Hoofprints (Gail McCarthy series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

office."
    "Later."
    "Nope, now. I'm going with you. You need to get this done, Bret."
    He shrugged. "Have it your way."
    He looked stubbornly reluctant when we pulled into the parking lot of the county building, an ugly multistoried gray cube of a structure on Ocean Street-a part of Santa Cruz I seldom saw. The street is one long row of fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, and cheap motels-a tourist's route to the beach. Jammed with visiting cars in the summer, tawdry and depressing always, it's an area I avoid when I can.
    They took Bret to the same room where they'd taken me. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair in a hall that echoed with the tapping feet of sheriff's deputies, I studied the green spotted linoleum, possibly the ugliest linoleum I'd ever seen. The cold white light from the fluorescent bulbs did nothing to improve it.
    After awhile I stopped studying the linoleum and started studying the faces of the deputies who walked by. Mostly men, mostly young. One dark-haired and mustached type gave me a hi-pretty-lady smile. I smiled back-friendly but not inviting. That was my intent, anyway.
    Time passed-slowly. There was a clock on the wall, put there, no doubt, to infuriate anyone waiting.
    A door opened across the hall, and I looked up, eager for any diversion. A woman appeared in the doorway, followed by Detective Ward, who was politely holding the door open. The lady getting this courteous treatment was dressed in a black-and-white glen plaid business suit that was more than a match for Detective Ward's olive green outfit, and her shoulder-length blond-streaked hair fell in expensive looking layers about her face. It was a face that could have been attractive-mid-to late-thirties, pleasant, regular features-if it wasn't for the sharp, autocratic expression it wore. Her voice, which carried easily to where I was sitting, was as icy and authoritative as her face. "Detective Ward, I expect you to conduct this investigation along professional lines, certainly; but you will not pull any police procedure crap on me. My lawyer will be clear on that."
    Jeri Ward's face was unperturbed and patient, but her body language was stiff. "Ms. Whitney, I, we, the sheriff's department, are not trying to 'pull' anything. We're trying to find out the facts."
    "I'll have my lawyer speak to you."
    The woman stalked off with a staccato tapping of high heels on linoleum, watched by me and everyone else in the hall. She didn't seem the least bit disconcerted. Her head was high on a long neck, her carriage confident, her emotions well under control. Everything about her said money, from the smooth waves of her hair down to what were no doubt Italian pumps on her feet. It didn't take a lot of brains to guess who she was. Ms. Whitney. One of Ed Whitney's relatives. One of the Whitneys.
    Detective Ward was staring after her, too, her face deceptively quiet. I could guess what five-letter word was in her mind. She noticed me after a minute and walked over to my chair.
    "Dr. McCarthy." She greeted me politely but distantly, and she looked, I thought, just a touch bedeviled. Her normally polished appearance seemed marred, ever so slightly, in comparison with the formidable Ms. Whitney, and her always-composed face held a trace of strain.
    "Hello, Detective Ward."
    "Did John Reeder call you back in?" she asked.
    "No, a friend of mine came by to see me and I found out he'd been over at Ed and Cindy's yesterday. We decided he should come by here."
    She seemed to withdraw slightly. "Your friend-is he being questioned right now?"
    "I don't know. I assume so."
    She was silent, and I wondered what to say. I wanted to ask about the woman but wasn't sure it was the thing to do. In the end, I decided to keep my mouth shut. Easier not to stick my foot in it that way.
    Detective Ward focused back on me. "I'd like to see your friend before he leaves; I think I'll just check the interview room. If you think of anything about this case I