”
    Vinny nodded. He’d already guessed, given Lia’s apparent