She wasn’t his anything. Had she been his, he wouldn’t be wasting his time talking to Locke on the phone but would be somewhere in a bed with Toni right this minute. “She’s not mine.”
“Then, let me rephase that. Are you talking about the Toni from Stonewall’s wedding? The woman you couldn’t keep your eyes off of? The one you were involved with a few years ago that none of your friends knew anything about at the time? What is she doing in Alexandria? I thought she worked in Miami.”
“She did.” And then Andrew told Locke why Toni had relocated to Alexandria.
“Wow, man, that’s whack. She was merely doing her job.”
“Yes, she was,” Andrew agreed. “It wasn’t her fault that the man’s son had issues. He was going to serve time anyway for killing his wife. That particular thing seems to be getting buried.”
“Sounds that way to me, too, Drew.”
Andrew did not say anything for a minute, and then asked, “Does Duan Jeffries still handle the private investigations for your law firm?’’
“Yes. Peachtree Private Investigations still investigate all our cases.”
Locke had introduced Andrew to Duan Jeffries, a former police detective in Atlanta, a few years ago. Locke and Duan’s younger brother Terrence, a former NFL football player who’d been nicknamed the Holy Terror by sportscasters, had been best friends growing up in Atlanta.
Unfortunately, it had only taken one mistake on Locke’s part to get him sent to Glenworth for five years. However, neither Terrence nor the Jeffries family forgot Locke, and would visit him often. It was always a big deal whenever the Holy Terror came to see him.
“Why are you asking about Peachtree Private Investigations?” Locke asked, intruding into Andrew’s thoughts.
“Something about that hostage situation sounds suspect to me. What if the man was deliberately placing attention on Toni to shift the focus from the murder his son committed? If that’s true, I want to know why.”
“I’ll have Duan contact you. In the meantime, what do you plan to do with Toni as your partner?”
Locke’s question made several scenarios play around in Drew’s head. He would have loved to have brought her home for lunch today and engaged in an hour of absolute physical pleasure, rekindling their roles as sex-buddies. “I will continue to do my job. What was between me and Toni ended close to five years ago. She means nothing to me.”
“Is that why you gave me, Shogun, and Macayle the evil eye when we said we would flip to see which one of us would hit on her?”
“I gave you guys the evil eye because what you three were suggesting was crazy as hell.”
“Whatever. After meeting her, I happen to think Toni is a nice person. Tell her I said hello.”
Moments later, after Andrew ended the call with Locke, he finished off the last of his scotch. Standing, he stretched his body, then decided to take a shower. He wouldn’t even bother watching one of the basketball games on television. Instead, he would go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow he and Toni had a full day.
Someone murdered Maria Tindal, a woman he had met and immediately liked. Now she was dead, and he intended to find the person responsible.
• • •
Toni had showered, put on her pjs and was about to grab the novel she’d been reading off the nightstand when her cell phone rang. She smiled, recognizing the ringtone. “Hello, Joy.”
“I was wondering if you were going to let me know how your first day went. Did you see Drew? What did he say when he saw you? What did you say when you saw him? Is he avoiding you the way he did at my wedding? Is he—?”
“Whoa, time out, Joy. Stop throwing out questions like a detective in an interrogation room. One question at a time, please,” she said, laughing.
“You’re laughing and that’s good,” Joy said.
“Not necessarily.”
“Oh.”
“Before I answer your questions, I want to know where Stonewall is. I don’t want to infringe on any of his time. It hasn’t been a year yet—the two of you are basically still newlyweds.’’
“Yes, we are. I honestly didn’t think I could ever be this happy. Stonewall is the best.”
Toni smiled. “I believe you. In a way, I’m glad I didn’t get to meet Stonewall before the wedding.”
“Why?”
“Because I got a chance to form my own opinion about him. Of course, I had known how he looked since his image was plastered on a number