Lucia in Love by Heather Graham

Author:Heather Graham [Heather, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488026232
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 1988-07-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

The older officer was the one to speak first. “Ryan, you say you’ve got a body?”

Ryan shrugged and turned toward Lucia. “Lucia, this is Sergeant Mahoney. Sergeant, Ms. Lucia Lorenzo. She saw the body. I called in for her.”

The sergeant’s eyes fell on her accusingly. “A body, huh? Where is it?”

Lucia stiffened and indicated the beach. “It was there. It’s gone now.”

“Uh-huh.”

Her temper flared. “Sergeant, I’m telling you the truth. There was a body on the beach.”

“Lady, I’ll bet there were a lot of bodies out on that beach today. Good weather draws them.”

“A dead body, sergeant.”

His partner came up behind him. He was a young officer, really young, without a single line on his face. He stared at Lucia in fascination and smiled shyly. “Don’t worry, ma’am,” he said. “Lots of people kind of look dead, but then you know that they’re alive ’cuz they just get up and walk away.”

“Look,” Lucia snapped furiously, “I am not a fool—”

“Ms. Lorenzo,” Sergeant Mahoney drawled, “just how many dead bodies have you found in your lifetime?”

“None. I mean one. The one that I found—”

“And would you happen to know who the dead man was?” Sergeant Mahoney asked.

Lucia opened her mouth quickly, then closed it slowly. It was gone. The body was gone. Maybe she had been crazy. Maybe Lopez hadn’t been dead at all, and maybe he had picked himself up and walked away before the tide came in.

Maybe the tide had washed him away.

Whatever had happened, wasn’t it for the best? What if someone in her family had murdered Lopez?

No. None of them was a murderer! All right, what if one of them had accidentally killed Lopez? That sounded better. In self-defense. Lopez had put him or her into a life-threatening situation, and he or she had responded….

It couldn’t have happened. It just couldn’t have happened. But still, the body was gone. The tide was in, and the body was gone. It made no sense whatsoever to give the police a name for a body that didn’t exist.

She looked up. Ryan was staring at her, his eyes narrowed. He hadn’t offered the sergeant a name, either.

The members of her family hadn’t been the only ones arguing with Gino Lopez. In fact, the actual death threats had passed between Ryan and Lopez. Ryan, who was staring at her, who was keeping his mouth shut, who was watching her, waiting for her lead.

Sergeant Mahoney was staring at her, too, as was his young partner. Her tongue seemed to grow thick in her mouth. She had never lied to the police before. She’d never had any occasion to do so. She couldn’t seem to bring herself to do so now.

Ryan spoke up at last. “I don’t think Ms. Lorenzo spent time inspecting the body for any identity, sergeant.”

Sergeant Mahoney lifted one brow doubtfully. “Ms. Lorenzo, are you sure that there was a body—a dead body—on the beach?”

Yes, she was sure. Damn sure. But if they wanted to doubt her, it would have to be their problem.

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