The Truth About Comfort Cove by Tara Taylor Quinn Read Free Book Online

just after the dinner hour on Wednesday, swiped her detective badge, made it through the next set of doors, swiped her badge again and then requested a visit with prisoner 281.
Two-eighty-one was housed on the long-term-stay, dangerous-crime block. He was a man who had not yet been sentenced to prison. But he would be.
Sloan Wakerby agreed to her request to see him. And why not? He didn’t have anything to lose.
Used to interrogating suspects—dangerous ones—Lucy nonetheless second-guessed the advisability of what she was doing when the guard left her alone in the room with Sloan Wakerby. But the armed officer was just on the other side of the glass, watching every move that was made. She was perfectly safe.
She wanted Wakerby alone. The guy didn’t respect women. He’d had a smirk on his face every single time she’d asked him a question the one other time she’d had a go at him. An official go. Ramsey Miller had been present that time. He’d flown in specifically for the interview.
She’d asked Ramsey to come. But that was before Lucy had had a full handle on Wakerby.
Her new theory was that if there were no men around, Wakerby might get cocky enough to give her something.
She wasn’t choosy. Any little thing she could work with would do.
“You ever hear of a woman named Gladys Buckley?”
“If you think you’re pinning something else on me, you’d better give it up, lady.”
“Gladys wasn’t raped.”
“I don’t give a…”
Lucy tuned out the rest of the man’s colorful reply regarding his lack of caring.
“She’s an older woman,” she said instead.
“I don’t have to talk to you without my lawyer present.”
“That’s right, you don’t. I’m here to talk. You just listen.”
Wakerby’s stare was harsher than the string of words he’d just hurled her way.
“You were made,” she said as she set down her portfolio and took the cold hard metal seat across the scarred conference table from the slime who’d ruined her mother’s life.
Wakerby grinned—an expression that only engaged half of his mouth—and shrugged.
“You’re going to prison for the rest of your life. At the very least.”
“Because of that bitch who ID’d me? Her testimony won’t hold up in court.”
“Oh, no? Why not?”
His full smile showed a row of broken and rotting teeth. Remembering what her mother had told her this man had done to her, Lucy almost threw up.
“Talk to my lawyer,” Wakerby said.
“I’m talking to you.” She would find her sister. Period. “I heard your victim describe what you did to her.” Her voice was calm. Nonjudgmental. “I’ve been at this awhile. Heard a lot of testimony. But what you did—original…and smart. The perfect crime. If technology hadn’t caught up with you, you’d have gotten away with it forever. You’d have paid a ticket for that broken light on your car when you were brought in and you would have walked free. What you did to that woman was wrong, but I have to tell you, I’m impressed by your ability to pull it off.”
There were days Lucy didn’t like how the job made her act. This was one of those days.
Sitting low in his chair with his ankle across his knee, Wakerby watched her, the slimy smile on his face making her angry enough to cry.
“Yeah, you were the man,” she continued. “You did what other men only dream of doing. Had yourself a beautiful young woman, did exactly what you wanted with her and then threw her to the curb.”
Wakerby’s smile grew.
“Except now there’s a snag,” she continued. “A DNA snag.”
He was still smiling. But the smile had stopped growing. Lucy registered the hit. The interrogation score.
“You’re with Judge Landly,” she continued. “He’s a good judge. Intelligent and fair. He listens to both sides and pays attention to mitigators.
“You know what those are?” Lucy asked, her voice soft. Curious.
“I know what they are, bitch. ” Wakerby wasn’t smiling now.
Lucy used every ounce of her strength to