Perilously Fun Fiction: A Bundle by Pauline Jones (best fiction novels of all time .TXT) 📕

with a dead man isn’t grounds to pull him in, much as I’d like to. So unless he’s lost his head, I can’t see Dante getting hot under the collar over the little we’ve been able to scrape up on him.”

“So what do you think it was then?”

“You saw the report. It was an elderly couple wearing joke glasses.” Mickey brushed at the white powder dusted across his trousers, smearing it across the dark surface.

“Jeff Parish guys think they broke out of an old folk’s home.”

“They would. Only no reports on any breakouts and they haven’t made any demands.”

“I recognize that look, Ross. Something’s bothering you.”

“A lot’s bothering me—like losing my car.” He shoved his hands through his hair, staring into the crowd with a frown. “But, it just seems that if someone went there wanting to make a stink by shooting up a crowd, they’d have done it when there was a crowd. Why wait until almost everyone was gone?”

“Screwing up their nerve?”

“Maybe, but if that’s the case, then it took them from the time the flight was due in, until it actually arrived. That’s a lot of exposure for no return.” Mickey frowned, his mind replaying the events—while trying not to get stuck on Luci and her legs.

“So, you think they were waiting for someone on that flight?”

“It was the only one left to come in.”

“But...” Delaney was thinking hard. “If they wanted to kill just one person, why choose such a hit-and-miss, damn public way to do it? Unless—” He looked sharply at Mickey. “They thought they could avoid focusing attention on their real target?”

“Might have worked if a lot of people died.” Mickey considered the idea from various angles. “I could make a case for it.”

“I don’t know, Ross. It’s pretty messy. Risky, too. Why not just arrange a quiet little accident?”

“How do we know they haven’t already tried that?” Something twitched at the edge of his mind, then faded.

Delaney nodded. “Makes a little bit of sense, Ross. Your noodle isn’t as hashed as you claim. So, if you’re right about them, they missed their mark last night and might try again?”

Mickey nodded. “I think it’s at least worth looking into. There weren’t that many people involved. Maybe five or six coming off the plane. Everyone else had cleared out. If one of them had a near accident lately—”

Again with the twitch. What was he forgetting? What was he too damn tired to call up from the slippery depths of his brain?

“Something wrong?”

Mickey rubbed his head where the remains of last night’s headache lingered. “I’m forgetting something. Hope it’ll come back. Feels important.”

“Don’t sweat it. Thoughts are like women. They only come when you don’t want them.” Delaney pushed his chair back. “I’ll see if I can scare up a list of those names. All it’d take is a phone call to each person. Though I think I should talk to your Luci in person—if only to see the legs.”

“You can waste your time if you want to. I asked her the standard questions last night.” And got some highly non-standard answers, he could have added but didn’t. It would only encourage Delaney. He liked to collect eccentrics. “If you insist on questioning her, count me out. I could die a happy man if I never have to talk to her again—”

The end of his sentence was drowned in the sudden honking of horns and squealing of tires. An old, rattletrap car pulled recklessly across traffic and stopped at the curb. Right next to a “NO PARKING ANYTIME” sign. It was a Volkswagen full of bodies, most of whom appeared to be the male-with-biceps variety. With one exception.

The door creaked open. Luci Seymour delicately began to extricate herself from the young man on whose lap she’d been perched. Her momentary suspension across a hefty knee left a lot of her infamous leg exposed for an enjoyable moment, effectively halting male traffic on the sidewalk for the duration of her suspension. Then there was a collective in-drawn breath of awe, changing quickly to one of regret when, with a wiggle and a twist, Luci freed herself and her skirt from car and man.

7

“Luci.” Mickey’s brain groaned. A much lower organ signaled delight. He felt Delaney grip his arm.

“You seriously mislead me, Ross.”

Mickey studied Delaney’s awestruck expression with resignation. Only time and exposure to Luci would wipe it off now. With deep suspicion, Mickey watched her approach. He didn’t know why she was wearing what looked like mourning clothes on a hot weekday morning, but the drifting lace and floppy-brimmed hat made her look deceptively harmless and far too charming. Let Delaney take the ride this time. He’d be the one to keep his wits about him in the bright hot light of day.

“Mickey.” Her voice was rich with a mournful Southern accent she hadn’t had last night as she held out her hand to him. “How fortunate. I was just on my way to see you. The boys...” She made a vague gesture with a black-gloved hand in the direction the Volkswagen had gone. “...were going to buy me breakfast before taking me to you.”

Fighting a rearguard action against another lust surge, Mickey took the hand and resisted a need to kiss it by shaking it. “Aren’t those the same guys who wanted you to strip on the hood of their car?”

“Well.” A fan appeared from somewhere and was used to good effect. “Sort of, though it wasn’t exactly a strip, just a more progressive version of the bunny hop.”

“Strip, bunny hop, uh...” Delaney’s confusion turned Mickey’s and Luci’s attention his direction.

Luci looked him up, then down, and extended her black gloved hand and sultry smile in his direction. “Hello?”

Delaney slanted a laughing glance at Mickey before pressing a gallant kiss on her wrist above the glove. “I’m Kevin Delaney, and you have to be Miss Luci. Mickey’s just been telling me about last night. I hope it hasn’t put you off New