Malevolent (Lieutenant Kane series Book 1) by E.H. Reinhard Read Free Book Online Page A

in contact with them was next on my list to do. I woke up my computer and plugged the ad agency’s name into a search engine. It came up right away with a phone number. The address listed sounded familiar. Figuring out why took me only a second. The address came back as the same place we’d found her body—the Manchester office building. Whoever killed her knew why she was in town. Some face-to-face with the folks at the ad agency was in order. I sent Detective Jones to go have a look at the hotel’s video footage and stopped at Hank’s desk on my way out.
    “Alibi?” I asked.
    “It checked out. He was in Chicago.”
    I nodded. “Did you hear anything on the airport surveillance?”
    “I just got off the phone. Waterman wasn’t in his office. I left a message for him to call me back.”
    “Transfer your desk phone to your cell and take a ride with me.”
    He picked up his phone, punched in the code to forward his calls, and stood. “Where we headed?”
    “Ace Marketing. Want to guess where it’s located?”
    Hank flashed me a puzzled look.
    “Manchester building.”
    “Where we found the body?” he asked.
    “Bingo.”
    We grabbed a cruiser from the parking lot. The lunch-hour traffic was backing up Kennedy. We pulled into the Manchester office building a few minutes after noon.
    The elevator took us up to Ace Marketing on the eighth floor. I checked the sign on the wall, and we proceeded down to the double glass doors at the end. Hank pulled open the door.
    The girl working the front desk looked up from her computer. “Can I help you, gentlemen?”
    “Hi. I’m Lieutenant Kane with the TPD. This is Sergeant Rawlings.” Hank gave her a nod. “Can we speak with a manager or whoever is in charge here?”
    “That would be Brenda White. She’s out at lunch right now. Just about everyone is.”
    “What time are you expecting her back?” I asked.
    “She should be back in a half hour or so.”
    I pointed to the handful of guest chairs. “Okay if we just wait here?”
    “Sure. That’s fine.”
    “Thanks.”
    We took seats in the waiting area, and I picked up an issue of Road & Track . Hank chose Field and Stream though I doubted he’d ever seen a field or a stream in his life.
    I’d forgone making fun of him about his wife on a couple occasions, and I was due. I tossed him a copy of Good Housekeeping . “Here you go, Hank. You don’t want your wife to find out you’re reading about guy stuff.”
    He grabbed the magazine and glanced at the cover. He shook his head. “I already have this issue at home. Karen got me a subscription. They have a nice recipe for scones in this one though.”
    I looked for a crack of a smile. It wasn’t there. He may have been serious. I thumbed through my magazine and stopped to read an article on the new Corvette. After that article and another, plus two more magazines, I heard some women talking in the hall. Two women walked through the door of the ad agency. They both carried bags of what I assumed to be leftovers from whatever place they’d stopped at for lunch.
    The receptionist got the attention of one of the women and pointed toward Hank and me. That woman handed the bag to her companion and approached.
    “Hello, I’m Brenda White. How can I help you?”
    I stood. “Hello, Miss White. We would like to ask some questions regarding the deceased that was found outside of the building.”
    “Oh, okay. It’s all anyone has been talking about. I have a few minutes. Do you want to come back to my office?”
    “That would be fine, thanks.”
    Hank and I followed her back and sat across from her at her desk. Miscellaneous sales awards and posters covered the back wall of her office.
    She scooted herself close to her desk and folded her hands. “How can we help?”
    “Miss White, the deceased woman was scheduled to do a sales training for your company.”
    She leaned back from the desk but didn’t speak.
    “Her name was Sarah McMillian. Did you know her?” Hank