Read Online The Mystery of Jessica Benson by C.K. Laurence - Free Book Online Page A

break any laws, but she
would bend whatever rules she had to in order to make sure he
wasn’t railroaded and made the scapegoat for Jessica Benson’s
murder.
Her partner sure as hell wasn’t making matters easy for
her. He did not try to hide the fact that he was keeping tabs on
her every move. She looked for a chance to work alone every
time it was possible, which wasn’t often. Will Kaufman’s gut
told him that Karen had an agenda that was not on the books and
made sure she had precious little time to address it.
To her relief, Garcia was more in tune with her thoughts
on this case than with Will’s. He, too, recognized that Kyle
Sands was far from the standard good time, bad boy football
player that Will continued to insist he was. He assured Karen
that he was examining everything with an open mind and had
urged her not to succumb to Will’s bullying.
Over the years, everyone had witnessed one of Will’s
hotheaded pursuits at some point or another. He got away with
his attitude because his clearance record was so high, but every
now and again he’d get stuck on a suspect who was not the
guilty party. He would bang away at him or her, sounding like a
broken record, until someone finally caught a lead that took them
in another direction. Then Will would reluctantly move on, and
more often than not, would be the one to end up solving the case.
Karen supposed she was more sensitive to Will calling for
Kyle’s head because she had her own insights into who Kyle
really was, but could in no way share them with Will or anyone
else in the Department. At least not yet.
This afternoon, though, Will was tied up in a bunch of
administrative bullshit, so Karen took the opportunity to call
Kyle and ask to meet with him that evening. It was a risky move
on her part, but she felt as though another face-to-face with him,
this time without her partner’s input might net some answers or
at least give her a better feel for Kyle’s part in this quagmire. If
anything came of the meeting, she’d find a way to tell Will.
As a precaution, however, she told Garcia about the
meeting with Kyle. This way no one would be able to claim she
had some clandestine plan should anything come from the
session. As far as Garcia knew, her only knowledge of Kyle was
through the case, and he was close enough to her that he would
not spill what she confided in him to Will or anyone else on the
force. She told him nothing about her past relationship with the
quarterback because that would have put Garcia in a bad
position. He would then have to withhold information in order to
protect her from suspicious minds. If subsequent events made it
necessary to face Will with what she had done, she knew Garcia
would be by her side, and would not have to lie about how much
he knew.
Without the slightest hesitation Sands agreed to see her
but joked that her ‘bodyguard’ would not be welcome. She
assured him she would be alone, and now, here she was, not five
minutes from his apartment, breaking every Department rule and
then some. She was risking her career and feeling no guilt at all,
for the moment at least.
    The Blue and Green Diamonds were the tallest buildings
on Miami Beach. They reminded Karen of the twin towers that
had risen over New York City, before being leveled by terrorists.
She turned into the entrance and was struck by the splendor of
the landscaping. Subtle lighting drew attention to the tropical
plants and flowers bordering the driveway and decorating the
grounds. She remembered something from years ago when the
buildings were young. One of the towers was going into
bankruptcy. Apparently, it had survived, because nothing about
either of these towers spoke to anything but comfort and wealth.
    An immaculately uniformed valet had the door open
before the engine of her car was off. He extended his hand and
helped her from the car. She asked which entrance was for the
Blue Tower and he told her that the one entrance was common