Read Online Never Say Spy by Diane Henders - Free Book Online Page A

a good fit for me, so when he got out, he tried it, too.  But there’s no room for Hellhound’s maverick brand of independence in the police force.”
    Kane drank some coffee and continued, “He took away what he’d learned from the training and set himself up as a private investigator instead.  He marches to his own drummer, and as long as he doesn’t overstep his civilian rights, he gets along fine.”
    “Speaking of the military, there’s something I want to ask you,” he added.  “Just before you hung up earlier, you said ‘Roger that’.  Were you in the Forces, too?”
    I laughed.  “God, no.  You think Hellhound has a problem following orders?  I’ve got him beat.  They’d shoot me for insubordination before the first day was over.”
    “What then?” he persisted.  “You usually don’t hear that phrase from a civilian.  Pilot’s license?  Ham radio?”
    “No, Uncle Roger.”
    Kane shot me a baffled glance.  “What?”
    “Uncle Roger was a radio operator in the Navy.  It always tickled his funny bone to be named Roger and say ‘Roger’ on the radio when he got a message.  Now, you had to know his wife, my Aunt Minnie.  She was... tough.  Think, cross between drill sergeant and wolverine.”
    Kane grinned.  “Most drill sergeants I’ve known have been part wolverine.”
    “Put one of them in a dress, and you’ve got Aunt Minnie.  She had a short fuse.  She’d ask nicely, once, and if Uncle Roger didn’t hop to it, she’d belt out an order at the top of her lungs.  And Uncle Roger would snap to attention and throw her this magnificent salute and bark out, ‘Roger that!’  And then he’d cackle like a hyena.”
    I smiled at the memory.  “You had to hear Uncle Roger laugh.  You just had to laugh yourself.  So it became a family joke.  Any time somebody rapped out an order, we’d straighten up and say, ‘Roger that!’  I hadn’t thought of it in years, but when you ordered me to drop the phone and run, out it came.”
    He chuckled.  “Your Uncle Roger sounds like quite a guy.”
    “He was,” I replied, still smiling.
    He sobered.  “The night’s getting old.  I need to take your statement, and then maybe we can both get a bit of sleep before our drive tomorrow.”
    I looked at my watch.  “Yikes, a quarter to four.  Can we start our trip a little later tomorrow morning?”
    “Yes, I think we should make it ten o’clock.  I’ll need to file some paperwork before we leave.”  He opened his notebook.  “Tell me exactly what happened.”
    “When I got back to the house from the morgue, I realized my security system wasn’t working,” I began.
    Kane glanced up sharply.  “Has that ever happened before?”
    “Once or twice.  I phoned the security company and they said there was no trouble indication on their end, but it obviously wasn’t working at my end.  That was strange.  Usually they can tell from the control centre if there’s a problem.  Anyway, I felt pretty paranoid about it.  At the time I thought it could have been just coincidence, but I knew I wouldn’t sleep unless I had some kind of warning system.”
    “That explains the tins on strings,” Kane interjected.  “The uniforms at the scene were wondering about that.  Why didn’t you just leave and stay with a friend?”
    “I just couldn’t bear the thought of having to explain everything.  And I was too cheap to go to a hotel.  And I honestly thought I was probably over-reacting.  I felt silly, and I didn’t want to give in to fear.”
    “Sometimes it’s smart to trust your gut,” Kane said.  “This time it was.”
    “Yeah.  I guess it doesn’t count as paranoia if you actually need all your elaborate preparations.  Then it just looks like clever advance planning,” I joked.
    Kane smiled in response.  “So walk me through your elaborate plans.  The tins were your warning system.  Then what?”
    I described my activities, pausing only to gulp down