Executive Dirt: A Sedona O'Hala Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

him now.”
    “I wonder where Cary kept the box. He did say they came in late last night.”
    “In which case, they would have been sitting around. All night, maybe?”
    I nodded. “It’s an open floor plan.  Cary wouldn’t bother to lock them up. He doesn’t even track who gets which phone for testing. Although that doesn’t tell us how or why Joe’s phone landed in there. I should probably turn this in to the cops in case it really is his personal phone or the last one he used for testing.”
    His eyebrow lifted. “Only probably?”
    Sheepishly, I grinned. “I was thinking it would be a good idea to have Radar duplicate whatever code and messages are sitting on it first.”
    “Don’t trust the cops to do their job?”  He held his hand out for the phone. He wasn’t trying to confiscate it; he wasn’t that controlling.
    I handed it over.  “The police might be able to glean something useful,” I admitted. “But Radar’s the best there is. He could copy everything on here and tell me when the code was loaded and whether those Pig Latin phrases were in the original load or something that was added.”
    “Good idea.”
    I was a little surprised at his quick acceptance since he had a tendency to warn me away from involvement in anything sinister, but if Mark was anything, he was logical. He wasn’t one to pass up an opportunity just for the sake of stubbornness.
    He used his own phone to call Radar, and then made a second call that I assumed was to Huntington.
    Once he hung up I asked, “How did you hear about the murder?”
    “Police scanner.  I followed up with Derrick, and then headed over here hoping you were done and had come home.”
    “Derrick wasn’t working the case. His partner was there, though. If Adrian hadn’t been there, I might still be answering questions.”
    “Radar said he can meet us for Chinese and pick up the phone to examine it. You okay if I get the copy of anything on it to Steve?”
    “Are you guys planning to investigate?”  I hadn’t thought past obtaining a copy of whatever was on the phone.
    “It might be a good idea to check a few things, especially since you are working at a company where a guy turned up murdered.”
    I blinked. I hadn’t seen enough to guess how Joe Dork had died, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he probably hadn’t ended up in the ladies room on his own. “Okay by me.”

Chapter 6
     
    By the time we finished eating and drove back to my place, my parents had also returned.  From the front porch, the steady drone of the television could be heard. I stifled a sigh.  Mark and I had barely had any time together lately.  With my parents in town, the situation wasn’t improving.
    “Pick you up to hike tomorrow?” Mark asked.
    I nodded. Had my parents not been around, I’d definitely have invited him in, but flaunting my personal life, even in front of them— especially in front of them, would be a huge mistake.  I didn’t need the complications, the lectures or snide remarks about good Catholic girls and “in my day.”  “Seven,” I said. “I’ll be up early even if it is Saturday, just for you.” 
    He leaned in to steal a goodnight kiss just as the front door opened.
    Mom was all smiles.  “Hi, Mark! Sedona, did you know the sewing machine is a finishing machine? Sergers don’t handle the regular stitching.  You can’t sew very much with it until you buy a regular machine.”
    My life was out of control. I pinched the bridge of my nose in the vague hope the gesture would keep my few remaining brains from leaking out. “Well, no, I don’t know what kind of machine it is. It was a gift. I don’t sew.”
    “A gift.” Mark glanced at me and then leaned in close to look over my head.  “Sewing machine.” The gears in his brain were almost audible as they turned. “Steve?  He gave you a gift? Why didn’t you mention—” He bit off his question, either because he was angry or because my mother was