Free Dead Broke (Lana Denae Mystery Series Book 1) by Bruce A Borders Page B

“Some say bickering is a sign of a healthy relationship.”
    Three sets of eyes turned in unison. All of them stared as if trying to bore a hole into Damien’s head to see what would make him utter such things.
    “ Who says that?” Jamie asked.
    Damien shrugged. “I don’t know. Just what I heard.”
    “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” Lana warned.
    “Or repeat it,” Jamie said.
    Smiling, Damien gave a short nod. “True. But in this case, I think the bickering thing is probably right.”
    From their expressions, he expected a chorus of comments telling him why he was wrong. When none came, he realized they were waiting on him to explain.
    “The way I see it,” he said, “if both parties, or ever how many parties there are, are willing to state their opinions and argue their points, that means they are comfortable in the relationship. They don’t have to sugarcoat their words or pamper each other. They don’t worry about saying what they think because they aren’t afraid of offending anyone.”
    Lana nodded thoughtfully. What Damien had expressed actually made sense. She was just surprised that he had said it. To hear something of an emotional and sensitive nature coming from the big guy was a little strange to say the least.
    Jamie wasn’t so magnanimous with his reaction. “You been sneaking around and seeing a therapist or something? Taking psychology courses on the side?”
    “No,” Damien said. “I just listen when people talk. People who know about this stuff. You can learn a lot by listening. You should try it.”
    “Oh, I get it,” Jamie smirked. “That was one of those little digs meant to demonstrate how you feel totally at ease insulting me. ’Cause you know I won’t get mad, right?”
    Damien smiled. “Something like that.”
    “Well guys,” Lana interrupted their friendly squabble, “this has been, uh, enlightening but I think we need to get back to the case. We still have a killer to catch.”
    “Isn’t that how we got on this in the first place?” Jamie asked. “With you trying to run the show? Just kidding,” he quickly added, seeing the serious expression on Lana’s face. “I assume you have something in mind?”
    Nodding, Lana said, “Mr. Holloway has informed me that his IT department was unable to find an ISP or any other identifier associated with the remote login of the accounts. This guy hid his tracks very well so we still don’t know anything more, other than whoever the guy is, he may have had some IT training. Earlier, I asked Holloway to monitor the accounts that were approaching maturity, but I really doubt that will get us anything. By now, the killer probably is aware we’re on to him. If he’s paying attention at all—which I’m sure he is—he’s seen us come and go from the apartments. He likely knows we went to Cascade Global and talked with Devin Holloway as well.”
    “And?” Jamie asked.
    “I have an idea that may flush him out if Mr. Holloway will agree to it.”
    “Why do we need his okay?” an impetuous Jamie wanted to know.
    “Because it involves large sums of money and I’m living on a detective’s salary. So, unless you’re volunteering...”
    Jamie shook his head. “No, I’m more than happy to use Mr. Holloway’s money.”
    “Actually, it involves more than just his money,” Lana said, explaining the general details of her plan to draw out the killer.
    Favoring the simple over the elaborate, Lana’s idea was to run a basic con. They would set up a fake account for a non-existent investor, with a date of maturity at least a couple of weeks in the future—to give the killer time to plan his next murder.
    “We’ll need to keep it simple,” Damien said, instantly warming to Lana’s idea. “With minimal opportunity for things to go wrong as they are prone to do.”
    “Agreed,” Lana said. “But there’s no need to let things progress beyond the initial contact. The idea is just to dangle the carrot in