Kansas Nights [Kansas Heat 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (16 page)

He also believed that “they” were always out to get you. For once he might have had it right. Kathy considered that as she shoved out of her car. Glancing back over her shoulder, she watched the black Jeep that had been tailing her none too discreetly pull off the highway to park itself just short of the trailer park’s entrance. True to Jack’s threat, Collin had been tailing her around all evening.

Kathy didn’t mind him watching, but she was getting pretty damn tired of waiting for him to make his move. They both knew he would, too, but if the man didn’t get to it soon, Kathy would have to make a move herself. The question remained, though, just what kind of move.

Jack had all but ordered her to sleep with his friend. Kathy probably should have been outraged, but instead a part of her quivered with excitement at images of Jack ordering her to do all sorts of wicked things with Collin while he watched. She knew Jack would be into that, too, because it would fill that need he had to be in control of everything.

What the man didn’t seem to understand was that even if he ordered her to sink down over Collin’s thick dick and take him deep inside her cunt, Kathy would only be obeying because that’s what she wanted to do. Control, just like security, was an illusion. Right then, Kathy knew she had very little of both.

Keeping that in mind, she carried her bribes up Benny’s steps and began the ritual knocking required to gain entrance to Benny’s inner lair. Shooting a glance up at the little camera Benny had installed over the entrance light, she smiled and waved the pizza beneath the unblinking eye, hoping to grease the wheel. That got the door cracked wide enough for one brown eyeball to study with all due caution.

“You came alone?”

“I got a tail.” Kathy nodded toward the highway, knowing Benny would find out about Collin sooner or later. “Back at the highway.”

The door slid open enough for Benny to peer around the frame at the black Jeep Kathy had gestured toward. After a second of studying it, he cut Kathy a glance. “Government?”

“Private security.”

“Welcomed?”

“Not unless you like people who run you off the road.” Kathy didn’t know what it said about her that she did, but figured Benny would be more practical in his answer. It would probably be one of the few times Benny was more logical than her.

“Predatory? And you brought him to my door?” Benny’s gaze narrowed as he turned his scowl onto her.

“You got to know they’re already looking this way.” Kathy felt pretty sure she’d just lied, but playing into Benny’s paranoia always made things go easier. “But we talk, they think you told me everything they need to know, then—”

“They go after you.” Benny landed at the very conclusion Kathy wanted and smiled.

“I brought pizza.” She stepped back to offer up the box, letting the mouthwatering scent of melted cheese flood his senses before she added on her final lure. “And tequila. Name brand. Gold label.”

Benny’s gaze cut to the bottle in her other hand, verifying her words. A second later, the door wrenched open enough to let her pass through. Lurking behind the door, Benny surveyed the parking lot one last time before snapping the door closed.

Having passed through Benny’s security checkpoint more than once, Kathy knew better than to move on into the living room. Instead she set the pizza down on the cushion of the built-in couch and waited on the small strip of linoleum that served as the foyer.

It took Benny a moment to secure and latch all the locks he’d installed on his door, but once done, he didn’t hesitate to pick up his wand and turn on her. Sighing, Kathy held her arms out and let him wave his handheld metal detector over her, knowing it was the only way he’d be convinced she wasn’t bugged. She even turned when prompted, allowing Benny to make sure she didn’t have a microphone taped to her ass.

“You’re clean.”

“I know.” Turning back around as he finally gave up his search, she offered him her own smile. “And I didn’t even bring in a purse, so you don’t have to search nothing but that pizza box and the bottom of the bottle.”

Benny smirked at that, his features relaxing into an expression few ever saw. He brushed past her to snatch up the tequila bottle and study it. “If you’re trying to get me drunk, you should have at least brought two bottles.”

“I’m not dumb enough to try and get you drunk,” Kathy retorted, letting the insult in her tone shine through. “I’m trying to get answers.”

“This isn’t cheap.” Benny waved the bottle at her. “So I’m guessing I’m not going to like your questions.”

“Or you could read it as a sign that I’m that determined to get my answers.”

Benny snorted at that and lumbered off to the little strip of a kitchen. “You’re always determined, Kat. That’s what I like about you. You got what Dad used to call grit. You drinking?”

