Real Murder (Lovers in Crime Mystery Book 2) by Lauren Carr Read Free Book Online Page A

Talk about denial. Actually, I don’t know really, but when you said ‘prostitute,’ I thought that if Dad said he was going to be investigating a hooker’s murder, maybe … ”
    “What is it, Hunter?” Joshua asked.
    “My father was adopted,” Hunter said. “It’s a family secret.”
    “Must be,” Joshua said, “because I knew your father my whole life and this is the first I heard anything about it.”
    “The only reason I know about it was from listening to relatives talk when I was a wee little kid,” Hunter said. “I’d  be real quiet, and they wouldn’t notice me in the room. I heard some aunts and uncles talking about how my grandmother had a younger sister who ended up becoming a prostitute—you know, the official family black sheep. Once,  I asked my mother about it and she got really upset—saying that no one in our family was ever a hooker and how dare I even suggest such a thing. Then she ordered me to never say anything to my grandmother, Dad’s mom, about it.”  He tapped his temple with his finger while winking at Joshua. “That told me that there was something to these  rumors I was hearing. Not only did I overhear relatives saying that Dad’s aunt was a prostitute, but I also heard that she was Dad’s mother and my grandparents had adopted him.”
    “Was this family black sheep murdered?”
    Hunter shrugged his shoulders. “I really have no idea what happened to her. But my grandmother should know.” He squinted at Joshua. “Thing is, since you mentioned it, it makes me think that if Dad was going to investigate a prostitute’s murder on his own, wouldn’t he dive right into this case if the victim was his mother?”
    “Knowing your dad,” Joshua said, “I have no doubt that he would.”

“I should have gone with him,” Joshua said into his  brandy before taking the first sip. “We were friends. I remember when we were six years old. We built a raft, handmade, out of plywood. Since we were too young to use a hammer and nails, we tied it together with baling twine. Then we took it down to the river. That thing actually floated—until we were in the middle of the river. Then it started to sink. Luckily, some people heard us screaming for help. The police and fire department and everyone in town came out to rescue us.”
    Joshua tore his eyes from where he was staring into the fire he had built in the study’s fireplace to look over at Irving, who was perched with his front paws tucked under his black body in the wing-backed chair across from him. His emerald eyes bore into Joshua like an accusation.
    “I let him down, Irving.” Joshua sat forward in his seat with his elbows on his knees. He looked down into the brown liquor in the snifter he held in his hand. “But I was in the navy. I was on my way to Naples. I couldn’t not go. I had orders to be there.”
    Meow.
    “His murder wasn’t my fault. Who’s to say that if I had gone with him that we both wouldn’t have been murdered—that both of our bodies wouldn’t have been in that cruiser? Or maybe his murder had nothing to do with the case he was working on.”
    “If it wasn’t your fault, why are you kicking yourself over it … whatever it is?”
    Joshua jerked his head around to look over at Irving, who was still eyeing him.
    “You forgot about my milk and cookies.” Cameron came in from where she was leaning in the doorway to slip her hand over the top of the chair to his shoulder.
    “Sorry.”
    “How many of those have you had?”
    “This is my first,” he answered.
    “Do you always bare your soul to Irving in the middle of the night?”
    “Only when I need to talk to someone with the power to make me feel really guilty about something that wasn’t my fault.”
    “Oh.” She slipped into his lap. “Sounds like Tad is through with his autopsy on Mike’s body.”
    “No.” Joshua peered up into her eyes. “I don’t need the results of any autopsy. My gut has been screaming ever since