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"Who are you working for?"
"California Fidelity."
"Can you make a case?"
"Probably. By the time I'm done, at any rate," I said.
He looked away from me then, eyes straying toward the jukebox. I followed the line of his gaze, catching sight of Bibia
"I always hated undercover," Jimmy said, raising his voice to be heard. He was still watching Bibia
I took a sip of my beer, making no response. I'd never actually done undercover work myself, but I'd heard plenty, none of it good.
His eyes came back to mine. "Tell her what you're up to," he said.
"And blow this? You're crazy. I'm not going to do that. And you better not tell her, either. This is my turf."
"I understand that."
"Then what's the hesitation, Jimmy? I know that look."
"I'm crazy about this lady and I don't want to see her hurt. I've been telling her for months she's going to get caught. If she knows you're on to her, she'll clean up her act."
"That's not my concern. She filed a fraudulent claim with CF, and God knows how many phony claims she's filed with other carriers. I'm going to turn her ass in."
"She's getting out of the business."
"I'll bet."
"No, she really is. She filed that claim months ago, but I talked her out of it. She's going straight, I swear."
"Dream on, Tate. Why not drop the claim, then, if she wants out?"
"She did."
"Bullshit! She's got a request for payment pending right this minute. I saw the damn thing myself. She's sticking it to us, putting the pressure on for a quick settlement. That's why the case was passed to me in the first place."
"I don't believe it."
"Ask her."
His smile was pained. "I can't very well do that without telling her what's going on."
"Then you better find a way around it before I wrap this thing up."
"There's more here than meets the eye."
"There's always more than meets the eye. It's usually crooked," I replied.
Jimmy's troubled gaze strayed back to Bibia
I'd never seen him caught up like this. In the past, his relationships with women had been easy to track, light-hearted forays with no emotional strings attached. A few laughs, some quick sex, a couple of weeks of companionship. I'm not sure how it appeared from their perspective. The women he dated were often smart but self-deluding, a
She returned to the table, where she arranged herself provocatively on Jimmy's lap, straddling him, with her skirt hiked up to her crotch, her breasts so close to his face I thought he'd munch on them like cupcakes. I spent the next half hour having my hearing impaired by the music while Jimmy Tate and Bibia
The band finished one number and began the next, the only slow song I'd heard all night. Bibia