Read Online Pipeline by Brenda Adcock - Free Book Online Page A

found anything
useful or been able to decipher his shorthand. Pauli was at a dead end, too,
and as far as I could tell there was nothing more to pursue. Kyle's shooting
had to have been one of those random acts that were always in the news.
    I
was relieved to leave San Antonio and get back to my retirement. After all the
assignments I had covered, all the dodged bullets, I couldn't remember doing
anything more draining than the last three weeks in San Antonio. The only thing
I wanted to do was return to the privacy of the ranch, but I felt obliged to
tell Cate that I had come up with nothing.
    I
stepped off the elevator on the fifth floor of the Travis Professional Building
in Austin at two-forty and walked toward a glass wall at the end of the hall.
Bradley and Hammond was etched across the glass doors. Just inside was an
oak-paneled reception area where a young woman was seated behind the desk. She
was groomed for the secretarial fast track, and I was decidedly out of place in
my jeans and denim work shirt. I left my sunglasses on as she turned toward me
and smiled.
    "Can
I help you, ma'am?"
    "Cathryn
Hammond, please," I said as I glanced around the office. Cate must have decorated
this part of the office herself, I thought. It was tastefully done and as
understated as she was.
    "Do
you have an appointment?"
    "Just
tell her that Joanna Carlisle is here."
    The
woman picked up the phone and punched in a few numbers and waited. "Ms.
Hammond? I'm sorry to disturb you. There's a lady here to see you. She doesn't
have an appointment." She waited a moment and nodded as if the other party
could see her. "She says her name is Joanna Carlisle." More nods and
a glance at me. "Yes, ma'am. I'll tell her." She placed the receiver
back in its cradle and smiled again. "Ms. Hammond asked that you wait a
few minutes, Ms. Carlisle. She's just finishing up with another client."
    I
sat down on a couch at the opposite side of the reception room, rummaging
through a few magazines on a glass coffee table. Fifteen minutes had passed
when I heard Cate's voice. She accompanied her client into the reception area
and stopped at the desk. She was wearing a fitted gray linen suit with a subtle
white pinstriping. The collar of a white silk blouse was turned neatly over the
collar of the suit jacket.
    "Peggy,
make an appointment for Mr. Douglas some time late next week." She turned
to the client and placed a hand on his arm. Smiling, she said, "I don't
think you have anything to worry about, Richard, but I'll know more after I've
had a chance to check a few things."
    "Thanks,
Cate. This really takes a load off my mind."
    They
shook hands and good old Richard departed.
    Cate
turned toward me. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Jo. Please, come
in." To Peggy, she said, "Hold my calls for about thirty
minutes."
    "You
have another appointment in fifteen minutes, Ms. Hammond," the woman said,
leafing through an appointment book.
    "Just
get them something to drink and apologize for me," Cate instructed. She
moved down the hallway and stopped next to an open door. I entered the room,
and she followed, closing the door behind her. "Coffee?" she asked as
she walked to her desk.
    "No,
thanks," I answered. I sat down in a leather chair across from her and
removed my sunglasses.
    "Pauli
and I have looked into every angle we could think of in San Antonio, but there
just is no story there, Cate. Kyle might have been involved in something else,
or the kid who shot him could have mistaken him for someone else."
    "I
see. Are you going to continue looking into it?"
    "I'm
on my way back to the ranch," I replied, shaking my head.
    "He
might still be in danger, Jo."
    "He
might or might not be." I shrugged. "But there isn't anything more I
can do, Cate. I still don't know squat about what he's working on, and I can't
spend forever tailing him, hoping to get a break."
    "So
you're just going to walk away?"
    Now
she was beginning to piss me off. None of this had been my idea to begin