Cold Snap by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online Page A

misdemeanor charge; even with his record, I can get him community service if he agrees to testify against Christopher Lee.”
    Patrick almost laughed, but Elle was deadly serious.
    “And you think he’ll do that? Testify against his supplier?”
    “Yes, with the right motivation.”
    “Elle, he won’t.”
    “You don’t know that. You don’t know him. I have to give him a chance to do the right thing.”
    “He’s more scared of his supplier than he is of the police. I guarantee you he will not turn. Have you considered that his supplier told him to silence Kami because she was going to testify?”
    “Yes, but he wouldn’t.”
    “Why?”
    “He’s been protecting her for years. I don’t think he’ll hurt her.” She bit her lip.
    Patrick shook his head. “He doesn’t have to do it. He can turn her over to someone who will.”
    “I can’t believe that.”
    But her voice said the opposite. Elle drove white-knuckled through the city. Patrick would be lost if he had to find his own way back. “Kami could be in hiding herself,” he said. “Or run away, out of the city, because she didn’t want to testify, knowing what could happen.”
    “I promised her she’d be safe.”
    “How good are the promises she’s received in the past?”
    “I’ve always done what I said I would do,” Elle said. “She knows she can trust me.”
    “What if she thinks she’s protecting you? What if she’s scared and just wants to disappear? Sacramento. Stockton. Even Los Angeles. She doesn’t have to stay here.”
    “She wants to stop Christopher Lee, too.”
    “Why?”
    “Because she was friends with Doreen.”
    Patrick had no idea what Elle was talking about. “Who’s Doreen?”
    “Shit,” she mumbled.
    “Is this what you’ve been keeping from me?”
    She didn’t say anything.
    “Stop the car. Let me out.”
    “Patrick—”
    “Now.”
    What was Elle supposed to do? Tell Patrick everything? He would never understand. Or … maybe he was the only one who could. He’d seen shit, as a cop.
    She pulled over to the side of the road, but she didn’t turn off the car. “Don’t go,” she said quietly. She hated asking for help, but even she recognized when she was in over her head. “Please.”
    He didn’t make a move to get out. Instead, he asked, “Is Doreen the girl who died of a drug overdose?”
    Elle closed her eyes and nodded. “It’s my fault Doreen is dead,” she said quietly.
    “Why? Because you gave her the drugs?”
    “Of course not!” Why was Patrick doing this? Pushing her to lose her temper?
    “Tell me, Elle. Tell me how this started and who Doreen is to you.”
    She hadn’t told anyone about Doreen. Not the details. Not even Dwight, though he suspected she had a personal reason for wanting to take Christopher Lee down.
    “A year ago, Doreen came to me because she thought that Christopher Lee was supplying drugs to Richie Lorenzo. She knew I’d helped some kids get out from under Lorenzo’s thumb, and she knew how I felt about drugs. Doreen was sixteen, had watched her mother turn into a drug addict and her father go to prison for dealing. She recognized the signs when others didn’t. She knew who Lorenzo was, and found out something that made her suspicious about Lee.
    “I didn’t want to believe her. I was helping Lee raise money for the teen center; it was already under construction. I admired how he gave jobs to kids who had no other way to feed themselves or who could learn a skill that would help them later in life. But I agreed to follow Lorenzo to meet his supplier—and it was Lee. I saw it with my own eyes.”
    “Why didn’t you turn the information over to the police?”
    “I did! I used all my clout with law enforcement and they raided his business, TK Clothing, and found nothing other than minor OSHA violations. He was clean, according to them, and he paid his fine and all was well. But it wasn’t good, and Doreen was so disillusioned by the system that she