Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Suzann Ledbetter Read Free Book Online

crime."
     
     
"I want him caught, McPhee."
     
     
Jack looked up. The tone and content of Gerry's statement weren't particularly open to interpretation. "You want me to catch a burglar?"
     
     
The insurance broker leaned forward and braced his elbows on the desk. "I hope your schedule's clear enough, or can be cleared to devote full-time to this."
     
     
There were some less than lucrative jobs pending on Jack's calendar. Otherwise, if the schedule had been any clearer, he'd be applying for a shopping-cart jockey's job at the local Sav-A-Lot.
     
     
National Federated's retainer would be commensurate with exclusivity, but a scratching sensation behind Jack's sternum hinted that Gerry Abramson was holding something back.
     
     
Perhaps an untranscribed chat with a crime-unit investigator who suspected this Calendar Burglar carried an AK-47 in his pillowcase. Most housebreakers aren't armed; county jail or prison-time on a theft rap is measured in single-to double-digit months. Add a weapons charge and it's usually sayonara for a long stretch.
     
     
But kill somebody with it—say, the P.I. on your case—and it's twenty-five to life. A punishment befitting the crime, Jack thought, except for me still being dead.
     
     
"The newspaper may be downplaying the story," he said, "but this victims list must have lit a bonfire under the police chief's butt."
     
     
Gerry nodded. "It hasn't slowed, much less stopped these thefts. If the Calendar Burglar isn't arrested before Labor Day weekend, it stands to reason, he'll disappear again."
     
     
And bloom like jonquils along a fence row next May. "I understand the reasoning, Gerry. To be honest, just thinking about it has my motor running, and the fee for services could be a beaut."
     
     
Jack laid the paperwork on the desk, then sat back and crossed a leg on his knee. "What I don't get is why you think I can make a tinker's damn worth of difference."
     
     
"Fresh eyes. Fresh perspective." His gesture relayed "If I'm footing the bill, what's the problem?"
     
     
The response was credible, even logical, but a tad too quick. Jack thought back to Wes's earlier remark about advising Gerry to contact McPhee Investigations shortly after the burglaries recommenced. Then the polite bum's rush Wes received when he tried to invite himself to the powwow.
     
     
"You think Shapiro's the Calendar Burglar," Jack said. "He covered himself by concentrating on other insurers' clients, then either greed or smarts told him he'd better dip into the home well, or somebody'd get wise."
     
     
Gerry's expression slackened. Skin folds lapping his eyelids retracted, as though an instant blepharoplasty had been performed. Chuckles escalated to a belly laugh. "Wait'll I tell Letha. Picturing Wes tiptoeing around like Cary Grant in that old cat burglar movie will be stuck in our heads for who knows how long."
     
     
Great. Now that he mentioned it, the image implanted itself in Jack's mind. Sort of like Don Knotts resurrected for a remake. No, not quite that big a departure. Jerry Stiller, maybe. Or What's-his-name—that average Joe born to play average Joes.
     
     
"It's as simple as this," Gerry said. "I'm an independent insurance agent. A hub in a wheel with multiple spokes. When loss claims hike, instead of one provider's boot on my neck, it's a centipede." He blew out a breath. "I shouldn't have to tell you, I don't need the stress."
     
     
A half hour later, Jack left the building with an armload of files, a retainer check and no idea how he'd earn it.
     
     
     
    4
S ingle-story duplexes are usually long rectangles with mirror-reverse floorplans. By the county assessor's definition, two contiguous residential units separated by a foot-thick rock firewall were patio homes. Very la-di-da, in Dina's opinion, but such was government work. Whether duplex or patio home, the bisected building wasn't rectangular, either, but an L painted a cruddy shade of gray.
     
     
The units shared a