Wicked Craving Read Online Free Page B

crap.”
    â€œYou wanna go out to the scene with me? Or do you want to sit there, soaking in your bathtub, and feel superior to everybody else?”
    â€œJust the people who bought that stupid CD.” She chuckled. “All right. I’ll drive myself, in case I have to leave before you do and go pick up Gran.”
    He told her the address.
    â€œI’ll be there in ten minutes,” she said. “I have to get dressed.”
    â€œDon’t go to all that trouble just for me.”
    She snapped the phone closed.
    Â 
    â€œI want to live on Lincoln Ridge,” Savannah muttered to herself as she guided her ‘65 Mustang up the steep, narrow road toward the top of the cliff. “I want a view like this, and a mansion like one of those, and plenty of staff to keep it clean. And I want to lie on a satin chaise lounge in a peignoir and eat bon-bons all the live long day.”
    Although she wasn’t certain whether bon-bons were pieces of chocolate or ice cream, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t mind taking up bon-bon eating as an occupation.
    But then, she reconsidered and decided she liked her own little house and didn’t mind sitting in her comfy chair, wearing a T-shirt and jeans and eating Hershey Kisses, either.
    Life was pretty good, if you decided it was…even without a mansion and bon-bons.
    And when she rounded a curve and saw an array of police cruisers, their lights flashing, parked in front of the Wellmans’ mansion, she decided she didn’t envy everybody in this neighborhood. Not at all. Having eight cop cars and a dozen policemen outside your door was never a good thing.
    As she parked the Mustang and got out, several of the patrolmen gave her nods, waves, and other greetings. Savannah had always been well liked by her fellow law enforcement officers. The San Carmelita PD brass…not so much. Before they had fired her years ago, she’d had a love-hate relationship with them. After the canning, it was pure hate-hate.
    Solving a murder case, exposing the dark, dirty secrets of your town’s top officials, and ruining their lives—it could wreck your career every time.
    As she approached the imposing, contemporary house with its odd, sharp angles and strangely pitched roof, she squinted and wished she were wearing her sunglasses. The exterior of the mansion was a blinding white, reflecting the late afternoon sunlight. And, although many of the homes in this area were surrounded by mature, lush plantings, this house had hardly any foliage to soften its stark appearance.
    Savannah thought of her giant, twin bougainvilleas that framed her doorway—named Bogey and Ilsa—and decided again that, humble as it might be, she did prefer her own home.
    Near the door, she spotted Dirk. He was haranguing a couple of subordinates and, therefore, never looked happier. When he glanced her way, she gave him a finger-waggling wave and a flirty grin, and in return she got a curt nod.
    Dirk wasn’t one to be mushy in front of the guys.
    As he turned his back on them and walked toward her, she saw the poisoned-dart looks they gave him and cringed. She would have been crestfallen to be on the receiving end of those looks.
    Dirk didn’t give a dang. He only needed to hold up two fingers to count the people he deigned to impress. No doubt, Granny Reid would be his pointing finger…Savannah the middle.
    And Savannah considered that most appropriate.
    Glancing at his watch, he said, “Hey, you really did make it in ten.” He looked her up and down with lasciviousness that was minimized due to the close proximity of other “manly men.” “Did you take time to dry off?”
    â€œDried off and put on fresh undies. I don’t do that for just anybody, you know.”
    He grinned. Sometimes he couldn’t help himself.
    â€œLucky me,” he said. Turning toward the house, he added, “Wanna see the body?”
    Just to irritate