Person of Interest (A Celeste Eagan Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

much debate, I hung back as Muldoon went from room to room. He finally came back to the living room and shoved his hands on his hips and stared at the mess on the floor.
    “I did that.” I shrugged when he turned and looked at me. “Tripped.”
    “Tell me where he is.” He took a step toward me.
    “You don’t mince words, do you?”
    “Not when I’m on duty.”
    My throat suddenly dried. “I don’t know.”
    He took in a long, deep breath. “You and Cooter.” The frown faded from the corners of his mouth.
    “What? Who?” I shook my head.
    “Cooter Eagan. That was Colin’s nickname when we were in high school.”
    Laughter built. “Why Cooter?”
    “He got a lot of...” Muldoon’s frown zipped back and his gaze dropped to his feet.
    “Tail? You can say it. The man likes women. Doesn’t hurt my feelings.” At least not anymore. “Some things don’t change, I guess.” Colin’d never overtly cheated on me, but I’d had suspicions once or twice while we were married. Coupled with the number of women that I knew of since the divorce, it was a fitting nickname. “You never did say why you’re here.”
    “Cooter, um, Colin, is a person of interest in my investigation.”
    That was cop-speak for a suspect that they didn’t have a hold of yet. I watched Law and Order and all that. “You can’t possibly think he had something do with Chad’s death.”
    “Just a person of interest.”
    I crossed my arms and did my best stare-down-while-craning-my-neck-back intimidation stare. Yeah, he looked oh so scared. Still, I was a little emboldened. I had snuck into Colin’s townhome after all. I was, maybe not successfully, staring down a seasoned police detective. I might as well go for broke. I voiced my concerned opinion—as my daughter’s father, the last thing I wanted was for him to be messed up in a suspicious death investigation. “Which essentially means you consider him a suspect.”
    “It means we need to speak with him.” He mimicked my pose, turned up the badass cop routine—and was winning. “Why are you here, Mrs. Eagan? Celeste.”
    I will not admit what hearing him say my name did to my insides. I had to be three kinds a fool, and too long since a decent date, for him to elicit goose bumps up and down my arms. I tightened my stance to ward off any shivers that might try to break loose.
    With the open phone still in my hand, I could hear Levi asking question after question. I’d completely forgotten about him. “I’ll call you back.” I hung up on Levi and dialed Colin’s number. “I need to speak with him, too. About our daughter.”
    ESPN’s Sports Center theme echoed through the house. “Weird.”
    I ended the call and the ditty stopped. I retried Colin’s number and again I heard the light music wafting from the kitchen. As I took a step in the direction of the kitchen, Detective Muldoon grabbed my elbow and held me in place. I’d like to say I didn’t feel the little spark of electricity. I’d also like to say I listened when he said, “I’ll go first.”
    But I didn’t.
    I pulled my elbow free and race-walked ahead of him. Under an ad for a local sporting-goods store, Colin’s cell phone sat ringing.
    Muldoon snatched it up off the counter.
    “Hey.” I grabbed for it, but the man was fast. “Give me that.”
    He completely ignored me, of course, and pulled out a plastic bag. He dropped the phone into it and tucked it into his pocket.
    “Don’t you need a warrant for that?”
    “Not when I’m granted access.” He took a deep breath. “You let me in. Remember?”
    “I don’t have any right to give you access to this house.”
    “You’re inside.”
    “But I shouldn’t be. Colin didn’t give me permission.” Oops. Only after that slipped out did it strike me what I’d just admitted. “That means the phone is fruit from the poisoned vine or something? You can’t take it.” I grabbed for the edge of the plastic bag sticking out of his pocket but missed