The Morning After by Lisa Jackson Read Free Book Online

a big bear of a man who, if he didn’t love her, at least wasn’t unfaithful. Well, as far as anyone knew. From outward appearances, Judge Ronald Gillette was the epitome of propriety, ever the doting husband to a sickly wife who was often confined to her bedroom.
    As Nikki shot to her feet she tried to shake off the sadness that settled like a blanket over her soul whenever she thought of her mother too long.
    At the reception desk, she marked herself out for the rest of the day and pushed all thoughts of her family out of her head. Holding her jacket tight around her, she hurried outside where the wind caught in her hair, blowing wild red-blond strands over her eyes and slapping at her face. The day was already dark, twilight pressing in as she dashed across the street to her little hatchback parked beneath a street lamp.
    What the devil was Pierce Reed doing in Lumpkin County, so far out of his jurisdiction? It smelled like a story, but she tried not to get her hopes up. Maybe this was all a wild goose chase. Yeah, well, if that was the case, then why was Norm Metzger hot on Reed’s trail? No, there was definitely a story there. Ramming her car into gear she sped toward I-16, pushing the speed limit. It would take her at least five hours to get to Dahlonega, and then what? Even if she caught up with Reed, what were the chances that he’d fill her in?
    Slim and none.
    Nada and zilch.
    Unless she found a way to get to the man.
    She maneuvered through town to the interstate while half listening to news radio. She also had the police band on and heard about traffic violations and a robbery at a convenience store on the south end of Savannah, but nothing about whatever it was Reed was involved in. Nothing at all.
    She passed a semi hauling something flammable and pressed her foot hard on the accelerator. The trucker honked and she gave him a cursory lift of the hand as she flew by like the proverbial bat out of hell. She didn’t know what she’d find in Lumpkin County, but she figured it was ten times more interesting than the latest action by the Savannah School Board. Anything surrounding Detective Reed was.
    Handsome, stoic, all business, Pierce Reed was a prickly one, a detective who never let anyone too close, a man who totally clammed up when it came to dealing with the press.
    But that was about to change.
    Reed just didn’t know it yet.
     
     
    “So, this is what we make of it. Whoever brought the coffin up here used this old logging road.” Sheriff Baldwin pointed to a fork in the twin ruts and angled the nose of his Jeep to the right. “We figure he probably used a truck with a lift and a winch. I’ve got a detective already talking to the DMV about possible owners of that kind of truck. We’re also lookin’ for any that might have been stolen.”
    “Good idea,” Reed said, unbuttoning his jacket. Baldwin was in his late fifties, but as lean as when he’d been a drill sergeant in the army some thirty years earlier. A no-nonsense man with a craggy face, sharp eyes and thick gray moustache, he had the heater cranked up, and it rumbled as it blew hot air onto the windshield and into the interior of the department-issued vehicle. The police band crackled with static and the engine whined as the rig bucked up the hill.
    “It’s a start. But not much of one. Hell, I’ve worked for the county for twenty years. Never seen somethin’ like this.” Baldwin shifted into a lower gear. The Jeep’s headlights slashed through the gloom, beams bouncing off dried grass, sparse gravel and the rough trunks of scrub oak and pine. An opossum appeared from beneath a scraggly bush, its eyes shining, then it turned and lumbered awkwardly into the darkness of the surrounding brush.
    “I just can’t figure why anyone would go to all this trouble.”
    Neither could Reed. As the Jeep bounced and whined its way through the woods, he glared into the darkness. What the hell was he doing up here, near the little two-bedroom