Fire and Ice (Liam Campbell Book 1) by Dana Stabenow

Author:Dana Stabenow [Stabenow, Dana]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Alaska--Fiction., Police Procedural, Campbell, Liam (Fictitious character)--Fiction., Police--Alaska--Fiction.
ISBN: 9781936666010
Publisher: Gere Donovan Press
Published: 2013-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

Ten

The ring of the phone woke him the next morning. He groaned and rolled out of the sleeping bag Wy had lent him and onto the cold, hard, not entirely clean office floor. The phone rang again, insistent. He reached up with one hand and fumbled around until he found the receiver. “Hello?” Shivering, he slid back inside the plaid lining and tried to generate a little body heat. “Oh. Hello, John.”

“There’s no easy way to put this, Liam,” John said, wasting no time on politesse. “Wy needs money, and she needs it bad. She’s running a tab with everyone—Chevron, NC, she took out a second mortgage on her business, which payments have been late a time or two. No wonder she decided to spot herring.”

Liam was wide awake now. He said, “Did you find out why?”

“She’s up to her ears in a court case, has been for a year. She’s trying to adopt a kid. Did you know that?”

“I’ve met him.”

“Jesus, Liam, did you know the kid’s mother accused Wy of kidnapping?”

Liam sat up, sleeping bag falling away. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“She filed a complaint about nine months ago.”

“What?” Liam tried to sort this out. “Only nine months ago? I don’t get it. Wy’s had him for two years.”

With awful irony, Barton said, “Apparently it took that long for Mom to notice the kid was gone.”

“Shit,” Liam muttered.

“My sentiments exactly.”

Liam ran rough hands through his hair. “How did you get all this stuff so quick? I figured it’d take you a couple of days at least. At least until Monday, when the state courts opened back up for business anyway.”

“Deb—you remember Deb, my very own personal ferret—she called in a favor at TRW. Right away she picked up on all the checks Wy was writing to an attorney. She went over to the courthouse yesterday afternoon with a buddy of hers, who just happens to be one of the clerks of the court, and they dug up the case. The tapes had just been transcribed, and I spent last night reading them.” John snorted. “Hamilton—Theodore Hamilton, you remember him, he presided over the Murdy murder trial—anyway, Hamilton seemed to actually have a clue, that day anyway, so he didn’t give the kid back. But the bleeding heart bastard gave the mom a chance to dry out and straighten up her act.” Barton snorted contemptuously. “So now Wy is suing for the severance of parental rights and full custody. It’s costing her. It’s costing her a bundle. And she’s not doing real well at keeping up.”

“I’ll bet.” Liam remembered the phone call from the night before. “Who’s her attorney?”

“Abood. Harold Abood.”

Harold. Harry. As in, Look, Harry, I’ll get you the goddamn money just as soon as I get paid myself.

“Liam?” Barton said.

“What?”

Barton sighed, once, a deep, heavy, unhappy sigh. Blunt as he was, John Dillinger Barton took no pleasure in being the bearer of bad news. “The only person Wy doesn’t owe is her mechanic. She’s been paying his bills regularly every month.

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