If the Shoe Kills by Lynn Cahoon Read Free Book Online

my body didn’t want to fall asleep.
    â€œJill, are you all right?” Jackie sounded worried. I heard a party going on behind her words, big band music floating through the speaker.
    â€œI’m fine. A little shaken up, but fine.” I pulled on my robe and went downstairs with my cup to warm my tea.
    â€œI’m calling to tell you I’ll open the shop tomorrow. My ride is bringing me home in a few minutes.” Jackie gushed through the phone. “I was so worried about you.”
    â€œWait, how did you hear?” I got a new tea bag out of the cupboard.
    â€œThe bar where the party is being held had the news channel on. Apparently it’s a big deal when someone with political ties takes his own life.”
    â€œWait, what?” I couldn’t have heard her right. “Who was Ted?”
    â€œThe Hendricks family is some shirttail relation to a former president. I guess when the old man was in power, they kind of ruled the Washington scene.” I heard Jackie mumble something. “Look, I’ve got to go. Don’t worry about opening, come into the shop or not, Toby and I will cover.”
    And with that, my aunt clicked the phone off. I set my cup next to my laptop and fired it up. I might as well find out what the scoop was on Ted.
    Two hours later, my notebook and my brain were filled with Ted facts. He’d been born into a powerful Washington family. His dad had been an ambassador to more countries than I thought existed. And from the pictures, his mother had been the perfect political wife, beautiful on the arm and her spare time spent on charity work. She mainly focused on child welfare rights, but her name had been associated with some commission on repairing the welfare system twenty years ago.
    They had three boys. One had died in a skiing accident as the youngest competitor accepted for the Olympic ski team. One was a lawyer back in DC. And Ted, obviously the slacker of the bunch. The online news outlets said he worked for a local social service agency, following his mother’s dream of social equality. From what I’d gleaned over the last few weeks, Ted didn’t so much support the ideal of working oneself out of poverty, he just liked pushing people around.
    Of course, the sanitized version of his life didn’t include his temper. Or probably, the multiple abuse charges that Greg had found in the background check. No, now that the guy was dead, he was an angel.
    I was ready to turn off the computer and head back upstairs when I saw the last paragraph of an article. “Ted Hendricks suffered a tremendous loss when his wife, the love of his life and his high school sweetheart, vanished in an apparent kidnapping scheme. Even after the million-dollar ransom had been wired to an offshore account, Katherine Janell Corbet Hendricks was never released. Authorities assumed she’d been killed by the kidnappers.” A picture of a young girl in a wedding dress standing alone at the altar ready to take her vows was at the bottom of the page.
    The frightened girl in the picture, especially with the expression of fear cloaking her eyes, appeared to be a very young Marie Jones.
    Checking the time on my cell, I realized it was already ten thirty. If Greg was done with the investigation, he hadn’t called. And if he had been done, he would have called to check in on me. I knew that much. I stared at the picture on the screen. Greg would tell me I was seeing problems where there weren’t any. Tell me that Ted had committed suicide.
    I glanced at the flyer that still sat on my table. One I’d picked up from the pile Marie had given out at the business meeting, announcing a new Thursday night class. I closed down the computer and put the flyer in my purse. I dialed Amy’s number.
    â€œHey, I just heard. You want me to come over with a bottle of rum and a six-pack of Coke?” Amy didn’t even let me say hello. “Or maybe wine?