Brass in Pocket by Jeff Mariotte Read Free Book Online

mean, not without it turning into some whole huge deal. But I can’t just pretend it didn’t happen, either. I don’t know what to say to her, and I can’t spend the rest of my life avoiding her.”
    Although she really needed to get back to work, Catherine was heartened that Lindsey had actually called her for relationship advice. Usually she preferred to keep her private life at a far remove from her mother. She honestly didn’t know what advice to offer, though, beyond the two suggestions that Lindsey had just shot down. “I’ll think about it,” she said. “If I have any brilliant insights, I’ll call you.”
    â€œPlease! As soon as you can!” Lindsey said. “’Bye!”
    Just like that, she was gone. Catherine didn’t expect any brilliant insights to strike her, but she would do what she could. When the job wasn’t taking precedence, that was.
    Which it nearly always did.

6
    P ATTI V AN D YKE DROVE the blue tractor that towed Jesse Dunwood’s plane into its usual hangar. After confirming that Officer Morston could stay with the plane and that Detective Grayson Williams had arrived to take statements from the various airport employees, Greg and Riley drove across the north edge of the city to the construction site for the new Empire Hotel and Casino.
    As Catherine had suggested, there were signs galore flanking the project, some of them showing artist’s renditions of a massive structure that looked vaguely like a high-rise version of the Roman Colosseum.
    â€œNice,” Greg said. “I thought we had moved beyond that whole theme casino thing. You think they’ll run gladiatorial games?”
    â€œIf people can place bets on the gladiators? They’ll make a fortune.”
    â€œYou’re probably right.”
    As at the airport, when Greg approached the site he kept an eye out for a police officer or telltale yellow crime scene tape. He saw the former, a uniformed cop who was waiting just outside a tall, closed gate. She approached the driver’s window with a friendly smile. “You’re with the lab?” she said. The name VILLANUEVA barely fit on her name tag.
    â€œThat’s right. I’m CSI Sanders and this is CSI Adams.”
    â€œI was told to expect you. I hope this isn’t a waste of all our time.”
    â€œThat makes three of us,” Riley said. “I don’t imagine it would thrill the taxpayers, either.”
    â€œProbably not,” Officer Villanueva replied. “I’ll get the gate open, then you can follow me down the graded road for about an eighth of a mile. The last little bit you’ll have to cover on foot.”
    She did as she said, opening the gate, then closing it behind the SUV. Inside the fence, the only illumination came from moonlight and a little bit of spillover from floodlights showing off the signs on the far side of the fence. Officer Villanueva covered the distance at a brisk jog. “Bet she runs marathons,” Riley said. “She has that runner’s look about her. Lean and hungry.”
    Riley, Greg noted, was plenty lean herself. He wondered who the first guy in the lab to ask her out would be, then realized it had no doubt already happened. The fact that he hadn’t yet heard about it was the only surprise. His money was on Hodges. Greg parked where Villanueva indicated, beside some piles of recently overturned earth. He andRiley got their field kits and flashlights from the back of the SUV. “It’s this way,” the officer said.
    â€œDid you talk to the archeologist who made the find?” Riley asked her as they threaded between mounds of moonlit dirt.
    â€œNot me, no. She was gone when I got here. I took over from another officer who had some paperwork to take care of. It’s been pretty quiet here since I came on. But at least it’s starting to cool off, right?”
    It was, Greg realized. Not time to break out