Free Bye Bye Bones (A CASSIDY CLARK NOVEL Book 1) by Lala Corriere Page A

about redheads. I didn’t know but deduced it meant they were skanks.
    I selected the long skank red one.
    After securing a gaudy brooch to my dress, I made sure that the camera it housed was working.
    Taking one final look in the mirror, I was satisfied. Even Manning wouldn’t make me.
    I drove straight to The Dancing Saguaros Lounge, a not-so-fine establishment Marks was known to frequent.

Chapter Eighteen
    JESSICA WOULD ENJOY a rare evening off. She asked Jaxon if he’d like to sneak away for a light dinner at her house. Jaxon had told Jessica about the warning from the attorney. She only thought about doing something almost normal, like eating a delicious sampling from the Tucson Tamale Company out by her small pool, where calm would find them. She never promised it would be a homemade meal but she would toss up a mean salad as a side.
    Jaxon spotted the trouble when he saw two dead Joshua Trees in Jessica’s front yard. They were healthy a week ago.
    “Why don’t you finally say yes and move in with me, Jess? I’ve never liked you living behind the false security of a community gate.”
    “I know. I know. Everyone and their scum uncles have the code. But you know why I won’t move in with you. I have crazy long hours, Jaxon. You have crazier long hours. Between our schedules, neither one of us would get any sleep.”
    Jaxon pulled her body toward his chest. “Our schedules aren’t the reason we wouldn’t get any sleep, Babe.”
    She laughed, telling him to shut up and pour the margaritas.
    They sat under the evening sky. The bright stars seemed close enough to snatch with outstretched arms. Early blossoms from the jasmine vines fragranced the air. Jaxon tore open the bag of tortilla chips, his contribution to the meal.
    “Tell you what, let’s stop talking about security or lack thereof or your deranged ex-wife. At least for a night, but preferably for a lifetime,” Jessica pleaded.
    “What would you like to talk about? I’m a great conversationalist.”
    “I don’t know. The chubasco coming in this summer. The fire burning up near Sedona.” Pausing for effect, Jessica said, “I know. Let’s talk about your ex-girlfriend.”
    Jaxon gagged, “Who? You mean Connie?”
    “Yeah. Connie. I’m sorry. She’s been on my mind today.”
    Jaxon matched the intensity in Jessica’s brown eyes with an equal focus.
    “I had one brief relationship after divorcing Sandra and before meeting you. She wasn’t a rebound. I would call it more like my get out of jail card. She’s a lovely woman, and was one of the top residential agents in the valley.”
    “Why did you break up with her?”
    “We knew our relationship should have stayed on the platonic side. There was no chemistry between us. She broke it off with me.”
    “Why, my handsome prince?”
    “One guess.”
    Jessica blurted it out, “Sandra. Oh my God! What the hell did she do?”
    “Connie’s not—how can I say this? She’s not a real looker, but she’s very smart. Sandra’s threats were directed toward Connie’s teenage daughter who had won a beauty pageant in San Diego.”
    “That doesn’t make sense. Why would she be more interested in the daughter? What did she do?”
    “Connie and her daughter were with me in the parking lot of Hacienda del Sol, when Sandra walked up to me. That woman, whom, by the way, we weren’t going to discuss, has this uncanny ability to find anyone’s Achilles’ heel. She had to know there wasn’t anything serious between me and Connie. But she didn’t know about the teenage daughter. She started threatening the girl. She told her, in Sandra’s own malicious way, that she needed to get out of town.
    “What I didn’t know was that Connie’s 18-year-old girl had run away three times. The girl, maybe heeding Sandra’s words and maybe not, took off. A while later, Connie packed up and moved to Houston. She told me it was in search of a more lucrative real estate career but I knew why she moved. The