The Ticket Out

The Ticket Out by Helen Knode Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: The Ticket Out by Helen Knode Read Free Book Online
Authors: Helen Knode
appointment calendar. Don’t act on any information or evidence you found among the victim’s effects.”
    â€œWhat if I research her background? Won’t you talk to the party guests first?”
    Lockwood nodded, but it was an effort for him.
    â€œJournalists often do a better job on background than we do. I’ve had reporters provide critical information that came out of left field as far as our investigation was concerned—”
    I smiled and started to say something. He stopped me.
    â€œâ€”but I’d prefer that you didn’t. I’ll keep you apprised of our progress as long as you don’t print anything without my permission.”
    â€œI promise not to print anything, but that’s all. I can’t not act.”
    He nodded, and it was another effort.
    â€œThen if nothing else, don’t bother the Hollywood people. They’ll cause trouble if they aren’t handled correctly. And I’ll need to know where you can be reached.”
    I said, “What do you mean? You know where I live.”
    Lockwood gave me a look. “Has it occurred to you that you might have been the intended victim?”
    â€œIt did. But all the lights were on, and Stenholm and I aren’t twins.”
    â€œWhat if it was dark at the time? Maybe the killer made a mistake, then tried to cover it with the lights and simulated suicide.”
    I felt a wave of fear—much stronger than anything I’d felt that morning. I sat down on the bed.
    I whispered, “But there’s no reason to kill me.”
    â€œJust tell us where you decide to stay, and don’t leave town under any circumstances.”
    â€œHow can I be a suspect
and
the intended victim?”
    Lockwood held up his stopwatch. “When I say go, I want you to show me everything you did from the time you woke up. Go.”
    He pressed the stem in.
    â€œBut-”
    â€œGo.”
    I leaned over and pretended to get my clothes off the floor. I pretended to put them on, wondering if this was payback for the way the
Millennium
had savaged him. But Lockwood’s face told me zero.

CHAPTER FIVE

    I DROVE INTO the office at dinnertime thinking about a cartoon. It was an animated short I saw at a festival once called “Bambi Meets Godzilla.” A giant prehistoric claw comes down from the sky and squashes a doe grazing at the bottom of the frame. It lasted less than a minute.
Splat!
The End. And you laughed.
    My encounter with Lockwood was just as lopsided. I had braced myself for a hero’s resistance and he broke me down so fast, it was pathetic. The Xerox machine, my computer, my family, the Colt: he’d gotten everything there was to get almost. He didn’t even give me a chance to struggle; I never saw the claw coming.
    But I wasn’t squashed flat. He didn’t find my copies of Greta Stenholm’s Filofax. He hadn’t threatened legal action, or warned me in graphic terms not to get involved. I’d expected him to play the prehistoric heavy, and he hadn’t. But he did make one mistake. I discovered it after he left. When he erased my notes on the crime scene, he didn’t think to look for a backup file. I always put an extra backup file on disk.
    So I had the xeroxes, and I still had my notes. All I needed now was Barry’s permission to go ahead. I was determined to fight him for it, but I also had to be diplomatic. I remembered what Mark said about Barry’s schizy mood—and I remembered our last conversation. It wasn’t smart to hang up on him.
    Barry’s assistant had gone for the night. I knocked on Barry’s door and walked in unannounced. He looked up from what he was reading.
    â€œWhere have you been?”
    â€œI didn’t know you were expecting me.”
    â€œWe have to discuss your piece. Where’ve you
been?”
    â€œWith Lockwood.”
    â€œAll this time? What for?”
    I sat down on the edge of his desk. “Like

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