Free The Fire Within by Dana Marie Bell Page B

less obvious about it. “Hello, business lunch.”
    “Mm-hmm.” Andi never could pull off a truly innocent expression. “Which is why you keep looking at his ass.”
    The man did have a fine rear end. She studied it for a moment, just to be sure. “I’ll admit, it’s frame worthy.”
    “I bet you could bounce quarters off it. And he’s got the dreamiest brown eyes I’ve ever seen.”
    “I thought you preferred silver.” Andi had the hugest crush on Piotr. Too bad he wasn’t interested. Although she had to give the man credit, because he never dated an employee. He showed up on the society pages all the time with one woman or another, but not one of them worked for him or one of his subsidiaries.
    “You have to check the market before you buy.” Andi ducked away from Beth’s blow, laughing. She turned it to a cough when Sam and Dante rejoined them.
    Dante glared at them suspiciously. “Something going on?”
    Beth shook her head. “Mm-mm.”
    Andi did the same. “Nope. Nothing to see here, Officer.”
    Thank God Dante didn’t push, but his suspicious expression said it all.
    They left the two girls in the parking lot of the restaurant and headed back to the campaign headquarters, but not before Andi made the universal sign for call me .

Chapter Five
    Todd Blessing was a charismatic man of forty-five who knew he was destined for great things. He was currently doing his best to make sure that everyone around him, Dante included, knew it as well. He was a tall, massively built man, dark haired and dark eyed, who moved like an athlete. He was dressed in a conservative silver-gray business suit and crisp white shirt with a silver-gray tie. His brief welcoming smile revealed perfectly white teeth, with a small gap between the front two that should have made him appear human but instead seemed just as staged as the rest of him.
    He spoke with a quiet, insincere tone that put Dante on edge. His face was gravely concerned when Dante and Elizabeth entered his office, turning down Mrs. Messinger’s offer of coffee.
    Dante made sure he closed the door behind the secretary.
    Blessing held out his hand to Dante. “How may I help you, Detective?” He shook Dante’s hand firmly and then turned to Beth. “Anything, anything at all I can do to help Jonathan through this, please let me know.”
    “I’ll be sure to pass on the message, Mr. Blessing.” Elizabeth settled herself in a chair and flipped open her notebook.
    Dante took the seat next to her and took out his own notebook. “I need to ask you a routine question, Mr. Blessing.”
    Blessing nodded.
    “Where were you on the afternoon Jennifer Blake was killed?”
    “At a fundraiser that wound up ending early due to the storm. You can check with the people there. I’ll have my secretary get you a list.”
    “What time did you leave the fundraiser?”
    “About three in the afternoon. I went straight home. My wife will corroborate that.”
    Dante made a note. He’d need to check the driving time between the location of the fundraiser and the murder scene. “We understand that you found out about Mrs. Blake’s death when you filed a police report the day after. Can you tell us anything about the robbery?”
    Blessing appeared shocked. “You think the robbery had something to do with Jen’s death?”
    Something about his reaction wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. Blessing had his “concerned politician” face on, and Dante couldn’t quite get a reading off him. Normally, little things would give someone away. Most perps couldn’t keep still. Something always twitched when they lied, but all the usual tells were hidden behind a sleek facade Dante couldn’t quite penetrate. “We want to eliminate that possibility, of course. Can you tell me what happened?”
    Dante tried to act cool and composed, but inside he was Snoopy dancing. Every instinct he had was screaming at him at the top of its lungs.
    This guy had something to