Addie took Boaz’s hand in her much smaller one. “I just don’t care.”
Boaz whipped his head toward her, his palm slick with sweat as he wondered what gossip she had heard, if Grier’s name had been mentioned, how he was going to fix this, a million other things, but Patel had much the same reaction. Except in his case, it was as if he were surprised to remember Addie was there, let alone that she would dare speak to him.
“You’re pretty enough.” Patel assessed her with a cold sweep of his gaze. “You don’t have much sense if you don’t care about the reputation of the man you’re going to marry. Love may be blind, but you can’t afford to be. Unless you’re rich and powerful. No offense, but you don’t strike me as either.”
“Are you here for a purpose,” Boaz cut in, his jaw grinding at the insult, “or are you just in town to dispense romantic advice?”
“Work.” Patel dismissed Addie, and Boaz breathed easier for it. He had labeled her as chattel and dismissed her as being of any importance, let alone his competition. “You know how it is.” His canines were too defined. “I go where I’m needed.” He glanced at his phone, and his smile widened. “Looks like right now I’m needed to pursue a fresh lead.” He winked at Addie. “See you around.”
“Yeah.” Boaz watched him go. “I’ve got a feeling you will.”
Patel wasn’t a complication Boaz welcomed, but no one else had managed to catch the killer. Maybe Patel would be good for something for once in his life.
“Well,” Addie said, “now we know what Gustav wanted us to see.”
“Is Patel a threat to you?”
“Gustav would have told Patel we were on the job. This was his way of telling us about Patel. We have the upper hand now, because I’ll recognize Patel if I see him again, but he doesn’t know who I am yet.”
“Why would he do that?” Boaz rumbled. “That paints a target on your backs.”
Rival bounty hunters had been known to get aggressive toward their competition when the stakes were high.
“Gustav believes a little competition is good for the soul,” she said dryly. “He doesn’t play favorites. He does, however, hedge his bets.”
“How does he win if Patel collects the bounty?” Boaz wondered. “Wouldn’t Patel get that to split with his team?”
“He’ll owe Gustav a cut since they’re operating in his territory. Not as big as what we would pay him, since we work for him, but a sizeable amount. This is a kick in the pants to tell us to find Ari, and the killer, first.”
Having never spent time with bounty hunters, he was curious about Addie’s world. “How does that work?”
“All bounties must be awarded through a licensed broker. Patel isn’t one. He depends on brokers in whatever area he’s hired in to receive and disburse funds for him. Gustav is a rarity. He’s licensed in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. That means he gets regular business from guys like Patel, who freelance in a region rather than belong to a specific state or county agency.”
Nodding that he understood the basics, he got back on track. “What’s our next move?”
“Patel was here for a reason, and it wasn’t funnel cakes.”
Fourteen
Patel made a complicated situation that much more intense, but Cass and I could handle it. As long as Boaz didn’t get any chivalrous notions, we could avoid Patel and beat him to the bounty. Of course, with Ari missing, this had become about so much more than that.
The list of people Cass cared about was short, but Ari was near the top.
“Any idea what brought Patel here?” Boaz kept pace with me. “He’s not the farmers’ market type.”
“He saw the Oracle.” I led the way. “I would bet my share of the bounty on it.”
“The Oracle?”
“She’s an information broker.” I cut him a smile. “A very exclusive one.”
“Who works out of a farmers’ market.”
“Out of a pickle stall, actually.”
“Will she sell you the same information she gave Patel?”
“She would sell the same information ten times over if it turned a profit.”
“Then why wouldn’t she give Patel everything she had to start with?”
I cut him a look and waited until he figured it out for himself.
“More money.” He chuckled. “Feeding him breadcrumbs will tempt him back for the whole loaf.”
“Exactly.” I flashed him a smile, more comfortable in my element than one on one with him. “We, however, are going to buy the loaf before he can take another bite.”
“The