Read Online Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke - Free Book Online

probably come up with five interpretations. What’s important is that we know Derringer shaved within a few days of the attack. That’s big. Any news on that end?”
    “No,” Walker replied. “The lab’s still working the rape kit and the other evidence. No leads on who this second guy is. Ray’s looking at Derringer’s known associates from before he went to the pen, but nothing yet. So far, Derringer’s only calls from the jail have been to his brother. He’s playing it cool.”
    “Alright, let me know if you get anything new. Also, I need one of you to come out to Kendra Martin’s with me tonight. Grand jury’s on Friday, and I want to prep this girl while she’s still on board.”
    “Geez. I really want to help you out on this one, since you’re going out of your way for us. But my anniversary’s tonight. The wife’s got the whole night planned: dinner, some dance thing. She’ll kill me if I cancel on her.”
    “Don’t let me mess up your marriage. It doesn’t really matter who goes. I just need a witness.”
    “Hold on. Hey, Ray. Can you run out to Rockwood with Kincaid tonight to interview the Martin girl? She wants to get her ready for grand jury on Friday, and she needs a witness.”
    “Depends what you mean, can I go? I can go, if it needs to be done. But Jack, you know my mama flew up from Call today. She’s probably at my house waitin’ on me as we speak. What kind of boy am I to go on OT while my mama’s in town? Can I go out with her tomorrow, or does it have to be tonight?”
    I heard another voice farther in the background. “Go home to your mama, Ray. I’ll go.”
    Uh-oh. I knew that voice. “That’s alright, Jack,” I said hastily. “It’s probably better to go out there with someone who’s already met Kendra. It can wait until tomorrow.”
    “It’s up to you, but Chuck can go. He’s met the Martin girl too. He and Mike went to talk to the mom on Sunday and stopped by the house to check on Kendra.” He yelled into the background, “Hey, Chuck. You get a pretty good rapport with the girl?”
    I heard something; then Ray came back on the line. “Yeah, he says things went real good. He took over some CDs that were donated by the rape victims’ advocates.”
    There was no easy way out of this one. I wanted to talk to Kendra tonight, and Chuck made as much sense to take along as anyone. “If he’s willing to go, that works for me. Can you ask him to meet me in front of the Martin house at seven?”
    He was waiting for me with a Happy Meal in one hand. He held the box up as I got out of my car in front of Kendra Martin’s house. “Mommy Martin didn’t strike me as the type to make sure there was a pot roast on the table by supper-time. I figured Kendra might want something to eat. I would’ve picked up something for you, but then I pictured you trying to run it off at midnight.”
    “Very funny.” Call me an extremist; I have a tendency to couple large meals with monster runs. It had been two months since we’d seen each other, and he was already trying to pull me into our flirtatious rhythm. I was determined to make this quick, but as I started walking to the front door, I realized he wasn’t following.
    I turned around and walked back to where he still stood with a grin on his face. “What the hell’s so funny, Forbes?”
    “Oh, so it’s Forbes now?”
    “Hey, you’ve always called me Kincaid.”
    “Yeah, well, you’ve always called me Chuck. Am I supposed to call you something different now too?”
    “You can call me whatever you want, as long as you keep your smart-ass comments to yourself while I interview Ken-dra Martin.”
    “They teach you those manners at Hah-vud?”
    “Give me a break. Last time I checked, that little park we call the waterfront was still named after your daddy.”
    “Yeah, and look at all the good that being the governor’s son has done me. Driving fifteen miles out of my way on my night off for your interview, standing here