Read Online Mortal Crimes: 7 Novels of Suspense by Brett Battles, Robert Gregory Browne, Melissa F. Miller, J. Carson Black, Michael Wallace, M A Comley, Carol Davis Luce - Free Book Online Page A

was surprised at her terminology. Wondered if it was a way to distance herself from the tragedy.
    Jaime said, “The autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow, but it might be a few days until you can take her home.”
    “I'll have to stay here then?” Laura caught a quick flash of panic in her eyes.
    “I'm afraid so,” Jaime said. He shifted in his seat and leaned forward—her confidante. “Can you tell us, in your own words, what you remember?”
    He took her through it gently. There was no deviation from her initial statement. Kristy had worked at the deli in the morning, then gone to see a friend named Taylor McCaffrey, who lived less than a block away. Somewhere between Jessica's house and the Groves home, Kristy had disappeared.
    “She make that walk often?” Jaime asked.
    “Every day. She kept complaining about it, was looking forward to getting her learner's permit so she could drive over.”
    Pat first noticed her daughter was missing around dinnertime. Her husband was home that night; his brother Dave was working at the deli.
    Laura had read Flynn's report twice now, and knew that Greg's brother, David Groves, shared in the ownership of the restaurant.
    “Do you know where David Groves is now?” asked Jaime.
    “I wouldn't know. When Greg and I got divorced, we cut all ties. We didn't have anything in common anymore.”
    That statement hung in the air, a bitter commentary on what tragedy can do to a marriage.
    “Greg's not coming here, is he?” Patsy added, looking from one to the other of them.
    “He declined to come,” Jaime said.
    “Good.”
    Laura thought that this lady liked to close doors. She didn't want to view her daughter's bones, and she didn't want to see the man she had married and with whom she had borne a child. There were a lot of people like that; in fact, Laura counted herself among them. Close the door on the pain and you never had to think about it. You could go on as if nothing happened.
    It worked to a point. But after a while, Laura had found that she closed the door on more and more things, and pretty soon there were very few places she could go.
    Jaime said, “Could you describe the relationship between your family and Greg's brother Dave?”
    “We all got along fine.”
    Jaime consulted his notes. “His wife's name's Joanne, right? Says here they stayed with you for almost a year. Did you mind?”
    She looked at him. “Not at the time. He was useful around the house—really good at fixing things.”
    “You said not at the time? Did you resent them later?”
    “No, I just meant…” She fiddled with her hair, then let her hand drop to her lap. “Later on, after Kristy went missing, Greg took against me. Like it was my fault. Which it wasn't. She was fourteen years old, you'd think she could walk one block home. Dave and Joanne didn't once come to my defense, even though they could see what a handful she was.”
    “You feel you got all the blame?”
    “Darn right I did, and it wasn't fair.”
    Interesting, Laura thought, that she expected her husband's brother and his wife to take her side.
    Jaime shifted forward in his chair. “How would you characterize your husband's relationship with his daughter?”
    “He always took up for her. I was the one who expected her to do her homework, her chores, so I was the one she got mad at. She was a regular Daddy's Girl. In her eyes, he could do no wrong.”
    Jaime leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together. “How about Dave? Did he and Kristy get along?”
    She looked at him. “You're not saying—" She stopped, swiped at her nose with the back of her hand. “There's no way.” Her tone defiant. “To Dave, she was an annoyance. He hardly noticed her at all except when she got obnoxious—you know how teenagers are—and you could tell he was put off. He never had kids. You're barking up the wrong tree if you think he did anything with her.” She paused, looked at both of them with a mixture of resentment and