A Zest for Murder (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

head.
    “You sure about that?” His tone was
softer and slower. “You seem kind of rattled by this one.”
    “It was just…well, it was a shock,
you know? But I’ll be okay.”
    He pulsed his fingers around my
hand a few times before letting it go. “I know you’ll be okay. That’s never
been a question. I just thought maybe since it was Tipper. And with you guys
being such good—” A walkie-talkie squelched somewhere nearby. “—friends and
all, maybe this hit you a little harder or something.”
    I swept one hand across my face.
“No, I’m okay. I’m fine. I’m just…” I paused, taking a quick breath and
straightening my back. “Did you check the hospitals? Maybe she’s been admitted
or...”
    Trent shook his head. “We’ve
checked already; neither Tipper nor Kyle Gallagher have been treated or
admitted.”
    I processed the information slowly,
thinking about cases I’d worked as a PI in Chicago. Then I remembered Trent’s
comment earlier about someone with the DEA.
    “And your friend Pete? He knows
Kyle Gallagher?”
    “I’m sure they’ve met,” Trent
answered. “But I won’t find out how well Pete knows the guy until he calls me
back. Pete’s been in the Denver office for about eight months. Before that he
was in Houston. I’m just hoping he either knows Gallagher well enough to help
or can put us in touch with someone who does.”
    “I can talk to Blanche,” I
suggested. “She met Kyle one day at the store. If I’m remembering the
conversation correctly, Blanche said the guy was polite and sweet.”
    Trent grunted. “Kinda like me, huh?”
    I ignored the remark. “Maybe there
was more to their conversation,” I said. “Blanche is pretty astute for someone
her age.”
    He smirked. “Again,” he said. “Like
me?”
    “Trent?”
    “Yes, ma’am?”
    “Drop the clown act,” I said. “I
know you’re trying to make me smile, but this is serious.”
    “I know it’s serious, Katie. But
you’ve got that look on your face again.”
    “What look?”
    “Like you’re going down a rabbit
hole to try and save the day.”
    I swatted at him with one hand. “No,
I don’t. If I have any type of look on my face it’s one of concern for my
friend.”
    He stopped smirking. “I know that,”
he said quietly. “But you also know that we’ll do everything possible to find
her.”
    We sat without talking for a few
minutes. Voices drifted down from the house; two uniformed officers talking
about the weather as they stood near the front door. Trent’s phone buzzed
again. He checked the display, but put it on the dashboard without answering.
    “Has there been a call?” I asked
finally.
    “You mean somebody asking for
ransom?”
    I nodded. “Lots of people know
about Tipper’s mother,” I said. “It’s public knowledge that she’s a very
wealthy woman after the divorce from her second husband.”
    “Nothing so far,” Trent said. “At
this point, we’re going to handle it like a home invasion that went sideways. I
remember one case a couple of years ago that—”
    His phone vibrated on the dash. He
scooped it up, answered the call and exhaled loudly as the person on the other
end spoke. I could hear the woman’s voice, but couldn’t understand anything she
was telling Trent. While they talked, I turned to face Tipper’s house again.
Amanda Crane and Denny Santiago, two Crescent Creek PD officers, were searching
the front yard with slow, precise movements. One of the CSI techs stood in the
driveway beside a white panel van. And a small group of neighbors hovered at
the edge of the yard, staring silently at the unfolding scene.
    “Well, that’s not what I wanted to
hear,” Trent muttered as he plunked the phone back onto the dashboard.
    “What is it?” I asked.
    He turned and shrugged. “The woman
you found in there,” he said in a flat, weary tone. “She didn’t make it.”

CHAPTER
9
     
     
    The tea in my cup had cooled and
the pair of chocolate chip cookies that