COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) by Kassandra Lamb Page A

me.”
                Rose looked up at him. She cocked one eyebrow at a forty-five degree angle. “If Kate had told you right after her client was killed, what would you have done? Think about that for a minute before you answer.” She started strolling down the sidewalk again.
                They rounded the next corner. “I would have discreetly tried to find out who the ambassador was,” Skip finally said, with a touch of chagrin.
                “And if Kate asked you not to get involved?”
                Skip thought for a few seconds. “I probably still would’ve done it. I just wouldn’t have told her I did it.”
                “And if the shoe were on the other foot. You had a situation with a case that got dangerous, and... well, you wouldn’t tell her ’cause you wouldn’t want to worry her, but suppose you did tell her about it. What would you expect her to do?”
                Skip stopped in his tracks. “I’d expect her just to listen, let me vent. It would never even occur to her to get involved. She’d just beg me to be careful.”
                Rose grinned up at him. “A rather large double standard ya got goin’ there, don’t ya think?”
                Skip shook his head, then gave her a small grin back. “Next time I see you doling out rope, I’m gonna know you’re about to hang me with it.”
                They started walking again, rounding the corner back to Skip’s own block. “How’d you get so smart about men and women, Rosie?” He intentionally used the nickname she hated.
                She punched him in the arm. He winced. Rose was one of the few women who could hit him hard enough to hurt.
                “Usually I’m as baffled by other women as men are, but I get where Kate’s coming from, most of the time at least. She’s...” Rose paused.
                “A straight shooter,” Skip finished for her.
                Rose nodded, stopping beside her car. She pulled his keys out of her pocket and handed them to him. “Go make up with her, Skippy. She needs you. She’s been terrified by all this.”
                Guilt tugged at Skip’s heart. Why was it he suddenly needed other women to tell him to be there for his wife? He used to believe he was a sensitive man.
                Rose had beeped her car unlocked and opened the driver’s door. “Where you going, partner?” he asked.
                “Kaplan got back to me, while you and Kate were talking. I’ve got the mistress’s address. Gonna do some reconnaissance. Ambassador should be there tomorrow afternoon. That’s when me and Mac’ll deliver our little insurance policy. I’m putting him in charge of this case.” She arched an eyebrow at him again. “So you and I both take orders from him.”
                Skip started to protest, then thought better of it. Rose was in charge of allocation of personnel, and she was right. He was too close to the situation. Mac was the best person for the job.
                “How much did Kaplan soak us for the mistress’s address?” he said instead.
                “Only a hundred.”
                Skip snorted. “The man has the morals of a toad.”
                “Please, that’s insulting to the poor innocent toads.”
    ~~~~~~~
                Skip found Maria in the kitchen. The children were playing on the floor around her as she scrubbed the already spotless counter tops. Skip pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of his wallet. “Could you take the kids to McDonald’s for dinner?” he whispered so they wouldn’t overhear him.
                Maria answered him with her own eloquent Hernandez eyebrow.
                “I know. I’ve got some fences to mend,” Skip said.
                “Lez jist hope you no burn no