Read Online An Intimate Murder (The Catherine O'Brien Series) by Stacy Verdick Case - Free Book Online Page B

saw a picture of you on his desk.” She shrugged. “Well it’s more of a table than a desk. Anyway, your picture is in his construction trailer.”
    What picture could Gavin possibly have of me? I maintained the mantra that my image didn’t show up on film, so it wasn’t like I’d gone down to the local Glamour Shots for one of those cheesy, feather boa, photos that the guys in my office had of their wives. I couldn’t understand why men thought that bouffant hair, bright pink lipstick, and lots, of gauze and Vaseline over lenses made women look glamorous.
    When this case was over, I’d have to take a trip down to his construction trailer. That was if I could remember where Gavin had said he was working this month.
    “So you’ve worked with Gavin?” Louise continued to channel my questions.
    Liz Trainor nodded. “I do commercial real-estate as well as private homes. I’ve worked with Gavin a few times in the past.”
    She gave a lascivious wink that made me want to punch her.
    “You’ve got yourself one hell of a firecracker. Gavin O’Brien is a damn good business man, and darn cute if you don’t mind me saying so.”
    She winked again.
    I did mind her saying so. She was a colleague of his not a horny teenager. Liz Trainor needed to keep her eyes and mind off my husband.
    “Some of the girls in the office can’t wait for the days when Gavin has an appointment. They all make sure they’re at their desks when he comes for a visit.”
    My breath hitched in my chest. The delusional part of my brain screamed, NO! NO! Not only did Gavin leave the house when I left for work, but other women were looking at him the way I used to look at him.
    Bile crept up the back of my throat. I couldn’t speak. All I could manage was a weak smile and pathetic laugh that must have sounded to Liz Trainor’s ears as if I was agreeing with her. She waggled her brows up and down at me and chuckled.
    “Where did Mr. Luther sit?” Louise finally broke the painful deadlock between us.
    Liz pushed back from her desk and stood.
    “Follow me,” she said. “I’ll show you.”
    Liz Trainor had to have been at least three hundred pounds and close to six feet tall, but she moved with the grace of a lithe dancer. She wove her way through the maze of desks and open file drawers with the ease of water flowing down an open drain. She came to a stop next to two partitioned walls tucked into a corner. Light showered through the windows and washed across the particleboard desk.
    “This is Jonathan’s area,” Liz said.
    Photos of Chad at various stages of his life, littered the credenza behind the desk. The largest showed Chad with both his Mother and Father on his graduation day. Chad swathed in cap and gown in the center with arms embracing both parents, who had the, I just won the lottery , smiles on their faces.
    “Try not to make a mess,” Liz said. “And don’t remove any files unless you clear it with me first.”
    We weren’t going to find anything in his desk. I could tell by looking at how open the area was. If Jonathan Luther had been involved in anything illegal, he wasn’t talking about it on the phone in this office. Everyone within fifty feet would be able to hear his conversation no matter how quiet he tried to be.
    I nodded my agreement and Liz left us.
    Louise took a seat behind the desk and I sat in one of the guest chairs across from her.
    “The desk isn’t locked, is it?” I said it as a statement of fact instead of a question.
    She pulled the drawer and it slipped open easily. “Nope. Not locked.”
    “Of course not,” I said. “This guy is exactly what Liz Trainor said he is – honest and trustworthy.”
    I picked up one of the photos from the edge of the desk. Jonathan and Susan Luther smiled back at me from behind the glass, embracing one another on a tropical beach somewhere.
    “Maybe it was her,” I said and pointed to Susan. “We’re barking up the Dad’s tree but maybe Mom was the one we