Free The Stiff and the Dead by Lori Avocato Page B

to see if my Uncle Walt was correct, too.”
    â€œWhat did you find?”
    I sighed. “Nothing really. Guess I should stick to investigating medical insurance fraud and leave the murders up to the professionals.”
    Goldie stared at me. A thin grin wanted to appear. Classy as he was, he held back.
    â€œOkay. Okay. I don’t know shit about investigating anything!”
    â€œBut you’re a damn fast learner and persistent as all get out. Then there’s that balls thing you got goin’ on.”
    â€œThanks. I need to get back to work.” I turned and paused. Then I looked back at Goldie who stood there watching me. I had no idea what to do next.
    â€œYou gotta keep up your charade to get in good with Sophie and find out about her medication claims.”
    I knew he was right, so I nodded and absentmindedly unlocked my car door and slumped inside.
    In my haze, I watched Goldie drive off.
    â€œSeems as good a time as any to have that talk I’d mentioned,” Jagger said from my backseat.

Six
    It isn’t every day that one is startled nearly to death. But when someone pops up in your backseat your time has come.
    I don’t think that I was able to catch my breath, or had taken a breath since hearing Jagger’s voice, but a tiny sound of some kind did pop out of my mouth.
    â€œSherlock?”
    I could feel him leaning over the back of the front seat near me, his heat on my neck. His hand rubbed against my shoulder. “Didn’t think I had such a startling affect on you.”
    Being the levelheaded, organized person that I was, I summoned my faculties and turned slightly. His hand remained in place. Thank goodness my mouth still worked when I noticed he hadn’t moved his hand yet. “What the hell? You nearly scared me to death, Jagger.”
    After a pause, he removed his hand. “Hold it.”
    With that he opened the back door, got out, and got into the front. “Drive out and head toward Pleasant Street.”
    For a second I looked at him, then my damn body did as he said. When we turned the corner onto Pleasant, he said, “Pull over. Not near any houses though.”

    Hmm. I found the most deserted section of the street I shut off the engine. “Okay, why all the secrecy?”
    At first he stared at me, and then he said, “I need your help.”
    My heart wanted to flutter, but I wouldn’t let the stupid thing act so, well, stupid. “My help? Again?”
    He didn’t even nod, but merely stared as if I’d spoken in Greek.
    I knew I should shut my mouth. I knew I should ignore him staring at me, and I knew I should start the car and take off—after I’d thrown him out the door.
    But, I said, “What kind of . . . help?” It only took a few more seconds of his staring at me to know. Scrubs. White clogs. It would definitely involve donning my never-wear-again scrubs! He was going to get me back into my old career. I still had those before-mentioned scorch marks on my butt from burning out of nursing, and he was going to throw me right back in without any fire retardant protection.
    Now I knew how a cow felt standing in line at the slaughterhouse.
    Jagger wasn’t going to hurt me—not physically. But my mental state around him was always in question.
    I looked him straight in his eyes. Eyes that had a way of capturing my soul. Well, okay, that was a cliché, but sometimes clichés seemed a way of life with Jagger around. Gorgeous, sexy guy and all. After several blinks, I figured I might have escaped his influence unscathed and said, “No. No. No!”
    He did that head thing again. “You need me.”
    True. But I couldn’t let him think I was so needy in my new job. Okay, his help had gotten me my last paycheck—and maybe I’d still be working on that case if Jagger hadn’t “bargained” with me. You know, one of those “I’ll help you if you help