“What is it?” he asked.
“Oh, just some crazy idea…”
“Crazy? You? You don’t do crazy. I’ve already copyrighted crazy. It’s all mine.”
“Then maybe it’s finally rubbed off.”
Dan shook his head. “I sincerely hope not…”
“Well, let’s see. What if I told you that—”
There was a noise from downstairs. They both stopped talking and their faces tensed as they listened. The ring of the phones reverberated through the floorboards, rising from the desks directly beneath them. Dan and Eva looked at each other, both waiting for the caller to hang up. But when the phones kept ringing, Dan said. “Could be important. Could be news on Suzie Appleby or Blane.”
“Or Lauren,” said Eva, turning cold.
“I’ll get it,” said Dan.
“No, let them ring off,” said Eva.
“It’s not after office hours. I’ll get it and come right back.” Dan dragged a pair of boxers over his legs and almost fell out of the door before he skipped down to the office. Eva listened as the phone was answered. She smiled at her skittishness. Was she really going to suggest a baby as a realistic option? Eva bit her lip and grinned. A minute or so later, Eva heard the office door slam, and listened as Dan’s feet thudded up the steps. Dan walked in looking dazed. There was a strange smile on his face. Eva shifted up in the bed.
“What is it? What happened?” said Eva.
“It was the Whitehair,” said Dan. “Crickle from The Renton Trust.”
“And?”
“Eva, the job is on! The Uber job! You know what that means? It means we won’t have to worry about money again for a while. And we’ll be busy. You know what? This is a big job. And to get this one done, we’ll have to throw everything at it. You, me, Mark, Joanne… everything we’ve got.”
Eva turned away and picked up her waiting wine glass. Her smile wavered, but she managed to keep it in place. Dan saw the change and his brow dipped over his eyes.
“Eva?”
“That’s great news, Dan. Great.”
“It means we can pay Joanne.”
“Like I said, it’s good news.”
“Then what’s the matter?” said Dan. “Did I steal your thunder? You had something to tell me.”
“I’ll think I’ll save it for another time.”
Dan grinned. “Want some more wine?”
“Yeah,” said Eva. “I think I do.”
Dan left the room to fetch the drinks.
Another time. Six weeks. Six months. A year. Six years…? By then it would be too late. When it happened, if it ever happened, Eva saw it was always going to be out of her hands.
The job would never let them go.
Another time then.
Maybe another life.
Still, it wasn’t all bad. The agency was growing. The work was coming in and there were still a few years left in the old body clock yet.
Eva decided she could wait.
After all, what choice did she have?
For now at least, playing with fire was the only game in town…
Eva Roberts and Dan Bradley will return!
Thank you for reading Playing With Fire. If you enjoyed this book I would be greatly honoured if you could post a short review to let other readers know. Thank you very much – I appreciate your help.
And if you’d like to get some more highly rated novels, boxed sets, novellas and short stories for free, then simply join the Readers’ Group at SolomonCarter.net. It’s free to join and once you’re in I’ll send you links to lots of cool stuff. You can quickly and easily unsubscribe at any time.
All the very best,
Solomon:)
Between Two Thieves
The sixth thrilling series featuring Eva Roberts & Dan Bradley, private detectives
Between Two Thieves
Cuts Both Ways
Play With Fire
More thrilling books by Solomon Carter
The DI Hogarth Secret Fear series – the second DI Hogarth series
The Secret Fear
The Secret Dawn
The Secret Sins
The DI Hogarth Darkest Lies series – The first DI Hogarth series
The Darkest Lies
The Darkest Grave
The Darkest Deed
The Darkest Truth
Long Time Dying
The first thrilling adventures featuring Eva Roberts & Dan Bradley, private detectives
One Mile Deep
Long Time Dying
Never Back Down
Crossing The Line
Divide and Rule
Better The Devil
On Borrowed Time
The Dirty Game
Only Live Once
Behind the Mask
The Dark Tide
Lucky For Some
Luck & Judgment
The second thrilling series featuring Eva Roberts & Dan Bradley, private detectives
Luck & Judgment
Truth Be Damned
The Sharp End
Don’t Go Gently
London Calling
The third thrilling series featuring Eva Roberts & Dan Bradley, private detectives
Rite To Silence
London Calling
Promise To Pay
The Pressure Zone
The Final Trick
The fourth thrilling series featuring Eva Roberts & Dan Bradley, private detectives
The Final Trick
Taste of Death
The Danger Room
Killers and Kings
Harder They Fall
The fifth thrilling series featuring Eva Roberts & Dan Bradley, private detectives
Harder They Fall
The Stone Girl
Harvest of Blood
Last Man Standing
Also by Solomon Carter
The Last Line thriller series – espionage, international adventure and all out action with Jenny Royal and The Company
Black and Gold – Vigilante Justice short read series featuring Simon ‘The Man in the Mask’ and Jess. Crosses over with the adventures of Eva Roberts and Dan Bradley, private detectives.
Roberts and Bradley Casebook – segmented short read series available in novel format as ‘complete box sets’. Continues the PI storyline onward from Long Time Dying until Luck & Judgment
Flesh and Blood
Rack and Ruin
Two Wrongs
PLAY WITH FIRE
Between Two Thieves Private Investigator Crime Thriller series Book 3
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Great Leap
Copyright © Solomon Carter 2019
Solomon Carter has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this e-book publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review, without the prior written permission of the author.