Think Before You Speak by D. A. Bale Page A

feminine
wiles on occasion to full advantage – no matter how many showers
I’d have to take after enduring Detective Dingbat’s mental
undressing.
    Duncan’s perusal finally made it up to my
face. “If it ain’t Nancy Drew. Don’t tell me you’ve found another
dead body.”
    “I’ve never found a dead body,” I
retorted. “I almost became one.”
    “Minor detail.”
    “Not to me.”
    “Which brings us to the question of why
you’re interrupting my busy afternoon and preventing me from going
home before midnight.”
    I made a pointed effort of glancing around
his desk at the various piles of paperwork, a few greasy sandwich
wrappers and empty coffee cups thrown in for good measure. No doubt
a donut box hid somewhere among the debris. “Looks more like you’re
attempting to write the next bestselling crime thriller.”
    That got me an exasperated humph . “Not
too far off. With all the CYA necessary these days, more than half
the job anymore is writing reports.”
    “That must suck,” I said.
    “By the fathoms,” he admitted. “Which brings
me back around to why you’re here. Doing more legwork for
the Ranger Corp?”
    “Ha-ha, no,” I quipped. “Blackmail.”
    “What’d Zeke do this time for you to threaten
him with blackmail?”
    “Nothing. I’m talking me.”
    A smart-alecky retort died on his lips.
“Wait. Hold on a minute. Someone had the audacity to blackmail you ?”
    I snorted. “Like I have anything worth
blackmailing for.”
    The grimy gaze took another whirl over me.
“That’s not what I hear.”
    My vision narrowed as I offered up my best
evil eye – which probably came across more like trying to stifle a
fart or something. Seemed the church crowd weren’t the only ones
who liked to gossip and rumor-monger when given the opportunity.
Law enforcement was susceptible too – at the local, state, and federal levels, if my experience was any indication.
    “I’m talking hypotheticals for now.” I had
every intention of keeping my big mouth shut when it came to the
specifics of Reggie’s situation. After all, I’d promised.
    Duncan spun around to his computer. “Well not hypothetically speaking, this is homicide. If you want
to talk to someone about blackmail, you’ll need to start with the
robbery unit.”
    “Don’t you all go through the same process at
the academy?”
    “Yes, but…”
    “Then you’ve gone through some basic
informational training about blackmail, right?”
    That earned me a grumble with a few choice
words thrown in not fit for feminine ears.
    I pressed my advantage. “Haven’t you had some
homicide cases that involved blackmail or extortion?”
    “Look, Nancy Drew,” Duncan said, whirling his
chair around again and about giving me vertigo. “I’ve got
things to do, and they don’t have anything to do with
blackmail…yet.”
    “Just answer one question.” I crossed my legs
to better advantage. Talk about your legwork. “Please?”
    Duncan sucked in a breath before huffing out
like a deflating balloon. “Okay, one.”
    I leaned forward, catching a glimpse of a
familiar name on the detective’s computer screen. What the…?
    Focus, Vic .
    “Why would one person attempt to blackmail
another?”
    “Any number of reasons,” he returned, turning
the monitor away from my line of vision. “Most common would be to
cover up a sexual indiscretion, drug use, criminal business
practices…”
    “I’m talking the blackmail er not the
blackmail ee ,” I clarified.
    “That’s easy,” Duncan said without missing a
beat. “Either the blackmailer is desperate for money or they want
revenge.”
    Gee, that sounded a lot like divorce
proceedings where one spouse took the other to the cleaners.
Considering what I knew about my dad’s proclivities, that’d
definitely be the case if my mom ever listened to me and stepped up
to the plate.
    Duncan’s information gave me a more concrete
place to start. Now if only Reggie’s blackmailer would give us