Covert Exposure Read Online Free PDF Page B

can come back and offer me all the
free advice you want but until then why don’t you just shut the
hell up? You know nothing about this. I deal with this day in and
day out!”
    “O’Hara, you don’t know shit about me or what
I know. So maybe it’s you who should shut the hell up,” Spinelli
spat back.
    Shannon’s eyes flooded with tears and she
fought for a voice. “You…”
     
    “I what?”
    Shannon closed her eyes. “You’re the coldest
and harshest person I ever met,” she whispered. She put her hand
over her mouth and turned and walked away from him.
    Spinelli stared after her. Her words sliced
through his heart like a knife.
     

 
    Chapter
Six
     
    Spinelli shuffled his feet in the direction
of his precinct. He walked up behind Walker and Marsh as they
stared at their Santa board. Spinelli cocked his head to the side
and pulled his eyebrows together. “Is that an elf?” he asked as he
stepped closer to the board to get a better look at the newly added
photo of a murder victim wearing a short green smock with tights
and green shoes that curled up at the toes.
    The photo of the elf hung next to the
pictures of Santa Claus.
    Marsh continued to rub his fingers over his
unshaven chin. “Yeah, that’s an elf all right. The mall security
guards found him early this morning while on their rounds.”
    “What do we know?” Spinelli asked.
    “Same as Santa, a bullet to the back of the
head and no identification on him. Mall security identified him as
Aaron Reed, twenty-three, part-time college student,” Marsh
replied.
    Walker picked up a file from his desk,
flipped it open, and took a moment to scan the contents. He closed
the file and looked over at Spinelli as he continued to study the
pictures and information on the board. “Spinelli, tell me about
this Shannon O’Hara.”
    Spinelli tore his gaze from the board and
looked at Walker. The palms of his hands started to sweat as he
thought about how to answer his question. “She’s beautiful and
smart. She’s got the palest and softest looking skin, and eyes of
an angel. I’ve never seen such bright emerald green eyes.” Spinelli
lost himself in thoughts of Shannon for a moment. “But she hates
me. She absolutely hates me and the harder I try the worse it
gets.”
    Spinelli paused, looked down at his feet, and
then wondered if he really just said all that out loud.
    Walker let out a chuckle that snapped
Spinelli back to reality.
    “What?” Spinelli asked.
    “The great Spinelli is smitten by a woman who
hates him. What’s the matter there, buddy, off your game a bit? Oh,
this is good. Did you hear that, Marsh? It sounds as if the great
Spinelli is losing his touch with the ladies.” Walker flashed a
cocky smile. Spinelli shook his head. “Can we just stick to the
issue at hand, the dead Santa and elf?”
    “That’s what I’m trying to do,” Walker
replied “It seems your little girlfriend upstairs knows both the
victims and now that you guys are back we’re going to have a little
chat with her.”
    “What…how?” Spinelli cleared his throat,
realigned his thoughts, and started over again. ”What does Shannon
have to do with any of this? Why do you need to speak to her?”
    “Your little green eyed angel happens to play
the role of Santa’s little helper at the mall, however, she hasn’t
worked since last Sunday so I don’t know if she even knows that her
two buddies are dead. At any rate we need to get her down
here.”
    “Spinelli!” Captain Jackson screeched from
her office doorway, “in my office, now!”
    Spinelli’s body quivered at the sound of her
voice. A sharp pain shot through his temples. He squeezed his eyes
shut briefly, then spun on his heel and headed toward her
office.
    “Shut the door and sit down,” Jackson
hissed.
    Jackson opened her desk drawer and retrieved
a bottle of Tylenol. She dumped two tablets into her hand and put
the bottle back. She flashed her angry dark brown eyes at Spinelli.
“You do this