Another Deception Read Online Free PDF Page B

thank you for coming promptly, we got a situation and I need your help out in the field. Do you remember a few months ago when there were several murders connected to the Abraham Cannon case?”
    “Not likely to forget when all that happened. I lost a partner remember?”
         Cranford’s words, meant to be sarcastic were ignored , along with the resentment flashing in his eyes.
    “Yes, Purcell was a fine officer and great loss to this department.”
         The captain’s name was Gary Davis, but somewhere along the way, he picked up the nickname of Boots. He was a nice-looking man and extremely fit. He wished for more height but his five' ten" frame worked well enough for him.
         He told Cranford to take a seat and asked him if he would like coffee. Cranford declined the coffee and took a seat. He felt uncomfortable. His gut feeling was that he was not going to like what was coming. He went over all the cases that had come in recently as he sat waiting while the Captain answered a phone call. After that, there was another interruption, which caused him to have to leave the room. Apologetically, he assured Cranford that he would be right back and left.
         Cranford stood and stretched, then walked to the wall where there were several framed credentials and certificates hanging. When he had studied them extensively, he wandered around to the back of the desk looking at personal photos, which were sitting around. There was one of a pretty woman, probably the wife, and another of the same woman with two small kids. They have to be his. They both look just like him…he did not mean to meddle, but his eyes fell on the papers laying on the desk and without thinking about it, he read the memo on the top. Wishing he had not, he hurried back around the desk and sat back in his seat.
         Calmer when the captain came back in full of apologies, Cranford forced a bit of a smile and patiently waited for the dreaded assignment, he knew he was about to get. When he left the room, it was with full disclosure of the project and he was sick to his stomach. Ignoring his protest, the Captain insisted he was the only one available that was capable of handling such a highly classified mission. Eight months left to go and sitting behind a desk would have been his preference.
         Back in his office, he stood at his window and watched the cars dart in and out of the lanes. Five stories up and he could still hear the everyday noises of the concrete city. People yelling, whistles blowing and horns warning people to watch out, dominated the air. Maybe he would miss all the excitement when he retired and again, maybe not. At sixty, he had already given the force thirty years and that was after twelve years of serving in the military. Ever since the age of eighteen, he had worked in law enforcement. There never was a time he wanted to do anything else. Now he just did not want to do it anymore. He had seen too much, knew too much, to believe in the integrity of the system anymore.
         There had been two marriages. The first one produced a son he never had a chance to see grow up. His ex-wife remarried and moved to the west coast. The second one lasted thirty-five years. Nancy…she certainly had been the better half where they were concerned. She never complained and was chipper no matter what. Even when they could not have children, she was the stronger of the two. Then after years of centering her life on him, she died from cancer. Wasting away, never blaming, and never giving up, until the very end when she asked him to let her go. She was tired and he loved her enough to do as she asked. He quit begging her to stay and she slipped away into that other world she so desperately believed came after death.
         He indulged her in this belief although he was never convinced that there was anything after a person died. He went to church with Nancy and believed in God.  He just was not sure about what came