trauma. There’s probably a baseball bat around here somewhere.”
“Knives would be better,” Wolfe said thoughtfully. “Did you see any when you came in through the kitchen?”
Mal winced. “That’s so messy, and this is a new sweatshirt. Strangulation?”
The blond drooled and sucked in air. “Wait a minute. Just wait a minute.”
“One chance,” Wolfe said, letting the predator in him show.
“There isn’t much to tell.” The shaky guy exhaled, his thin body shuddering with the movement. “Some guy hired us to follow the pretty blond chick. Gave us her address. We’ve been watching her for about a week. Got the text to take her out after the party in the mansion.”
Heat rolled through Wolfe. It had been Dana in danger? He’d known it was a possibility, but he’d truly thought the guys were after him. The tweakers pressed back on the sofa as if somehow sensing his mood had changed.
“You’ve been watching her for a week?” Wolfe asked.
The shaky guy nodded, the movement a painful-looking jerk. “Yeah, kind of. We’ve staked out her apartment building and followed her a few times, but we’ve lost her a lot.”
Probably when they stopped to shoot up drugs.
“But you caught her scent when she went to the party last night?” Malcolm prodded him.
The blond guy’s face brightened. “Yeah. We followed her cab to the car rental place and then to the mansion, and man, that outfit she was wearing was something else. Thought about—” He caught himself and made a strangled noise, heeding too late his sense of self-preservation.
“Thought about what?” Wolfe asked, his tone dropping to deadly and his hands starting to twitch with the need to punch through the asshole’s face to the sofa.
The blond gulped and shook his head, his breath turning shallow. If he passed out, he’d stop talking, darn it.
“Somebody texted you to kill her?” Wolfe asked, enunciating each word and trying to keep his calm in place.
The blond winced. “Yeah.”
“When did you get the text?” Wolfe snapped.
“Right before she ran out of that mansion with you. I’m sorry,” the blond whined.
“Why her?” Mal asked, his gun remaining trained on the duo.
The shaky guy bit his lip and a little blood welled. “Nobody said.”
This was getting worse. Whoever wanted Dana dead might have nothing to do with the death of her friend, considering some of the stories she’d pursued through the years. Wolfe tamped down on his anger and tried to concentrate.
“Who hired you?” Mal snarled.
The shaky guy shrugged, his dreadlocks sliding over his shoulders. “Dunno. It’s common knowledge we’re available for odd jobs. Cash, instructions, and a phone came in an envelope. Right to the door. More money was supposed to come after, but it never did.”
What morons.
“There’s nothing more here,” Mal said quietly. “Where’s the phone?”
The blond pulled a phone off the filthy carpet. “It’s a burner, and I’m sure he used one, too.”
Wolfe grabbed up the duffel. “I’m taking it all—even the drugs.” He’d pour them down the toilet. Wait. Wasn’t that causing animals drinking from rivers to get high? Hmm. He’d have to figure out a way to dispose of the drugs later. When the blond started crying, he felt marginally better. Not much. Who was after Dana?
He led the way outside, his mind on the pretty journalist and not his surroundings. When the first bullet pierced his flesh, he was more surprised than hurt.
The second bullet whizzed by his ear.
He dove into some dead bushes as a volley of shots splattered against the house and splintered the front window into deadly projectiles. Quiet descended, and then the sound of screeching tires echoed from a street over. He peered over the bushes to the other side of the door, clamping a hand on his bleeding arm. “Malcolm?”
His friend didn’t answer.
Chapter Eight
Dana finished typing the intro to her story, trying to ignore the remaining cinnamon roll on the table. Pippa could sure bake. Dana had never experienced much success in the kitchen, but she’d never really tried, either. There was always another story to chase, and this one mattered.
She paused. It was time to diagram some of the information. Standing, she stretched her neck. Wolfe had said he’d turned the guest room into an off ice, and hopefully he had a notepad in there she could borrow. She hadn’t realized hers was full. Just as she turned, her phone buzzed. She read the screen and then lifted it to answer. “Hi, Mom. What’s up?”
“Hi, honey. Your dad wanted me to call. He’s out fishing early on the river.” Her mom’s voice was distracted.
Of course he was. Dana turned away from the tempting treat. “I hope it’s a good catch.” Her dad was a river and fishing guide.
“Me, too.” Dishes clinked across the line. “Anyway, somebody has been calling here for you. A man saying he has information for a story, and your dad told him to go fall off a cliff. But he keeps calling, so we thought you should have the number. Now, don’t call him. Or if you do, use a pay phone.”
Dana tried not to chuckle, although her instincts had started humming. “I’m not sure there are any pay phones around anymore, but I’ll be careful.”
“Is this for a story?”
Hopefully, but probably not. “Sure. Isn’t it always?” Dana forced humor into her voice, even though her stomach began to ache.
Her mom rattled off the number.
Ah, crap. It was Mike’s phone number. The guy just wouldn’t give up, and now he was harassing her parents? She needed to take care of him and soon. “Thanks, Mom. I’m sorry my sources are bugging you. I’ll handle it.”
“I’m sure—just be careful in case this has to do with one of those dangerous stories you like to investigate. By the way, Lissa and the musician broke up, thank goodness. Katie won’t fill me in on her dating life, and I believe Charlotte is dating someone, but she’s being very mum about it. Quite annoying, if you ask me. How about you? Have you had any interesting dates lately?”
Did running out of a sex party with a hot ex-soldier count? “No. I’ve been working a lot.” What would her mom think about Wolfe? Not that it mattered, because he was just a friend. Still. It’d be funny to see her petite mother order Wolfe around. She needed to change the subject. “How’s your knee?” Her mom had fallen down a riverbank and pulled ligaments months ago.
“It’s good. I finish with physical therapy next week, and I should be able to raft again in