“Not tonight.” Not after last night. Kathy kept that answer to herself, hoping Benny hadn’t heard those rumors yet. It appeared, though, that all her hopes were in vain that day.

“Still hungover from last night?”

Kathy paused in the act of picking up the pizza to cast Benny a sharp look, uncertain of how to take that comment. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I heard you picked up the head dick of Amanda’s security detail last night down at Studs & Spurs. Everybody thinks you took him home for some entertainment, but I know you. My Kat doesn’t run around with those kind of dicks.”

Benny paused in the middle of the living room. Flipping open the legs, he dropped the dining room table down in front of another row of built-in seating. With a nod at the pizza, he asked, “You gonna bring that over?”

“You’re kind of scary.” Kathy emphasized that observation by slapping the pizza box down on the faded tabletop. “You know that, Benny?”

“I know by the age of eighteen you could drink your old man under the table, and that bastard could drink my dad under the table and it took him two of
these
bottle to fall that low.”

Benny snapped two shot glasses onto the table along with the tequila before he slid into his side of the booth. Kathy wrinkled her nose and flopped down onto her side of the bench seat. “And I know your dad would never drink that shit. He was a beer man from birth.”

“You don’t know nothing. He always hid his whiskey in his coke.” Benny flipped open the pizza box and shot her a look that on most men would have been a come-on. “You got the meat-lovers’ delight. You really must be desperate. Don’t tell me you struck out last night with the head dick. What is he, by the way?”

Kathy blinked, trying to figure out if that question made sense. She didn’t think so. “Human? A Taurus? But mostly you had it right already. He’s a dick. He has a really big one actually.”

“Don’t get smart on me,” Benny shot back as if she were intentionally playing dumb. “You want answers. I want answers. What is he?”

“Besides an ass? I really don’t know what you’re asking.”

“Fine, you want to play like that, I’ll tip my hand.” Benny put his pizza down on a napkin and reached for the tequila. “I already did the same math you did and came to the same conclusion. Somebody in Amanda’s security detail isn’t what they appear to be.”

“We must be working on different problems, because I didn’t come to that answer.” Not that she hadn’t arrived there later, but she’d honestly never suspected that Jack wasn’t what he said he was until he’d revealed it himself.

“Really?” That answer appeared to throw Benny, causing him to pause as he filled the two glasses. “Then why the hell did you pick him up?”

“I was working on a different problem.” Knowing she had his full interest now, Kathy straightened up in her seat and laid it all out for him. “Three people were shot at the Shade Tree a few months back, some money disappears. Oh, excuse me, I meant to say
millions
of dollars disappear. That started the recent spate of violence. The authorities—”

“—think Will did it.” Benny started nodding, a grin starting to spread over his face. “Old rumors, Kat. I’ve been tracking the recent shootings, looking for a pattern, but you’re missing the big deal.”

“Yeah?” Kathy managed to sound unconcerned even as her stomach muscles started to quiver with tension. “And what’s the big deal?”

“Drug runners stay at the Shade Tree, not money runners.” Benny shot her a pointed look. “Got to wonder what crazy fucker would bring millions to the Shade Tree, and just how unlucky was Will to show up there that night?”

“You think he was set up?”

“Yeah, but you already knew that.” Benny grunted. “So? What is he? Besides gullible.”

“Jack isn’t anything but bossy.” Benny had always been like a dog with a bone when it came to wanting to know something, but he’d have to find out Jack’s secrets on his own. Kathy wouldn’t betray Jack. “Now you have your answer. If you don’t like it, tough. I can’t change the facts to suit you.”

“Is that all you found out last night?” Benny raised a condescending brow at her, making Kathy grimace as he taunted her. “That he’s bossy and has a big dick?”

“The police think Will was a prostitute.” That popped out and left Kathy silently cussing herself for revealing that fact. Thankfully, Benny seemed to take it about as seriously as Amanda had.

“Well, isn’t that like a badge? A man puts one of them on and it makes him instantly stupid.”

“Yeah,” Kathy chuckled. “Will couldn’t even give it away.”

“Amen to that.”

