Death Takes a Gander Read Online Free PDF Page B

buts, Dimato. If he gets the documentation, you are to stand down. Do you understand?”
    Angela chewed the inside of her cheek, forcing herself to stay calm.
    Kramner rephrased the question. “Have I made myself clear?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    After she’d hung up the phone, Eric crowed. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
    “Yes.” Acid gnawed at her stomach lining. She wished she had a peppermint candy. According to her grandmother, peppermint calmed the stomach and soothed the soul. Angela could use the double remedy. “There has to be something more we can do.”
    “You could defy Kramner’s orders.”
    Angela reached out and grabbed Eric’s sleeve, forcing him to skid to a stop. “That’s it!”
    “Defiance?”
    “No, an end run.” For the second time since graduation, she thought about Nathan Sobul. He was a lousy boyfriend and a lousy lab partner, but he worked for the USDA.
    “Kramner hedged,” she said. “He made his decision contingent. In order to use the permit, Frakus needs documentation from the USDA to proceed. I may know someone who can intervene.” She told him about Nathan.
    “What does he do for the USDA?”
    Angela shrugged. “But he’s one of those people who knows everyone. If he can’t help, he should know who can.”
    “Where’s he based?”
    “Fort Collins.”
    “That’s good.” Eric shifted his weight from side to side and rubbed his hands up and down his arms.
    For the first time that morning, Angela felt cold. But, Eric was right. It was good that the USDA was headquartered in Fort Collins, and Nate was more apt to know someone with clout working out of the main office. Peeling off a glove, she punched in Nathan’s home number on her cell phone and hoped it was still good. It had been a long time since she’d dialed it. Funny the things you remember. She still knew her junior high school locker combination.
    The phone rang, and Angela’s heart pummeled her rib cage. What if he wasn’t home? What if he was? How long had it actually been since they’d spoken? Three years?
    Their breakup had been ugly. She had been thinking about marriage, while he had been sleeping with her college roommate. Time had placed them on civil ground, but the pain lingered.
    She let the phone ring, half hoping he wouldn’t answer, half praying he would. One thing was certain. At this hour of the morning, if he was at home, he would still be in bed.
    The phone clicked.
    “Hello?”
    Hearing his sleepy voice triggered a tangle of emotions inside Angela, emotions she thought long buried—anger, lust, hatred, fear, betrayal. She struggled to keep her voice even. “Nathan?”
    “Yes?” He sounded confused.
    The bed covers rustled, and she wondered if he was alone. Not that it was any of her business. “It’s Angela.”
    Eric started walking toward the lake again, and she scurried after him.
    “Who?” Nathan asked.
    Her chest tightened. Did he really not remember? Or was her call just so unexpected that she was out of context for him?
    “Angela Dimato,” she said, puffing from exertion and humiliation. “You know, we went to the university together.” Made love in the coed dorms, drank lattes at the “beach,” skinny-dipped in Bear Creek . Her memories stretched and stayed with her. His had obviously faded.
    “Peeps?”
    Angela cringed at the use of the nickname. It stood for “peeping Dimato,” from when she’d been caught testing a new scope through the dorm-room window her freshman year. The only available subject had been a couple performing a courting ritual in a dorm room across the way. It figured that’s what he’d retain.
    “Right. Look, Nate, I need a favor.”
    She held her breath waiting for his answer. She hadn’t asked him for anything, even study notes, since the day they’d parted company. She wouldn’t be asking anything of him now if he wasn’t her only hope.
    “Shoot.”
    She exhaled, relaxing her shoulders, and explained the situation.
    “So,” she