Justice for Sara by Erica Spindler Read Free Book Online Page B

tamped down the panic that wanted to rise up in him. “Pull yourself together, Trix! Tell me what’s happened.”
    “He’s dead.”
    Tanner frowned. She couldn’t have said, she didn’t mean— “Who’s dead?”
    “Wally!” she wailed. “Somebody shot him!”
    For a split second he was certain he had misheard her. Or that it was a sick joke. She couldn’t have said—
    But she had.
    “Quickly, Trix, tell me what happened.”
    “He called in. At two forty-six. About a car with no plates at the side of Highway 22. He was going to investigate.”
    “That’s it?”
    “That’s what he said. Didn’t he call you?”
    “Why would he?”
    She whimpered. “He said he did.”
    Tanner worked to pull together his scrambled thoughts. “The phone didn’t ring,” he snapped.
    “I could be mistaken, I’m not … That’s what I thought he said.”
    “Judas Priest, Trixie! Pull yourself together!”
    She started to cry again. He cut her off. “Where did they find him?”
    “On 22. A hundred feet from the Liberty line.”
    “Their jurisdiction? Or ours?”
    “Their’s. They made that clear.”
    “Nothing else?”
    “Miz Bell called. Said she thought something was going on over at the McCall place.”
    “She always thinks something’s going on over there.”
    “She said she saw Miss Katherine sneaking out of the house last night.”
    “And last week she reported a peeping Tom that turned out to be a raccoon.”
    “She was insistent. Said she would have called it in sooner, but that she wasn’t feeling so well—”
    “Dammit, Trix, focus! Wally’s dead, nothing else matters.”
    She went stone silent. He’d never raised his voice to her and he knew he’d hurt her feelings. But he couldn’t worry about a rebellious teenager or her nosy neighbor right now. “What else did the sheriff’s deputies say?”
    “That he’d been … he’d been shot. That’s all.”
    “I’m heading to the scene. Keep this under wraps until we know for sure what happened.”

CHAPTER EIGHT
Tuesday, June 4
9:15 A.M.

    Kat had arranged to meet Jeremy’s Realtor at the first property. She’d left early enough to stop at the Sunny Side Up first. Although their three-egg scramblers and Applewood smoked bacon were two of the most delicious things on the planet, she wasn’t looking to have a late breakfast.
    She wanted to have a word with her old friend Dab.
    Kat parked her Fusion hybrid, angling it in between a Suburban and an F-150 pickup. It was amazing how many people still drove gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs down here. In Portland, compact, efficient and hybrid were the norm. Of course, if you Googled “southern transportation,” it’d pull up a picture of a big ol’ truck.
    Riverview Street was the most picturesque in Liberty. Only three blocks long, it fronted the Tchefuncte River. The riverside was dotted with magnificent live oaks, the other side with cafes, shops and other businesses.
    Good Earth Bread Company would be a perfect addition to the other businesses. Her other choice of location was the town square.
    Kat reached the cafe. Sunny Side, as the locals called it, had been a Liberty tradition for as long as Kat could remember. When her mother had been a teenager, the Sunny Side’s soda fountain had been their after-school hangout. By the time Kat made high school, coffee drinks had replaced ice cream creations and she and her friends had stopped in for lattes and granitas.
    As Kat entered the cafe, the bell over the door jingled. A friendly welcoming sound. Folks glanced her way, their smiles fading as they recognized her. One by one, they fell silent and stared.
    Not so friendly now, she thought. Not welcoming.
    Could one of these people be her “fan”? Was he staring at her now, thinking of the bat and imaging her reaction? Getting off on the idea of her terror.
    She wouldn’t give him, any of them, the satisfaction. Kat let the door swing shut behind her. “Hi, y’all,” she said brightly.