Misery Loves Company Read Online Free PDF Page A

rotated partners. Some weeks Chris rode by himself; other weeks Maecoat was with him.
    Chris stood, trying to decide what to do. He’d left the Lt. Colonel passed out on the couch of his daughter’s home to keep watch for her, after promising the man that he’d do what he could today.
    “Downey, you just going to stand there all morning?”
    “Sorry . . . sir . . .” Chris blinked and regarded the captain, who gave him a small smirk. Well, he seemed to be in a decent mood. “Cap, can I talk to you for a second?”
    “What about?”
    Chris decided to leave the Lt. Colonel out of it for the moment. “You know Jason’s wife, Juliet?”
    “Sure.”
    “Her family is concerned. She’s been missing for almost forty-eight hours.”
    “You know the drill.”
    “I do,” Chris said, stepping closer. “But Jules isn’t really the type to just go away without notice. In fact, in the last couple of years, she doesn’t really leave the house much.”
    “That’s what I hear.”
    “So I think there might be some validity to his concerns.”
    The captain finally looked up from his paperwork, overthe rim of his glasses. “Look, Chris, I can appreciate your personal interest in this. But you know how strapped we are for manpower. I can’t put a detective on this for another day, and that’s if we’re lucky. You see where I’m coming from, don’t you?”
    “Yeah. Of course.” He paused. “Maybe I can take a preliminary look into it. See if I can find something of interest.”
    The captain took off his glasses, gave Chris a weary look.
    “It’s not just anybody.”
    The captain blinked long and hard. “Sorry, Chris. It’s got to wait. I can’t bend procedure, and you know that.”
    “Understood.” Chris nodded with no intention of complying whatsoever.

“YEAH. THIS IS GREAT. Just great,” Maecoat moaned as they got out of Chris’s squad car. “These crab cakes are no good cold.”
    “You didn’t have to come. You shouldn’t have come. I  shouldn’t be here at all.”
    “And my crab cakes are cold. Bad idea all the way around.”
    “His truck’s gone,” Chris said.
    “And that’s the only reason I’m trailing you on this thing. I’d hate to take a big-shot Marine down with a stun gun, but I’d do it just because he thought about opening his mouth.”
    Chris walked up the front porch steps, hoping that the door wasn’t unlocked. Then he could say he tried, it waslocked, and his hands were tied. He wasn’t sure what time the Lt. Colonel had left, but he probably wasn’t in top-notch condition. Chris reached for the door, slowly turned the knob.
    It opened. Chris sucked in a breath and glanced at Maecoat.
    “Well, what are you waiting for?” Maecoat said.
    They walked in, Maecoat stuffing a crab cake into his mouth. “Wow,” he said, food bulging from his cheek. “Tidy, huh?”
    “Jason used to talk about how much her military-like neatness drove him crazy. And he was no slob. But she put his organizational skills to shame.” Chris walked through the house, noticing this time how everything   —drawer, cabinet, basket   —was labeled. Everything had its place. There was nothing random anywhere in the house.
    He walked to a small table near the kitchen, his eyes roaming over the five picture frames of Jason and Jules. Jason had nicknamed her Jules when they first met. Her given name was Juliet, but Jason had insisted he was no Romeo. In his vows at the wedding, though, he’d surprised everyone by proclaiming, “My love for you might just put Romeo to shame.” Jules burst into tears because Jason was not a man who openly expressed his emotions much.
    Jules fit her better anyway, Chris always thought. She was athletic and pretty in a natural sort of way. Long, wavy brown hair and a grin that set the room ablaze. She was shy, though, and Chris was more used to seeing her laugh at Jason’s jokes than tell her own.
    A few weeks before Jason and Jules were married, while he and