Free Caruso 01 - Boom Town by Trevor Scott Page A

Melanie, was that of a comfortable room. Brown leather chairs sat on hardwood floors. Large plants softened the boundaries.
    Melanie had opened a bottle of California cabernet, and it sat on a marble top coffee table breathing.
    She poured two glasses of wine and took a seat on the floor in front of the fire. Tony followed her down there, settling into the Navaho rug and leaning against large tan pillows that resembled the bloated belly of a chamois.
    “That thing actually puts out some heat,” Tony said, feeling the air in front of the fireplace with his right hand.

    64
    TREVOR SCOTT
    She took a sip of wine, glancing over the top of her glass at him. “Any e-mail?” she said.
    He hesitated. Stalled longer by taking a long drink of wine.
    “Listen. I don’t want to bullshit you. I wasn’t checking my e-mail. I had to go into the Riverfront Bar and ask a few questions.
    I thought it was best that I left you out of it.”
    “I guessed that,” she said, shifting her body closer to his. “You usually check your e-mail with your laptop from your phone in the truck.”
    “A real Nancy Drew. Maybe I should take on a partner.”
    She ran her free hand onto his thigh. “Wouldn’t that be a con-flict of interest.”
    “I don’t have a problem with that.”
    Her hand moved up onto his lap.
    “Find out anything interesting at the bar?”
    He was in one of those positions where he didn’t want to say anything offensive. “Not really,” he managed to say. “Had a little argument with those two rent-a-cops from Cascade Peaks.”
    “Is that right?” She finished her wine and set the glass down.
    She had his top button undone and was working on his zipper now.
    “Yeah. I was out on the back deck, when they thought I should have some dental work done.”
    She gave him a whole lot of freedom, taking his instrument of pleasure in one hand while she ripped his pants down his hips with the other. “You had other ideas,” she said, her breathing more determined. Not waiting for an answer, she took as much as she could in her mouth.
    Tony lay back onto the pillow and finished his wine.
    She came up for air. “What else happened?” She went down again.
    “Talked with the bartender.”
    She lifted her head up to him again. “Was it Bradley? He’s such a weasel.” Down she went again.
    He waited for a while before answering, things getting a bit BOOM TOWN 65
    more intense. Seconds later, she got on top of him and did her best rodeo routine. Tony was the bull doing his best to keep up with her frenetic ride. He couldn’t help thinking about what Dawn Sanders had said about Melanie being a little sedate for him. She had gotten that wrong.
    A while later they rested with another glass of wine, mesmer-ized by the flames. Then he thought about Dan Humphrey. Why would he shoot his wife and then set the gas fireplace to explode.
    What was his motive? Tony knew when it came to relationships it didn’t take much to set someone off. Maybe his wife Barb had crossed the line during one of their kinky trysts. But that would have been overkill.
    “What are you thinking about?” Melanie asked.
    “Barb and Dan. What made him do it?”
    She took a long drink of wine. “I think I could have done that to my ex, Bob. Especially after walking in on him with his little nineteen-year-old bimbo.”
    “He brought her here?”
    “In our bed. I was supposed to be at an open house for two hours. So he knew he had the place to himself for that long, maybe longer. Usually I go back to the office after the event and get some paperwork done. Problem was, I got to the place we were going to show that day and it was trashed. The owners thought it was the following weekend. So I had to cancel. I was already pissed off by the time I got home. Then finding them there.” Her voice became pained and she turned her head away from him.
    Over two years had passed from that day, Tony knew, and it still affected her that way. Maybe he was underestimating