COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) Read Online Free PDF

you about seeing Janice today. She wants me to do background checks on the witnesses for one of her criminal cases,” he repeated. “She jokingly called me Paul Drake and I pretended to not know who that was.”
                 Kate snorted. “What’d she say?”
                “She spluttered and faked being insulted, until I called her Perry.”
                “You know, it’s going to be really sad when all those old TV classics have faded so far into history that the younger generation truly doesn’t know who Perry Mason and Paul Drake are.”
                “Oh, speaking of age,” Skip said, “she’s invited us to her fiftieth birthday party. I told her I’d have to check with you, make sure we’re free that night.”
                “Richard isn’t even bothering to make it a surprise party?”
                He shook his head. “She’s planning it herself. Said she didn’t trust Richard not to just invite his cronies and talk shop all evening.”
                “Oh, yeah, that would be a blast,” Kate said. “A whole room full of estate lawyers.”
                Skip faked a loud snore and let his chin drop forward onto his chest. She laughed and reached over to brush back the hair that flopped down on his forehead.
                His skin tingled where she’d touched it. He was tempted to sweep her up and carry her off to bed. But it was a little early yet, and he was hoping eventually she’d open up about whatever was bothering her.
                “I guess we shouldn’t be stereotyping like that,” Kate said. “They may not all be as dull as Richard.”
                “I hope not.” Skip draped an arm across her shoulders. They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments.
                He glanced down. The preoccupied expression was back. “What’s the matter, darlin’?”
                Kate looked away. “Unfortunately I can’t talk about it. It has to do with a client, a former client actually.”
                “Can’t you talk about it in general terms, without violating confidentiality?” Skip had learned that his woman often needed to process things out loud to get them out of her system.
                “Not this time. It’s too sensitive a situation. My client’s in physical danger, until certain things get resolved. That’s making it harder to put aside.”
                Physical danger? He didn’t like the sound of that.
                He tightened his arm around her. “Is this the client you needed PI referrals for?”
                “Yes, but let’s not talk about it anymore. I might slip and say more than I should. So about this party, what night is it?”
                Reluctantly he allowed the subject to be changed. “Saturday, October first.”
                “I don’t think we have anything on the calendar, but I’ll have to check with Maria. See if she’s willing to watch the kids.”
                “You know she won’t let us pay her overtime,” Skip said. They tried not to take advantage of their live-in nanny and housekeeper who was normally off duty on weekends. But the daughters of their closest friends, Rob and Liz Franklin, were now grown and they hadn’t found any other babysitters they trusted.
                “I’ve learned to just put it in her next check without discussion.” Kate was smiling, but her eyes were clouded with worry again. This time he found out the cause right away.
                “Sweetheart, do you ever get the sense that Janice is coming on to you?”
                He grinned down at her. “Nope, apparently tall, dark and Texan isn’t her type.”
                She smiled back.
                “Seriously,” he said, “I wonder what the hell she sees in