Blood Silence by Roger Stelljes Read Free Book Online Page B

right. I’ve been on the other end of that look. She is
not
happy.”
    “No, no she’s not. No soft words, no hug, no kiss goodbye, no saying good night to anyone at his wife’s table, which includes her parents. No, I’d say she’s royally pissed,” Sally answered, looking up at him with a smile. “See how much better off you are with me?”
    “There’s no question about that.”
    “So how was your conversation with Meredith, anyway?” she asked, back to focusing on him as they danced slowly.
    “A little awkward,” Mac answered, chuckling. “She had me completely flummoxed.”
    “Flummoxed?”
    Mac nodded. “Flummoxed.”
    “How so?”
    “She was very cordial and nice.”
    “And you were surprised by that?”
    “You know how our divorce went down,” Mac answered. “I never expected a pleasant word with her again, nor did I really care if I ever had one.”
    “Sometimes people can surprise you,” Sally replied, sliding in closer to him, their faces inches apart. “You know what I think?”
    “What?”
    “I think she took one look at you in this tux and suddenly said to herself, ‘What in the hell was I thinking? How could I have walked away from all of that? I must have been out of my mind.’
That’s
what she was thinking.”
    “I seriously doubt that,” Mac demurred.
    “I don’t,” Sally answered, tenderly cupping his face with her right hand. “I don’t.”
    They danced in silence for a few minutes, Sally resting her head on his shoulder. He could feel her breath on his neck, her lips brushing against his skin.
    “You know what I think?” Sally murmured, kissing his neck.
    “What?”
    She looked up into his blue eyes. “I think it’s getting late. I think my fiancé went above and beyond the call of duty tonight and might have even had a little bit of a good time in the process. I think, as a reward, I should get him upstairs so he and I can continue this dance in private.”
    “I love it when you lead.”

CHAPTER FOUR
“What did she do, admit it?”
    L ake Minnetonka was located twenty minutes west of Minneapolis and served as one of the pleasure grounds of the Twin Cities’ wealthy elite. The lake itself was large and irregularly shaped by numerous bays, peninsulas, and islands that made it seem like a collection of many lakes. The winding and weaving shoreline created over one hundred miles of extremely expensive real estate dotted with large mansions, homes, and cottages owned by the well-to-do of the Twin Cities. Even the smallest houses that would come on the market would go for millions, as long as they were on the lake.
    And of course, a fair share of debauchery, lasciviousness, and even criminality had taken place around the lake over the years, perhaps the most notorious of which was the Minnesota Vikings Love Boat adventure, which appeared to include all three types of those behaviors.
    However, the lake was not often the site of a murder, let alone a double murder.
    Orono Police Chief Annie Nelson pulled to a stop in front of the yellow crime scene tape, finding a place between the three police patrol units already on location. She checked her watch. It was 3:32 A.M. , and the sun was still at least two hours away from peeking over the eastern horizon. Nelson took one last hit of her coffee before she slid out of her Explorer.
    Her destination was the house right ahead, resting on the south side of Crystal Bay, which technically put the house within the city limits of Minnetonka Beach. Yet the apparent double murder awaiting her inside the house was within the jurisdiction of the police department for the city of Orono, the larger yet still lightly populated suburb that sat directly north across the large bay and provided the police services for Minnetonka Beach and a few other small, nearby Lake Minnetonka communities.
    Nelson glanced to her left to see a Channel Six News truck pulling up. A double murder out on the lake would draw attention, even at this extremely