Read Online Cold Case at Cobra Creek by Rita Herron - Free Book Online Page A

receptionist with big hair and turquoise glasses greeted them. “You folks looking for an apartment?”
    If he was, he sure as hell wouldn’t spend money at this dump. “No, just some information. Is the landlord here?”
    She shook her head. “It’s his day off.”
    Dugan checked her name tag—Rayanne—and faked a smile. “Then maybe you can help us, Rayanne.”
    She batted blue-shadowed eyes at him. “I’ll sure try.”
    “How long have you worked here?”
    She laughed, a flirty sound. “Feels like half my life.”
    He laid the picture of Ron Lewis on the desk. “Do you recognize this man? He lived in 10G.”
    She adjusted her glasses and studied the picture. “Well, that looks sort of like Mike Martin. Except he had sandy brown hair and a mustache.”
    Dugan glanced at Sage, then laid the phony license with Martin’s picture on it. “This was him?”
    “Yeah, that was Mike.” She looked up at him with questioning eyes. “He was a real charmer, although that girlfriend of his was a piece of work.”
    “How so?” Dugan asked.
    “She always ragged on him about this place. Didn’t think it was good enough for her.”
    “Did you know them very well?”
    “Naw, he was kind of a flirt. Kept telling me he was gonna make it big one day and then he’d show Carol Sue he was important. That she was wrong about him.” She fiddled with her glasses again. “But they’ve been gone from here a long time. What’s this about?”
    “Did you know Mike was arrested?” Dugan asked.
    Rayanne averted her gaze, a guilty look. “Why are you asking about that?”
    “Because he tried to con the people in my town, and he conned me,” Sage said. “He also ran off with my little boy and then he was murdered. I’m looking for my son now.”
    Rayanne’s expression went flat. “Well, damn.”
    “What?” Dugan asked.
    “I did hear he was arrested, but I didn’t know what it was all about.”
    “Carol Sue bailed him out of jail after his arrest,” Dugan said.
    “Yeah,” Rayanne muttered. “But the next day, both of them packed up and ran. Skipped out on the rent and left the place in a mess. Mr. Hinley had to hire someone to haul out all their junk.”
    “What did he do with it?” Dugan asked.
    “Took it to that landfill,” Rayanne said. “Wasn’t anything worth keeping or selling.”
    Another dead end. “Did Mike ever mention anything about a family? His parents or a sibling?”
    Rayanne shook her head.
    “How about a friend he might have gone to when he needed a place to stay or hide out?”
    Rayanne looked sheepish. “Well...”
    “Give us a name,” Dugan said.
    “He had another woman on the side. Carol Sue didn’t know about her, but she lived in 2D. Beverly Vance. She’s a hairstylist down at Big Beautiful Hair.”
    “Does she still live in the complex?” Sage asked.
    Rayanne nodded. “But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell her that I sent you.”
    “Why not? Don’t you two get along?”
    Rayanne frowned. “Tarnation, that woman was as jealous as they come. She hated Carol Sue and told me to stay out of her way. Declared she was going to have Mike to herself, one way or the other.”
    Dugan grimaced. So, he could add Beverly Vance to the growing suspect list.
    In fact, any one of the women Lewis had conned and scorned could have killed him.
    * * *
    S AGE SILENTLY PRAYED that Beverly Vance knew something about her son as they walked up to the woman’s apartment and knocked. “If Beverly killed Ron...Mike...maybe she took Benji,” Sage said.
    “That’s possible. But Rayanne didn’t mention anything about a child living with her.”
    Sage’s mind raced. “Maybe she dropped him at a church or hospital, somewhere where he’d be safe.”
    “That’s possible,” Dugan said. “Although when the story aired about Benji being taken by Lewis, if he had been dropped off, someone would have probably notified the authorities.”
    “Maybe,” Sage said. “But maybe not. Especially if