B.J. Daniels - Hotshot P.i.

Kiki Talbott Conners answered on the fifth ring. With more than a little satisfaction, he realized he’d awakened her from a sound sleep.

“What time is it?” she groaned.

Way past his bedtime, he knew that. His eyes felt as if they had sand in them. “A quarter after three.”

“In the morning?”

“That could explain why it’s still dark out.” He could just imagine her in a huge satin bed at the Bigfork condo she’d rented, surrounded by plump pillows and pampered poodles. “Your niece and I just got reacquainted.”

“At three in the morning?” Kiki demanded, grogginess turning quickly to surliness.

He walked to the window. “It’s a long story.” It looked as though all the lights in Clancy’s lodge were on. What was she doing still up, he wondered. And why all the lights? What was she afraid of? Surely she wasn’t buying into her own lies about a mysterious killer who came out of the water like a shark from Jaws. “Let me cut to the chase. Your niece doesn’t want me on this case.”

“That surprises you?” Kiki asked, adding an audible “humph.” “Perhaps she thinks you harbor a grudge against her.”

Kiki’s words snapped his attention back like a short rubber band. “Of course I have a grudge against her. And for a damned good reason.” He raked his fingers through his hair, remembering what Clancy had said on the dock, What could my aunt have been thinking? Exactly what Jake wanted to know. “Which brings me to the reason I called. Knowing that, why in the hell did you want me up here?”

A faint tinkling sound broke the silence. She was pouring herself a drink. He felt as if he was going to need one, too. Kiki had enough money to buy the best private investigator in the galaxy. And if she wanted evidence tampered with, she could have bought that, too. For a price. But not from Jake Hawkins. So why hire a man who had every reason not to help her niece?

“The reason I hired you is the same reason you’re not going to quit,” she said simply.

He wanted to tell her just how wrong she was but that damned hunch of his was doing the lambada across the back of his neck to a little ditty called “Here Comes Heartache.”

He heard her take a sip of her drink, taking her time. “Come on, Jake,” she said impatiently. “You know the reason.”

“Blackmail.” He had a bad feeling that Kiki knew all the blackmail in the world couldn’t make him do something he didn’t want to do. He had his own personal reason for being here, and his hunch machine told him Kiki knew that, had known it all along. So what the hell had she hired him for?

Kiki sighed deeply. “Jake, we both know why you’re in Montana, and it has nothing to do with blackmail.”

He couldn’t believe he was playing this game with her. “Why don’t you spell it out for me, Kiki.” He held his breath, afraid she was about to validate the strongest hunch he’d ever had.

“You’re in Montana because you think Clancy’s the key to proving your father’s innocence.”

Bingo. Jake squeezed the phone and closed his eyes. Clancy was the key. Had always been the key. She’d lied on the witness stand to protect her own. father and let Jake’s go to prison. And now Jake had Clancy where he wanted her. He’d taken this case for one reason only: to get the truth. And as certain as the coming sunrise, he’d do whatever he had to do to get it out of her.

He stared across the bay at Clancy’s. “My motives for being here don’t worry you?” he asked Kiki incredulously.

“No,” she answered in that tone he’d come to despise. “I’ve seen how deep your loyalty runs. Unlike your mother. She could never forgive your father for disgracing her. She moved the two of you to Texas. She never visited him in prison. She forgot Warren Hawkins as if he’d never existed.” Kiki sounded so damned sure of herself. “You, on the other hand, can’t let go of the past. You believe in your father’s innocence and would do anything to prove it. The same way you can’t let Clancy go to prison for a murder she didn’t commit.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” he said, moving away from the window. Kiki thought he was a crusader for injustice? He wanted to laugh. Didn’t she realize it was Clancy who’d done him the injustice? The woman was a liar; she’d proven that tonight. How could Kiki be so convinced Clancy hadn’t killed this Dex Westfall guy? Blind loyalty? He’d once felt that for Clancy, and look what she’d done to him and his family. No, he suspected with Kiki it was simply a matter of saving the Talbott name.

“I’m quite sure of you,” Kiki said, her tone downright haughty.

He wanted to tell her what a fool she was. After all these years, she’d just offered him the perfect opportunity to get what he wanted. The truth. And revenge at the same time. “What makes you think you know me so well?”

Kiki let out a long sigh. “I heard about how wonderful you were for years, Jake Hawkins. Did you forget that for a long time, my niece foolishly thought she was in love with you?”

Kiki hung up before he could respond. Not that he had a response for that one, anyway.

* * *

CLANCY’S EYES POPPED OPEN at the sound of the phone ringing and realized she’d dozed off standing in the shower! Panic came in hot pursuit of the realization. What if she’d fallen into one of her deep sleeps and sleepwalked again—this time totally naked?

Whatever it took, she had to stay awake. She cranked the shower handle and let out a shriek as the cold water made her skin ache. But just as she was being revived, the phone began to ring. She quickly turned off the water and reached for a towel.

Dripping, she hurried to the phone and picked up the receiver. “Hello.” She could hear breathing at the other end of the line. “Hello?” There was no answer. Just what sounded like soft, labored breathing. “What do you want?” she demanded. No answer. Clancy slammed down the phone. A prank call. Someone who’d read about her in the paper. She’d get her number changed. Maybe even get an unlisted number.

She sat on the edge of the bed, suddenly too tired to move. The soft warmth beneath her beckoned her to crawl in, to cover her head and escape for a few hours in sleep. She stood and headed back to the shower, not about to make the same mistake she’d made earlier. After spending two nights in jail, she’d been running scared and not thinking clearly. She’d been so desperate she’d called her aunt Kiki who’d pulled strings and got her out right after the late afternoon bail hearing Monday. Clancy’s plan had been to go to Bozeman and Dex’s apartment as soon as she got out on bail. She’d come straight to the lodge to pick up a change of clothing. Unfortunately, after she’d hurriedly packed and started to leave, she’d spotted the flicker of a flashlight at the Hawkins’ lodge and spotted the blue outboard tied at the dock. She’d assumed the county attorney had put a deputy on her.

She knew she was only out on bail because of Aunt Kiki and her money. She figured maybe the county attorney had gone along with the bail to please Kiki but had put a deputy on her to cover his political posterior.

So Clancy had foolishly sat by the window to wait him out—not knowing it was just Jake Hawkins, not some deputy, watching her. And she’d fallen asleep and sleepwalked.

She stepped back into the shower and let the icy cold water beat her body wide awake. She didn’t dare let that happen again. Nor could she afford to wait until morning to leave. Although she didn’t relish the idea of crossing the lake in the dead of night, Jake had left her no option. She’d wait until she could be relatively sure he was asleep, then she’d take her boat to the mainland marina where she kept her car. From there she’d drive to Bozeman, go to Dex’s apartment and—She wasn’t sure what she’d find there, but hopefully something that would prove she was innocent.