SLEEPING DOGS (Animal Instincts Book 6) by Chloe Kendrick Read Free Book Online Page A

who I thought was dead, talked to me on the phone, and she was upset that I’d called. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was the threat so great, or was I such a pariah in my own family that no one told me a thing that went on?
    “Why was she upset?” I asked through clenched teeth. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to hear the answer, but I asked anyway. This was the time to learn the truth.
    “She’s afraid that you’re going to bumble around in an investigation to learn more about her and that you’ll end up alerting everyone that she’s still alive. She doesn’t want the media storm that would come with being found.” My mother’s voice was clear and strong, and I didn’t doubt her words for a minute.
    “Then why wouldn’t she want to tell me the whole story herself? Then I wouldn’t look into anything, because I’d know the truth.” I was thoroughly annoyed with my family at the moment. I couldn’t believe that I was still being treated like a child.
    “It’s a risk that she didn’t want to take,” Siever replied.
    “There are pages missing from the police file. Did you know that? Did you take them?” I asked. Siever wasn’t going to be all official on me without realizing that I had my own cards to play here. If he wanted to report me, I could do the same to him.
    “I don’t know anything about missing pages,” he replied, but his manner was less self-assured. I had rattled him. “You shouldn’t have a copy of an open investigation.”
    “I don’t have all of it. Several pieces were missing. I wonder who could have taken them?”
    He resorted to the tactics he was familiar with. “This is an open police investigation, and you’re dating a member of the TPD. If you were to share it with Detective Green, then she’d have to do something about it. Close the case, or alert someone that the case should be closed. Then the questions would begin.”
    I drew a deep breath and let it out. “But I’ve only known her for about a year and dated her even less. What about all the years before that? Why not then?”
    My mother’s eyes grew wide. “Because it was settled and quiet. It was just best to leave it that way. Why wake sleeping dogs?”
    “How long have you known?” I asked.
    My mother looked at Siever and then spoke. “Since the beginning. Susan left me a note the night that she disappeared. She explained the whole matter to me in detail. She asked that I not tell anyone about it because of the nature of the matter. I respected her wishes.
    “So no one else knew about it?” I felt slightly mollified by that fact, knowing I wasn’t alone. However, the ramifications of that fact made my head spin. She’d let my father drink himself to death, knowing that she could have stopped it at any time. She’d let my brother move away, even though she could have prevented that. Mostly, she could have stopped me from retreating into my own fears, and she’d never lifted a finger to help. I couldn’t begin to fathom a reason why she would share the information with Siever and not with any member of my family.
    “I didn’t tell the police. I didn’t tell your father or your brother. No one,” she reiterated, still not admitting what she’d done to me or to my family.
    Siever cleared his throat. “Not for a long while. After I retired, I took a copy of the police file of your sister’s case with me. I started going back through my notes and the notes of the other detectives. A few things didn’t add up to a kidnapping, so I went to see your mother.”
    “Since he was retired, I told him everything. I thought he needed to know, so he would leave it alone.” My mother put her hand in his and squeezed. I rolled my eyes. The last thing I needed to see was a retelling of their romance. I wondered if she’d told him because he needed to know or because she wanted to enlist him in her efforts to hush up the matter. I thought of the missing autopsy reports and the missing interviews.
    “You