I sneered at him. "Thanks for the advice, Dr. Phil."
He grinned crookedly. "Just wait till you get my bill. I don't come cheap."
I could vouch for that, as his expensive tastes included having a sometimes difficult girlfriend.
Reluctantly, I climbed out of his king-sized bed and gathered up my clothes that were scattered about the floor as if a tornado had passed through.
"What are you doing?" Ridge asked with a frown.
"I'm going home," I told him.
"Why? I hope it wasn't anything I said or didn't say."
I slid into my jeans and zipped them. "It wasn't. I have to feed my dog—"
He got out of bed. "Can't it wait—maybe for a couple of hours?"
"No," I said. "Ollie starts to get antsy when he goes practically all day without eating." I looked around, but couldn't find my cami, which seemed to work to Ridge's advantage.
He came up behind me and wrapped massive arms around my waist. "Are you sure you aren't just a little pissed at me?"
I wriggled out of his arms and gave him a sincere look. "There's nothing to be pissed about."
At least not with you, I told myself, reserving that for my ex at the moment.
Ridge looked relieved. "Good. I just don't want you to throw away Delaney's money for all the wrong reasons."
He was starting to press his luck and my patience.
I sighed and told him: "This may come as a surprise to you, but what's wrong for one person may be totally right for another—"
So maybe I was a little pissed at Ridge for seeming to represent the typical male in sizing up the situation. It was as if there was no room in the scheme of things for emotional baggage or ethical principles where it concerned making money. I wasn't sure I bought into that or if he really did.
I found my top, which had somehow ended up beneath Ridge's black denims. He gathered up his clothing.
"Any chance we can start the night over?" he asked lamely.
I couldn't help but smile at the thought. "Don't ask more of yourself than you're capable of delivering."
"Try me," he dared.
Though a repeat performance was pretty damn tempting, I grinned and said, "Isn't that what I just did?" while glancing at the wrinkled bed coverings that betrayed the hot and heavy activity that had taken place there tonight.
"At least let me drive you home," Ridge offered.
"My car will get me there just as quickly," I said, and kissed him lightly on the mouth. "You can walk me to the door, though."
He grumbled and hugged me as we walked in step through his ranch style home on Keeaumoku Street in the Makiki section of Honolulu that wasn't far from my office.
I could never be upset with Ridge Larsen for very long. His intentions were usually anything but self-serving. Yet I couldn't help but wonder if by pushing me into this case, he was more motivated by his own insecurities than any self-doubts I may have had.
My instincts told me that both were likely to be tested before this thing was over.
Chapter Two
I left Ridge's house at eight o'clock, feeling a bit worn down for a day that had begun with Carter and ended with Ridge. At the moment, I was happy to be going to my own little piece of paradise, where I did my best thinking alone.
I had a one-year-old Subaru Forester that fit quite nicely into my current monthly payment budget. I drove to Waikiki, where I owned a nice house on a palm tree lined, dead-end street not far from the beach. I purchased the two-story plantation style home shortly after my divorce was finalized from an elderly couple who decided to move back to the mainland. It was my good fortune to be in the right place at the right time to get the property, which had been well maintained and reminded me of the home where I grew up on the island. My parents had been beach bums who island hopped before settling into Oahu and having me.
I could hear my dog barking when I pulled into the driveway. Ollie was a five-year-old German Shepherd, named after my late uncle who was as mean as a junkyard dog and ornery as ever. In fact, more often than not, Ollie was just the opposite—sweet and gentle as a lamb, as long as he was not provoked.
Opening the front door was all he needed to make me eat my thoughts, as Ollie literally attacked me. Okay, so it was just his way of playing and asking me "Where the hell have you been all day?" Or maybe "I'm hungry as a dog. What's for supper?"
We ended up wrestling for a few minutes before I turned on the ceiling fan in the living room, then fed Ollie his favorite dog food. He wanted more, but I wasn't about to let him get fat on me. That wouldn't help either of us.
After freshening up and changing into a sleeveless shirt and denim shorts, I allowed my sore feet some freedom from footwear, padding barefoot across the hardwood floor and into the kitchen. I made myself a salad and ate it with two slices of wheat bread and a glass of red wine. Ollie loved to hang out on the kitchen's cool ceramic tiles more than anywhere else in the house.
However, the kitchen floor still took second place to the backyard. When he began to grow restless, I got the picture, letting him out of the house to run around in our nice sized, fenced in yard. I joined Ollie a few minutes later and tossed a Frisbee around for him to chase, making sure he stayed clear of my vegetable garden.
Back inside, I watered the flamingo flowers, vanda orchids, and heart leaf philodendron I kept throughout the house, which helped give the place a Hawaiian botanical garden look.
By the time I was ready to call it a night, I had tucked Ollie in his basement hideaway, read a couple of chapters of a John Lescroart novel, and watched the news.
Before drifting off to dreamland, I had more or less decided that, for better or worse, I would take on the task of spying on the current wife of Carter Delaney. Business was business, I convinced myself, even if it happened to involve my ex-husband and his ex-mistress. I still hadn't decided if I wanted his suspicions to prove false or right on the money.
Only time would tell...
* * *
Read the entire MURDER IN HONOLULU, available in eBook, audio, and print. The book is also available in the MURDER IN HAWAII MYSTERIES 3-BOOK BUNDLE by R. Barri Flowers, in Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and Google.
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About the Author
R. Barri Flowers is an award winning criminologist and bestselling author of more than eighty books, including mystery and thriller fiction, relationship novels, and young adult mysteries.
Fiction titles include Before He Kills Again, Dark Streets of Whitechapel, Forever Sweethearts, Fractured Trust, Graduate Circles, Kaanapali Beach Paradise, Killer Connection, Killer in the Woods, Murder in Maui, Murder in Honolulu, Murdered in the Man Cave, Persuasive Evidence, Seduced to Kill in Kauai, State's Evidence, and Justice Served.
Young adult fiction includes Count Dracula's Teenage Daughter, Danger in Time, Ghost Girl in Shadow Bay, Out for Blood, and Summer at Paradise Ranch.
The author has also written a number of top selling true crime titles, including Murder of the Banker's Daughter, The "Gold Special" Train Robbery, The Sex Slave Murders 1, 2, and 3, The Pickaxe Killers, Murder at the Pencil Factory, Killers of the Lonely Hearts, and Dead at the Saddleworth Moor.
As a sought after expert on true crime and serial murders, R. Barri Flowers has appeared on the Biography Channel, Investigation Discovery, and Oxygen series.
Follow R. Barri Flowers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Flickr, Goodreads, and LibraryThing. Learn more about the author in Wikipedia and at www.rbarriflowers.com and www.rbarriflowers.net.
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