Everything's Gone Green by Paul Austin Ardoin

Author:Paul Austin Ardoin [Ardoin, Paul Austin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pax Ardsen

Chapter Fourteen

Bernadette was out the front door of the police building when she realized she didn’t have a plan. She stopped in her tracks in the middle of the parking lot, then took out her phone and called Kep. It rang four times and went to voicemail. She hung up and called again. Voicemail. One more time. This time, she didn’t hang up before the beep.

“Kep, Maura is looking for concrete evidence and results. I’m heading up to Redmond—Smith Rock Foods. I’m giving you five minutes from”—she took the phone from her face and looked at the time—“10:43 a.m. to call me back or meet me at the car, or I’m leaving without you. An Uber from Bend to Redmond is awfully expensive. I hope it’s worth whatever you’re doing. And don’t expect me to pick up your drunk ass in the middle of the night this time.” She ended the call.

That was a stupid line to end with. Of course she’d pick Kep up in the middle of the night. It was her job. Hard to have an effective argument when it ended with such a weak bluff. And Kep would know it, too.

She swore under her breath. She’d lost him again. At least this time, it wasn’t on her watch—she’d been following Maura’s directions, and it was her boss who’d taken her eyes off Kep. Maybe this would get Bernadette another chance the next time it happened to her—because she was sure, as slippery as Kep was, it would happen again.

She paced around the lot. She’d had to be on the move early this morning to get Judge Withers to sign off on the documents. Everything she’d done that day had been undermined. Filed the release paperwork for Lillian Gossard only to have Sergeant Pietro add two additional bogus charges—and since they had nothing to do with the murder, CSAB had no jurisdiction. Lillian would be in jail for at least another day, and she’d wasted much of the last day locked in a morgue washroom.

Her phone rang. She answered it without looking at the screen. “Dammit, Kep, you better be somewhere close. After what you put me through in Milwaukee, if you think—”

“Hey, hey, hey,” the voice on the other end said, alarmed.

Shit. It was Barlow.

“I’m kind of in the middle of something,” Bernadette barked.

“You’re in the middle of something?” Barlow jabbed back. “Your daughter read a news article online about a lockdown yesterday at the morgue in Bend, Oregon. And CSAB was mentioned. She thought you were in the middle of it.”

Bernadette blinked. “Oh—I’m sorry.”

“Your daughter is scared out of her mind,” Barlow said. “She cried herself to sleep last night because you didn’t call.”

“This is a sensitive case. We’re not supposed to talk about it. I had no idea there was a news story.”

“You weren’t even planning on telling us you were okay?”

“I got back late. You know I’m three hours behind your time zone. I didn’t even finish everything until it was past midnight on the East Coast.

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