Christy Barritt - Squeaky Clean 07 - Mucky Streak by Christy Barritt Read Free Book Online Page B

toward his food.
    I got the message: H e was doing this as a favor. Certainly, a lot of people had knocked on his door over the years, trying to track down information on the case. I was sure he had better things to do.
    “Understood.” I pulled out my pad of questions, so I could take notes.
    “Got your notepad, huh?” He looked amused and maybe even skeptical.
    I offered a half shrug. “I left my trench coat and magnifying glass in the car.”
    He stared at me for a moment then a chuckle emerged, growing until it became a full out laugh. “I like that.” He rubbed his cheek. “That’s a good one.”
    A moment of relief filled me. Maybe I’d gained his trust. For once, my smart mouth had worked in my favor.
    His smile dipped, and he reached into his wallet and opened it. He slid something across the table to me.
    A picture of the Mercer family.
    “This case haunts me every day. I try to let it go, but it’s hard.”
    “I can’t imagine,” I offered.
    “ It’s like this. Everyone thinks they can find something I missed, ride in like a knight on a white horse and save the day by solving the case.” He shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “Look, I welcome someone else to solve this case. I do. It’s not that I’m being prideful. I couldn’t sleep for years when I thought about what had happened to that family. I even had a new alarm system put into my own house because I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to have something like that happen to my own family.”
    I had a feeling he felt like a failure when it came to this case. The community had been counting on him to put a killer behind bars and it hadn’t happened. Law enforcement could be like that, taking on the burden of unnecessary guilt. I could spot that disease a mile away, mostly because I struggled with it myself.
    “I’m not going to pretend to be a genius. I’m not. Nor am I going to pretend like I think I can solve this ,” I started. “Garrett Mercer hired me, so I’m going to give it my best shot. The fact is that we’re all in this together, whether we want to be or not.” Great, I’d taken to quoting musicals without even trying. I hoped the detective didn’t notice the High School Musical reference, and think of me as young and immature. The singsong inflection I’d added wouldn’t help my case.
    The former detective drew in a long, deep breath before meeting my eyes again. “The person who did this needs to be found. They need to pay for the damage of their actions. The crime was horrific. No one should get away with an offense like that.”
    “I agree. You were the original detective on the case?”
    He nodded. “I was. Of course, I had other detectives help out. The FBI got involved . Even when they took over, I couldn’t stop looking for answers.”
    “What wa s your gut reaction to the case?”
    He sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Whoever did the crime was someone with a mission. They knew what had to be done. There was planning involved. The whole family was home—minus Garrett. But it was unusual for the family to all be in the same place. All of their lives went in different directions, kind of like bystanders fleeing from ground zero. They may have been a family, but it was in blood only.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Elizabeth and Edward looked like a picture perfect couple in photos. But their marriage was a turbulent one.”
    “Sad.” Garrett had mentioned something about his dad being unfaithful.
    “Too often a reality.” He shook his head. “Anyway, even the daughter seemed to be something of a lone ranger. She was involved with clubs at school and hung out with her friends. My impression was, after interrogating people close to the family, that her parents didn’t parent very much. They were too caught up in themselves.”
    “I suppose even when you look at the crime scene, you saw a little of that, right? The dad was watching TV, the mom was in the kitchen, the