The Investigator Read Online Free PDF Page B

High who was forever preaching morals and the art of restraint. So, he threw her out. She lives in Armidale, now. As far as I know, she’s attending university over there. Or maybe she’s finished…” Chase shook his head. “Hell, I can’t remember, but her father’s still in town. He might even still be the principal. Her mother died a few years back. Cancer, I think.”
    “Where does he live? I’ll give him a call. It might help if I can talk to his daughter. It would be interesting to know what made Kate Watson leave town and when she changed her name to Collins.”
    Chase drank the rest of his beer and set the glass back down on the bar. “Yeah, sure. The Savages live over on the eastern side, on Jackson Avenue. They live in the nicer part of town, not far from Commander Watson. Wait until you get a look at some of the homes over there.”
    Sonia scoffed. “Homes? That’s like calling the White House a bungalow.”
    Riley frowned, barely listening. “I’m not sure what’s going on with little Miss Collins, but I got the impression something’s not quite right. I’m going to get to the bottom of it, whether the blond ice queen likes it or not.”
    Surprise lit up Chase’s features. “Ice queen? You can’t be talking about the same Kate Watson? That girl was pure fire.”
    * * *
    Kate gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. The call connected and her stomach catapulted downward.
    “Yes?”
    His voice was exactly as she remembered. Bile rose in her throat. She bit her lip and tasted blood.
    “Who is it?” he growled.
    She barely heard him over the rushing sound in her ears. Memories overwhelmed her as he had years earlier. But he wouldn’t this time. Not again. She wouldn’t let him. Her voice was ragged when she finally got it to work.
    “Where is my mother?”
    “Well, well, well. The prodigal child has returned.”
    The sly malice in his tone hit her like a physical blow. Fury flooded her veins.
    “Don’t go quoting biblical bullshit to me, you sanctimonious bastard.”
    “ Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s no way to speak to your father.”
    She was on fire. Her forehead. Her ears. Her cheeks. Her throat. She was going to combust from the heat of her anger. “You’ve never been a father to me.”
    “Maybe not, but I’m the only one you’ve known and surely better than the useless hobo that fathered you.” Unlike hers, his voice remained calm, unruffled, as if they were discussing last week’s weather.
    The derogatory reference to her father scorched her heart. She bit down hard on the moan of despair that ripped through her. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d wounded her.
    Her fingernails bit into her palm. Her breath came fast. She dug deep to find the strength to fight him.
    “Tell me what you’ve done to my mother, or I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”
    Derisive laughter grated against her ear. “My dear, dear Kathryn, you of all people should know there is no God.”

 
    CHAPTER 4
     
    Riley traced yet another blue, felt-tipped circle around the name he’d written on his blank, yellow legal pad.
    Darryl Watson .
    Despite his best efforts over the weekend to forget about the woman who’d attended upon him at the station late Friday afternoon, he’d spent the nights since tossing and turning while a kaleidoscope of images had tumbled through his mind. Even a Sunday spent browsing the paintings on exhibition at the local art gallery hadn’t been sufficient to remove her from his thoughts.
    If anything, gazing at the myriad of colorful artworks had only served to heighten her presence in his mind. She’d told him she was a successful art dealer. He wondered how a girl who had run away from home at fourteen had managed such a feat.
    It was mid-morning, but the station was quiet, as usual. Crime in the picture-perfect town of Watervale ran from the non-existent to the merely mundane: the occasional domestic disturbance, the odd drunk driving charge and