Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet Read Online Free PDF Page B

embarrassment. “A few weeks now.”
    “What about your family?”
    Her fingers smoothed the edge of her scarf. “My parents aren’t really the supportive
     type. And my ex-husband, well, he’d just use it against me every chance he got. I
     haven’t told him.”
    “Do you suspect him?”
    “Kenneth?” She scoffed softly. “No. He’s an ass, but he’s a harmless ass.”
    Proceeding with caution, I asked, “Is he paying you alimony?”
    “No. Not any. He has no reason to want me dead.”
    I wasn’t so sure about that, but decided to go along with it for now. “What about
     work colleagues?”
    I’d embarrassed her again. She blanched under my questioning gaze. “I don’t really—I
     don’t work. I haven’t had a job for a while now.”
    Interesting. “How do you pay your bills?”
    “My parents are very well off. They basically pay me to stay away from them. It works
     out well for the both of us.”
    I couldn’t help but conclude that if she weren’t around, they’d no longer have to
     carry her. Perhaps her parents were even less supportive than she imagined.
    “What do they think of this situation?”
    She shrugged. “They believe me even less than Officer Taft.”
    She had me at Officer Taft. While we weren’t exactly enemies, we weren’t really friends
     either. We’d had an encounter once that ended in him cursing at me and storming out
     of my apartment. I tended not to forget such encounters. That one involved his sister,
     who’d died when he was very young. He got testy when I told him she’d stayed behind
     for him. Some people were so touchy when I told them their departed family members
     had taken up stalking.
    “Okay,” I said, “I’ll take this case on one condition.”
    The tension seemed to ooze out. I wasn’t sure if that was because I was taking her
     case or she really was that afraid for her life. “Anything,” she said.
    “You have to promise to be honest with me. Once I take this case, I’m on your side,
     do you understand? Think of me as your doctor or your therapist. I can’t repeat anything
     you tell me in confidence without your express permission.”
    She nodded. “I’ll tell you everything I can.”
    “Okay, first, do you have any idea, any suspicion at all of who would want you dead?”
    Most people, when threatened, did, but Harper shook her head. “I’ve tried and tried.
     I just have no idea who would want to hurt me.”
    “Fair enough.” I didn’t want to push her too hard. She seemed fragile as it was, and
     my shoving a gun in her face couldn’t have helped.
    I took down the names of her closest family and friends, anyone who might be able
     to corroborate her story. Attempted murder was no laughing matter. Neither was stalking
     or harassment. The fact that her immediate family wasn’t taking her seriously alarmed
     me. I’d have to pay them a visit ay-sap.
    “Do you have a place to stay besides your house?” I asked when I was done.
    Her hair fell forward with another soft shake of her head. “I haven’t thought about
     it. I guess I really don’t. Not anywhere safe.”
    That could be a problem. Still … “You know, I might have just the place. It’s like
     a safe house, only it’s a tattoo parlor.”
    “Oh … kay.”
    She seemed open to the idea. That was good. “Awesome. You sit tight while I get this
     information to my assistant across the hall, then I’ll take you over.”
    With an absent nod, she studied a box on the sofa beside me of collectible Kiss action
     figures.
    “Yeah,” I said, agreeing with her bewilderment, “a lot of caffeine went into that
     decision.”
    “I can imagine.”
    I started across the hall, thrilled about the prospect of rubbing my new client in
     Cookie’s face—not literally, though, as that could be awkward—and almost ran down
     Mr. Zamora, the building’s superintendent.
    “Oh—hey, there,” he said. He was shorter than me, pudgy with salt-and-pepper hair
     that always