Page 72 of Hannah and the Hitman
“What about it?”
“The simplest explanation is most likely the right one.She randomly ended up seated in the same row as Eyebrows and Joey Brains because she was at a book signing. Did you see if there really was a signing?”
No. Because she’d–we’d–been reading a romance book on the plane that had a sticker for the library where she worked. Because she’d told me about the romance bookstore she wanted to open. Shit.
I grabbed my laptop from the kitchen’s built-in desk and set it on the island. I pulled up a search engine and typed in Vegas and romance book signings.
“LoveNLust Romance Con,” I said, reading from the web page. “Happened that weekend.”
“If I remember correctly, you’re the one who stalked her, showed up at her worktwice.Not the other way around.”
I frowned. I had.
“You think that hellish dinner with the family you told me about was pretend? That they were actors backing up her librarian front after you gave her, what, an hour to organize?”
I grunted at that misery. No way that had been staged. They definitely hadn’t expected me.
“But wait, there’s more,” Dax continued. “You believe she works as a librarian as a cover? In that small town? Her annual salary’s got to be less than the cost of my suit.”
I knew how much he paid for the suit, and he was probably right.
He wasn’t done pushing the fact that he thought I was stupid. “That she takes hits in her spare time?”
I sighed, realizing he wasn’t asking me these questions because he agreed with me, but because he didn’t.
“Dude, this is all bullshit,” he said. “The woman you’re crazy about is a small town librarian with a crazy family.”
“Then explain how she knew about Eyebrows.”
“Because, like she said, Joey Brains told her right before he tried to kill her.”
“You know this officially?”
“You forgot that I showed up and hit Eyebrows with my car. And forgot to tell me you quit.”
I glared.
He continued.
“I was talking to Paul Reggiano about a job, and he pretty much said that his father wasn’t happy with you because you quit on him. I think the only way Sal lets people quit is being dead. I’m glad I got there when I did because I wasn’t expecting him to act that quickly siccing Eyebrows on you. While hitting him with my car was an added perk, you owe me for a new front bumper.”
That made me realize that Dax probably hadn’t seen Hannah fling Eyebrows across the lot, only driving into the garage after he was already down. He’d have probably led with that if he had.
“That explains why Eyebrows came after me, but how did you learn Joey Brains went after Hannah?”
He pulled out his phone, dialed, then set it on the counter. “I had Nitro look into her,” he said as it rang.
My first instinct was to pop him in the nose. I didn’t want Nitro and Dax to know every detail about her, because the kinds of searches that we got on people were so thorough we knew when someone lost their first tooth.
“Yo.” Nitro’s voice came through the speaker.
“Tell Jack what you found out for me about the woman.”
“There are cameras in the Coal Springs library,” Nitro began, and my mind instantly went to the first time I’d touched her, how I’d gotten her to come all over my fingers in the back stacks.
“Exterior front entry, lobby only,” he added.
Mentally, I sighed. I was all for a little exhibitionism, but not if it was recorded for city records. Or for Nitro to see. No one saw Hannah come but me.