Sudden Death by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online Page A

have walked the streets? Lost? Confused? Angry with his fate? What about Price’s family? Did he have kids wondering where their dad was?
    Men like Price often slipped through the cracks.
    She was still waiting on the dead veteran’s files. All they had was one of his dog tags—if they were even his. He could have picked them up off the street or found them in a garbage can. They’d take prints at the autopsy, and the coroner’s investigators would track down family. Hopefully, they’d soon have his identification confirmed.
    But Megan knew soldiers after being raised by one. She couldn’t imagine any of them tossing their tags in the trash. Not the men and women she knew.
    Of course, maybe Price’s wife or ex-wife had tossed them out of spite.
    Nonsequitur, Megan. You are tired.
    And thinking about her mother. If Caroline had still been married to William Elliott, she would have tossed all his medals, commendations, and the numerous newspaper articles Megan had carefully preserved over the years, intending to give him a scrapbook on his retirement.
    The last page in the scrapbook was her father’s obituary and a photograph she took of his headstone at Arlington National Cemetery.
    Her cell phone’s symphony ring tone startled her. She grabbed the phone from the table, looked at the caller I.D., and didn’t immediately recognize the number. But it was after four in the morning—she’d fallen asleep in her chair.
    “This is Megan Elliott,” she answered, clearing her throat.
    “You have to get to the morgue right now !”
    Morgue. “Who’s this?”
    “Simone! Simone Charles, from Sac P.D. CSU. The army is snatching our victim. Says he’s AWOL and wanted for attempted murder.”
    Megan sat up and Mouse jumped off her lap with an irritated meow. She couldn’t believe the army CID was pushing for jurisdiction—and at four a.m.?
    “I’ll be right there.”
    “I called the district attorney and asked him to file some motion or something to stop them. But he thinks the U.S. attorney needs to do it. He’s going to try to slow them down.”
    “Matt Elliott?”
    “Is there another D.A.?”
    “Sorry. You woke me.” Of course the Sacramento P.D. would know the Sacramento district attorney, who happened to be Megan’s brother.
    “I’ll call my boss,” she said. “Hold them there.”
    “They’ll have to arrest me before they take my body.” Simone hung up.
    Megan jumped in and out of the shower before the water warmed, pulled her wet blond hair back into a tight braid, and slid on slacks and a thin blouse, then her shoulder holster. She poured some dry food into Mouse’s dish and added water to his bowl on her way out of her downtown loft, and was in her car twenty minutes after Simone’s furious call.
    She dialed her boss at his home. He answered quietly, probably so as not to wake his wife. “Richardson.”
    “Megan here.” She told him what Simone told her.
    “And?”
    “That’s all I have. I’m on my way to the morgue to see what we can do.”
    “We probably won’t be able to stop them. They have jurisdiction over their soldiers, dead or alive.”
    “It would be much better if we worked together on this.”
    “If anyone can convince the army’s CID to share, it’d be you, but I’m not holding my breath.” He sighed as if to emphasize the point. “I’ll call Olsen’s office.” Olsen was the U.S. attorney who oversaw their district. “Let me know what you find out. It may not be worth fighting them for.”
    “Sir, Price is connected to two other murders. Did you read my report? I emailed it last night. We need the evidence to track down a serial murderer, CID and their rules notwithstanding.”
    “Point taken.” He hung up, and Megan wasn’t sure if he was fully on her side.
    While military investigations were essential in keeping order among the armed forces, Megan simply couldn’t see what benefit there was to the Criminal Investigation Division taking over the murder of