Ninja Soccer Moms by Jennifer Apodaca Read Free Book Online

confidential. Will you look into this for me?”
    His light brown eyes sharpened, ripping away the tired look. “What’s the name of this ex-husband?”
    Suddenly I had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. My stomach got a hot pain, like a stone from a fire pit fell in there. Sweat prickled my back and underarms. Vance wasn’t reacting like I expected. He was a robbery /homicide detective. I’d thought for sure he’d tell me to file a report or something. I hadn’t even used my knowledge of his secret life to pressure him. “Vance, what’s going on?”
    â€œShaw, what’s the name of the ex-husband embezzling money?”
    I knew I’d stepped in it. Somehow, I was in over my head. “Uh, it’s Chad Tuggle. He’s the head coach for SCOLE. He’s sort of a hero in town.” I stopped talking. Vance’s face hardened.
    â€œWell, now he’s sort of dead.”
    â€œDead?” The hot stone rolled in my gut, churning the cup of coffee and yogurt I’d had for breakfast. “But he can’t be dead, I just . . .” Shut up! I screamed in my head.
    â€œYou just what?” He lowered his voice to a seductively smooth coaxing tone.
    I’d just walked into a disaster, that’s what I’d done. Damn. “Uh, look, you’re obviously having a bad morning. Look at you,” I stood up, “you’re tired. Probably you were up all night with this—” My words froze when Vance grabbed my wrist.
    â€œSit. Down.”
    I sat. My brain wasn’t working properly, so obeying was easier than arguing.
    â€œI want to know everything. I’ve already talked to Dara, and she told me all about your spat with Chad. Were you and Chad dating?”
    â€œWhat? You know better than that. I’m dating Gabe.”
    â€œThen why were you in Chad’s office yesterday morning?” Vance pulled out a Bic pen and flipped open his notebook. “Start from the beginning.”
    I couldn’t even grasp Chad being dead. Blinking, I tried to think. Dead. And Vance is a homicide cop. “Chad was murdered? Where?” Suddenly, the doughnut shop heated, and I had trouble taking a full breath. Tiny black spots danced in front of my eyes. Chad’s office was a diagonal line across the parking lot. Vance was here. “Oh, Lord.” I leaned forward, putting my hands flat on the cool, smooth surface of the table. “Was he murdered in his office?”
    â€œHmm, you seem to have a lot of knowledge for not even knowing he was dead.” He wrote in the notebook.
    â€œStop it!” The words echoed in the shop. There were no other customers, but the little TV the owners watched in the back went silent. Great, my trauma was better than what was on TV.
    And what about Chad? Yeah, sure, he wasn’t a shining example of manhood, but dead? He didn’t deserve to be dead.
    â€œSo Janie Tuggle came to you about her ex-husband. Why? She had evidence that Chad was stealing from SCOLE? Or just suspicions? Is that why you went to his office yesterday?”
    God, what did I do? “I, uh, have you told Janie yet?”
    â€œShe’s next.” For a second, Vance’s eyes lost focus and drifted out the window.
    The dutiful, factual Vance was stalling. Any other time, I’d call him on it. But not for this. I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to tell Janie her ex-husband was dead. And the kids! Mark and Kelly would be devastated. “Wait,” I had another thought. “You said Dara already told you I saw Chad yesterday. So you notified his girlfriend, but not his ex-wife and kids?”
    Vance pulled his lips thin. “She found him, Shaw. Last night around ten. He wasn’t at home, so Dara went by work and found him.” His whole face grimaced. “It wasn’t pretty.”
    I closed my eyes. “How?”
    â€œLooks like he had his head bashed in with something