Probable Cause by Pearson Ridley

Author:Pearson, Ridley [Pearson, Ridley]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780795339950
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2014-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

7

MONDAY

1

Monday morning presented Dewitt with a stark reality: He was living again. Had he been more aware, perhaps he would have looked back on himself as having been something of an automaton over the last five months—getting through the daily grind but seldom rising above it. In front of him lay three stacked manila folders, names of the dead scribbled on the tabs. He wanted no part of the dead. Intoxicated by a magical fatigue that soaked clear through him, he felt rebellious, confident, composed. In one night—a few short hours—she had made him feel appreciated. Loved, again—if only for an evening. And though guilt briefly attempted to steal his pleasure, he would not allow it to do so. Julia, of all people, would want him to feel love again, in whatever form it manifested itself. There was no greater feeling. That two people could physically connect so perfectly amazed him. Clare’s unbridled passion, her ability to prolong, to massage the two of them to such an explosive climax, left him steeping in the deep ache of bliss.

The first unavoidable event of the day was a phone call from Leala Mahoney. She was short with him, her sentences clipped, her mood strictly professional. Peter Tilly, he was told, was willing to drop all charges if Marvin Wood would wear a wire for his theft investigation. “That leaves you, Dewitt,” she concluded rudely. “You either have to charge him or let him go. You offered my client a deal. I believe he cooperated as fully as he was able. Is your offer still good, or do we do the dance?”

He needed to stall her. His voice was sure as he said, “No charges on this end, Counselor, but I may need to talk with him, and I don’t want to have to call out the National Guard to do so. Clear?”

“You’re keeping some rather chichi company, Dewitt. Since when does a Carmel detective get a private audience with Jessie Osbourne?” She sounded jealous. “And then to skip the banquet. You had to catch up on your lab work, Dewitt, was that it?”

Hoping to break the ice, he offered, “It was good seeing you last night, Leala. That dress is very becoming on you.”

“Go to hell, Dewitt,” she said. The dial tone hummed in his ear.

***

“Dewitt?” Commander Karl Capp, his protruding belly hunching his shoulders forward, stood at the door. “You mind?” He jerked his head toward the chair in front of Dewitt’s desk. Dewitt nodded his approval, doing his best to conceal his surprise that Capp was entering his territory. Was he supposed to stand? He began to get out of the chair and Capp said, “I got it,” and closed the door. Sitting, the fat man said, “So, you’re trying to bust my stones,” an icy stare biting into Dewitt. “Let me tell you something about life, kid. You never play a hand too early, you always keep your cards facedown, and you never sit in front of a window or a mirror.

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