No One Left to Tell by Karen Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

odd.’
    ‘Grayson isn’t odd. He’s always too mad.’
    ‘He’s not always mad. Just when he’s working.’
    JD gave her a pointed look. ‘He works always. Therefore he is mad always.’
    ‘Almost always. So you’re almost right. So what?’
    ‘I’m always right,’ JD said smugly, and Stevie grinned in spite of herself.
    ‘You’re full of yourself today. Why?’
    He grinned back, the look of a well-satisfied man. Which is how it should be . Her partner of one year was getting married in a month and she’d never seen him so happy. Still, ‘she put on her grump’, as her five year old called it. ‘I hope you two are using birth control. Otherwise, you’re gonna be procreating like bunnies.’
    He said nothing and Stevie’s grump faded like mist. ‘Lucy’s pregnant!’ She clapped her hands. ‘How long have you known?’
    ‘Since this morning,’ he confessed. ‘Don’t tell Lucy I told you. And don’t tell anyone else yet. We want to keep it a secret for a few months.’
    ‘Good luck with that,’ she said, and laughed out loud.
    ‘I know. Tell me what’s making Smith odd today so I can practice my serious face.’
    ‘He asked about the sniper’s victim. Said he thought he recognized her. That he prosecuted her husband.’
    Abruptly he sobered. ‘Makes you wonder who Mr Muñoz pissed off in jail. Still, it is odd that Grayson remembered the wife after all this time.’
    ‘Do you remember the faces of the spouses when you inform them of a murder?’
    ‘Every single one,’ JD replied.
    ‘Grayson once told me that every conviction is a bit like a death to the family. When the jury says “guilty”, it’s like a piece of them dies, too.’
    ‘Except their loved one took away someone else’s loved one forever.’
    ‘He knows that, and he’s more committed to getting justice for those victims than any prosecutor I know. But he remembers the mothers who cry when their children are hauled off to jail. It’s the price the bad guys pay. Unfortunately their families pay too.’
    ‘Like Elena Muñoz.’
    ‘Maybe,’ Stevie said. ‘I’ll guess we’ll see what Bashears and Morton dig up. Oh, heck. That’s our exit, right there. Whose turn is it to inform the parents?’
    ‘Yours,’ JD said grimly.
    Stevie sighed. ‘That’s what I thought. Let’s get this over with.’

Chapter Three
     
    Tuesday, April 5, 7.45 A.M .
     
    W ith Clay safely out of sight, Paige opened her door and let Detective Morton and her partner in. With a hand signal, she sent Peabody to lie down at her side.
    Bashears looked impressed. ‘That’s some dog.’ He started toward Peabody, but Paige held out her hand in warning.
    ‘He’s a protection dog. He knows I’m tense right now, so he’s tense too.’
    Bashears studied her front door with its three brand-new deadbolts, then nodded. ‘Fair enough. I don’t suppose it’s every day you witness a murder.’
    If you only knew , she thought. And then she realized he probably did. It wouldn’t be hard to find out about her ‘incident’. Google was only a cell phone away.
    ‘Not every day,’ she agreed evenly. ‘Look, I want to help you, but I’m really tired and I was about to take a shower. Can you ask me what you need to ask me?’
    ‘Of course,’ Morton said. ‘Can we sit?’
    ‘I’d like to get this done fast. I prefer to stand,’ she said and Morton frowned.
    ‘Of course.’ Morton proceeded to ask the same questions that Perkins had asked.
    Paige sighed. ‘With all due respect, Detective Morton, I have already answered all of these questions. I’m so tired I can’t think. Can we please be finished soon?’
    ‘If you’d sit down, you wouldn’t be so tired,’ Morton said snidely.
    Paige had to bite back a snarl. ‘If I sit down, I won’t get back up again.’ She moved to her door to show them out and Morton made a huffing noise, clearly annoyed.
    ‘Miss Holden, what do you do for a living?’ she asked.
    ‘I work at a gym. I also work