First Do No Evil: Blood Secrets, Book 1 by Carey Baldwin Read Free Book Online Page B

for months. Last week the mayor was kind enough to call me personally—he and Garth went to school together. He said the case is closed. Jack Spurlock was a career criminal, out on parole. Now he’s dead. I hate to admit I’m glad a human being lost his life, but I am. It’s a relief to know he can’t harm anyone ever again.”
    So the mayor was buddies with Novak. That might explain why he’d pushed the captain to close the case when there were more holes in it than farts in the precinct locker room. The mayor wanted to set his friend’s mind at ease. Well, Danny still had a motherload of questions. “I have a few concerns.”
    Soyla knocked at the open door. “Sorry to interrupt, but Doc, it’s nearly eight, and I finished balancing out an hour ago. Maybe this clinic is all you got, but I got a hungry man at home who claims he can’t work a microwave. If we don’t lock up and get out of here, he may go looking for a divorce lawyer on the grounds of me lookin’ out for you more than him. And that would be a rotten shame ‘cause he may not know how to work the buttons on the microwave, but he sure knows how to work mine.”
    Sky laughed, and the sound flashed through the room, unexpected and bright. “Of course, let’s get you home STAT. If you lock the front, I’ll take Detective Benson out the private entrance. Have you got the deposit ready?”
    “Yes ma’am.” Soyla tossed a zippered bank bag at Sky, calling back as she fled the room. “Nice catch, Doc. I’ll schedule you up a tryout with the Cardinals.”
    Sky crossed the room and lifted a monogrammed lab coat that had been hanging on the wall, concealing an oversized safe. Danny suppressed a chuckle as she removed a key from the coat pocket and opened the safe. “You can’t seriously expect to fool a criminal with the old coat-over-the-safe routine.”
    Without turning around, Sky replied, “What would you suggest?”
    “An alarm system. Outside lights. A security guard maybe.”
    Glancing back over her shoulder she said, “All that to protect a bank deposit that rarely exceeds double digits. Hardly seems worth the trouble. Besides, an alarm system has to be backed up by a service, and that’s one more monthly expense we just can’t afford.”
    “What about your computers? The flat screens in the waiting room, and I’m guessing some of your meds contain narcotics. Aren’t those things worth protecting?”
    “Point taken, but we really can’t afford a security system. This is a nonprofit clinic. Most people in town know we don’t have much in the way of cash and valuables. A security system’s something to keep in mind though, when things aren’t so tight as now.”
    “You’ve got grant money, don’t you?”
    Sky nodded. “Sure, but it’s not enough. I have to supplement the grants by moonlighting in the emergency room.”
    He let out a low whistle of admiration. “Keeping this place open with your own dough, huh? You’re something else, Rocky.”
    She raised puzzled eyebrows.
    “You’ve got raccoon eyes. You’re having trouble sleeping. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten your brother to write you a prescription.”
    “I don’t want to rely on medicine to help me sleep.”
    “Good.” He’d already gone so far afield of his purpose… “I don’t approve of drugs.”
    “You are a cop.”
    “Yes. And I need to ask you some questions, if I may.”
    A heavy-lidded expression was the only reply Sky gave him. Her unadorned face was drawn, her skin wan. But as he watched her now, she appeared even more beautiful than the day he’d first seen her. How she pulled it off was a mystery. Or maybe not. He’d always been a sucker for character.
    Before Sky locked the door of the safe and dropped the key in her purse, he spied a stash of folders inside. “You keep medical files in the safe?”
    She arched her brows at him again. This time she seemed annoyed. He didn’t care. He was a detective. He’d ask what he