Read Online Dial Emmy for Murder by Eileen Davidson - Free Book Online Page A

just couldn’t. Sighing, I added, “I do want to help, though.”
    “Okay, then the next time you find somebody you think has some info, call me, will you?”
    “I will,” I said. “I promise.”
    I meant it at the time. . . . I really did.

Chapter 14
    I went into my house, poured myself a merlot (Oprah’s Dr. Oz says it’s good for me and I love him for that) and then carried it out back to the yard. I stood there sipping and staring out at the canal.
    After the police pulled a murderer’s body out of the water last year, I thought about moving. The main reason I didn’t was Sarah. This was her home, she was comfortable here, she had her room and I didn’t want to take any of that away from her. She had gone through so much in her short life. Basically losing her dad and a life as she knew it. So we stayed. And after a while it had gotten so I hardly ever thought about almost being killed behind my own house. I thought I had put those incidents completely behind me, but now they were back. Thanks to Jackson Masters being murdered; thanks to Detective Frank Jakes thinking I could be helpful. I was so close to telling him about Randy. What was stopping me? I could be so stubborn. Always thinking I had to handle all of life’s shit on my own. I had to be the strong one. Like Paul always said. Well, so far in my life, I did have to be the strong one.
    Did I need to examine my motives? Sure, I enjoyed flirting with Jakes—or having him flirt with me—but I had also lost a friend. Okay, not a close friend, but a friend who had almost fallen on me, who had certainly bled on me. Well, it was a tragedy. And like it or not, I was involved. I guess I was just trying to justify my involvement.
    The truth was I found being involved in another murder—and with Frank Jakes—exhilarating. And that was something I was not going to be able to admit to anyone else. How heartless that would make me seem.
    I was deeply lost in thought when “Let’s Talk About Sex” came blasting from my cell. Funny, George! I was going to kill him! I answered it and was brought up short by a familiar voice.
    “So you changed your home phone but not your cell? That is so unlike you, Al. You’re usually so much smarter than that.” It was Randy. And he sounded pissed.
    “Look, I just wanted some time to think without you bugging me every five minutes, okay? Obviously I knew you could get a hold of me if you really wanted to.” I thought about adding “asshole” but didn’t.
    “So, how’s my little girl?” He still had a sexy, kind of raspy voice. It used to make my knees, and brain, weak. It didn’t have that effect on me anymore.
    “All of the sudden you care, Randy? Where the hell have you been the last three years when she cried for you, wondering where her ‘Daddy Bear’ was? You have some fucking nerve. Taking money I worked my ass off to make and breaking my little girl’s heart.” I had waited a long time to take off on this bastard and it felt good.
    He paused and I could hear him deciding what to say. He answered me in a measured tone.
    “She’s my little girl, too. What I did was fucked up and I’ll do my best to make it up to you both—”
    “You son of a bitch! You can’t make it up to either one of us!”
    “Listen, Alexis! No matter what I’ve done, you can’t keep me away from Sarah. I’m warning you, don’t even try! You think your life was tough after I left? You have no fucking idea how tough I could make it for you!” His voice was shaking. How could he muster that much indignation? “I want to see Sarah. . . . Don’t fuck with me!”
    “Fuck you!” I said, and hung up. I hadn’t even asked him if he was in town. I was rattled despite wanting to remain calm, cool and collected. If he had been trying to scare me, he had succeeded. And that pissed me off, too. Just then my cell rang again. I almost threw it across the room until I saw it was Jakes.
    “Just calling to check and see that you’re