Ninja Soccer Moms by Jennifer Apodaca Read Free Book Online Page B

in a white wicker chair with a cushion that matched the green couch. His tone hardened just enough to put me on guard.
    He asked Janie, “When was the last time you saw Chad?”
    â€œI guess that’d be when he dropped Mark and Kelly off Sunday morning.”
    â€œOkay, today is Thursday, so that’s four days ago.” He made a note. “Do you know of anyone Chad might have had problems with? Anyone who might harm him?”
    Silence.
    I looked at Janie.
    She shook her head. “You mean someone who would kill Chad? No. Sure, there were rivalries with other cities over the soccer championship and stuff. But no one would kill him.”
    â€œMrs. Tuggle, how long have you and your ex-husband been divorced?” Vance shifted his gaze around the mobile home. “I mean, it must be pretty hard for you now, trying to make it.”
    I snapped my head up. What the hell was Vance doing?
    Janie answered in a soft voice. “We’ve been divorced about a year.”
    Vance wrote something in his notebook then looked up. “Now about paperwork . . . Do you know if Chad had life insurance or that sort of thing?”
    â€œYes, he did.”
    I was surprised at that. Since Chad had let the health insurance on the kids lapse, it seemed odd that he would keep paying on life insurance.
    â€œRight. So do you know who the beneficiary of his life insurance policy is?”
    Uh-oh. I didn’t like where these questions were going.
    â€œI am the beneficiary, Detective, since the kids are minors. We’ve had the policy for years.”
    â€œI see. And Chad kept paying the premiums after the divorce?”
    She hesitated. Her fingers twitched in my hand. Finally, Janie said, “We split it. Sometimes he paid, sometimes I did.”
    â€œSounds reasonable. Can you get me a copy of the policy today?”
    â€œUh,” Janie looked around, as if she just woke up and wasn’t sure where she was. “Yeah, I guess so.”
    Vance stood up. “You’ve been very helpful, Mrs. Tuggle. I appreciate it. And I’m sorry about your ex-husband.”
    Janie and I got up and followed Vance to the door.
    Vance turned to look at me. “I need to talk to you, Shaw.”
    â€œJanie, I’ll be right back,” I slipped outside with Vance and pulled the door closed behind me. We stood on the porch covered in green indoor/outdoor carpet. The metal overhang protected us from the rain. Turning to Vance, I said, “What was that little show all about? You can’t think Janie killed Chad!”
    â€œYou’re not asking the questions here, Shaw. What exactly did you and Chad talk about yesterday?”
    Vance was like a bulldog. “Just what I told you. We talked about bookkeeping programs, he told me Mark made the JV soccer team at school—stuff like that.”
    His gaze flicked over me. “I don’t think so. First, you told me that Janie thought Chad was embezzling from the soccer club, and now you are talking about bookkeeping programs. Using logic,” he paused, one side of his mouth kicking up just enough to flash a dimple, “which I know is completely foreign to you, I think the two are connected. I saw all the soccer trophies and other stuff related to soccer in Chad’s office, Shaw. How accurate would I be if I hypothesized that the soccer books for the soccer club were on Chad’s work computer?”
    Damned accurate. Since I had a firm policy against incriminating myself—and I’m pretty sure that copying the soccer disks might be slightly less than legal—I tried a little straight denial. “I don’t know anything about Chad’s murder, Vance. Except that I didn’t do it. And Janie didn’t do it.”
    Vance regarded me for a long minute. Then he nodded once and said, “Stay out of my investigation, Shaw. I’m going to solve this case by the book, and I don’t want to be tripping over you and