LITMIR.BIZ

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bathed the entire nightmare in anemic blue light.

      One wall was entirely covered in Wanted posters. Several of the scary faces peering out from those posters had darts protruding from them.

      “This place is completely gross,” Aubrey couldn’t help saying. “How can you stand working here?”

      Beau smiled and shrugged as he looked around. “I don’t spend much time here, really. Hey,” he called out, “is anyone here?”

      A door in the back opened and a striking woman close to Aubrey’s age appeared. She was tall, slender and large-breasted, but ultracasual in a snug black tank top, low-slung camouflage cargo pants and flip-flops. Her honey-blond hair was cut in a short, no-nonsense style, and she wore little if any makeup, which in no way detracted from her very feminine appearance.

      She smiled at Beau. “Sorry, I was just in the bathroom,” she said without embarrassment. “Ace isn’t here, if that’s who you’re looking for. Who’s this?” She turned her winning smile on Aubrey.

      Aubrey liked this woman immediately. She held out her hand. “Aubrey Schuyler.”

      “Lori Bettencourt,” the other woman said, gripping Aubrey’s hand firmly. “I know this place is disgusting, and I apologize. But I told Ace when I came to work here that being a maid wasn’t part of my job description just because I’m the only woman. I clean up after myself and I try not to look at the rest. Though I do carry around a big bottle of Lysol.”

      Aubrey found herself smiling back. “I like your attitude.”

      “Actually,” Beau said, “I’m not looking for Ace. I’m looking for you.”

      “Really? Need some help with a takedown?” she asked hopefully.

      Aubrey watched Lori closely, trying to figure out if there was anything sexual between her and Beau. Not that it should matter. She didn’t give a rat’s behind who Beau slept with, she told herself sternly. But she found she was relieved when her radar didn’t pick up any sexual undercurrents between the two, though they obviously liked one another.

      “Aubrey got a threatening phone call. I want you to trace it.”

      Lori looked disappointed. “Just a phone call? Piece of cake.” She led the way to the desk farthest back from the front door, on which sat what looked to be an ancient computer with half its guts hanging out. But once Lori fired up the machine, Aubrey could see it was endowed with a powerful CPU and lots of state-of-the-art software.

      Aubrey gave Lori her phone number and the approximate time of the call, then left her alone to do her thing.

      “Is it legal, what she’s doing?” she asked Beau, who’d decided to pass the time by doing a few chin-ups on a bar that was part of the home gym.

      “Beats me. I don’t care, long as she doesn’t get caught.”

      That was typical, she thought, frowning. Beau seemed to have lost any semblance of a conscience once he’d left the police force. She reminded herself of that as she forced herself to stop watching his bulging biceps as he lifted his weight up and down in a seemingly tireless set.

      The door from which Lori had emerged opened again, and a robust-looking man in his fifties appeared. “Hey, Lori, you want to do a—” He stopped when he spotted Beau. “Maddox. You find that Langford kid yet?”

      “I’ve been checking out the day-care centers,” Beau replied, sounding unconcerned. “Nothing yet.”

      The older man’s eyes locked on Aubrey. “Who’s this?”

      “Aubrey Schuyler. Lori’s tracing a call for her. Aubrey, this is Ace McCullough. He owns the agency.”

      Ace McCullough grinned, revealing two even rows of very white teeth. “Schuyler, Schuyler. Why does that name sound familiar?”

      “Gavin Schuyler’s my brother.”

      That seemed to be enough explanation. Ace quickly changed the subject. “Lori, will you be done pretty quick? I have an easy takedown, and I thought you might want to come with me.”

      Lori’s eyes lit up with something Aubrey could only describe as yearning. “This won’t take long,” she assured Ace. “Don’t go without me.”

      Beau finally tired of his chin-ups. Though he was hardly breathing hard, he did have a sheen of perspiration on his forehead. He picked up a towel that someone had slung over a barbell and wiped his face and neck with it. Aubrey shuddered to think about where that towel had been, or how long it had gone without seeing the inside of a washing machine.

      “Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?” Beau asked Ace in a soft voice. “With Lori, I mean. Glenn really didn’t want her here. Anyway, she’s just a kid.”

      “She’s twenty-seven, hardly a kid,” Ace countered. “I don’t want to dishonor Glenn’s memory by going against his wishes, but Lori’s got bounty-hunting in her blood. If I hadn’t taken her in, she would have gone to work for some other agency—or worse, she’d have tried working on her own. At least if she’s working here, I can train her right, and keep an eye on her. And you have to admit, her computer skills have come in handy.”

      “I guess you’re right,” Beau said grudgingly.

      “Right now, I’m only letting her do the easy take-downs. This one’s an old lady with parking tickets who missed her court date, probably because she’s senile.”

      Beau smiled. “Doesn’t sound too bad, though I once had a senile little old lady pull a Luger on me.”

      The two men laughed, but Aubrey didn’t join in. The thought of the kind of danger Beau put himself in every day was intimidating. At least as a cop, he had the full weight of the law behind him and plenty of backup just a radio summons away. By his own account, when he’d been on the force he’d never even fired his weapon, or been fired at.

      As a bounty hunter, his job was far riskier. Every day he went looking for trouble. She just didn’t understand why anyone would submit himself to that much risk. The Beau Maddox she’d known wasn’t an adrenaline junkie.

      Aubrey returned her attention to Lori, who was scribbling something down on a piece of paper. Lori looked up.

      “Bad news. The call came from a pay phone.”

      Chapter Three

      Beau cursed softly, and Aubrey sagged with her own disappointment. Finding the guy who’d assaulted her and threatened Patti wasn’t going to be easy. But she realized she would never feel completely safe until the guy was behind bars, and Patti and Sara were home where they belonged.

      “I wrote the pay phone address down,” Lori said. “It’s not far from here, if you want to check it out.” She walked over and handed the piece of paper to Beau with the location of the pay phone. Then she looked at Ace. “Just let me get my stuff, and I’ll be ready.”

      Aubrey was about to say thanks and slide on out of there herself. But her car was still at the motel.

      “It’s only a few blocks,” Beau said. “We can walk over and have a look. Chances are our guy lives or works close by. The information might help us narrow the search if we get any more leads on this scumbag.”

      When Lori returned from her desk up front, she wore a bulletproof vest. She had a Mace canister in one of the loops of her cargo pants, and an impossibly huge gun secured at the small of her back.

      “Put a shirt on over that vest,” Beau said, looking as if he had to struggle to keep from laughing. “You might as well be wearing a neon sign over your head, Bounty Hunter In Training.”

      Lori shot him a dirty look, but she did as he suggested.

      Once they were back outside, Aubrey was relieved to be breathing fresh air again. “I don’t know how she stands it,” she said to Beau as they set

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