Cold Sweat by J.S. Marlo Read Free Book Online Page A

despicable man didn’t improve his disposition.
    “Let’s skip the platitudes, Norman. You have bigger problems. A man who calls himself Sly Serpent manufactured the second picture. Does the name ring a bell?”
    “Course it does. He sent me an email this morning.” Norman flung a piece of paper across his desk. “If you weren’t so incompetent, my daughter’s life wouldn’t have been in danger. I’m holding you personally responsible, Morgan.”
    Nothing like wild accusations to brighten Rich’s terrible day. He picked up a copy of the email.
    Forget the remaining $80,000. I decided to email the pictures to your wife and sons, and post them online for free. That’s the least I can do after the Internet made it so easy to find your daughter. I have to give it to you, Norman, she’s one spunky teenager with one mean streak. I’m surprised she’s alive. What happened? Did you forget to get rid of her? Was she too precious? How would your wife like to see your daughter’s pretty face on the front page of every newspaper?
    I will slowly crush you like the vermin you are, Norman. Her blood, like the blood of all the others, will be on your hands.
    Sly Serpent
    The blackmailer had signed his name. He wanted Norman to know who he was. This was personal. Vengeance with a capital V.
    “Where’s your daughter, Senator?”
    “Safe. No thanks to you.”
    Insults would get them nowhere. “I can make arrangements for her protection.”
    “She’s nine years old, Morgan.” Sweat pearled on the senator’s forehead. “You’re not going to traumatize her. My wife took her to her parents in Massachu—”
    “Did you say nine-years-old?”
    His face swollen and flushed, Norman abruptly stood up. He braced himself with his fists on his desk. “Are you deaf?”
    Rich’s cool demeanor crumbled. No one insulted deaf people in his presence. He leaned forward over the desk and met the senator nose to nose. “The blackmailer is talking about a spunky teenage girl with a mean streak. Not a little girl. How many daughters do you have?”
    “One...and four sons.” Sharing a physical similarity with a suddenly deflated balloon, the senator sat back down. “My oldest son is in Yale, his brother is in Stanford, and the twins are in boarding schools in California. I talked to all of them after I sent my wife and daughter away. They’re fine.”
    If the five Norman children are accounted for, who did Serpent find on the Internet?
    “Sly Serpent went through lots of trouble to hire a model that looks like you to snap the second picture. He wants to crush you like a vermin. This sounds like revenge.”
    “That Serpent hasn’t tasted my revenge yet.” Fury swirled in the senator’s eyes, instantly wiping out his defeated look. “I need to issue a statement before he publishes the pictures or they’ll damage my reputation and endanger my marriage.”
    Rich resisted the temptation to tell the senator he was solely responsible for the first photo. “I need a list of your enemies.”
    “Grab the phonebook, Morgan. They should all be in there.”
    If not for the innocent teenage girl whose fate might be in Serpent’s hands, Rich would have been tempted to drop the case. “What do you think he meant by the Internet made it so easy to find your daughter ?”
    “How am I supposed to know?” Shrugging off the question, the senator gripped a pen and scribbled on a post-it note.
    “A teenage girl’s life might be in danger, Senator. A teenage girl that Serpent believes to be your daughter.” Rising to his full height, Rich towered over Norman’s head. “Time to level with me. Do you have another daughter that your wife knows nothing about?”
    “I resent those ludicrous accusations.” The senator’s jaw hardened and his face turned a dark shade of blood. “Do you think a man in my position would be stupid enough to father a child out of wedlock?”
    The senator had been stupid enough to kiss a woman on an outdoor bridge