Read Online Death Takes a Ride (The Cate Kinkaid Files Book #3): A Novel by Lorena McCourtney - Free Book Online Page A

pickup was parked in the driveway.
    “Oh, Jerry brought the pickup over early!”
    “He must be a really nice guy.”
    “He is. Mr. Halliday says he isn’t much good on the fancy details with restorations, but he can fix anything. Sometimes parts for old cars just aren’t available, and Jerry can make them.”
    Jerry hadn’t gone in for cosmetic details here. The small pickup had a dinged-up rear fender and dents in the tailgate, and splotches of darker gray paint looked like stray continents migrating across the doors and hood. But the tires were crisp and new.
    Shirley opened the car door. “Thanks so much for everything.”
    “Keep in touch. Even though you missed that first Fit and Fabulous meeting, I’m sure you can still get in on the coming weekly sessions,” Cate reminded her.
    “I really can’t afford to go buy a lot of fancy makeup and hair and fingernail stuff, so maybe there isn’t much point in it anyway.”
    “You could come to see what the faith part is about.”
    “Well, I’ll, uh, think about it.”

    Cate didn’t expect to hear from Shirley again until Kane was well enough to get his dog back, so she was surprised when Shirley called the very next morning.
    “I’m here at the hospital again. I intended to stop in just for a minute before going to work, but there was a fire here last night, right there on the floor where Kane is—”
    “Is he okay?”
    “They caught it before it got beyond the restroom.”
    “Maybe someone was smoking in there, even though they’re not supposed to, of course. Accidents—”
    “This was no accident. The door had paper towels stuffed under it to brace it open so smoke and fire would get out in the hallway. But I don’t think anyone was actually trying to burn the hospital down.”
    “But you think someone deliberately set it?”
    “I think it was a, what do you call it? Diversionary tactic. Someone wanted to distract people and keep them busy so he—or she—could sneak into where Kane is without being noticed in the confusion.”
    “For what reason?”
    “It wouldn’t take an expert to finish Kane off. Just yank out some wires and tubes and stuff, and he’d be gone.”
    “Shirley, you’re talking about murder!”
    “That guy at H&B tried to kill him. Maybe someone wanted to finish the job.”
    “You’re suggesting it wasn’t just a robbery at H&B? That the gunman was actually out to kill Kane?”
    Shirley gave a combination sigh/groan. “Sounds pretty wild, doesn’t it? I guess I’m not sure what I’m thinking. I’m just so worried and scared!”
    “Do you have someone in mind who might do this?”
    “The fire was in the women’s restroom,” Shirley added in a way that said the location was meaningful.
    “In Kane’s condition, he must be in an area that’s under constant observation.”
    “Yes, but he isn’t under guard . And maybe that’s what he needs. A guard. Protection.”
    Under the current circumstances, Cate doubted the police would expend their limited financial resources on a guardfor Kane. Especially when this might well be some paranoid imagining of Shirley’s. “Did anyone see someone trying to get into where Kane is?” she asked.
    “I heard a couple of nurses talking about one of the patients being upset because he thought he’d seen someone in his room last night. Maybe she just blundered in there while trying to find Kane.”
    Shirley didn’t have to spell it out. She. Ex-wife Candy.
    “Are the police there?”
    “Oh yeah.”
    “Have you talked to them?”
    “Not yet, but—”
    “Shirley, I don’t think you should be throwing around unsubstantiated accusations. I mean, maybe Candy isn’t exactly Miss Congeniality, but why would she want Kane dead? As you said, she already managed to get almost everything in the divorce. And according to Mr. Halliday, she has her eye on a new husband candidate.”
    “You think I’m silly, don’t you? Getting all worked up about a man I barely know. Lonely