Easy Mark (Kate Fox Book 4) by Shannon Baker

Author:Shannon Baker [Baker, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn River Publishing
Published: 2021-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

20

I left Poupon stretched out in the back seat of the cruiser parked in the shade and raced up the stairs at the Chester County courthouse. The bright summer sun burst through the windows, lighting the place with a cheerful glow. But I wasn’t in a happy frame of mind. I flew into Ted’s office. I slapped the counter and spun away at the sight of the empty desk.

I hurried the few steps down the hallway to the next doorway, my boots clapping on the polished floor. Two holding cells faced the hallway with a space in front wide enough that a person could stand at the wall and be out of reach of someone inside the cell. In here, old linoleum tile covered the floors. Fluorescent lights gave off a sickly glow, and no founding fathers or historic scenes graced the bare, colorless walls. Each cell contained a cot and a stainless steel toilet without a lid. Something about the smell reminded me of Grandma Ardith’s closet, old, stale, sad.

Kyle sat on Ted’s oversized leather office chair just inside the door. Narciso perched on the cot in his cell, face drawn with worry.

Kyle heard me coming, of course, and his brown eyes held a hint of disappointment. “I sure wished you’d stayed home.”

“Where’s Ted?” I sounded shrill and tried to calm down.

Narciso stood up from the cot, nervous tension stretching the skin around his eyes. He didn’t say anything.

Kyle, calm, collected, and watchful, took his time answering. “He’s not back yet. Probably due to show up anytime now.”

Impatience drummed at me, and I fired off to Narciso. “Where were you Sunday afternoon?”

Narciso’s face stiffened with defiance. “Checking windmills in the Mackleprang pasture.”

That would be at the far northeast corner of the sprawling Rocking L. “Think about it. Did you see anyone at any time after you left your house?”

“No,” he said without enough time to think about it.

“When I was out to the ranch on Sunday, there was a huge herd of horses in the meadow at headquarters. When I was there yesterday, the horses were gone. What happened to them?”

His shoulders hitched slightly, tension creeping onto his face. Slowly, his accented words filled the room. “We moved the herd to a different pasture.”

“By yourself? Jeremy wasn’t there.”

He stared in my eyes. “Yes.”

“Why did you move them?”

Now with a bit of challenge, he said, “The grass in the meadow is too good. The horses could founder.”

I glanced at Kyle. He’d seen it, too. Narciso was lying.

“When did you move them?” I’d been talking to Felicity on Sunday just before I discovered Buzz in the lake. She’d seemed jumpy when she said Narciso wasn’t at home.

Did Narciso hesitate a second, maybe trying to keep his story straight? “After I came home from checking windmills yesterday.”

A clatter on the steps made me rush down the hall, my heart in my throat. The sight hit me harder than I’d expected. Ted grasped his fingers around Jeremy’s upper left arm. Jeremy’s hands wound around his back, no doubt held by Ted’s cuffs.

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.