A Wrongful Drift (Seagrove 8) Read Online Free PDF Page B

any useful information out of him. What about you? Do you have any ideas?"
    "Not a one," Lucy said. "This case seems to be chock full of people who hated the dead woman, but who couldn't have committed the murder."
    "Samantha's alibi seems airtight, and easily checked, but some of the others might not be as tight as they seem. The problem is I don't know exactly when Sylvia died. That makes it difficult to pin down anyone."

3
    T hat evening Sadie was intent on pinning down Zack. He had to know more than he was saying. So rather than wait for him to come by her apartment, she put a leash on Mr. Bradshaw and walked him down to the station house.
    They found Zack in his office buried in stacks of paper. Mr. B jumped onto one of the two chairs in front of Zack's desk and curled up. Sadie sat on the edge of the other one and waited until Zack looked up.
    "You are like a vulture waiting to pounce," Zack said and closed the file he was reading.
    "What have you discovered?"
    “Absolutely nothing,” Sadie said. “We’ve been following the crumb trail to nowhere. I'm vulture-like because I'm determined to find out what you know. So go ahead and spit it out, has there been any progress?”
    “It’s not really my case, Sadie, and I’m not convinced it wasn’t Justin Ives.”
    He caught her glance. “Don’t look at me like that. You saw those photos.”
    "Mr. Bradshaw likes him," Sadie said. The dog twitched one ear when he heard his name.
    "Even Mr. Bradshaw makes mistakes," Zack said. "He's not clairvoyant."
    "Mr. Bradshaw never makes mistakes about people. And for all we know he is clairvoyant. I don't think you are giving him enough credit."
    "You may be right," Zack said, "but even if he is, I can't go to Steve Ryan and tell him he's got the wrong guy based on what my girlfriend’s dog says. It just won't fly, Sadie."
    "Fiancé," Sadie said.
    "Huh?" His face went blank.
    "I'm not your girlfriend, I'm your fiancé," Sadie said. Zack grinned.
    "Why, yes you are. And based on that I can talk to Steve." His eyes sparkled.
    "Stop teasing," Sadie said, but her mood had lightened. "I know you can't reference Mr. B. But you could put a bug in his ear. Couldn't you?"
    "I can put a bug in his ear, and the next time I see him, I will." He smiled again and shook his head. "Only for you."
    Sadie returned his smile, feeling warm inside. "What are you working on?"
    "Someone keeps breaking into the art studio and stealing paint. Then they use that to paint graffiti the wall around the mayor's home. They are sneaky little vandals and I haven't been able to catch them at it. There are worse things going on, but I've had to take this on myself, it being the mayor's wall and all."
    "Too bad, I know you'd much prefer to be working on a nice juicy murder. Or maybe a gang war."
    "There aren't any gangs in Seagrove," Zack said. "Although there was an altercation at the high school, and the groups broke roughly on race lines."
    "Who'd you assign that to?" Sadie asked.
    "I had to tell the principal we didn't investigate food fights," he said. "The poor woman was very disappointed. I think she was hoping we'd scare the kids into good behavior."
    "I can't blame her," Sadie said. "I'd be hoping for that, too, if I were her."
    Zack settled himself back in his chair. "What are you up to next?" he asked. "Going to consult Mr. Bradshaw on the whereabouts of our murderer?"
    "Nope. If he knows, he's not telling." Sadie shrugged. "What I'm going to do is go back to the sorority and see what's surfaced in the last couple of days."
    "I thought you were talking about going to Spain?" Zack said. "What happened with that?"
    "Oh, I'm still going, but not until this case is closed."
    "And what if that takes years?" he asked.
    "I'll cross that bridge when we come to it," she said. "But I've got a feeling we'll find the bad guy soon now. I'm betting before the end of the week."
    "Did Mr. Bradshaw tell you this?" he asked, eyebrows raised.
    "No. I have a hunch." She