Back in Black (McGinnis Investigations #1) - Rhys Ford Page 0,37
but the old woman had a bit of a kink going, and that’s got to be stored someplace. If not in this house, then somewhere else.” I gestured toward the walls. “Look around you. Marlena Brinkerhoff told us Arthur used to forge art for a living. My guess is he’s a painter, because I can’t see that there’s a lot of money in forging sculptures, not to mention trying to move the damned things, but the walls are fucking empty. There’s not even a velvet painting of Jesus or those big-eyed freaky fucking children on the walls.
“I live with an artist. They can’t stop arting. They can’t help it.” I finally had their attention, and O’Byrne began to look around her with a calculating gleam in her eye. “Even if he gave up forgery, he wouldn’t give up painting, and there’s not a damn thing in this house that points to either one of their lifestyles. There’s no pictures on the wall either. Marlena Brinkerhoff graduated from law school, and there’s not one damned photo of her in a cap and gown? Maybe I’m missing all of it and it’s hidden somewhere else in this house, but it doesn’t seem like this place is real. And I have no idea on where to start looking for where their lives are stashed.”
“You might not,” Bobby said from his perch on the couch. “But I bet you their granddaughter knows.”
Nine
“O’BYRNE’S GOT you on a leash,” Bobby grunted, the punching bag rocking in his hold when I connected with a couple of hits. “With that consulting thing, she’s pretty much got another detective in her back pocket that dances to her beck and call.”
My punches in no way moved him. Bobby had long mastered the art of planting himself firmly and using his knees and hips to absorb any impact. I still tried, though. It gave me something to do besides not gnaw on my frustration. Bobby wasn’t wrong. There were things I couldn’t do for Dell O’Byrne. Gathering evidence and actually arresting someone was outside of my purview, but if she tapped me to help with a case, I could run down leads and feed her any information I got. As far as I was concerned, Arthur Brinkerhoff hired me, and he was my first priority. But O’Byrne definitely had tangled me in tighter.
My problem was I was unsure about what exactly I was chasing down. Adele’s murder weighed on me, and despite the possible criminal activity she was involved in, she didn’t deserve to die in the middle of a wet lawn with a hole punched through her chest. I just didn’t know where to start looking for who killed her and who attacked Arthur.
“I think we need to see if Arthur is up to talking.” Shifting my feet, I tried a couple of uppercuts. They strained my damaged shoulder, but the burn was light, not the stinging, tearing alarm of something going terribly wrong along my joints. “Every time we dig, we just come up with more questions. I need answers.”
Bobby and I did our best thinking when either eating or sparring down at JoJo’s. Since he and Ichi were once again freeloading dinner off of me and Jae, our evening meal would be a large one, probably tons of barbecued meat and a million little plates of panchan. While I loved kalbi, there was something special about picking through all of the tiny white plates filled with things I still haven’t figured out after all these years of being with Jae. Panchan was kind of like food-based Cracker Jack prizes—some things I recognized by shape, while others were always pure surprise. The slivers of slightly sweet fish cake with thin slices of burdock root and jalapenos were probably my favorite, but there was a dish of almost sugary cuttlefish strands made with a spicy chili sauce I’d fallen in love with. They were the kind of hot Jae and Ichi found spicy, but the two of them also mixed lava in with their breakfast smoothies.
I liked to think I’d grown a lot since meeting Jae, especially considering all of the food adventures he’d taken me on, but I still really hoped tonight’s panchan wouldn’t include the bright pink baby octopi he and my brother loved.
“Are you thinking about food or your husband? And don’t deny it. You’ve got that look on your face, Princess. Why don’t you try to focus?” Bobby asked, bumping me with the bag. “Less drooling