Collateral Damage Read Online Free

“Sometimes guys get cold feet and want to hang with the fellows for a bit. Why not call his job tomorrow morning? If he’s at work you know he’s okay, right.”
    At this point Bea sniffled. Mother Washington’s eyes bored into Hannibal. Cindy’s eyes rolled toward the ceiling. Bea managed to look up at Hannibal with damp eyes. “I went to his job yesterday afternoon. Sometimes he goes on the weekend for a while. At least I thought so.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œPlease, Mister Jones. He told me he was working on a programming project for a marketing company over in Alexandria. And there were people there, working on the weekend. But, they had never heard of him. Oh, Mister Jones….”
    The picture was morphing before Hannibal’s eyes. Mother Washington’s face told him he was getting her view of the situation at last. Another woman being abused by a man, but more subtly than what Anna Ingersoll’s husband did. More subtle, but perhaps no less damaging. When Cindy stood, Hannibal knew she saw the same picture. She stepped closer to Bea, looking down at her as if she were a witness on the stand.
    â€œSounds like you don’t know this man very well. Maybe it would be better if you just never saw him again, eh?”
    Bea’s eyes slid up Cindy’s body, past the jeans clinging so tightly to her rounded form, past the tee shirt her breasts threatened to burst through, past the wavy hair cascading wantonly onto her shoulders, and stared deep into her dark Latin eyes. Hannibal would never have believed any womancould make Cindy look cheap, but the tiny curve at the edge of Bea’s lips spoke volumes.
    â€œThat,” Bea said slowly, “is not the nature of my love.” Then her eyes returned to Hannibal. He could see then that this Dean had wormed his way all the way down into her soul.
    â€œWill you find him for me Mister Jones?”
    â€œYou understand this isn’t a free service, Miss Collins.”
    Now Bea’s cutting smile settled on Hannibal. “This isn’t about money for me, Mister Jones. I will pay you whatever it takes if you’re the man who can do the job. Business has been good for me. I already have enough saved for the down payment on our..” the sentence tripped her, but only for a moment, “our first home. Picked out a nice little brownstone in Georgetown, near my office. But without Dean, that’s an empty dream, isn’t it? Will you help me? I may not be your usual client, whatever that may be, but Mother Washington told me that you help those who have no place else to turn. I have no place else to turn.”
    Would he help her? Help a woman being taken in by a swindler, a swindler who had perhaps had a change of heart or moved on to bigger things? Would he take her money to find the con artist and show her his true face? Perhaps Mother Washington was right and it was the only way to free this woman’s heart to love again. Not the kind of trouble he usually helped people out of, but perhaps as valid as any.
    Besides, even if he could say no to this petite stranger sitting in his office on Sunday morning in her church clothes, he could never say no to Mother Washington. He pulled a drawer open, pulled out a contract and slid it across the desk to Bea. She signed without reading it while he was talking.
    â€œFive hundred dollars a day. Plus unusual expenses. And another two fifty if I need to subcontract other professionals on the case. No way to know how long a trace like this can take. If he’s lied about his work, he’s probably lied about a lot more. Are you sure you want to see this fellow again that badly?”
    Bea’s signature was small and precise. When she finished, she returned Hannibal’s pen to its stand and asked, “When can you get started?”
    Hannibal looked at Mother Washington who smiled warmly. “It’s a fine yard party, son, but it’s