Dead End by Mariah Stewart Read Free Book Online

he’s going to take one look at the file and say, ‘Aha! I know who the killer is!’ I think it’s his way of showing me that he respects Dylan’s memory and wants to give it his best shot.”
    Another silence.
    “He must be quite a guy, this homicide detective of yours.”
    “He is, Connor.”
    “Then tell him if he needs anything, if he has any questions, to talk to me.”
    “I’ll do that. Thanks.”
    “Listen, I have to run. You take care, Annie, and remember, if you need anything . . .”
    “I will. It was great talking to you, great seeing you on Friday.” Her emotions unexpectedly got the better of her and she felt her throat tighten. “You take care, Connor, wherever you are, whatever it is you’re doing. You take care of yourself.”
    “Will do. See you, Annie . . .”
    She dropped the phone into her purse and bit her bottom lip. She couldn’t help but worry about him. She always did. For men like Connor Shields, there was no telling where or when—or from whom—the danger might come.
    A finger of cold crawled up her neck, and she shivered, then shook it off. Connor had faced a thousand dangers during the ten years he’d been with the Bureau. Surely he’d emerge from whatever obscure corner of the world he was now in, unscathed as always. She wondered what it was that made him thrive on the danger, that kept him accepting the most perilous assignments.
    That well’s too deep for me, she told herself as she passed a tractor trailer when the road expanded from two lanes to four. Leaving Connor’s psyche for another day, she slipped a cassette into the dash to play back a taped session of a lecture she’d given to the last group of agents-in-training to refresh her memory. She had less than an hour before she was to speak, and needed to focus now on her speech.
    Annie tucked away all thoughts of Connor and Dylan and even of Evan. She had work to do.

5
    Luther Blue checked his Rolex and decided that it was none too early to make a call. If he was up, everyone should be up.
    He dialed and waited.
    “Shields.”
    “I know who I called, thank you,” Luther said dryly.
    “What’s up?”
    “You tell me.”
    “Tell you what?”
    “Tell me what I want to hear.”
    “It’s too early to play games, man.”
    “Tell me if I’m going to run into your cousin Connor when I arrive at headquarters this morning.”
    “No. No, you definitely will not run into Connor.”
    “So you are telling me you took care of the problem?”
    The pause was just a beat or two too long.
    “You didn’t do it, did you?” Luther tried to keep his temper under control.
    “I honest to God haven’t had an opportunity.”
    “A good agent doesn’t wait for opportunities. He makes them.”
    “Look, he was around this weekend, but the entire family was there. My dad, his dad, my brothers, my sister. He was never alone. There was just no chance to—”
    “This is just more of the same to me, Shields. I’m really tired of hearing it. As far as I’m concerned, you created this problem, one, by bumbling into him in that alley down in Santa Estela—what, two fucking years ago? And two, by not taking care of him right then and there.” The anger began to build. “You’re telling me in two fucking years, there wasn’t one time you could have taken him out?”
    Silence.
    “Shields?”
    “I heard you, man, I—”
    “You’re just so much bullshit, you know that? Do I need to remind you who works for who here?”
    “No. No reminder necessary.”
    “Then tell me how you’re so certain I won’t be coming face-to-face with him at any time soon?”
    “He’s out of the country.”
    “Where?”
    “No one knows, except maybe the guy he reports directly to, and the Director.”
    “So how do you know he won’t be around?”
    “I talked to him yesterday. He said he’ll be gone for at least three, probably closer to four, weeks.”
    “Did he say anything about that deal in Santa Estela?”
    Another