Jack, another guy I hadn’t met, was muscle.
“That’s it?” I asked.
“Except for taking most night shifts in the surveillance room, yeah.”
Mace sounded interesting mainly from what Luke didn’t say. Apparently he used to be a world-class surfer. He was half-Native Hawaiian and he came to Colorado to take up snowboarding, something at which he also excelled. Mace, like Lee and Vance, was good at everything he did, he had no specialty, they were all his specialties (except wirework which Luke explained only Lee, Monty and Vance knew how to do). This was due to a life as an athlete, some of that professional, he knew how to use his body and his instincts and reflexes were sharp.
“How did he go from a professional surfer/snowboarder to a private investigator/bounty hunter? That seems a strange career move.”
I thought of surfers and boarders as Zen masters, riding the waves and the snow, one with nature, not out cracking heads and looking pissed off all the time.
“Personal reasons,” Luke answered.
“What personal reasons?” I asked.
Luke didn’t answer.
I gave up mainly because I knew I’d get nowhere as well as the fact that it was none of my business.
“And you?” I went on.
“Me?”
“Why are you in the game?”
He turned to look at me with a half-smile on his lips. “Shits and grins.”
His eyes went back to the road.
He was holding back, how I knew this I didn’t know, I just knew it.
“Bullshit,” I muttered.
The air in the SUV changed rather dramatically and my body automatically tensed at the feel of it.
Then Luke spoke and it wasn’t with his usual somewhat-teasing, bordering-on-affectionate tone. “Babe, there comes a time when you’re sharing’ my bed and you feel free to turn your attitude on me with your body pressed against mine then you’ll be in the position to know.”
Well then, there you go.
I suspected Luke was “good” with the situation just as long as I didn’t push it.
Good to know.
I decided to change the subject. “What’s on tonight?”
“Search. Got a client who wants dirt on his wife before he asks for a divorce.”
“Is she cheating on him?”
“He’s the one who found a replacement. Lookin’ for a way to make the divorce payout more comfortable.”
Um.
No.
“This guy sounds like a jerk,” I said.
“He is a jerk,” Luke replied.