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

mean like leaving the phone behind?” I asked, determine to show them that I could play the same games.
    “That was one item, yes,” Siever responded.
    I felt at a loss. I really wished that Sheila was here. She would have made some observations that would have led to more questions, but I just felt stymied.
    “So when did Ryan find out?” I asked.
    “Just before he left for college. He’d gotten a large sum of money from his graduation, and he’d hired a private detective to look into the matter. The man came back and told him that Susan was alive and living in Seattle. At that point, I thought that it was best to tell him everything.” My mother looked at me, and I wondered why she thought it okay to tell my brother everything, but not me.
    “So why not me?” The words slipped out without my mouth stopping them. I looked as surprised as they did by the question.
    “Griff, you wouldn’t have let it go. Ryan took the news in stride, and then made his plans based on what he’d learned. He opted to take a job out of town, and he didn’t play cops and robbers to find the reasons why she’d left. He was able to take the news that she’d planned this herself and done it for her own reasons. You never would.”
    I thought about what she said, and I wasn’t sure that I agreed. I was doing this to find the truth, a truth that had not been made available to me. I hadn’t been able to make any plans based on the truth. I’d been led to believe that she’d been taken at force, and I’d made decisions based on that “truth.” Now I was going to have to reassess my thoughts and my life. The amount of effort and angst it would take to do this overwhelmed me.
    “Now your chance,” I said. “You can tell me.”
    My mother shook her head, and Siever squeezed her hand. I walked behind them and opened the door leading to the driveway. They turned and started to leave. On the way out, Siever said, “Remember this is still an open case. You could be prosecuted for interfering in the case.”
    I shook my head and smiled. “My defense would be that it’s not really open. I’d explain the work I’ve done and the print-outs I’ve made and then where would you be? You’d have to lie on the stand to keep this under wraps or you’d have to tell the truth. So go ahead and try it, because I frankly would love to hear the truth come out in court.”
    Siever turned and walked out. I wasn’t sure if I’d won that argument or not, but I was still frustrated with them. After they left, I went to my car and fished under the hood and the wheel wells until I found a GPS device. I stuck the device on my lawnmower, which wouldn’t be moving at all in this weather. Then I went back in and played with the dogs until dinner.
     
    Sheila called after dinner. “I feel like a person again,” she reported to me with a certain amount of glee. “I’m good to go back to work tomorrow.”
    “I’m glad to hear that.” I knew that she wouldn’t be down for long. Her personal work ethic involved working through everything short of decapitation. A concussion wouldn’t stand a chance against her.
    “How goes the case?” she asked. “Any new leads?”
    I told her the story of the tracking device and my mother’s visit along with Siever. She was impressed with the device and not happy with the results of that meeting. While she’d never expressed any opinion on my family, she’d always treated my mother as if she were a recalcitrant witness, which I guess in a way she was. “You always seem to give more than you get with them. You need to let them ask the questions, and then determine why they are asking those particular questions.” We went through the exact questions that I’d been asked. She suggested a few possible counter-questions that I could have asked to turn the tide on the conversation. When I finished with the final question, there was a long pause on the other end.
    “It sounds like they’re very concerned about