Lana bristled at Angel’s language. Not that she wasn’t prone to swearing herself, especially when out drinking with Jackie, but she had limits and denigrating other women was one of them.
“I gotta get those divorce papers filed,” Angel said. “Rex is driving me fucking crazy. He hauls his sweaty carcass into my bed every night and tells me I gotta do my wifely duty. Wifely duty, my ass. There’s no fucking wifely duty when he’s been parading his dick around the Lower Mainland. You know what he gets when he wants ‘wifely duty’? He gets a frying pan to the head. I keep it under the pillow for when his one-eyed dog comes sniffing around.”
“Um…I don’t really…”
On a roll, Angel ignored her. “He’s been no husband to me. He turned my greenhouse into a grow-op. Ripped out my petunias and replaced them with weed. Every flowerpot, every window box, every houseplant—weed, weed, fucking weed. My momma had a birthday and I had to give her a weed bouquet. I mean, don’t get me wrong. She likes a good joint before bed, same as anyone, but I would have liked to give her something with more color.”
“Sure. Color is good.”
“So you got anything new for me? Or do I gotta slap your face to wake you up and tell you to call me when you’ve got something for me to see?”
Lana swallowed hard. Although she had no great affection for Angel, she didn’t want to lose a paying client. And Angel had paid. First the retainer, and then the monthly bill, and then her expenses. No questions asked. “Actually, I have a lead about a new woman…”
She hoped Rex had a new woman. Kickstand had assured her Rex hadn’t been alone in his office last night or the night before, and while on guard duty he’d caught a glimpse of a tall redhead in a red dress leaving the clubhouse in the early hours of the morning.
“New woman?” Angel shrieked. “Bastard’s desk is still warm and he’s already got a replacement. No big surprise there. Can you imagine what it’s like being married to that two-timing scumbag? I got this voice from screaming at him all the time. ‘Where you been all night?’ ‘Who the fuck were you with?’ ‘Why you got lipstick on your dick?’ Doc says I cracked my voice box from all the yelling, and a couple of ribs too. You know what else I got from him and his wandering dick?” She scratched down below. Lana’s stomach clenched.
“Um…not really information I need for the case.”
Angel looked her up and down. “Pretty little thing like you musta had your share of salami. I’m sure you know what it’s like.”
Cheeks burning, Lana cleared her throat. “I’m sure I can guess.”
Angel gave her a few ideas of places to look for Rex and his new woman, and they chatted about the new greenhouse she was planning to set up once the divorce settlement came through.
“My baby girl is going to want for nothing,” Angel said as she shrugged her leather jacket over the six-inch shoulder pads on her bright orange, Harley Davidson brand spandex dress. “When the divorce is done, we’re going to move to a small town where she’ll never see a biker as long as she lives. She’ll go to the best schools and have nice friends. Somewhere pretty and wholesome. Maybe Kelowna.”
Lana’s stomach heaved. “Definitely don’t move there. Lots of bikers. Too many.”
Angel grunted and followed Lana into the reception area. “Like you would know anything about bikers. You look so sweet I wanna lick you all over. And lookit the fancy digs you got going on here.”
Lana smiled at the compliment. The renovated boutique architectural loft in the heritage building in Yaletown hadn’t been her first choice when she and Jackie decided to merge their PI practices, but, the minute she’d seen the exposed brick, high wood-slat ceilings, skylights and reclaimed fir flooring, she had been sold.
Derek, her houseboy/receptionist/wannabe PI raced around the glass reception desk to hand Angel her bill. Angel gave his young, lean, muscular body a slow perusal and grunted her approval.
“Is he man candy or does he actually work?”
Derek grinned. “Man candy. All the way.”
Lana snorted a laugh. He knew the score. Jackie made no attempt to hide the fact she’d hired him for his blond-haired, blue-eyed surfer-dude looks and nothing else. And nothing else was what she got. He was totally incompetent, lacking in any semblance of office management skills, but utterly charming with the clients and devoted to his bosses.
“Well, you got something right,” Angel said to Lana. “I’ll bet he keeps you busy after hours.”