It was supposed to be simple. All struggling actor Carlo Baresi had to do was pick a man up, drive him to the location he specified, then report where he’d taken him. The only problem is, the man isn’t who he says he is ... and they both know it. Bookstore owner Joe Donnelly has a reputation for helping those in need, but this plan has been a bad one from the second he stepped in. Discovering someone has switched out the driver is one more complication he doesn’t want, especially since Carlo is the kind of distraction that can get a man in serious trouble if he’s not careful. But they have something in common. They’re both loose ends, struggling to find out what is really going on. And murder is always complicated, even when you’re on the same side.

The Low Between

“Oh.” Embarrassed heat crawled up the back of his neck. “I just—you said about keeping an eye on me.”


“Nobody can get into the store without me knowing.”


Except he felt like an idiot for assuming Joe would be in the same room and getting momentarily excited about the prospect. It was better this way. When thoughts of Joe sleeping plagued him, he could take care of himself without Joe being the wiser.


Conversation lapsed as Joe drove through the quiet streets. The storm seemed to be lessening, the pounding against the roof not as vicious as it’d been before. It gave him too much room to let his thoughts drift, questions about what Joe had said on the phone replaced with musing on what his apartment was like, if Carlo would get the chance to see it before this debacle was over, then self-recrimination for allowing himself to daydream about it when said man was sitting right next to him.


Chapter 9