Benny saluted her before throwing back his shot. His glass came down, and his gaze immediately went to her untouched one. Kathy waved it toward him, without any interest in it or the pizza. He lifted it up but hesitated as if caught on a sudden thought. Benny didn’t leave Kathy guessing for long.

“Then again, Will did get around.” Benny shrugged and tipped the shot glass back.

“Really?” Kathy didn’t know what else to say to that.

“Oh, yeah,” Benny coughed out. Going red in the face, it took him a second to throw off the fire so clearly burning in him before he gasped for another breath. “Damn, woman! That is some good tequila.”

“Thanks. About Will?”

“Will? You mean Mr. Wrinkle Chaser?” Benny paid more attention to picking out a slice of pizza than his answer, leaving Kathy in no doubt of his sincerity. “That boy liked them old and saggy, so I guess…I mean, maybe he didn’t like them that way, but liked the cash. Who’s to say?”

“Could you be more specific?” Kathy prodded. Despite his casual attitude, she knew Benny was relishing his moment. He was dragging it out on purpose, and Kathy’s nerves couldn’t take it.

“Specific?” Benny leaned in before answering in the slow tones of a person talking to an idiot. “He liked to fuck old ladies.”

“
Which
old ladies?”

“Oh, no, no, no, my friend.” Benny laughed out that denial as he settled back into his seat. “I have nothing to say about that.”

“Benny—”

“Nope.” Benny shook his head, taking a sanctimonious air as he rejected her persuasion out of hand. “Those ladies are entitled to their privacy.”

“Oh, God.” It dawned on Kathy in that instant exactly what Benny was protecting, and it wasn’t the ladies’ right to screw whoever they wanted. “You’re blackmailing them.”

Benny didn’t deny it, nor did he confess. The smug bastard just grinned as he chomped down on his pizza.

“That’s low, Benny.” Kathy couldn’t believe it. Actually she could, but it still irritated her. “Even for you.”

“And that’s dumb, even for you,” Benny shot back. “Or do you normally find that insulting a person helps in getting them to answer your questions?”

“Fine, you’re brilliant,” Kathy spat back with no attempt to make her compliments sound sincere. “Now tell me how many women.”

“Oh…about a dozen.”

“A dozen?” Kathy’s jaw went slack as her mind tried to envision twelve women who would have slept with Will McKinney. Hell, she had a hard time coming up with one.

“Maybe a little less, somewhere around two a day.” Benny kept on shocking her.

“Two a day?
You mean seven days a week
?”

“More like five,” Benny corrected, his grin taking on a lecherous curve. “Wanna guess which five?”

“No.” Kathy didn’t even want to envision the horror of what Benny dared to suggest. He wouldn’t let it go, though.

“Five days a week, two women a day, one in the morning, one in the evening, same women every week…sounds like a hell of a schedule.” Benny rubbed his chin as he considered his own words before pointing out the same thing Kathy was thinking. “Kind of makes you wonder who set that up, doesn’t it?”

“You’re late.” Tagger greeted Jack with that hard accusation before he could even shut his door. “What happened to your truck?”

“Nothing for you to worry over,” Jack assured him as he walked up to where Tagger waited.

These multi-department tasks forces could be a real bitch to work with given all the slight differences in the cultures of each agency. Tagger would never be the type of man Jack would choose to hang around with. That didn’t change the fact that they were on the same team, working toward the same goal. Jack tried to remember that as Tagger lifted a brow at him.

“Really? So it doesn’t have anything to do with Kathy Coben or her car getting wrecked out earlier today?” Tagger’s leading tone said he already knew the answer to those questions. At least he thought he did.

“No, it doesn’t.” Jack wouldn’t defend himself beyond that. “And don’t tell me that’s why you called me out here.”

“I called you out here because Kathy Coben is starting to look good as a suspect.” Tagger turned to pick a disk off the trunk of his car, his snide tone sharpening into a crisp, professional one. “I’m assuming you’re of the same mind, along with Amos’s man, Collin Hitchens. Speaking of, I’m thinking we should ask Amos to remove Hitchens before he blows this case.”

“Collin isn’t going to blow anything,” Jack shot back, amused at Tagger’s conceit to think he could control that situation. “And Amos will just tell you to go to hell.”