The Green Trap Read Online Free PDF Page A

girlfriend?”
    She looked up at him. Cochrane saw tears in her eyes. “Mike was fooling around.”
    â€œMike?”
    â€œHe was seeing somebody, I know he was.”
    â€œMike wouldn’t do that.”
    â€œThe hell he wouldn’t!” Irene’s face went hard, bitter. “He’d screwed around before. One-night stands. When he was out of town, on a trip to some conference or on company business. It went on for years.”
    Cochrane wondered why he felt shocked. Mike was outgoing, always had an eye for women. But cheating on his wife?
    â€œThere wasn’t anything I could do about it. He always came home to me. If I said anything about it he’d slap me around.”
    â€œMike hit you?”
    â€œNever on the face,” Irene replied. “He was too smart for that. He knew my brothers would beat the crap out of him if they found out he’d touched me.”
    â€œI can’t…” Cochrane stopped himself. You know Mike’s temper, he told himself. He socked you often enough.
    â€œI thought he’d broke my ribs once,” Irene went on. “Hurt me to breathe for a couple weeks.”
    â€œYou should have called me,” Cochrane said. It sounded lame, he knew.
    â€œThere was nothing you could do about it. I just worried he’d bring home AIDS or chlamydia or something.”
    I don’t want to know about this! Cochrane screamed silently. But Irene went on.
    â€œThe past few months, though, he started seeing some bitch here locally. Maybe she worked at the lab with him, I don’t know.”
    â€œAre you certain?” Cochrane heard himself ask.
    Irene nodded. “They must’ve had a fight and she killed him. Or maybe she was married and her husband found out about them.”
    â€œDid you tell the police about it?”
    â€œNo! That’s none of their damned business.”
    â€œBut if it led to Mike’s murder—”
    â€œSo what? He’s dead and that’s that. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
    Cochrane stared at her, not knowing what to say, what to do. But in his mind he heard a sardonic voice reminding him that Mike’s company insurance would probably take care of Irene for a long time.
    She won’t miss him, he told himself. She won’t miss him at all. Nobody will.

PALO  ALTO:
MARRIOTT  RESIDENCE  INN
    I reserved two rooms for us,” Sandoval said as they drove away from Irene’s house.
    Cochrane felt a pang of disappointment, but the rational part of his mind told him that he’d been foolish to expect anything more. She’s gorgeous, but she’s a federal agent. Her only interest in me is about Mike’s murder.
    â€œDid you get a chance to get into his computer?” she asked, driving slowly through urban streets lined with neat little houses and green lawns.
    â€œHis laptop wasn’t there. Irene said he took it to his office. The police must have taken it.”
    Sandoval shook her head without taking her attention from her driving. “There wasn’t any laptop in his office. Whoever killed him must have taken it.”
    â€œIrene thinks Mike was murdered by a jealous husband,” Cochrane
    She smiled. “So that’s the reason for the bad vibes. One look at me and she thought about her husband’s screwing around.”
    â€œThat’s kind of cold-blooded, don’t you think?”
    â€œNo, I don’t. Your sister-in-law’s a hot-blooded woman. Watch yourself with her.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIt’s a good thing I came with you. You need federal protection.”
    Cochrane felt his jaw drop open. Sandoval laughed.
    The Marriott Residence Inn was a trio of imitation Spanish Colonial–style three-story buildings, sandy tan with red tile roofing, set back from El Camino Real, where Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Los Altos adjoined. As they drove up to the hotel’s entrance, he