Slow Burn

"If you're finished with the compliments, I'd like to get into the shower."

Jordan was on a roll. "I'll bet you're real nice to the women you want to sleep with, aren't you?"

"Jordan, for the last time, what do you want?" he asked, deciding her comment about his sex life didn't merit a response.

"Kate's in trouble. The problem is, I don't think she realizes she is."

"In trouble?"

"Yes."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm hanging up now."

"Listen to me."

She quickly explained what she knew about the first explosion and said, "If that wasn't enough for poor Kate, when she returned from Boston, someone tried to run her down in the airport parking lot. And then… Dylan, are you listening?"

"Yes."

"You don't sound like you are."

"For God's sake…"

"I'm right," Jordan continued. "Someone is trying to kill her. There's more, too," she added.

Before she could tell him about the second explosion, he said, "What exactly do you want me to do about it? Talk to whoever is in charge of the investigation? I doubt the detectives in South Carolina would want me looking over their shoulders."

"No, I don't want you to call. I want you to go to Silver Springs and check it out. You're on leave from the department, so you've got the time, and I know you're bored. I can't believe you're hesitating. This weekend you…"

"I what?"

"You saw Kate. What is it with you? Out of sight, out of mind?"

Yeah, right, he thought. He hadn't been able to get Kate out of his mind since he'd touched her, and that bothered the hell out of him. She was messing with his mind.

She obviously wasn't giving him a second thought. She'd left Boston without a word, so their night together had been what he and she had wanted it to be, recreational. That attitude should have pleased him. No commitment and no messy good-byes. One perfect night, no doubt about that, with no regrets.

So why was he so irritated she'd left without telling him?

He shook his head. She wasn't easy to forget, and that was all there was to it. It might take a couple of weeks, but then he wouldn't give her another thought.

"Dylan, are you going to go to Kate or not?"

"I'm thinking…"

He was in a strange predicament. He'd never been dumped by a woman before, and he didn't know how to feel about it. No, that wasn't true. He knew how he felt. Damned angry.

Had he ever treated a woman like that? Spent the night with her and then vanished? He shook his head. He hoped he hadn't. But had he?

He suddenly pictured her sitting by his bedside in the hospital. To this day she didn't know he was aware of her. He had opened his eyes and looked at her just as she was drifting off to sleep. He remembered he liked her being there.

But then he liked women, he told himself. Still, she'd been there for him, so shouldn't he do the same for her?

Jordan's patience ran out.

"If you don't go, I will."

"Ah, hell. Okay, I'll go."

"When?"

He sighed. "Soon."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, okay. Tomorrow."

"Cheer up, Dylan. If I'm right, you might get to shoot someone."

Chapter Fifteen

Roger Macke

All the sharks in town had a hands-off policy toward Roger because they knew, like everyone else in the gambling world who'd run a background check on him, that when Roger's uncle Comp-ton MacKe

Joh

Roger was told that Emma had been in an automobile accident. He went to the hospital, took one look at her bruised and swollen face, and went ru

By July, Joh

Jackman decided he couldn't afford to be a patient, nice guy any longer. He took Roger to di

He made sure Roger knew he wasn't bluffing.

Three packs of cigarettes and a bottle of gin a day had aged Roger. He was only thirty-four, but he looked sixty. His hair was thi

His nicotine-stained fingers shook as he lit another cigarette. "Where am I going to get that kind of money?" he asked. "You know I'm good for it, but not until my uncle dies. He's sick. It shouldn't take long. According to… my source, the old man is dying."

"Who's the source?"

"Someone real close to him. I'm not going to give you the name."

"Okay," he said, deciding not to press. "But your uncle could linger a long time, now couldn't he? If it's more than thirty-one days, you're going to be in a world of hurt."

"If you'll wait, I'll pay you a bonus. And there's a good chance I'll win big the next time I hit the tables, right?"

Jackman shook his head. "Your credit is used up," he said. "You're not welcome at any table until your debt is paid in full. Thirty-one days," he repeated. "If you don't come up with all of it, you're no longer a man. You understand me? You won't get a sip of booze to dull the pain. My associates will take you out in the desert, hold you down, spread your legs, and… snip, snip." He made his fingers move like scissors. "I might even tell them to put your balls in your mouth to stop you from screaming while they work on your penis. You do have balls, don't you, Roger?"

Jackman was the most successful loan shark in the city, and when Roger stared into his cold, flat eyes, he suspected that a real shark had more feeling. He didn't have any doubt at all that Jackman would do what he promised. He wasn't a man who bluffed.

Roger began to hyperventilate. He overturned his chair in his haste to bolt from the table. He made it to the corridor before he threw up. Jackman followed him, laughing.

"You're going to get me my money, aren't you, Roger?"

"Yes. I'll get it."

He grabbed his arm and jerked him back. He whispered close to his ear, "Your uncle's going to die real soon, isn't he?"

Roger began to cry. "Yes, he is."

Two hours later Roger took a cab to the airport and flew home on the red-eye. He was too scared and too sick to drink anything. He knew he had to get clear-headed. When he got back to Sava