Blood Ties by Lori G. Armstrong Read Free Book Online

warm me, as the chill went deep, beyond fl esh and muscle to the bone. “It’s not the same situation because there’ll be answers for David. Sixteen-year-old girls do not just disappear in a town this size. Someone knows something. Sam was young and tragic and . . .”

    “White,” he fi nished. “I never expected prejudice from the champion of racial injustice.” Kevin crouched at my knees, forcing me to meet his eyes. “You’re right, it is a dif-ferent situation, but not because she’s white and the other drowning victims were Lakota.”

    “What makes you so sure?”

    Kevin’s icy voice cut through my indignation. “Because she didn’t drown. Whoever killed Sam slashed her throat. Slashed it from ear to ear. She bled to death before ending up in the creek.”

    Just like Ben . Th
    e words weren’t spoken aloud, but they
    hung in the confi nes of the gray offi
    ce nevertheless.
    I shut my eyes against the ghastly image, pushing my head back until the stucco wall scraped my scalp. Th at one little
    diff erence in the cases changed everything. And nothing.
    It sickened me; it incensed me, as Kevin knew it would. I didn’t want to get involved; yet I felt the pull. “When did 50
    you fi nd out?”

    “Sergeant Ritchie Schneider from the police department called with the details right when you walked in.”

    “Why?” Kevin’s dad had been a Rapid City cop for years so I knew he was tight with the PD. And, we’d known Ritchie Schneider from our hell-raising days back in high school. Still, the attitude of the RCPD was more like Sheriff Richard’s when it came to investigators in the private sector.

    “He knew it was my case and fi gured I deserved to know what I was up against. Th
    e FBI was called as a cour-
    tesy; at this point everyone still has access to everything, but that could change.”

    “Why didn’t you tell David?” My eyes burned beneath my lids and seemed to be glued shut. “Do you think David could’ve killed her? Hired you to cover his tracks?”

    I heard his sigh before it crossed my face, sweet, minty, close. “I’d considered it, but he seems to be the only one who gave a damn about her. But remember, we’re not trying to fi nd out who killed her, we’re only trying to fi gure out where she was hiding and why.”

    Slowly, I opened my eyes knowing Kevin would be right in my face. I wasn’t disappointed.

    His eyes, an intense green, locked on mine and I resisted the urge to squirm. He believes the crap about eyes being windows to the soul and reads me accurately on most days. I didn’t want him delving that deeply into me right now.

    51
    “What?”

    A cocky smile later, he backed off . “You’ll help me, won’t you?”

    He knew he had me but I hedged just the same. “It probably won’t make a diff erence.”

    “You’ll make a diff erence, I feel it.”

    His sweetness left me fl ustered and confused on the outside as harsher feelings roiled inside me. “I don’t know what I can do.”

    “You have a history with Shelley. I think she’ll talk to you easier than she would me.”

    Ancient history. Th
    e weekend kegs and sporadic con-
    fi dences from days past didn’t give me the right to infringe on her grief, or her attempts at overcoming her addictions.
    “Kevin, I knew Shelley years ago. She probably doesn’t even remember me.”

    “Everyone remembers you.”

    My knuckles rapped his chest. “Flattery won’t work, slick.”
    “What
    will?”

    “Money, good tequila, a weekend in Cozumel with unlimited sexual favors, you know, the usual.”

    He frowned and moved behind his desk. “I’m serious.”

    “Me too. Hard not to be with what I’ve heard today.”

    “You understand why I didn’t tell you everything in the car last night?”

    A wave of sleepiness washed over me. I wanted nothing 52
    more than to pull the covers over my head and ignore the horrors of the morning. “Yes, but it doesn’t make it easier.
    I don’t want to intrude