A Clean Kill Read Online Free PDF Page B

telling you, Tom? I had this childish fantasy of what I was going to look like on Halloween, and my mother worked herself ragged to make the fantasy real for me.” Sheri still had her eyes closed tight, and her lips trembled as she spoke.
    I reached out and took her hand. “I understand what you’re telling me, Sheri.”
    She raised the back of her head off the door. She opened her eyes and nodded. “Well, guess what. On Halloween, at school that day, I found out all my friends were going to hang out at the carnival and make fun of the other kids. These three girls that I thought were so
cool
were already laughing about the losers in the class who were going to dress up like little kids that night.
    “So,” she paused to take a deep breath, “when school let out at three o’clock, I ran home in tears and told Mom that I didn’t want her costume, that I was too old for it, and everybody would make fun of me.” She paused to wipe at her face. “You know what she did? She told me not to worry about it. She helped me pick out something else to wear, and that was it. She never even mentioned it again.”
    I nodded. It was the kind of story that every kid,every lucky one, has about their mother or father. And, like all such stories, it was ordinary and maybe even trite—except that it wasn’t.
    I squeezed her hand. “Are you going to be okay, Sheri? Do you need anything?”
    My inebriated client smiled a little. “I’ll be fine.”
    “Just one more thing. Do you know if your mother had any ownership interest in your dad’s construction company?”
    Her eyes rolled back and seemed to scan the crown molding. “Maybe. I’m really not sure.” She paused and lost interest again. “Good night, Tom.”
    “Good night.”
    Sheri opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, and Bobbi slipped her arm around Sheri’s waist to help her down the stairs. And I thought,
Well, she’s drunk
. Then Bobbi kept her arm around Sheri all the way to the car. And I thought,
She doesn’t want her tipsy friend to trip and fall in the dark
. Then Bobbi opened the passenger door, helped Sheri inside, and reached across to fasten Sheri’s seatbelt.
    Bobbi backed her Isuzu Trooper around, dropped the transmission into drive, and spun gravel down the length of my driveway.
    I locked up and wandered into the kitchen, where I found a cold bottle of Foster’s in the refrigerator.
    Kate Baneberry’s medical record was a two-beer file. And—as far as I could tell—Jim Baneberry’s lawyers were right. Kate Baneberry had been responding to treatment, getting better, even eating a little dinner. Then she just died.
    I picked up the phone and punched in my investigator’s number. No answer. I briefly considered calling his pager but realized that what I wanted could wait. I punched in another number, and my secretary, Kelly, answered on the second ring.
    “Sorry to bother you at home, Kelly.”
    “No problem. I’m just sitting here watching
NYPD Blue
.”
    “Whose butt are they featuring tonight?”
    Kelly laughed. “No bare bottoms so far. What can I do for you?”
    “I wanted to let you know I’m not coming in tomorrow. I’ve got to meet Kate Baneberry’s doctor in Daphne for lunch, so I’ll just work here until then. You can put any calls through. I’ll be here at home till around noon.”
    “Okay.”
    “Do me a favor. Joey’s not answering. Could you please call him in the morning and ask him to check out some people for me? And, Kelly, I don’t want these people to know they’re being checked out. You understand?”
    “Absolutely. Who are they?”
    “The first one is Dr. Laurel Adderson. I need to know about any malpractice claims filed against her in, say, the last five years or so. And tell him to do a general background check.”
    “Okay. Got it. Who else?”
    “The second is a woman named Bobbi Mactans.” I spelled the name, then gave Kelly the tag number of Bobbi’s Isuzu Trooper and hung up.

Five
    “The