Killer Swell Read Online Free PDF Page A

were rolling.
    â€œNoah, you know better,” she said, shaking her head. “This is junior varsity stuff.” She stared at me for a moment and her expression changed. “You know her?”
    I nodded. “Kate Crier.”
    Liz’s eyes blinked, she stood up a little straighter, and she glanced at the car. “Kate?”
    I nodded and Liz frowned, her chin dropping slightly. Liz had been two years ahead of Kate and me in school. It occurred to me that they might’ve played volleyball together, but I wasn’t sure.
    â€œShit,” Liz said quietly. “Why are you here?”
    I let out a deep breath. “Her mother hired me to find her.”
    â€œThey thought she was missing?”
    â€œYeah, I don’t think anyone knew she was in the trunk,” I said sharply, irritated by everything.
    She stared at me with a hard look I’d become all too familiar with during our six-month relationship two years ago. The look was a mixture of condescension, disgust, and confusion. I always bring out the best in women.
    â€œBe right back,” she said.
    She walked over to the cops stringing the tape, pointing at several spots that she wanted secured. She then made her way over to the medical examiner’s people. Beneath the bright police lights that bit into the darkness, they were taking Kate’s body from the car. I turned away. I knew that I would never be able to remember Kate as the gorgeous eighteen-year-old high school senior again. She would always be looking at me from the inside of that trunk.
    â€œNoah,” Liz said, back at my side. “What else do you know?”
    I shook my head. “Not much. I talked to her mother and her husband earlier tonight.”
    She nodded and watched over my shoulder at what I assumed to be the removal of the corpse. I closed my eyes and tried to flush the image of Kate’s dead face from my memory.
    â€œI’m gonna need you to make a statement,” Liz said, as I opened my eyes.
    â€œTomorrow,” I said, exhausted. “I’ll come down in the morning.”
    â€œTonight,” she said, the hard cop look returning to her face. “You’ll make the statement tonight. I don’t want to miss anything.”
    I had never appreciated the fact that Liz could turn her cop behavior off and on so easily. More often than not, it was the cop behavior that I had to deal with in our relationship, and that had never worked for me.
    I stared at her for a moment, and she held my gaze. Then I said, “Now I remember.”
    The corners of her mouth twitched. “Remember?”
    â€œWhy we broke up. I remember why now.”
    Her eyes went flat, and she glanced over my shoulder again. “Really. Why’s that?”
    â€œBecause I decided you were a bitch,” I said, and walked away.

8
    I gave my statement and left without speaking to Liz again. I knew I’d been out of line but I wasn’t quite ready to apologize yet. I figured there would be another opportunity in the too near future.
    I drove away from downtown and headed north toward La Jolla, to Marilyn Crier’s house. I had found Kate, and I figured I should let her know, if the police hadn’t already beaten me to it. I wasn’t looking forward to the conversation, but I owed her that much.
    Mount Soledad has two sides. The south side is considered Pacific Beach, the homes looking back at Mission Bay. Once you passed the giant cross that emerged from the top of the hill, you were in La Jolla. The mansions jutted out from the side of the mountain with views that spanned the coastline. You could almost smell the money.
    The Criers’ home rested just below the cross, a gated enclave that laughed at everything below it. The gate was open as I approached the drive, a police car turning out of the property and passing me in the opposite direction.
    Marilyn was standing in front of the giant oak doors of her house between two huge