Melody Unchained Read Online Free PDF Page A

And Melody. “You didn’t think she was the least bit off?”
    “No. Why’re you so worried about her?”
    Jerry opened his mouth to say Melody had been to his house this afternoon and snapped it shut before that could leak out. “I just am, the poor kid.” Neither he nor Melody needed the hassle of him telling people she’d tracked him down. How had she tracked him down? His number was unlisted. Melody was apparently smart in addition to being crazy and logical. Just what he needed. One wouldn’t be a problem. Two he could handle. Three? Perfect storm.
    “I’m sure it looked like a really fishy situation to the badges on the scene. Half naked girl locked in the closet of a dead man, but her story makes sense. She went out having fun for a couple of days and the man she was supposed to be taking care of died alone. She was guilty and she locked herself in a closet.”
    “For four days?”
    “She told me she only got home the night before.”
    “The super said no one had come or gone from the apartment in at least a week.”
    “Who are you gonna believe, the super or the girl and my professional instincts?”
    The super. Couldn’t say that though. Stella took her eye for an eye stuff very seriously. He’d never get another psych evaluation from her again and he’d end up babysitting the seriously crazy until someone else came on duty.
    “Certainly took a shine to you though,” Stella said.
    “Me?”
    “Minute I walked into the room it was ‘ where’s Jerry? I only want to talk to Jerry. Jerry’s going to take me home. ’ You didn’t offer to take her home, did you?”
    “No!” Jerry swallowed. He didn’t have to take her home. She’d followed him. “I told her someone would take her home when we were done with her. She misunderstood.”
    “Whatever you say, cutie.” Stella paused. “You know how it is with victims. They freak out and glom onto the first strong person they meet. It’s been a year since Amanda died, hasn’t it?”
    Did everybody have the date marked on their calendars or something? “This has nothing to do with Amanda.”
    “Yes, it does. Don’t you know what a statistical anomaly you are? Studies show that men don’t stay with sick wives. They can’t handle the pain and caretaking. You stayed with Amanda through three cancers and two rounds of chemo and through most of it, you kept doing your job, which is no walk in the park. You’re a strong guy with a heart that can be seen for miles. You have an angel on your shoulder. I can see the shadow of his wings on your face.”
    “That isn’t the shadow of angel’s wings. That’s the shadow of doubt.” Jerry picked up a pencil and tapped it on his desk blotter. Stella didn’t know about the devil on his other shoulder. The one who was telling him to grab Melody, lock her in his house and let her call him master all she wanted. Yeah, he’d have to take care of her, but in her last master-slave relationship she had to have done some of the caretaking. Billy was well over eighty. He hadn’t been doing a whole heck of a lot more than eating, sleeping and watching a little TV in between.
    “That girl, Melody Welsh, she’s in a very sad place and she needs someone. She’s here from Las Vegas and I doubt her party friends will be much support. For a stripper, she’s very innocent. It wouldn’t hurt to keep up with her until she goes back home.”
    Jerry rolled his eyes. That was just what he needed. Permission. One of the lights on his phone started blinking with an incoming call. Crap. Probably another case to add to the one he already wasn’t working on. “Why me?”
    “Because she likes you. And maybe you can save her from her life as a stripper. Make an honest woman of her. She could be your reward for being a good man.”
    Reward? Curse was more like it. A crazy woman who thought she was three thousand years old and he was going to be her new master. He needed to be off the phone with Matchmaker Stella before