Life in Death by Harlow Drake Read Free Book Online Page B

mayoral candidate, and the first man she had ever loved—until she had discovered his dark secret. They’d been at her place one night when he left the room to take a call. Rather than wait for her desktop computer to boot up, she had gone to his laptop to check her email. She'd opened his browser and had choked from what she had seen. Children—sweet, innocent children—being violated. She had closed the laptop and gagged.
    He'd returned to the room and noticed the expression on her face. “Are you okay?”
    She had shoved the laptop at him. “You’re sick. Get out of my house.”
    “It’s not what you think.”
    “Get out or I’ll call the cops.”
    He'd grabbed her by the shoulders and squeezed his fingers deep into her skin; the bruises had taken weeks to heal. “You’d better keep your mouth shut about this, or you’ll regret it.”
    He had the look of a caged, wild animal and had scared her into silence—until recently, when he had decided to run for office. She couldn’t let him run, so she’d written him a letter to remind him she hadn’t forgotten.
    “Who’s the guy in the corner in the black suit and gold tie?” Aubrey whispered.
    She didn’t have to look to know it was Nicolet.
    “That’s one of the detectives.”
    “I think he likes you. He hasn’t been able to take his eyes off you since we arrived.”
    Kari’s heart skipped a beat. Could he be interested in her? The funeral started, as many do, with songs. The pastor read passages from the Bible. While Kari hadn’t cared for April, others did. Her husband appeared to have really loved her. Clearly, Jefferson hadn’t truly loved Kari.
    After the service, Kari turned to leave, but felt a tap on her shoulder.
    “Can we talk?”
    Nicolet.
    ***
    Cobb watched Nicolet’s interaction with Kari and the other woman from his vantage point in the corner of the room. He didn’t like what he saw. Nicolet flitted around Kari like a bee to honey.
    Cobb reached inside his jacket pocket for his pack of cigarettes, withdrew one, and lit it. He inhaled deeply. His gut told him Kari was somehow involved in the girl’s death and April’s murder. She was the common demonitor between these murders, even if her alibi did check out. He didn’t like her and would dig into her background and see what shook loose.
    If Nicolet couldn’t keep his perspective with this Kari broad, Cobb might have to have his partner reassigned to another case. In the years he’d been paired with Nicolet, he’d never seen him act like this before. Cobb didn’t like it.
    Not one bit.

CHAPTER 12
    At 3 a.m., Cobb and Nicolet were called to the Atkins junkyard. The owner found blood pooled under the trunk of a car and reported it to the police.
    Dr. Chiba arrived in his van the same time they did. With Nicolet at his side, Cobb nodded to fellow officers who’d secured the scene, and went straight to the back of a black 1975 Buick Electra 225. “Pop it.”
    An officer opened the trunk. The familiar stench of death assaulted anyone nearby. An unidentified man’s decomposed body stared up at them.
    Dr. Chiba approached the trunk and checked inside. “Been here a while by the looks of things.”
    He did a cursory examination of the body. “Cause of death is evident. Bullet wound to the head. I’ll know more after I get him to the morgue.”
    He patted the front of the body down and searched inside the deceased’s suit jacket. He withdrew an envelope and handed it to Cobb. Cobb looked at the return address on the letter. Kari Marchant. Unbelievable. He withdrew the letter from the envelope and read it. One line: I remember everything.
    What the hell did that mean?
    “You better take a look at this.” Cobb handed the letter to Nicolet. He watched his partner closely as he read the letter, but couldn’t read him.
    “You’ve got to face facts where she’s concerned. She’s connected to three murders now. Shit’s not adding up.”
    “Agreed.”
    Dr. Chiba and his