Read Online Dead Giveaway by Brenda Novak - Free Book Online Page B

mean he ain’t,” he countered.
    She’d heard that line from almost everyone in town. Butshe wouldn’t accept it from a fellow cop. “You can suspect all you want. But it doesn’t mean anything until you collect the proper evidence. Without it, we don’t have a case.”
    â€œThe evidence is there somewhere,” he said. “We just haven’t found the thread that’ll unravel it all.”
    â€œThat’s why I’m combing through the files, trying to figure out what’s been overlooked.”
    He took a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his forehead. It was cold outside—cool in the station, too—but he always sweated profusely. “Last I heard, your daddy didn’t want us messin’ with the Barker case no more.”
    She retrieved another stack of files from the box in front of her. “He doesn’t want me wasting a lot of time on it, and I’m not.” When he left, her father had been too preoccupied to give her any new assignments. And it was a quiet night. She didn’t see any problem with pushing forward. She’d promised Madeline Barker some answers, and knew Clay’s stepsister would be calling any day to check on her progress. Madeline touched base with her once a week, sometimes more often.
    Besides, Allie knew if she wasn’t intent on some goal, she’d nod off the way Hendricks usually did. She’d been up since Whitney woke her at two-thirty this afternoon, doing homework with her daughter, taking Whitney to her piano lesson, helping her mother with dinner, and then going through Whitney’s bedtime routine. She was exhausted, but felt she owed the taxpayers. She believed pursuing the Barker case was the highest and best use of her skills. Maybe it was nineteen years old, but it was still very present in the minds of so many—Reverend Barker’s daughter and extended family, the Montgomerys, JedFowler, who’d fixed the tractor at the farm the night it all happened, Reverend Portenski, who’d taken over for Barker at the church, and Reverend Barker’s whole congregation. Even the Archers had a stake in it now that their son had married Grace—and they were a very prominent family.
    Allie couldn’t imagine why her father would make this case such a low priority, especially when he used to be so determined to solve it. He’d often berated his predecessor for bungling the original investigation and swore if it had been handled correctly they would’ve had the answers ages ago.
    So why not handle it correctly now?
    â€œWhat are you findin’ that we don’t already know?” Hendricks asked.
    â€œNot much,” she said. But she was actually quite intrigued by the report she held in her hand. According to Officer Farlow, the officer whose position she took when he moved to Tennessee, Reverend Barker’s nephew had found the pocket Bible Reverend Barker had carried with him everywhere. This was last July, and it had since been released into Madeline’s care, but Joe claimed he’d discovered it at a campground on Pickwick Lake and insisted that Grace Montgomery had buried it there.
    Records confirmed that Kennedy Archer had rented a spot at the campground during the month in question. Kennedy readily admitted Grace had been there with him, along with his two boys. But both he and Grace denied knowing anything about the Bible. Interestingly enough, Joe had camped with them one night, and although he and Kennedy had once been good friends, they were now pointing fingers at each other. Joe said it was Grace who’d stashed Barker’s Bible; Kennedy suggested Joe had buried it there in an attempt to frame Grace.
    Allie could see how Kennedy might be tempted to lie in order to protect the woman he loved. But she could also understand why Joe might resort to providing the police with “proof” against the Montgomerys. He was positive they were