Advice of Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 1) by Debra Trueman Page B

Lautrec.   I’ve come up with something on
both matters you called me about last week.  I’m going to be out of town for
the rest of the weekend, but I’ll get back with you Monday.”
    I stood frozen in place, looking at the answering machine but
not even hearing the next two messages.  Damn, damn, damn. What the hell had he
come up with on Landra?  As I contemplated my dilemma, I realized how the
concept of shooting the messenger arose.  I was pissed off at Niki and if he
had delivered the message in person, I might have even slugged him – this, in
spite of the fact that the guy could kick my ass, no problem.  Now I was going
to have to sit around all weekend and wonder what bombshell he was going to
deliver come Monday morning.  Fuck and double fuck.
    My doorbell rang before I could think any more about it.  I
tried to hide my frustration when I opened the door, but it must have shown on
my face because Oliver said, “Hi, Samuel.  You’re face looks like this,” and he
furrowed his brow and gave me a scowl just like mine.
    I had to laugh.  “Hi, Oliver.  What’s up?”  He smiled when I
did and I decided he was a good distraction, so I invited him in.  “Want some
Oreos?”
    He had a little bag with him that was full of toys and we made
ramps with my clipboards and played cars for the next 30 minutes, then we went
out in my front yard and tossed the ball back and forth for a while.  At one
point, I noticed a black truck with tinted windows driving slowly past Maddie’s
house, and I didn’t think much about it, until the same truck came back by in
the other direction ten minutes later.  He had definitely slowed down and
checked out her house and then picked up speed again once he had gotten past
it.
    “You ever seen that truck before, Oliver?”
    Oliver stopped and looked at the truck and shook his head, “Nuh
uh.”
    If the guy had driven by a third time, I would have stopped him
and found out who he was, but I didn’t see him again so I decided it was
probably nothing.  Maddie came out shortly afterward and called Oliver home for
lunch, so I was stuck with myself and my imagination, as I tried to figure out
what Niki had come up with on Landra.  I reasoned that whatever it was couldn’t
be that bad or it would have materialized immediately, and I decided to
give Landra the benefit of the doubt until I found out exactly what it was. 
The truth was, I had all but fallen in love with her and I wasn’t even sure how
I would react to what Niki had to say.  For some reason, I was feeling very
protective of her and all I wanted to do was defend her.
    The feeling was only reinforced when she came knocking at my
door when 2:00 o’clock rolled around.  She was holding a basket of Mrs.
Howard’s muffins and that song where the wolf is singing about Little Red
Riding Hood popped into my head.  I wanted to take her straight back to my
bedroom and take her clothes off and ravage her.
    “How’d it go with Mrs. Howard?” I took the basket and ate three
muffins one after the other.
    “Not so great.  I told her what happened last night and she’s
all worried.  She wanted to go down to the police station and tell them what a
nice person I am.  I had to  convince her not to.”  She took a muffin from the
basket and somehow managed to make three bites of it.  I was watching her chew,
staring at her mouth and wanting to kiss her, and she called me on it.  “You’re
staring at me.”
    “Am I?  Sorry.”  I still didn’t look away.  Yep.  I was
definitely whipped.  No way was I going to be objective when Niki told me
whatever he had to tell me.
    “Are you okay?  You seem distracted,” she said.
    I was trying to picture her doing something unscrupulous and it
was just unimaginable.  I couldn’t do it.  I couldn’t conjure up a vision of
her being anything but kind and sweet and beautiful and funny, and beautiful .
. . and beautiful.
    “I’m fine,” I told her.  I went to my