Let Loose by Rae Davies Read Free Book Online

teeth and waited for whatever
accusations, lectures and general unpleasantries were about to
come.
    “Lucy.” Stone scowled at me before sliding
his gaze to Martin. “I heard you found another body.” His eyes
moved over the scene, pausing at the messed up snow before moving
on.
    Martin stiffened. “Body?”
    A measure of shame washed over me, but I was
still confident that I’d made the right call, not only for me, but
Martin too. It was good for Stone to witness his shock.
    I waved to where Red lay. “Over there.” Then
I took a step toward Martin. “It’s Red. Someone shot him.” I said
the words softly as if that would somehow ease the news.
    Martin blinked. “Red?” He glanced down at the
dog who had settled down at his side. “Is he okay?”
    I shook my head, but Stone stepped in front
of me, cutting off my conversation. “Why don’t you talk to Chuck by
the cars.” He pointed to the road with one hand and motioned to one
of the uniformed officers with the other. “I’ll...” He turned so he
could see Martin. “talk to...?”
    Martin, despite a silent wish of my own, did
not leave him hanging. “Martin Phillips. I’m working with Red on
the course for the Silver Trail.”
    Chuck, or the kid I assumed was Chuck,
arrived at my side. He was young, probably fresh out of whatever
school police officers came from, and his hands shook a bit as he
motioned for me to walk in front of him.
    I pursed my lips and considered refusing. The
campground was a public place. I wasn’t in the way, and Stone
annoyed me. Basically, on principle, if he wanted me to leave, I
wanted to stay. But then Chuck looked me in the eye and I could see
what he was thinking.
Don’t make me look bad
.
    I sighed. I was a sucker for the young and
outranked.
    I did as I’d been told and slogged my way
back to the road.
    The dogs were glad to see me. Not that that
was a good thing for me or my Jeep. They scratched at the glass
like they were digging for China, smacked into each other and
tussled until I was sure the entire vehicle was going to collapse
under their enthusiasm.
    “Yours?” Chuck asked, eyeing me as if I
warranted a special kind of watching.
    “No.” I crossed my arms over my chest, leaned
against my Jeep and tried to ignore the shaking metal behind my
backside.
    “Okay, then...” He looked back at the
campground and fidgeted with a button on his coat.
    I heaved out a breath. “You could take my
statement. Do you want to know why I was here? What I saw? How I
knew Red?”
    He blinked at me like a goldfish who’d just
discovered a new ceramic castle in his bowl for the two millionth
time. “Red?” he asked.
    I inclined my head toward the campground.
“The body.”
    “Oh. You knew him.”
    “Yes...” I was starting to wonder if I should
just go to the patrol car myself and find the clipboard I knew all
officers carried. “You want to...” I motioned to his car.
    Another blink and then some light went on.
“Yeah. Sure. Just let me...” He scurried off, in search, I hoped,
of something to use to record my statement.
    He was back quickly and with a pen in hand,
looking a lot more confident.
    I went through the events of the morning,
hoping that telling good old Chuck my story would be enough. His
goldfish stare was heaven compared to the sharklike glare I was
used to enduring in similar situations with Stone.
    While we were talking, a truck drove by,
coming from town. I expected the person to slow down and gawk or
even stop and ask questions, but the driver kept going. Chuck was
blocking my view when the vehicle approached, but I got a look at
the back plates. They had a 5 on them for Lewis and Clark County.
Seriously, what was the world coming to when the locals didn’t care
enough to butt into a police investigation, at least a little?
    After taking down everything I had to say,
Chuck slipped the pen through the wire spiral at the top of his
notepad and tapped his finger against his leg.
    “Did you hear