Major Crimes by Michele Lynn Seigfried Read Free Book Online Page A

showed me the ring. It was odd. As I took the plastic bag from him, our hands touched and my mind went to that place that it shouldn’t have gone again—a memory of a passionate kiss I once shared with him. I shook off the feelings of a schoolgirl crush and got back to reality. Reality was that I was aiding and abetting the main suspect in a murder.
    “It’s bulky, so I can see why you’d think it was a man’s ring, but it’s small for a man’s finger. Pinky ring, maybe?”
    “Maybe.”
    “It’s dreadful.”
    “It’s not something I’d wear.” Bryce didn’t wear much jewelry anyway. Just a watch.
    “It looks like something one of those old-fashioned television mobsters would wear. I could ask Archie’s wife if she ever saw it before.”
    “I can’t give it to you; it’s evidence. How would you accomplish asking her anyway? What would you tell her about it?”
    “I don’t need the ring to ask her about it. Put it on a paper towel and I’ll take a picture with my cell phone.”
    “It has blood stains on it.”
    “I’ll Photoshop them out.”
    “Okay, but be careful. If Archie’s wife goes to the police about the ring, then they’ll be knocking down your door asking questions.”
    “How would they know it’s from the murder scene?”
    “Maybe they won’t…so long as you don’t mess up and mention it.”
    I glared at him. “I’m not the one who is going to mess anything up.”
    “That’s a shame, because I was hoping that we’d at least mess up the bed together.”
    I smacked his arm, then cleaned up the mess from breakfast. It’s not that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind a dozen or so times, but under the circumstances, no thanks. I was in a weird situation with another man in my life. No, not Mandy’s father—I couldn’t care less about him. It was a guy named Kris Beck. We had been dating for a while, but he owned a restaurant and well, let’s just say business came first. I rarely saw him. As a result, I was losing interest. I wanted more, and Kris couldn’t give it to me. On the other hand, I liked Kris because he was also a single parent with full custody of his son, so we seemed to be in the same place in our lives. Not to mention, he was gorgeous. I know, that was shallow, and that wasn’t the only reason I liked him. He was intelligent and mature. I met him before I met Bryce. I owed it to Kris to tell him it was over between us before I set my sights on Bryce.
    As for my history with Bryce, after becoming friends with him, I started to feel an attraction to him. He let me know the feeling was mutual. We kissed. He knew about Kris, so he backed off. I didn’t think it was fair to Bryce to be “second” to Kris, so to speak. If I had met Bryce first, maybe things would be different. But they weren’t. And I wasn’t sure Bryce had the same feelings for me any longer. Was the comment about the bed a joke or was there truth in jest?
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
    Bryce
     
     
    Chelsey must not have liked my joke about messing up the bed. But I could tell she wasn’t totally against it. The smack on the arm was playful enough. I turned my attention back to the ring.
    As Chelsey requested, I dumped the ring out of its plastic bag onto a paper towel. Chelsey snapped a close-up of the ring with her cell phone’s camera. I had serious reservations about showing the ring around. If Chelsey showed it to the killer, she could be putting herself in danger.
    “I really don’t like this idea. I’m having second thoughts about this.”
    “About what?”
    “You showing the ring around.”
    “Why? It’s our only real lead. We don’t have anything else to go on except our hunches.”
    “What if you show it to the killer?”
    “If the police can’t find the real killer, what are the chances a novice like me will find him?”
    Chelsey was hardheaded. She wasn’t going to be talked out of her little ring investigation. I let it go and hoped for the best.
    Chelsey