Page 71 of The Body in the Backyard

Nick massaged his temples. “That would be great.”

She handed the dog back to Nick and produced a bejeweled phone from the pocket of her robe.

“Griffin Gentry, central Pennsylvania’s favorite newscaster, speaking,” Griffin’s assholey voice sang from the speaker of Bella’s phone.

“Griffy, Nick Santiago is here. He says he’s waiting for a check.”

“Tell him I’m very busy and important. And if he won’t leave, make something up about me winning a Nobel Prize for handsomeness. I swear, poor people have nothing better to do than ask rich people for handouts.”

Nick’s blood pressure spiked into head-exploding territory.

Bella turned to him and smiled. “Griffin said?—”

“I heard what Griffin said,” Nick said, snatching the phone from her hand. “Now you listen to me, Gentry. First of all, paying for services rendered is not a handout. It’s how the fucking world works. Just because you were born with a trust fund shoved up your ass doesn’t mean you get every damn thing for free. Second, if there were Nobel Prizes for handsomeness, I’d be a hell of a lot higher on the list than you. Now drive your pint-size ass back here, and blow the cobwebs off your checkbook, you cheap, narcissistic bastard.”

“You can’t talk to me like that,” Griffin squeaked.

“I’ll do more than talk to you like that if I don’t have a check with your name on it in my hand by the end of the day.”

“What do you think of my new bustier, darling? Do you like the leather?” a throaty, feminine voice asked on the other end of the call.

“I’m being called into an urgent meeting for very important, successful people,” Griffin announced. “Bye!”

Nick handed the phone back to Bella, who showed no reaction to her husband admiring another woman’s lingerie. “Your husband-to-be is a dick.”

Bella waved a dismissive hand. “He’s just entitled, silly. It’s not poor Griffin’s fault that he’s always been given everything he ever wanted or that people do nice things for him for free.”

Nick was tired of the Griffin Gentrys of the world getting away with their bullshit. This time, he wasn’t going to get away with it.

He handed the dog back to Bella. “Here. Take this. I need to use your restroom.”

“Of course. The powder room is over there through the trophy room. That’s for guests. There’s another bathroom off the kitchen, and that’s for the help. You can take your pick.”

“Due to mysterious religious and political beliefs, I can only use restrooms on the second floor,” Nick announced. He didn’t wait for a response and jogged up the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time.

“Staffy! La La needs her yum-yums, and I need my spa flip-flops,” Bella called behind him.

Nick veered off into the primary bedroom suite and headed through the bathroom into the closet to Griffin’s accessories bureau, an entire dresser full of belts, watches, ascots, and…

“Bingo,” he said when the next drawer he opened revealed a velvet jewelry tray.

The hideously huge cuff links winked at him from an open Peabody Jewelry box. Tucked in the drawer under the box were several past due notices from Wilfred’s jewelry store.

“Asshole,” Nick muttered, pocketing the cuff links. He was just getting ready to close the drawer when something else caught his eye. Griffin Gentry’s passport. He flipped it open and rolled his eyes. Even the man’s passport photo was airbrushed.

Curiosity got the best of him, and he flipped through a couple of pages. Lots of Caribbean travel. He also found several stamps for Brazil and a recent one for Colombia.

The stop-doing-stupid-things voice in his head that sounded a lot like Riley was getting louder, so Nick replaced the passport and closed the drawer.

He was almost out of the bathroom when Griffin’s gold-plated electric toothbrush caught his eye from the vanity. Whistling, he plucked it out of the holder and swirled it around the toilet bowl twice. Feeling a little more cheerful, Nick jogged back downstairs where he found Bella hand-feeding the dog what looked like clumps of granola.

“I’m going to go,” Nick said as he opened the front door. “But don’t think for one second that means I’m giving up. Gentry will pay up if I have to rip the money out of his spray-tanned skin.”

“Okay, bye!” Bella said, waving with the dog’s paw.

Nick turned to exit but found the way barred by none other than Kellen Pain-in-the-Ass Weber.

“Sergeant Jones, make note that Nick Santiago was witnessed harassing the fiancée of the intended victim and verbally threatening the intended victim.”