A Fine Specimen by Lisa Marie Rice Page A

His cock pulsed at the thought of kissing her, diving into
that pretty mouth, licking into it…
    He jerked himself back
to reality. Think about something else , he ordered himself.
    Ratso escaping and Lopez
laughing all the way to the bank came to mind, and his cock subsided.
    “We’re looking for
someone,” he found himself saying.
    “Someone?”
    “Yeah.” Philosophically,
Alex finally put the fork in his mouth and started chewing. With an inner sigh,
he realized that he was going to tell her about Ratso Colby. He didn’t want to,
but he was going to anyway. “He’s the bookkeeper for the man we really want, a
major bad guy. We found out that the bookkeeper had been keeping the bad guy’s
accounts—and I’m not talking about filing for the IRS here. If we can get this
guy we’re looking for to talk, we can put the mobster away for a long, long time.
Unfortunately, word is out on the street that we’re looking for the bookkeeper,
so he’s on the run. From us and now from the mobster, who probably knows by now
what we’re up to.”
    “What incentives are you
offering this bookkeeper to flip?”
    She knew the lingo, that
was for sure. Not only that. With a stab of surprise, Alex realized she’d cut
straight to the heart of the matter. “Well, our bookkeeper has also been a bad
boy in the past—he knows it and we know it. There are two or three
counts we can nail him on. Minor things, but he’s been caught twice before and
this would be the third time.”
    “Three strikes and
you’re out,” Caitlin said softly, her eyes never leaving his.
    “That’s right,” Alex
said with rich satisfaction. “And our friend spent some quality time in stir
and hated it, and would do anything not to go back in. So we think he’ll give
us names and dates about how and where our bad guy washes his money whiter than
white. And so bang! We nail the bad guy.”
    “And what happens to
the…bookkeeper?”
    “Witness Protection
Program, probably,” Alex said, watching her as she winced. “What?”
    “I imagine that’s as
unacceptable as prison for your bookkeeper. He’d be relocated somewhere at the
discretion of the Marshall’s office, given an identity they choose for him,
doing a faceless, nameless job the office chooses, always looking over his
shoulder…he’s in a tight spot.”
    “Yeah, yeah. That’s just
tough,” Alex said unsympathetically. “He should have thought of that before
going to work for Lo— For the bad guy. So, are you going to look into your
crystal ball and tell us where he is or not?”
    Caitlin looked up
sharply but Alex wasn’t making fun of her. He wasn’t really sure if anything
she might say could be helpful, but he waited politely for her response just
the same.
    “There are basically two
types of anti-predator behavior,” Caitlin said. “Escape behavior and crypsis,
hiding to make prey detection more difficult. Do you think he’s escaped?”
    “No, he was spotted this
morning, as a matter of fact.”
    “So there’s probably a
reason why he hasn’t fled and you might want to look into that. Maybe he’s
waiting for something or someone.”
    Waiting. Alex thought it over. He’d been astonished to
hear that Ratso was still around when it would have made sense for him to get
out of Dodge fast, what with both the cops and Lopez looking for him. The cops
to make him talk. Lopez to shut him up permanently. So why hadn’t he skipped
town? Something or… someone , she’d said.
    Alex thought it over and
rejected the notion that Ratso had a love interest. The two things Ratso loved
most in the world were himself and money. Now money… Maybe he’d stashed away
some money and was trying to get his hands on it before leaving for good. It
was a line to pursue.
    “Well,” he said,
signaling Martha, “this particular predator has to get back to work.” He
frowned as he watched her fumble with her purse. “What are you doing?”
    Caitlin froze, blinking.
“Er…getting my