Ghost Sudoku by Kaye Morgan

Author:Kaye Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.

Arriving home, Liza tried to lose herself in work; not that the results were all that good. The events at the memorial had disconcerted her—especially the way the political cognoscenti seemed to think that the sheriff’s job was hanging by a thread.

Now she worried over what she and her scrap of paper had done. If Bert Clements loses his job, it’s not as if he has lots of places to go, Liza fretted. He won’t just get bucked down to chief investigator. Not with Oscar Smutz in charge. She sighed. Not with a vengeful political leadership after him.

Michael finally waved a hand between her face and the computer screen, saying, “Let’s put on the late news.”

Liza didn’t want to watch. He just about had to carry her over to the couch, eliciting some excited barks from Rusty.

It wasn’t as bad as she’d expected. There were no lurid reports about a rift between the head of Killamook’s law enforcement and the head of the county’s political machine. By the time John Jacob Pauncecombe had emerged from Freney’s Funeral Home and into the view of the various camera crews, he’d regained control of himself. His somber, unsmiling face seemed in keeping with the serious affair he was leaving.

The only other bad moment came when Oscar Smutz’s fat face appeared on the screen later in the newscast. The daylight background reassured Liza slightly—this hadn’t been shot at the memorial.

But as Smutz continued to second-guess the sheriff’s investigation, Liza’s unease grew. In the eyes of the media—and thus, of the public—Oscar had moved from glorified gadfly to the position of insurgent candidate. And after this evening’s disaster, he’d also have the backing of the Killamook machine.

The news ended, and one of the network late-night comedy shows came on. Liza reached for the remote, but Michael took it. “Leave it on,” he said. “You look as if you could use some cheering up.”

Unfortunately, listening to the monologue seemed to have the opposite effect. Either the writers were really having an off day, or Liza’s mood was so foul, nothing could change it. She watched in apathy as the host promised a new segment after the commercials.

The show returned with a montage of clips featuring famous political and entertainment types and a spinning logo that resolved itself into the words FACES IN THE NEWS.

The host appeared behind his desk, saying, “You know, there are always public affairs shows on Sunday morning, but the people they have on are already famous. We think it’s better to introduce you to faces before they get famous. For instance, here’s somebody involved in a political race up in Oregon . . .”

Liza gasped as Oscar Smutz’s face filled the screen.

It had to come from one of yesterday’s TV interviews. The sound wasn’t on, but he was certainly running his mouth. The image froze in the middle of a distinctive mannerism Liza had noticed. Whenever Smutz had something particularly damaging to say, he took a deep breath, his cheeks swelling and his eyes popping.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.