Acquainted With the Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

me, too.”
    “No problem. We’ll see you inside an hour.”
    CJ studied her phone with an air of disbelief. How on earth did Vivien do it? She must have dated at least fifty women in the seven years or so CJ had known her, if “dated” was the right word.
    Nicole returned with coffee, remembering to bring two tiny containers of half and half for CJ. In a few minutes CJ’s cell rang again, the caller ID showing Rod Chavez’s home number.
    “I am a very suspicious man,” he began.
    “What is it?”
    “Patrol unit found the car a few minutes ago. It was abandoned, in a Home Depot parking lot on East Mississippi.”
    “Wait. That’s north of the accident. Alex was traveling south.”
    “Yeah. Interestin’, isn’t it? He, she or they must have turned around. If we hadn’t had a description and the partial from Alex, we probably wouldn’t have found it for a day or two. Anyway, the car was reported stolen from a parking lot at Aurora Mall around eight or so this evening. And, no surprise, there’s some damage to the right front bumper. We’re gettin’ it towed so we can look for prints and match the damage.”
    “Let me get this straight. They took it from Aurora Mall, and then they dump it a few hours later less than a mile away? And in the meantime, they drive it fewer than ten miles, run Alex off the road and then drive it back to virtually where they stole it in the first place?”
    “Yep, and if you think that sounds screwy, I’m on board the train with you. Something smells bad, pelirroja. ”
    CJ closed her phone and sipped at her coffee thoughtfully. Something did indeed smell bad, and it wasn’t the hospital coffee.

Chapter Three
    Alex struggled to manage her purse and briefcase while she opened the door to their condominium without moving her shoulder too much. Her wrist, in a soft cast after almost two months, was healing without much discomfort, but her shoulder continued to give her pain even between physical therapy sessions.
    She got the door open and gratefully dumped everything she was carrying onto the table in the foyer. She stepped over CJ’s shoes left discarded in the front hall, as usual. She called out, “Kitchen or bedroom?”
    “Kitchen,” CJ responded. Her voice sounded brittle to Alex’s ears.
    Alex found CJ standing next to the kitchen island, savagely chopping celery on the wooden cutting board.
    “Um, hi,” Alex said tentatively. “You have a bad day?”
    CJ continued slashing at the vegetables. The knife was making dull thuds against the wooden board.
    “Sweetheart?” Alex ventured.
    CJ threw the chopped celery into the frying pan behind her on the stovetop, and started hacking away at a carrot.
    “My day was just peachy. And how was your day?” CJ asked, through a tense jaw.
    “Okay,” Alex said. “Limited duty isn’t really much of a strain for me, since it’s pretty much all I do anyway. I had some statistic reports to write. You want to tell me what’s wrong?”
    “You didn’t have any special issues today?” CJ asked tersely.
    Alex put her hand over CJ’s hands to stop the relentless chopping. “Apparently you know that I did. Are we going to talk about this?”
    CJ slapped the knife down and Alex caught her glare. “Steph called me. Can you imagine how pleasant that conversation was? I would have been happy never to see the woman again after our little encounter in March, and now she calls me to tell me you’re harassing her.”
    “I’m not harassing her,” Alex said, trying to keep her voice mild. “She had an FTA, so I sent out a patrol unit to her office.”
    “You sent a patrol unit out because she failed to appear for a speeding ticket?” CJ exclaimed. “That sounds a lot like harassment to me.”
    “I was just getting her attention,” Alex countered.
    “Oh stop it, Alex! You’re not fooling me and you’re not being honest with yourself. Despite the fact that you have not one shred of evidence that she had anything to do with