Dying Scream by Mary Burton Read Free Book Online

Something had upset her.
    The crews had found something.
    Gage couldn’t suppress the rush of exhilaration and despair. He’d bet his last dollar they’d found Rhonda Minor. “Something’s happening.”
    Vega nodded. “You saw the T-bar as well?”
    “Yeah. Let’s head over.”
    “Sure.”
    They’d not taken five steps when Gage’s cell rang. Not breaking stride, he pulled the phone from its holster and flipped it open. “Detective Hudson.”
    “What’s your status?” Homicide detective Jacob Warwick rarely took time for pleasantries.
    “I’m on the Thornton property. And I think they’ve found something.”
    “What?”
    “That’s what I’m going to find out. But I can tell you the foreman was carrying a T-bar and motioning toward the ground.”
    “A body they weren’t expecting?”
    Gage pictured Warwick standing not sitting behind his desk. “We’ll see. It might be nothing.” As much as he liked to win, he took no pleasure unearthing the dead and telling a family their loved one was dead. “I’ll call you back as soon as I have something.”
    Warwick hesitated. “You’ve heard about Ms. Barrington’s connection to my wife?”
    Gage glanced at Vega. “Yeah.”
    “My wife wants to build a relationship with her sister. But I don’t want my wife hurt. Kendall is a smart woman, but she has blinders on when it comes to her birth sister. She wants their relationship to work. But if Adrianna Barrington is involved in something illegal, I don’t want you to hesitate to investigate.”
    “Her relationship to your wife has no bearing as far as I’m concerned.” And it didn’t.
    “Good.” Warwick clicked off.
    Vega raised a brow. “Nothing like telling a coworker you’ll arrest his family. Sets the tone for a good working relationship.”
    “Warwick would do the same.” Gage grinned. “And I’m the first to admit I have more balls than brains.”
    Vega laughed. “Now, on that I do agree.”
    Adjusting his cuffs, Gage strode toward Adrianna. He stopped a few feet behind her. “What’s going on?”
    The sound of his voice startled her. She turned and looked up at him with a direct clear, if slightly pained, gaze. He sensed that her nerves were so tight they could snap. “They’ve found a skeleton.”
    “Does Miller know if the remains are human or not?”
    Her chest rose and fell in deliberate breaths. He sensed dogged determination kept her from running. “Human.”
    Even though she looked like she could use a friend, comforting her was not an option. He owed it to two missing women to be only the cop.
    Gage glanced past her to see a young guy with a NASCAR shirt drive the shovel into the grave. “Stop!”
    The kid looked up and frowned. “Who the hell are you?”
    He pulled his badge from his pocket. “Police. And from this moment on, consider this job site closed.”
     
    An hour later Adrianna leaned against her car watching as the county forensics crew strung yellow crime scene tape around the trees isolating the mounds Miller had found.
    The last few years, she’d learned of her husband’s disastrous financial decisions. Arrogance and foolishness had been his undoing. But she refused to believe that he’d killed Rhonda Minor.
    Mazur, who’d been on his phone most of that time, finally approached her. The sour frown on his face didn’t bode well. “Have the police reported anything new?”
    Even as an oily sickness coiled in her stomach, she smiled. “No, but I’m sure they’ll wrap up their investigation quickly. Detective Hudson is efficient.”
    Mazur clenched his jaw. “I don’t like this.”
    “Don’t worry. I’ll have the graves removed. And you can take over as planned.”
    “I’ve got a lot of money riding on this property. And the last thing I want or need is a long legal battle to get a bunch of bones out of the ground.”
    She glared at him. “I’ll take care of it, as I promised.”
    He reached in his pocket, pulled out a cigar, and lit it. A few