Redemption Key (A Dani Britton Thriller) by S.G. Redling

flashed to Caldwell hadn’t been off. Hell, maybe she’d even been flirting with the agent. Stranger things had happened. But Caldwell wouldn’t have missed a flirtatious move, even a strange one. He had radar that put the military to shame when it came to reading women, and Caldwell’s reaction had been anything but flattered. Oren swirled his ice, a nervous habit he couldn’t kick. There couldn’t be anything to worry about if his buddy ran a background check, right? What could Dani have done that would be so horrible to unearth?
    She pushed past him just then with two margaritas and a bucket of beer. He grabbed her towel and she glanced over her shoulder at him.
    “What did I say?” He took the glasses in one hand, the bucket in the other. “You—stop working. Get Peg up here. Drink. Laugh. Shake that little ass you’ve been running all over hell and back and let Rolly fill you up with some greasy fried food. I own this place, remember? I can serve a drink.”
    She surrendered the drinks and started pointing out who was expecting what. He leaned down close to her face. “I own this place,” he repeated slowly. “Remember?”
    “Yes, boss,” she said, smiling up at him.
    “That’s right, I’m the boss. You’re the employee. Now sit down and start ripping me off. You’re making the rest of the staff look bad.”
    She giggled at that and headed down to get Peg. More than one man watched the swish of her skirt against her short, tan legs as sheheaded past them. What could a little thing like that have done that could be so terrible the FBI would have a file?

    99° F

    Dani hadn’t realized how tense she’d been since meeting Caldwell. A sense of lightness filled her chest. Maybe she hadn’t really relaxed since she’d arrived on the island, maybe even since she’d left DC. The sensation left her a little dizzy in a champagne kind of way. That moment with Mr. Randolph, when he’d put his arm around her the way her father used to do, the same soft voice, easy swaying, made her feel safer than she had since her father’s death. Dani felt her need to be on Redemption Key, at Jinky’s, ache deep inside her, only now the ache didn’t feel like fear but like hope.

12:40pm, 99° F

    Dani knocked on the metal kitchen counter. Rolly whistled into the fan that blew hot greasy air right back at him. “Hey, can I get a scavenge?” Mr. Randolph had told her to eat, but she knew the cook preferred to think the food was a personal favor. A scavenge was when Rolly would pick a piece or two off of several outgoing orders and heap them on a plate for her or Peg. Conch fritters, shrimp, some slices of fried plantain—whatever the crowd was ordering, that’s what they got to eat. Dani liked the surprise and she liked the pleased look on Rolly’s hangdog face when he would present her with his feast.
    “Got one all ready for ya, small fry.” He tossed up a plate loaded with fried oysters, grilled shrimp, mango salad, and fried plantains. He scraped a thick wedge of butter on a long slice of cornbread and laid it on top of the food. “You looked hungry. Don’t tell Peg I gave you the last of the mango salad. And don’t let Casper eat all your plantains!”
    Dani laughed, letting the kitchen door swing shut on his orders. With no stools at the bar available, Casper offered to give up his but she waved him off, making the old man smile by jumping up to sit on the bar itself right beside him. He made a show of admiring herlegs—without any attention paid to the glimpse of scar that peeked out before she settled—and helped himself to an oyster. Peg slung drinks around her, splashing her with ice and froth, and more than once shouted very near her ear at a waiting customer, but Dani didn’t worry about being in the way. If Peg wanted her off the bar, Dani knew she could make that happen.
    Casper was entertaining a couple of tourists and she’d come in midway through a story too outlandish to bother catching