Trinity Harbor 3 - Along Came Trouble Read Online Free PDF Page A

little character.” She lifted her hand as if to touch it, then drew back with a sigh.
    “Why does life have to be so damn complicated?” she asked wistful y.
    “Keeps it interesting,” Tucker said. He might have said more, but common sense and practicalities kicked in. “Do you have a cel phone with you?
    Why don’t you make that cal to Powel ? I’l see if I can’t rustle up some clothes for you to wear, then I’l cal the station and have a deputy meet us at Swan Ridge.”
    “Do you have a stash of women’s clothes around here?” she asked, regarding him with curiosity.
    “No. I’l cal my sister.”
    “No,” Liz said at once, looking panic-stricken. “Tucker, you can’t cal Daisy. She already hates my guts for what I did to you. She’l be furious that I dragged you into the middle of this mess.”
    “I would have been dragged into it one way or another,” he said, shrugging off her fears. “It happened in my jurisdiction. If you don’t want me to cal Daisy, do you have any better ideas?”
    She hesitated, her shoulders slumping. It was tantamount to an admission that she’d maintained few real friendships in Trinity Harbor. He almost felt sorry for her, but he steeled himself against the reaction. She’d made her choices. Her grandfather had been an important man in Trinity Harbor. She would have basked in the same respect shown him if she hadn’t hurt a Spencer.
    “I’l cal Daisy, then. You don’t even have to see her. And she doesn’t need to know what’s going on, or even who the clothes are for.”
    “You shouldn’t have to lie to your own sister on my account.”
    “It’s an omission, not a lie.”
    “I doubt she’l see the distinction once she hears the whole story.”
    “Let me worry about Daisy. You cal Powel .”
    As soon as she’d gone looking for her cel phone, he cal ed the station and asked for Walker. His brother-in-law had been a homicide detective in Washington before he’d hooked up with Daisy and moved to Trinity Harbor. He was the best deputy Tucker had, and the only one he wanted on the scene this morning.
    “I need you to get over to Swan Ridge,” he told Walker. “We’ve got a problem.”
    “What kind of problem? That’s Larry Chandler’s place, isn’t it?”
    “There’s a report that he’s dead. I’ve got his wife here with me. Keep this under your hat until you see what’s going on over there. I’l be there right behind you.”
    “Didn’t I hear that you once had a relationship with Liz Chandler?” Walker asked. “Are you sure you ought to be anywhere near the scene?”
    “Dammit, Walker, I know better than to take on the case myself. That’s why I cal ed you, but I’m not keeping my nose out of it. I want to know everything you find the minute you come up with it. And I want you to do it al by the book, no matter how bad it looks for Mary Elizabeth.”
    “Do you think she did it?”
    “What I think doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the truth.”
    “Noble words,” Walker said. “But what’s your gut tel ing you?”
    “It’s your gut that matters. Do your job.”
    “I’m on my way.”
    “And try to keep the media from finding out anything, at least until we have a fix on what went on over there.”
    “Done,” Walker promised.
    Tucker placed his next cal to his sister. “I need some clothes over here—a pair of your jeans, a T-shirt, some underwear, some shoes. And I need it without a lot of questions.”
    “But—”
    “No questions, Daisy. Please, just this once, help me out without giving me the third degree.”
    “Third degrees are your business,” she said with an indignant huff. “Okay, I’l bring everything over there. Want me to leave it in a plain brown bag on the front porch and slink away?”
    “Actual y that’s not a bad idea.”
    “Fat chance.”
    “Daisy,” he warned.
    “Okay, okay, I’ve got it. Bring the clothes, leave the questions back home.”
    “Thank you.”
    “But you’l owe