Page 133 of Rastor

But I didn't say it, because if there was blood on Bishop's hands, there was blood on mine too. The guy he killed? Well, it was because of me. When push came to shove,he'dbeen the one who'd taken out that councilman, the one who'd been after my little sister.

I hadn't asked him to do it. But he had. And he'd done it while I'd been fighting in front of a hundred people – the perfect alibi, not that I'd realized what was happening at the time.

I didn't regret what happened to the guy, but Ididregret not doing it myself.

When I said nothing, Bishop spoke again. "Those guys in the house, were they after Chloe? Or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

I recalled what the guy had been saying. He'd been calling Chloe by another name. What was it? Louise? He'd been demanding some sort of loan-repayment.

And one thing was for damn sure. He wasn't from the bank.

"He was a loan shark," I finally said. "Or more likely, they worked for one." From old experience, I was painfully familiar with that sort of thing. Shit, for all I knew, they worked for the same guy who'd loaned money to my grandma all those years ago.

It seemed unlikely, but then again, it wasn't exactly a popular business.

Bishop's voice broke into my thoughts. "So Chloe owed them money?"

"No. Not Chloe. Someone else owed them, probably whoever wassupposedto be there, the owners, I'm guessing."

He nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

And five minutes later, we had our plan, which, as it turned out, didn't involve gasoline and a pack of matches. But it would take some creativity. And I'd need Chloe to do me a favor.

Lie.

Chapter 68

When I walked through the back door of my own house, Chloe threw herself into my arms. "I was so worried," she said. "What were you doing?"

I'd been doing a lot of things, and some of them weren't exactly legal. But thelastthing I'd done? I'd used a burner phone to leave an anonymous tip for the police.

"Well, that's complicated," I said, stepping back to take her hands in mine. "Do you trust me?"

She nodded.

I gave her a serious look. "Say it."

"I trust you."

"Good." I was still gripping her hands. "Because in about an hour, you're gonna have to lie like a rug."

"Why?" Her hands tensed against mine, and she gave a little tug. "I didn't do anything wrong."

I glanced down. "Was I hurting you?" Deliberately, I loosened my grip. "Shit, I'm sorry."

"Forget that," she said. "Tell me why I have to lie. I didn't do anything."

That's where she was wrong. Shehaddone something. She'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. And the way it looked, she'd been working for the wrong people.

On top of that, there was herrealjob description. Half porn-star, half patsy. As far as tonight, she'd witnessed way too much for her own good, and way too little to have a decent idea of what, exactly, was going on.

EvenIdidn't know everything, but sooner or later, I was determined to find out.

At the moment, I didn't want to get into all that. By telling her now, I wouldn't be doing her any favors, especially when the cops showed up. And theywouldshow up. Hopefully, I'd made sure of it.

I looked into her eyes. "Baby, I know. But these people, they don't think like you and I do."

"What people?" she asked. "Who are you talking about?"