The Keeper by John Lescroart Read Free Book Online Page A

but look at the hassle. Taking the body somewhere, then hiding it, and meanwhile, you’re left with traces of the victim in your car and maybe on your person. Alternatively, you could shoot her in the house, and in that case it goes down as a B and E that went wrong, and every criminal in San Francisco will be suspect. Which brings us back around to Hal, who’s Diz’s prospective client and who I’m supposed to believe is innocent, although I’m having somewhat of a hard time with that because it’s not what I feel.”
    “So I see.”
    “Prejudice.”
    “There you go. So you’re going to stick with this for a while, this investigation?”
    “If you’re not still going to be mad at me.”
    “I’m not mad at you. I was just getting used to the idea that you weren’t going to be involved in murder cases anymore. For the record, I was comfortable with that.”
    “Also for the record, this isn’t yet a definite murder case, although I must admit it’s leaning in that direction. And my prejudice about Hal isn’t doing anybody any good. I’m trying to imagine what happened to this woman if it wasn’t something to do with her husband.”
    “Maybe you shouldn’t focus on the husband, Abe. Maybe you could go about getting to know her better. Who was Katie?”
    •  •  •
    F RANNIE H ARDY WAS sipping her coffee at the dinner table. Putting the cup down, she shook her head and leveled an admiring gaze at her husband. “Sometimes,” she said, “you simply astound me.”
    “Thank you. You mean because I’m already on board with Hal Chase?”
    “Not really that, no.”
    “What, then?”
    “The fact that you’ve been home for about two hours, and we’ve just had a leisurely and pleasant dinner together, and you have spent nearly every minute of that time talking to me about your perfect game of darts this morning.”
    “I know. It was groundbreaking.”
    “Evidently so. Making every single shot from twenty down to and including the bull’s-eye without one miss. Not even the bull’s-eye.”
    “Bull’s-eye’s the killer.”
    “Of course it is. And you’ve described it all so perfectly, I feel like I was there, witnessing it all firsthand. The thrill of victory.”
    “Especially the last round,” Hardy said. “Could you believe how I cleared my mind, instead of thinking about it and letting the tension get to me? That’s what could have done me in. But no, I just picked those suckers out of the board, walked back to the line, turned, and threw. Bam. Bam! BAM!”
    “I think you did mention the mind-meld the first time. Or the second. One of them, anyway.”
    “And that’s not what astounded you?”
    “No. Actually, it was nothing about the dart game.”
    “Do you want me to guess?”
    “I don’t think you could, so I’ll tell you. What astounded me is that my client’s husband came to your office this morning and asked you to be his lawyer because he was afraid they were going to charge him with murder, and then you met Abe for lunch and got him on board as your investigator. And all of this was really further down your list of interesting things that happened today than your perfect score in Twenty Down.”
    Hardy shrugged. “I’ve had lots of clients, Fran. But never a perfect game. Think about it. What would you rank higher, interest-wise?”
    She stared at him. “Amazing.”
    He nodded. “Thank you.”
    “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about the perfect game? Or do you think we might chat for a minute about Hal and his situation?”
    “Phyllis didn’t seem to fully appreciate it, either,” he said. “That woman is a major trial. I asked Abe if he thought he could kill her and get away with it. He didn’t think so.”
    “Really, though, enough. Okay?”
    “All right.” Hardy reached for the wine bottle and emptied it into his glass. “What do you want to know about Hal?”
    “How was he?”
    “Depressed and worried. Sleep-deprived. About what you’d