Valentino Pier (Rapid Reads) by Reed Farrel Coleman Read Free Book Online Page B

were digital, but he swore he could hear the seconds ticking into long minutes. Again he went through a bunch of feelings. Let-down. Anger. Worry. He began to beat himself up for having hope. It never failed. Why did he let himself hope? It always ended badly. Then, at 8:12, his house phone rang.
    It was Mia. But something was wrong. He felt it even before he heard her voice. And when he heard her voice, there was no doubt.
    “Gulliver, listen,” she whispered. Her voice was tense. She sounded out of breath.
    “Mia! What’s wrong?” he shouted into the phone.
    “What were you and Dr. Prentice talking about before? About the Department of Agriculture?”
    “What’s that got to do—”
    She cut him off. “Please, just answer.”
    “Remember the other day when you called? When you told me Dr. Prentice needed to see me as soon as I could get there?”
    “Sure I do,” she said.
    “Well, he wanted to talk to me about some dead bugs he found on Ugly. He said they were rare and that they only came from India. He said he would have to report it to the Department of Agriculture.”
    There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. Then, “Something’s not right, Gulliver. I do all the paperwork for those kinds of reports and—”
    “Maybe he just called them,” Gulliver said.
    “If he called, I would still have to do a report. He never asked me to do it. And I’m pretty sure he didn’t call them.”
    “Listen to me carefully, Mia. Has anything been going on lately that’s weird or different in your office?”
    Again there was quiet on the other end of the phone for a moment. “Dr. Prentice has been very tense since his divorce.”
    “When was that?”
    “A few months ago,” Mia said. “He lost a lot of money in the divorce. He even told us he might have to close the office down and join someone else’s practice.”
    “But he didn’t close the office. Do you know how he’s been able to keep it open?” Gulliver asked.
    “All I know is that my paycheck doesn’t bounce,” she said.+ir t88as
    “Okay. Anything else weird? I mean in the last few days.”
    “He has been really jumpy. Very quick to shout. Maybe that’s because of the accident.”
    “Accident!” Gulliver had raised his voice. “What accident?”
    “The other night, Dr. Prentice screwed up his car. He said he was swerving to miss a dog. He hopped up onto the sidewalk and scraped the entire side of his car. It’s in the shop.”
    “But what’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you here? Why do you sound—”
    “After I heard what you and Dr. Prentice were talking about, I knew something was wrong. I decided to come back to the office and look around. I have keys. I knew if I told you what I was doing, you would have told me not to.”
    “You’re damn right. Get out of—”
    “I found something,” she said. She was breathless again.
    “What is it?”
    “Cash. An entire f ile drawer full of bundles of—”
    Mia stopped talking, but she didn’t hang up. Gulliver heard a file drawer slamming shut. Heard footsteps on a tile floor. Then, “Mia, what are you doing here after hours?” It was Dr. Prentice, and he didn’t sound happy.
    “I had a date tonight.”
    “Yes, I heard you and Mr. Dowd talking.” Gulliver could hear them. The sound was muted. Maybe Mia had dropped the phone into her bag. Maybe she was holding the phone behind her. “But that doesn’t answer my question, Mia. What are you doing here?”
    “I was having second thoughts,” she said. “I decided I didn’t want to go out with him. But I left his card here. I wanted to call to tell him. I’m not the kind of person to just ncared the pupp

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    G+ouiother direction ulliver left his house phone off the hook. He knew that as long as Prentice didn’t find Mia’s phone, there was a chance to save her. Once he was in his van, it took him less than three minutes to get to the vet clinic. Too late. They were gone. Gulliver knew what his