Wonderland Read Online Free PDF Page A

she’d been hired to replace), and a partially eaten Twinkie with the wrapper still attached. She tossed the Twinkie into the trash and sighed.
    Happy first day , she thought. As her daughter would say, it sucked being new.
    There was a light knock on her open door and she looked up to see a man standing there. Midtwenties, muscular and clean-cut, his hair buzzed short, he was dressed in civilian attire. His posture told her he was a cop; the gold badge clipped to his belt said he was a detective.
    “Good morning.” He had two coffee cups on a tray in one hand, and a stack of files in the other. The coffee was from the Green Bean café downtown, and the aroma was fantastic. “I was supposed to be the one to show you around on your first day, but I was running late this morning and the lineup at the Green Bean was long.”
    “Long, but worth it,” Vanessa said, feeling absurdly grateful for his friendly demeanor. “Coffee cures all. Please say one of those is for me.”
    “I didn’t know what you’d like, so one’s an Americano and the other one’s a vanilla latte.” He held the tray up. “Your choice.”
    “Latte, please.” She took the beverage and gave him a smile. “Way to suck up to your new boss.”
    He blinked. “I—”
    “I’m kidding.” She laughed. “I’ll take suckage any day over the icy blonde who gave me the tour and made it clear I ruined her morning. Thank you for the coffee. Vanessa Castro.” She offered him a hand, and they shook.
    “Donnie Ambrose. Detective, Investigative Unit. It’s nice to meet you. And you must be talking about Claire. She’s never been a morning person.”
    “Have a seat.” Vanessa gestured toward the chair across from her desk. “You look awfully young to be a detective, if you don’t mind my saying.”
    “I’m twenty-six.” He sat down, crossing his legs comfortably. “I was promoted about a month ago. But you’d think it happened yesterday; people here are still mad about it. Detective spots don’t open up often, and competition is fierce. I’ve only been with PD for five years.”
    “You must have done good work as an officer, then.”
    He shrugged, a modest expression on his face. “I love the job, and I aced the detective’s exam. I also graduated from PSSU with a dual degree in criminology and computer science, so that gave me a leg up.”
    “Impressive,” Vanessa said with a smile. “I studied criminology at PSSU, too. What are you doing working for a small-town police department? The FBI loves guys like you.”
    “You think?” Donnie said with a surprised grin. “I’d love to work for the FBI, and god knows I’d love to get the hell out of Seaside. But it’s not that easy to make the jump. I grew up here, and there’s a lot of history. But, you know, maybe one day.”
    She nodded. History was a powerful thing. And she of all people understood how hard it was to start over someplace new.
    “Those your kids?” he asked, glancing at the photo on her desk.
    “Ava and John-John,” Vanessa said. “Fourteen and seven, respectively.”
    “They look like you. You’ve got your hands full.” Donnie placed the stack of files in front of her. “Anyway, Earl wanted me to make sure you were up to speed on all of IU’s active cases. You up for it?”
    “Of course. By the way, what happened at the park? I overheard some of them talking about a dead body?” She nodded toward the main room, which was still buzzing with activity. “Everybody seems so wound up.”
    “Nobody updated you? Call came in from Wonderland earlier this morning. One of the employees found a dead body near the Wonder Wheel. Deader than dead, actually.” The young detective wrinkled his nose. “Apparently there’s a stench.”
    “Really?” Vanessa was surprised. “If there’s an odor, then that means he’s been dead for at least a few days. Which means he couldn’t have died in the park. Which means he died someplace else and somebody deliberately moved