The City PI and the Country Cop by xxxxxxxxxxxx Read Free Book Online

looking at
Hoyt. “That’s not what got you upset though. I mean once you
figured it out. It had to do with your father. You always frown
when you think about him.”
    “What?”
    “Now, and just a few minutes ago. Okay,
that’s a guess I’ll admit, and you tried to hide it, but from the
brief look on your face when I was talking about my family
accepting me for what I am, I got the impression that your family
doesn’t accept it, do they?”
    Hoyt sighed. “Dad didn’t. He might have
kicked me out, but that wasn’t an option because I’d already left
home for college. You’d think after all these years it wouldn’t
bother me, but it does.”
    “No one wants the people they love to think
badly of them,” Teague said quietly. “Does he still live here in
Faircrest?”
    “No. He died just over a year ago. A massive
heart attack. Mom moved in with her sister in New Jersey about a
month later. She said she couldn’t take being here with all the
memories.” Hoyt shook his head disconsolately. “He never forgave
me.”
    “For God’s sake, what’s to forgive? I swear I
don’t understand people sometimes.”
    “Sometimes?” Hoyt managed to smile. “How
about ninety percent of the time. Anyway, back to what’s important
right now, catching a killer. If he is still in town he might go
after your employee. That is if the kid can pull it off that
he’s transient and a hustler.”
    “He can, and that, my friend, might be just
what we want. In point of fact, it would be better than what I was
thinking of doing. I’ll call Keir and get him out here ASAP.”
    * * * *

Chapter 5
    Keir Upton arrived early
Monday afternoon, flying into the county airport and then renting a
car to drive to Faircrest. As planned, he slipped unobtrusively
into the motel and up to Teague’s room.
    “You made it in record time,” Teague said by
way of greeting.
    “Yep. I parked the car in the lot of a motel
at the other end of town.”
    “That works. Unpack if you want while I call
Detective Newman to let him know you’re here.”
    “Naw. I’ll change when we get back and then
hit the street.” At the moment Keir was dressed in a pair of decent
jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt topped by a jean jacket. Not what
he’d be wearing once he was undercover.
    Teague nodded, calling Hoyt to ask where they
should meet since bringing Keir to the police department wasn’t a
good idea.
    Hoyt went silent momentarily then said, “My
place. It’s fairly isolated. Come around to the back door.” He gave
Teague the address. “Walking or driving? If you drive, you can park
at the Shop and Gas a quarter mile from me.”
    “We’ll do that,” Teague replied.
    After hanging up, Teague told Keir what they
were doing. “I’ll leave by the front door.” Teague smiled slightly.
“You, I presume, with get out of here the way you came in. My Trek
is in the back lot.”
    “Yep. Gotta love service entrances. I’ll meet
you there.”
    Fifteen minutes later Teague and Keir got out
of Teague’s car at the convenience store and cautiously made it
from there, via the trees that lined the rear of the properties, to
Hoyt’s house.
    The detective let them in through the back
door and suggested they go into the living room after asking if
they wanted coffee. Keir declined, Teague didn’t.
    “He’s not bad looking, for an older guy,”
Keir whispered once he and Teague were seated on the sofa.
    “He’s close to my age,” Teague muttered.
    Keir grinned. “Like I said, an older
guy.”
    Teague just rolled his eyes.
    As soon as Hoyt came into the room, handing
Teague his coffee, the detective examine Keir from head to toe. If
the look on Hoyt’s face had anything to do with his feelings, he
wasn’t impressed—in Teague’s considered opinion.
    Hoyt settled in an overstuffed armchair
opposite the sofa, leaned back and shook his head. “He’ll never—”
he focused his attention on Keir, “You’ll never pass as a homeless
teen.”
    Keir