Death on Heels Read Online Free PDF Page B

before, Lacey?”
    Why indeed?
Lacey wondered. She was beginning to feel ganged up on. “He didn’t kill anyone. And he was just—a boyfriend. He just, um, never came up in conversation. Till now.” They looked unconvinced. “Come on, Stella, your past conquests could probably fill several New Jersey phone books. Not counting the unlisted ones. Have you told us about all of them?”
    Stella harrumphed. “You dated this guy for, like,
how
long and he, like, proposed to you and now he’s been arrested for murder? We shoulda known! You have totally been holding out on us, Lace. Ask me anything. I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know, even up to and including Jared Goodman behind the bleachers when I was in seventh grade. He was in the eighth grade. Jared was, like, this total middle school rock star, see, and I was, like, his groupie, and we used to—”
    “Too much information,” Brooke interjected.
    “Too much is never enough, Brookie,” Stella shot back. “Now
your
private life is like the Book of Secrets, ya know?”
    The pin-striped attorney blushed pale pink. “My only Book of Secrets is a law book. There’s hardly been time for anyone. Certainly not in middle school!”
    “Till Damon Newhouse,” Lacey reminded her.
    “Yes, there is Damon.” Brooke allowed herself a small angelic smile. “But no secret there. You both know all about him.”
    “And he knows too much about all of our secrets,” Lacey interjected.
    “As an investigative cyberjournalist, it’s his job to know.” Brooke smiled.
    Damon ran the Conspiracy Clearinghouse Web site, also known as DeadFed dot com, a forum for fringe conspiracy theories of all kinds, including such ever-popular mysteries as who was
really
behind the global recession, toxic chemtrails, killer vaccines, CIA mind control, and the brain-eating zombies who secretly run Congress.
    Some journalist
, Lacey thought.
Damon’s a berserk blogger with an Internet bazooka
. But she held her tongue and merely groaned delicately.
    “Speaking of Damon, he’s not going to believe this one,” Stella cut in. “And you can get yourself into more trouble than anyone I know, Lace.”
    “Check a mirror, Stella. Really, you guys. My trip won’t interest Damon. There is no global conspiracy angle. No aliens, no leaked documents, no strange creatures out of time and space,” Lacey said.
    “You don’t know that until you get there, now do you?” Brooke said. “Speaking of strange creatures, what is a jackalope, anyway? And what if you happen to need legal advice?”
    “Why would I need legal advice?”
    Brooke and Stella shared a look and broke out laughing, as if on cue.
    “’Cause you always get in trouble,” Stella said. “Duh.”
    “I do not.” Lacey seemed to remember that Stella had been in trouble quite a lot recently, and surely it must be Brooke’s turn.
    “Yes, you do. And we’d be right there with you,”Brooke said. “If only this stupid case I’m on hadn’t been continued, I’d be free to explore this legendary Sagebrush of yours.”
    “It’s too gritty for our favorite Gucci girl, Brooke,” Lacey said. “There’s no Burberry for two hundred miles. Well, at least fifty.”
    “I’m sure I’d bear up sans Burberry.”
    Stella gazed at Tucker’s picture in the news story. “He looks hot. I love cowboys. So was he good, I mean as in really
good
? You know, like, tall in the saddle?”
    “Oh, Stella. He was a good guy, if that’s what you mean.” Lacey knew it wasn’t at all what Stella meant. “The cops got the wrong guy this time.”
    “And you’re going to find out who really killed those women?” Brooke asked, now at full attention. Stella’s eyes lit up with interest. “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it, finding the real killer?”
    “I’m going to Sagebrush to assure myself he’s not a killer,” Lacey said. “I’ll let the law do its job. If Tucker’s innocent, he’s got nothing to worry about.