Brian Freeman - Goodbye to the Dead (Jonathan Stride Book 7)

Nathan leaned across the table with a serious expression on his face. She had to admit that she still felt the old, unwanted attraction to him. He knew how to turn on the physical charm. There was also more calm and restraint about him than he’d shown in the old days. She couldn’t push his buttons so easily now.

‘I heard about you guys finding the gun in the Jay Ferris case,’ he told her. ‘I know what you want to ask me, but the gun’s not mine. It never was.’

‘So where do you think it came from? And where has it been all these years?’

Nathan eased back into the booth. He swiped a piece of bacon from Maggie’s plate, which annoyed her, because she loved the bacon at the Grill. ‘Honestly? I have no idea.’

‘This was a street gun,’ Maggie said. ‘Not a suburban Gander Mountain special.’

‘Do you think Jay had gang connections you never heard about?’

‘Not according to his brother Clyde. And we never got a whiff of that during the original investigation.’

‘Well, street guns don’t usually show up in a domestic murder case,’ Nathan said. ‘It’s gangs and armed robberies. Or maybe murder-for-hire. Wasn’t there some old lady who thought Janine killed her husband on the operating table? Did she pay some money to have Jay whacked?’

Maggie nodded. ‘Esther Rose. She passed away last year. It wasn’t her. We checked her finances nine years ago, and there was no evidence that she paid anyone to get rid of Jay.’

‘Then I don’t know what to tell you,’ Nathan said. ‘The gun disappears for years and then shows up at another murder scene? I don’t get it.’

‘There’s something I need to ask you about. Just between us. Did Janine Snow really want to know how she could get a handgun off the books?’

‘That was my testimony in court,’ he replied cautiously.

‘I know. Was it true?’

‘Even if it weren’t, do you think I’d admit perjuring myself? Sorry.’

‘I’m not trying to bust you. I just want to know if Janine could have figured out a way to buy that gun.’

‘You’re talking about a Texas girl, Maggie. They’re half-animal under those pretty faces. If Janine wanted a gun, she wouldn’t be shy about asking around. That woman knew how to get what she wanted. So yeah, the gun could have been hers, but I don’t think it was.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because there’s one thing about Jay’s murder that always bothered me. And it has nothing to do with the gun.’

‘What’s that?’ Maggie asked.

Nathan shook his head. ‘I didn’t have any trouble believing that Janine was the one who shot Jay. Frankly, I didn’t blame her for it. The man treated her like shit. But Janine’s a smart woman. Scary-smart. There’s no way — no way — she would have let you guys pin it on her. Losing control? Shooting Jay in the head and coming up with a lame story that nobody believes? Sorry. That’s not Janine Snow. She would have had a plan for the whole thing, and she wouldn’t be sitting in prison right now. As much as I hate to admit it, she may have been telling the truth all along. The gun wasn’t hers.’

‘Hello, Cat,’ Anna Glick said. ‘You shouldn’t be here, you know.’

Anna sat on a plastic chair on the weedy front lawn of her house in Morgan Park. It was a two-story house barely wider than an old Chevy, with a sharply peaked roof and brown stucco walls. Ivy vines draped over the wall facing the street.

‘You haven’t called me back,’ Cat complained. ‘You haven’t answered any of my texts.’

Anna had a Chromebook on her lap, and she wore shorts and a skimpy tank top that showed off her pale, bony limbs. ‘Uh, maybe because the cops you live with told me I should stay away from you?’

‘My friends are my own business,’ Cat insisted stubbornly.

‘Maybe, but I don’t need trouble.’

‘Hey, I won’t tell them. They don’t need to know who I see. Come on, I’m bored. I just want to hang for a while.’

‘Okay, fine, stick around if you like,’ Anna agreed with a sigh. ‘How’d you get here, anyway?’

‘Bus.’

‘Is that smart?’ she asked, eyeing Cat’s bump.

‘We’re only three blocks from the stop. It’s not like I’m handicapped or something.’

Anna shrugged. She nodded at a second patio chair leaning against the house, and Cat went and grabbed it. The day was hot. Both of them wiped sweat from their foreheads. Anna had a can of Bud on the lawn beside her, and Cat ducked into the small house to pour orange juice from the carton in the fridge. Outside, she sat next to Anna and sipped the drink in silence. Anna tapped away on her keyboard, playing a fantasy game. Cat didn’t interrupt her.

‘So where’s Al?’ Anna asked without looking up from her computer game.

‘I don’t know. Working, probably.’

‘Are you guys still an item?’

‘I guess,’ Cat said.

Anna’s eyes flicked away from the Chromebook. ‘You guess?’

‘I haven’t talked to him. He’s busy.’ Then she added: ‘I did something stupid. I asked if he was in love with me. It freaked him out. We haven’t talked since.’

‘Guys don’t want serious. They want right now.’

‘Al is different. We’re not even having sex. We’re waiting until it feels right.’

Anna’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, and then she kept typing. A smirk flew across her lips. ‘You think he’s going to get hornier as that basketball of yours gets bigger? I don’t think so. Most guys are afraid the baby will reach out and grab their dick while they’re pumping.’

Cat frowned as Anna giggled at her own joke. Then she said: ‘So how’s Fred over at the bar?’

‘Fred is Fred. He’s pissed about the cops and reporters hanging around. Are they any closer to finding the guy who did it?’

‘Stride and Serena don’t tell me anything about that,’ Cat replied.

‘They’re cops. No surprise.’

‘I miss the bar.’

‘Well, Fred won’t let you back in. Sorry.’

Cat knew that Anna was right, and she wasn’t happy. She chafed under the restrictions on everything she did. It was summer. No school. She was free, but she felt as if she’d been locked in prison.

‘I’m low on cash,’ Cat admitted.

‘Seriously? Again?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Don’t the cops give you an allowance?’

‘It’s not much,’ Cat said. ‘I don’t think they trust me with money. They figure I’ll buy cigarettes. Or drugs.’

‘Uh huh.’ Anna took off her wool cap and primped her spiky hair. ‘Well, there’s a church project this weekend if you want. Cleaning out a house in West Duluth. You might pick up a couple bucks that way.’

Cat hesitated. ‘I don’t like doing that stuff.’

‘Hey, the last job worked out okay, huh? Painting that place in Superior? Plus, that’s where you met Al. You complaining about that?’

‘No.’

‘Well, it’s your call,’ Anna said. ‘Do whatever you want.’

‘I’ll think about it.’

Anna flipped down the cover of her Chromebook. ‘I don’t have to be at work for a couple hours. You want to go get a burger and a Coke somewhere? I’m buying.’

Cat grinned. ‘Great!’

‘Where do you want to go?’

‘How about the Anchor?’

Anna shook her head. ‘You just want to run into Al.’

‘I miss him.’

‘Cat, he’s a guy. Guys like him come and go like empty beer cans. Especially when you start throwing the L-word around with someone who hasn’t even poled you yet.’

‘I told you, we’re waiting—’ she began, but Anna waved a hand in front of her face to stop her.

‘Listen, I didn’t want to tell you this, okay? I knew you’d get upset.’

‘Tell me what?’