Cold Case Murder by Shirlee McCoy

Author:Shirlee McCoy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2009-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Jodie returned to headquarters, e-mailed the information regarding Mary Sampson to Sam and then grabbed Leah Farley’s file. Like Mary Sampson, Leah had been a loving mother, a good wife and a well-liked neighbor. A churchgoer who devoted herself to others, she seemed to be exactly what her friend Shelby had said she was—a law-abiding citizen, who wouldn’t harm a soul and who would never abandon her daughter. Somehow, though, her husband had wound up with a bullet in the head and Leah had wound up missing.

Coincidence?

Of course not. The two things had to be related, but that didn’t mean that Leah was a murderer. It also didn’t mean she was dead. There were other explanations for her disappearance. They were just a lot less likely and a lot more difficult to come up with.

Jodie sighed and rubbed eyes that burned from fatigue. Her head still throbbed, her stomach was empty and she wanted desperately to drive out of town and never look back. There were so many more interesting places she could be. So many more comfortable places.

Her cell phone rang and she grabbed it, happy for the distraction. “Gilmore here.”

“Jodie? It’s Susan.”

“Hi, Susan. What can I do for you?” Surprised, Jodie leaned back in her chair, staring up at the watermarked ceiling and wondering what her stepmother could possibly have to say. In the three years she’d been married to Richard, Susan had never called Jodie. Then again, Jodie had never called her.

“I was calling to let you know that we’ll be having a formal dinner tonight in honor of your visit.”

A formal dinner. That couldn’t be good and wouldn’t be pleasant. Jodie had no desire to sit in the cavernous dining room where she’d so often eaten breakfast and dinner alone, now making small talk with a father who hadn’t had the time of day for her when she was a troubled kid. “Things are really hectic with the case I’m working on, Susan. I just don’t think I’ll be able to make it.”

“But your father and I had plans to go to the movies tonight, and I told him that since you were in town, we really should have dinner to celebrate.”

“Really, I—”

“I married late in life, Jodie. I never had children of my own, and I never will. Let me treat you like family while you’re here.”

How could she say no to that?

She couldn’t. That’s how. “I guess I can do dinner, but—”

“Wonderful! I’ve asked our chef to create something I know you’ll enjoy. Your father wants you here at seven. Bring a friend if you can, to even out our numbers. See you then.”

The line clicked and Susan was gone.

Come at seven. Bring a friend if you can?

At twenty-eight years old, Jodie was suddenly taking orders from a woman who wanted to play mother? She would have laughed if she weren’t so frustrated. “I can’t believe this.”

“Believe what?” Deep and resonant, Harrison’s voice drifted across the room and slid along Jodie’s nerves, making her heart leap.

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