Shadow Point Deputy by Julie Anne Lindsey

Author:Julie Anne Lindsey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-15T21:15:58+00:00

* * *

COLE FOLLOWED RITA to a pair of chairs near the window. The call to her father had been short and sweet. A message on a voice mail. There was nothing else she could do.

“Okay,” she said. “Tell me what you know.”

“Deputy Lomar was the responding officer,” he began. “Dispatch pulled him from the marina after a witness called to report the accident.”

“There was a witness?” Hope lit her beautiful face.

“Yes. A jogger says she saw your truck moving at questionable speeds on the county route between the college and Crestmont Hills in Rivertown.”

“That’s Ryan’s neighborhood.”

“The jogger said the truck was speeding and heading into a dangerous curve. She assumed he wasn’t paying attention, or maybe he’d been drinking, but when Ryan passed her, she got a look at his face. She described him as terrified. Stiff armed. The truck was loaded with furniture, the hill he was headed down was steep, and she was right, he didn’t make the curve at the bottom. He lost control and hit a tree. Based on the damage to your truck, Lomar estimates Ryan attempted a twenty-mile-per-hour curve at more than fifty. Also, there weren’t any tire marks on the pavement.”

“He didn’t use the brakes?” Rita pressed the heels of her hands against red eyes. “I don’t suppose the jogger happened to notice an evil psychopath in a black sedan nearby.”

“No. There were no other cars at the time of the accident. I think we should count that as a blessing,” Cole said. “No one could have maneuvered the truck around traffic at those speeds.”

“Right.” Rita raked her hands through her hair and gripped the back of her head. “So we can assume someone cut the brakes. Obviously, this was the same person who’s been trying to kill me all day, and now they’ve nearly killed Ryan, instead.”

“We don’t know anything for certain,” Cole cautioned. “Lomar’s looking into it now. He’ll be here when he finishes.”

Rita clenched her jaw. “I just had the truck serviced, and it was fine when I drove it home before Ryan borrowed it. The only way there wouldn’t be any tire marks from this accident is if the brakes didn’t engage.”

Cole leaned closer, lowering his voice as he spoke. “If someone cut the brake lines, and trust me, I’m not trying to create a conspiracy theory here, but if that’s what happened, given the day we’ve had, I would agree. It’s fair to assume this wasn’t a coincidence.”

Rita nodded. Good. He was still on her side.

“And if someone wanted to cause an accident,” he continued, “they would make sure the damage to the brake line was small and the leak was slow. Someone who knew what they were doing would want brake fluid in the lines when the driver got in, maybe even enough to last while Ryan confidently collected furniture for a new roommate before running out. If he got into the truck and there were no brakes, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere, except maybe to a garage, and that would’ve ruined the criminal’s efforts.

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.