Temporary Sanity Read Online Free PDF Page A

Barnstable County judge to put one of his own parole officers behind bars-and keep him there.
    I can’t do it; I’ve already taken too much time from Buck Hammond’s case. Harry can’t either, of course. He’s in court on a suppression hearing right now, and he’s got Steady Teddy’s pretrial conference at the end of the day. Sonia Baker needs help today, not tomorrow. The Kydd will have to do it. It’s a serious matter-he’s never handled one of these before-but I know the Kydd. He’s up to it.
    He answers the phone on the first ring and starts talking as soon as he hears my voice. “Marty, where the hell have you been?”
    This is not the greeting I expected. “Do you think I dropped them off and went shopping, Kydd? I’m at the hospital, for God’s sake.”
    “I’ve been trying to reach you for half an hour. Your cell phone’s been shut down.”
    “I know that, Kydd. What’s going on?”
    “Where is she?”
    “Where’s who?”
    “Sonia Baker.”
    A shiver runs down my spine, and it has nothing to do with the weather. The Kydd knows Sonia Baker’s name now. He didn’t when we left the office. “She’s on her way to X ray,” I tell him. “Why?”
    He takes a deep breath before he answers. “Chatham police are headed your way.”
    “Good. They can take her statement, then pick up the murderous boyfriend.”
    “Marty…”
    “The boyfriend is Howard Davis. You know, that giant parole officer. Can you believe that?”
    “Marty…”
    “Sonia Baker is lucky she’s alive. Howard Davis is big enough to break her in two. And he’s threatened to do just that-to her and the girl.”
    “Marty!” The Kydd screams so loudly I almost drop the phone in the snow.
    “What, Kydd? For God’s sake, what?”
    He takes another deep breath. The wind whips the hood from my head and hurls heavy wet flakes into my eyes.
    “Howard Davis is dead.”
    My vision blurs and I press my free hand against the granite wall for balance.
    “Dead?”
    “Stabbed to death with a steak knife,” the Kydd says. “One from a set in Sonia Baker’s kitchen.”

Chapter 7
    Chatham’s Chief of Police pulls into the hospital parking lot just as I snap my cell phone shut. I race across the slippery lot to the Thunderbird, grab my camera and a fresh roll of film from the glove compartment, then head back to the ER. I hurry through the automatic doors again, maneuver around the crowded waiting area, and run down the long tube of fluorescent light. I can’t get there fast enough.
    Sonia Baker is reciting her litany all over again, this time to the X-ray technician. Her voice has grown hoarse, though, and she’s lost some volume-a small improvement. I wish I had a muzzle.
    I find Maggie in the waiting area first and pull her to her feet. “Forget everything I said about talking to the police,” I tell her. “Don’t answer any questions. Not for the cops. Not for anybody else. Do you understand me?”
    Maggie nods her head yes, but her terrified eyes say no. Of course she doesn’t understand me.
    “Maggie,” I tell her, “give them your name. If they ask who you are, answer. But that’s it. Nothing else. Tell them those are my instructions.”
    She nods again, but says nothing.
    I rush into the X-ray suite and lean over Sonia while the technician scolds me from his booth. “Hey,” he yells out, “what are you doing? You can’t be in here. Where the hell did you come from?”
    I ignore him.
    “Sonia.” My hand moves above her stitched lips to stop her recital. “Be quiet. I mean it. Don’t say another word.”
    Sonia stares at me while I load my camera, her expression suggesting she’s never seen me before. “I provoked him,” she mutters, the word sounding through her damaged lips as if it has a
b
in the middle. “He wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t proboked him.”
    “Shut up,” I tell her. “For God’s sake, shut up.”
    “Sonia Baker?”
    The sound echoes through the hallway, a voice I know well.