Cold Snap Read Online Free PDF Page A

is.”
    Elle turned off the car and glared at him. “I believe her, and that’s all I need. But even if she’s lying, Lee thinks she has something, and that puts her in danger. There’s a leak somewhere—otherwise why would those men have shot at us? Someone knows Kami is staying with me, and that she can take Christopher Lee down. I need to find her—and I don’t need you.”
    Elle wished she had shut up. Her mouth constantly got her into trouble, and the truth was she needed help. Her boss had told her to leave this case alone. Dwight had told her she was walking a fine line and had gotten too close to Kami. But she couldn’t leave it alone. Not after what happened to Doreen.
    “You’re a smart woman,” Patrick said. “You know this is a bad situation; you could use the police on your side.”
    “If Kami goes to jail, I lose her. She’ll never trust me again. Or worse, she’ll get killed. Lee is not to be underestimated. I’ve—”
    She cut herself off.
    “Tell me.”
    “Let’s go.” Elle jumped out of the car before she said anything else. Family friend or not, she didn’t know Patrick well enough to confide in him about everything, at least not yet. She didn’t have time to chat while Kami was missing. She was a smart girl, but if Lorenzo turned her over to Lee, she’d be dead.
    Why’d you run away, Kami?
    “Clark Grayson is a friend of mine from college,” Elle said. “He’s a social worker for the city, and also volunteers some nights with Granny’s Kitchen, which serves primarily homeless kids and kids who aren’t getting fed at home. It’s not the largest youth services program, but it gets by. He’s a good guy—Kami might have gone to see him if she was worried about Lorenzo or if she thought they’d found her at my place.” She paused. “Which they might have, considering they shot at us.”
    “Which suggests she was warned,” Patrick said. “If you’re telling me everything you know. Which you’re not.”
    She stopped on the street, turned and poked a finger at him. Damn, his chest was hard as a rock. He didn’t look at all muscle-boy, but he definitely had them under his tall, lean frame.
    She pushed aside the memories of her crush and focused on the here and now. “Look, Kincaid, I told you all the important stuff. I don’t have time to hold your hand through every damn detail. I need to find Kami before she’s killed, and get her to court on Wednesday. End of story.”
    Elle opened an unmarked door. The walkway was narrow and poorly lit. Downstairs was a low-ceilinged room, which by the noise was full: video games, television, chatter. Granny’s Kitchen’s offices were on the main floor, all locked at this time of night except for the library in the front of the building where kids could use the Internet and study. Upstairs was the kitchen where they made hot meals daily. This wasn’t the newest or most modern youth facility in town, but the people who volunteered truly cared, which is why Elle had a soft spot for the place.
    Now that the new teen center had opened, Granny’s Kitchen wasn’t as popular as it used to be. Kids who weren’t tied to the Haight for other reasons had migrated to Dogpatch, and that made Elle angry. She’d promoted the new teen center to many of the kids she’d met through either her pro bono work or volunteering. The teen center should be a safe place to keep them off drugs and give them tools to succeed; knowing that Lorenzo was using it as a base of operations for Lee made Elle furious.
    “Hi, Elle.” Two young boys walked up the stairs toward the kitchen. They were brothers and inseparable.
    “Deej, Tom,” she said. “Don’t make your mom worry. She gets home from work at eleven.”
    “I know,” Tom said, “we’re getting a to-go plate for her. Clark said we could.”
    She smiled. They were good boys. She hadn’t met them because they’d gotten in trouble; she’d met them through her friend Clark while he was tutoring