Dead Certain Read Online Free PDF

Derek, a mere hour late was early.
    Regardless of how good his intentions might be, Derek never seemed to manage to get anywhere on time. He was distracted so easily. On the way to his front door, he would pause to rearrange the flowers in a vase on the sideboard as he passed through the dining room. He would turn on a light in the living room and straighten the pillows on the sofa. He might check the mantel for dust, then call up the steps to his longtime companion, Clark Lehmann, to announce that the mantel needed dusting and engage in a discussion over whether the cleaning woman should come two days a week instead of one. He would check the messages on the answering machine and fuss with a pile of magazines.
    It drove Amanda insane.
    “He could have walked here by now,” Amanda grumbled as she reached for the phone on the wall and dialed his cell phone. When there was no answer, she called his home number.
    “Clark? Would you please put Derek on the phone?”
    Clark paused briefly before asking, “Isn’t he there with you?”
    “No. Look, I understand why he would rather deal with this in the morning, and at this point we might as well. So just tell him never mind. We’ll meet for breakfast, as he’d suggested.”
    “Amanda, Derek left here right after he spoke with you. Not more than five minutes after he hung up.” Clark’s voice clouded with uncertainty. “He should have been there a long time ago.”
    “Well, he’s not here. Where could he have stopped between there and here?”
    “At this hour on a Monday night? I can’t think of any place that’s even open around here past ten.”
    “There’s that bar out near Denton Road.”
    “We haven’t gone there in months. He would never go into a place like that alone, and he wouldn’t have gone there tonight. He’s exhausted from the trip and he wants to get this over.”
    “Well, maybe he stopped at someone’s house.”
    Clark fell silent, then said, “I guess there’s a chance that he could have stopped at David and Robbie’s. That’s on the way to your place. Though it’s unlikely. I mean, it’s a weeknight, for crying out loud. You just don’t pop in to see someone at eleven-thirty on a weeknight. Of course, there’s always the chance that he stopped in the center of town to watch the fountain.”
    “The fountain?” Amanda frowned.
    “Oh, haven’t you seen the new fountain in the park? We drove past it today. It’s lovely. And Derek did so love the fountains in Italy. . . .” Clark sighed. “I know, I know. He’s so damned flighty sometimes. I know it makes you as crazy as it makes me, but he just doesn’t seem able to help himself.”
    “This was important, Clark.”
    “I know, sweetie. And I know that you just want to kill him sometimes.” Clark’s voice softened. “Amanda, he’s really, really upset over this pottery business.”
    “As upset as he was last year when he bought that samurai sword?”
    “Oh, worse. Much worse. He knows he blew it.”
    “Big-time. He wiped us out and then some.”
    “He can make up the cash. You know I’ll cover it.”
    “That’s very generous of you, Clark, but you just can’t keep bailing him out.”
    “Of course I can. And I will. Besides, I feel responsible. I’m the one who told Ahmed—”
    “Ahmed? Ahmed who?”
    “I didn’t get his last name.”
    Amanda rolled her eyes. How stupid do you have to be to buy something in Italy—where so much black-market activity takes place—from a guy who identifies himself only as Ahmed?
    “Anyway,” Clark continued, “Ahmed had this goblet to sell. I told him Derek was an antiques dealer. I mean, Ahmed was telling me about his business, how he had so many high-end pieces, so of course, I told him about Derek. And, well, one thing just led to another . . .”
    “Right. I can see how this happened.” This was a lie, and Clark recognized it as such. Amanda would never purchase something without the proper paperwork.
    “Just be gentle