Death Takes a Ride (The Cate Kinkaid Files Book #3): A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

Smothered by Hairy Animal of Unknown Origin.’ But I’ll have to go get the SUV to take him home in. I can’t carry him on the bike without you along to hold him on. Do you still feel like pizza?”
    Cate hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch. Earlier, outthere at H&B, she’d have said no way to food of any kind at any given point in the near future. Right now, she felt as if she shouldn’t be hungry, after what had happened. But she was. Mitch was surely hungry too. He often got so busy on a Computer Solutions Dudes project that he didn’t even bother with lunch.
    “Canadian bacon and sausage? With olives and sliced tomatoes?” she asked.
    “You got it. I’ll pick up some dog food too.”
    As soon as the Purple Rocket rolled down the driveway, Cate tossed the hairy jacket in the laundry room and used her cell phone to call Rebecca. She gave her aunt a minimal explanation about why she and Shirley had missed the Fit and Fabulous meeting at the church. Rebecca suggested that Cate talk to Uncle Joe about the shootings at H&B, but the landline phone in Cate’s office rang, and she excused herself to answer it.
    Actually, she was grateful for the interruption. She hadn’t placed the events at H&B into the category of a case , but she didn’t want to give Uncle Joe the opportunity to tell her to stay out of this. Halliday’s question kept jogging around in her head. How had that gunman known about the money?
    She picked up the phone. “Belmont Investigations. Assistant Investigator Cate Kinkaid speaking.”
    “Cate, this is Shirley. You’re a what ?”
    “Assistant private investigator. But it’s my home phone too.”
    “Oh.” Shirley paused as if she had questions but apparently decided she hadn’t time for them. “I’m glad I found your number in a phone book here at the hospital. It finally hit me that I’d left you out there at H&B without any transportation.”
    “A friend came and got me. How’s Mr. Blakely doing?”
    “They won’t tell me much. You know how they are about privacy regulations. But I do know he hasn’t regained consciousness. I don’t think that’s good.”
    No, not good at all. “Mr. Halliday intended to come to the hospital, I think. Did he get there?”
    “Yeah. He’s really shook up about all this. He’s worried about Kane, but he also feels guilty about shooting that guy. I guess I’m not that bighearted. I’m just glad he did it. He and I would probably both be dead if he hadn’t.”
    “I think so.”
    “A couple of policemen were here too, and asked me all kinds of questions.”
    “They can get really nosy.”
    “Yeah, really nosy. But—” She broke off, as if not certain she wanted to go on, but finally she added, “But I got the funny feeling they think I might know something about the gunman. Maybe even had something to do with the shootings. And I don’t know anything about anything !”
    Everybody, it seemed, put their own nervous spin on being questioned by the police. Cate kept silent about the fact that a similar thought about Shirley had slithered into her own head.
    “But what I called for, I can drive the car to your place and then call a cab to come back here to the hospital.”
    “You’re not going home?” Cate asked.
    “I want to be here with Kane. I don’t really know him very well, but . . . I feel as if someone should be here.”
    And maybe, if Blakely recovered, he’d be very grateful for Shirley’s caring concern. The situation strongly suggested that Shirley had feelings for him.
    “I don’t need the car tonight. You keep it there and bring it here in the morning. Then I’ll take you home from here. Do you usually use a bicycle to get to and from work?”
    “A bicycle? No, since my pickup broke down, I walk. A guy there at H&B is working on it. But if Jerry can’t fix it, maybe I will be riding a bicycle pretty soon.”
    Which meant the bicycle Cate had seen out there by the piles of tires near the warehouse didn’t