Read Online Deadly Appraisal by Jane K. Cleland - Free Book Online

possible I’ll turn something up.”
    I took a moment and considered Wes’s words. “What do the police say?”
    He gave a sudden bark of laughter. “What do you think? They say go away and let the professionals do their work.”
    “To which you respond?” I asked with a smile.
    “No.” Wes’s voice was quiet when he spoke the word, adding to its impact.
    I nodded but didn’t reply. He cocked his head, watching me closely.
    “So, will you help me?” he asked.
    I didn’t want to reveal that I was terrified and desperate for information. Knowing Wes, he’d pounce if I revealed a vulnerability. While I knew that he was using me, I could see no advantage to letting him know that I was using him, as well. “Knowledge is power, and all that,” I said vaguely. “So, anything I tell you is off the record?”
    “Absolutely. Unless and until you tell me otherwise.”
    “What if you learn something from another source? I read once that if you have two independent sources, you can publish things you learn from me—even without my permission.”
    “Why? You have something to hide?” he challenged.
    “Of course not! The point is that I don’t want any more litanies of ‘No comment’ making me look like I crawled out from under a rock.”
    He nodded. “There may be facts I learn independently that involve you or that are central to the story that I’d go with. But I can guarantee you—I give you my word—that anything I learn from you is off-limits unless you tell me otherwise or until the case is resolved.”
    “Resolved how?”
    “Resolved by an arrest being made.”
    I looked over at him. His chubby face held an earnest, concerned expression, which I found reassuring. In the past, his word had been good. “Okay,” I said.
    “I won’t let you down.”
    I nodded. “Thank you. I’ll hold you to that commitment.” He must be on to something, I told myself. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so conciliatory. It made me wonder what he had up his sleeve. “What do you want to know, Wes?” I asked.
    “How well did you know Maisy?”
    “Only through working with her on the Gala. Why?”
    He shrugged. “Learning as much as I can about Maisy is a logical first step in figuring out why she was killed.”
    I nodded, thinking how little I knew about her. “Sorry I can’t help,” I said, wondering who might have known her well enough to describe what she was really like—was she serious and unstylish, as she’d appeared to be during the months we worked together? Or was she bubbly and frivolous, as she’d seemed at the Gala?
    “So you can’t tell me anything about her?” Wes asked, sounding as if he didn’t believe me.
    “No. I barely knew her.”
    I gazed out toward the ocean. A ship—a tanker, it looked like—had appeared out of nowhere, heading south. It was so far away, it looked like a child’s toy. After a few seconds, I added, “You said on the phone that you knew something about me.”
    Wes sipped some coffee. “Yeah. Well, it’s kind of complicated.”
    “That sounds bad.”
    “I’m sure it’s nothing. But I thought you’d want to know.”
    I turned to him with narrowed eyes. I didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Have you ever noticed how when someone says they think you’d want to know something, you almost never do?” I said, joking.
    “I’m serious, Josie.”
    “Me, too.”
    He sighed deeply, Wes-speak for his willingness to endure what he took to be my ill-timed jest because he had his sights set on some greater good. “I’ve come across what seems to be a pretty good motive for someone to want you dead.”
    “What? That’s absurd.”
    “Don’t be so quick to react. You may not know about it yet.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    He looked at me and pulled his earlobe a couple of times, as if he had an itch. “Well, I checked out your background.”
    “ My background! Why are you checking out my background?”
    “It’s just part of being thorough, that’s