Rarities Unlimited 04 - The Color of Death

dream.
    “Sam?”
    “Mmm?” he asked, running his thumb down her spine to the alluring shadow between her buttocks.
    She moved her hips and both of them took a swift breath.
    “Kennedy,” she said breathlessly. “When will he call?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Do you think he’ll believe the connections we made?”
    “He doesn’t have much choice. But just in case…” Reluctantly, Sam lifted Kate and slid out from under.
    “What?”
    He dropped her slacks on top of her and zipped up his own. “Back to work.”
    “Slave driver.”
    “You weren’t complaining earlier.”
    She smiled and slanted him the kind of glance that told him she was remembering the second time, when she’d begged him to finish and he’d just kept on moving slow and easy and deep until she came so hard she almost blacked out.
    He grinned.
    “You look real smug,” she said, pulling on her thong.
    “All your fault.”
    “Yeah?”
    He slid a fingertip down from her belly button to the crease where her right leg joined her body, then lower, lower, skimming lightly, like a tongue tasting. “Yeah.”
    She blew her hair out of her face. “Keep that up and it will be round three.”
    “You have an optimistic view of my ability.”
    She grinned and nipped lightly on his chin. “All your fault,” she said, repeating his words as she stepped into her jeans. “In fact—”
    Sam’s cell phone rang. Since he’d never made it all the way out ofhis pants, everything was still within reach. He pulled the cell phone off his belt and looked at the code. “Mecklin.”
    “Is that some kind of exotic curse?” she asked.
    “No. It’s an agent in Florida.”
    Kate measured Sam’s expression. Playtime over. Back to work for both of them. “Okay, I’ll make some sandwiches while you talk. I wouldn’t want your, uh, ability to flag for lack of food.”
    He was smiling as he answered the call. The smile didn’t last past Mecklin’s first words.
    “Somebody is closing down the pipeline.”
    “Which one?” Sam asked.
    “The sapphire one—Florida to L.A.”
    The last of Sam’s sexy good humor vanished. “Who? Where?”
    “Remember the de Santos cousins I told you about in L.A.?”
    “Eduardo and José, the cutter and the launderer?”
    “Bingo. They were murdered last night.”
    “Any suspects?” Sam asked.
    “In José’s case, given the necktie, they’re looking for a Colombian connection.”
    “Any mutt with a knife can do a necktie.”
    “Yeah,” Mecklin agreed. “Gotta love copycats.”
    “What about Eduardo?”
    “Torture and strangulation.”
    Sam grunted. “Anything at the crime scenes?”
    “Blood and dead bodies.”
    “How are the cops treating it?”
    Mecklin laughed without humor. “Like two cold cases in the making. Everyone is talking to the usual suspects, knocking on nearby doors, filing reports, and all the rest of the brain-dead routine. Like I said—the cops know a case that’s headed for the cold files. They’ll save their energy for something they have a chance of solving.”
    Sam couldn’t blame the locals. There were lots of murders in L.A. When someone with known gang connections died, not awhole lot of sweat or tears got used up finding out who and when and why.
    “Okay, they got the L.A. end of the pipeline,” Sam said. “Was Hall Jewelry robbed?”
    “The cutting room was busted up some, the safe was opened. Nothing left but a couple of stones that got spilled on the way out.”
    “What kind of stones?”
    “How the hell would I—wait.”
    Sam heard the other agent tapping at a computer keyboard.
    “Red,” Mecklin said after a minute.
    “Red?”
    “Stones. The stuff that was dropped on the floor was red. That’s all that the cops said. If you need more information, wait for the insurance report.”
    “No thanks. I was hoping for blue stones. Wonder if the murderer was too.”
    “What?” Mecklin asked.
    “Nothing. Just thinking aloud. What about Seguro Jimenez, the Florida end of the pipeline? Is he okay?”
    “According to his wife, he’s visiting family in Ecuador.”
    “You believe her?”
    “I believe that the grapevine got to Seguro before I did,” Mecklin said. “I believe he already knew about the de Santos murders. Either he had a part in them, was afraid he was next, or he was next and we haven’t found the body. Any way it comes down, he’s gone somewhere that we can’t get to him.”
    “End of pipeline.”
    “Looks that way. Sorry I don’t have