Gone to Her Grave (Rogue River Novella Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

three sentences without fighting?
    Time to get back to business. “Tell me about your overdose.”
    “In a nutshell: Kid A says Kid B sold him drugs. Kid B says he didn’t do it. Unfortunately, Kid B’s dead father was dealing said drugs. Carly thinks Kid B is innocent, but frankly, we have no idea which kid is telling the truth and which one is lying.”
    Seth tossed his bottle in the recycling bin. “Carly does a lot of wishful thinking. They’re kids. They’re probably both lying.”

    Carly cranked up the air conditioner. The vehicle interior cooled, but the heat in her blood continued to burn. All she’d ever wanted from Seth was his respect, to be treated as his equal. Too bad it was the one thing he couldn’t give. She brushed an angry tear off her cheek. If anything, he’d gotten worse over their eight years of marriage. They’d fought every time she was called out on a case. Yes, sometimes her job could be dangerous, but she’d been trained to take precautions. If she questioned her safety, she called a cop for backup.
    She glanced at the time on her phone. If she worked through lunch, she could still get through her appointments and be home for dinner with her mom and Brianna. Parking in front of the two-bedroom Craftsman-style house she’d shared with Seth, she got out of the Jeep and walked around to the backyard. A neatly edged gravel path led to the detached garage. Carly used her key to open the door. They’d never been able to clear the junk out of the garage long enough to park a vehicle in it. Storage containers and cardboard boxes cluttered the rear half of the space. Along the near wall, a workbench and tools took up the remaining space. The mess had annoyed her when she’d lived here, but now she viewed Seth’s junk with affection—and loneliness. How could she miss the man’s clutter?
    She lifted the lid of the first container. Random athletic equipment. Seth had played football and lacrosse in college. She snapped the lid shut before any memories of his broad shoulders or chiseled abs could resurface. Brianna had been born just six months after their impromptu wedding, because of a hot summer night, the cool water of O’Rourke’s Lake, and that body.
    Carly shook her head and focused on her task. Brianna’s Fourth of July top hat sat on top of a baseball mitt in the third box. Carly snatched it and made her escape, grateful she didn’t have to go inside the house. She hadn’t set foot across that threshold since the day she’d left. There were too many memories, a breathtaking mix of bitter and sweet, inside those walls.
    Without looking back she backed the Jeep out of the driveway and headed out of town. Her phone rang. The number on the display was her boss’s. She answered on speakerphone.
    “I have a new case for you. Peter Rollins,” he said.
    “I’m not sure I’m comfortable handling his case.” She explained about the conflict of interest with Russ’s case.
    “Okay. I’ll reassign the case to Sondra, but she’s out today. For now, could you go over the initial paperwork with the father and explain that Sondra will get in contact with him in a day or two?”
    “I can do that,” Carly said. Among other things, CPS caseworkers would help coordinate any services available or ordered for Peter, such as treatment for alcohol or drug abuse. “E-mail me the details.”
    She kept copies of forms and information packets in her Jeep. Rogue County was expansive, and Carly often worked out of her vehicle rather than making the forty-five-minute trek into her office in the county seat of Hannon every day. Her phone beeped with an incoming e-mail. Peter Rollins’s personal information. She pulled up his address and his father’s phone number. The house was only a few miles away, so Carly headed in that direction.
    The Rollins family lived a dozen blocks off Main Street in the residential section of town. She pulled up in front of a one-story house on a small lot. The lawn