Read Online Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo - Free Book Online Page B

picked his up, flipped it upside down and took a bite. I took a long, fruitless pull on the straw of my chocolate shake and waited. The quiet was thicker than the shake.
    Finally he spoke. “Maggy, let’s face it, anybody killing someone this way is unbelievable. But somebody did do it.”
    “But not Caron,” I said stubbornly. “I know Caron.”
    We went back to eating in silence. There really wasn’t much else to say anyway, I guess. Finally, Gary wiped his mouth with the paper napkin and picked up his check. “I have to get back.” He pulled two singles out of his pocket and tossed them on the table.
    As he started to slide out of the booth, he hesitated. “Did you hear about the robbery attempt at First National’s main office?”
    “They left a pipe bomb, didn’t they?” I asked. “Just like the other one.”
    The “other one” I referred to was the robbery four years ago, the one that had likely cost Gary his job. In that case, the pipe bomb had exploded, demolishing half of the front lobby and killing two people. One was a sixty-two-year-old female bank teller. The other was a man, but there wasn’t enough left of him to identify. Gary had hypothesized that the unidentified male had been holding the bomb when it exploded and was one of the perpetrators.
    “They were luckier than we were,” Gary was saying. “Pastorini says the pipe bomb was bigger than ours. If it had gone off...”Heshook his head.
    Ours. We had our own bomb, Gary and I did. And it had been haunting him for years.
    Louis Pastorini had been Gary’s assistant and was now head of First National security. “You did everything you could, Gary.” I touched his sleeve and he looked at me. “You know that, I know that and Pastorini knows that.”
    “It wasn’t enough, though, was it? Two people died and the bank lost four million dollars.”
    And you lost your job, I thought. “The funds were insured,” I said, instead. “No one lost any money.”
    Gary just shrugged and stood up, his face reverting to his “police chief” persona. “I know there’s something you’re not telling me, Maggy. If you’re going to nose around in Patri-cia’s death, and I know you are,” he held up his hand to silence my protest, “be careful. I’ll help you as much as I can, but I’m not sure what good that will do you with Pavlik.”
    After he left, I took another hard pull on my shake. Gary was right. I was hiding Caron’s affair from him and I was going to nose around. It was either that or let Pavlik persecute, and potentially prosecute, Caron and/or me. Gary seemed powerless to help us under the circumstances—a fact I sure didn’t want to remind him of. He had enough on his plate. I looked over at the remains of his burger and copped a fry.
    As I nibbled the fry, I eyed the people around me, trying to spot someone who knew Patricia well. Of course. Langdon. The spindly, gray-haired pastor seemed to be preparing to leave. I dropped the fry, grabbed the check and pretended to head for the cash register.
    Langdon and Henry’s table was en route. I stopped at the end of Langdon’s bench, trapping him in the booth.
    “Langdon, Henry, how are you?” Langdon, ever the gentleman, tried to rise. The result was sort of a bent knee bow. I backed off so he could shuffle out of the booth sideways.
    He took my hand. “Maggy, Maggy, we’ve suffered a terrible loss.” He patted my hand. “God has a reason for everything, my dear, we mustn’t question His wisdom. All things work together for good to them that love God.”
    I nodded, refraining from pointing out that if God really wanted someone to get frothed to death, He had a very strange sense of humor.
    “I’m sure you’re right, Langdon.” I gave in and patted back. “But the fact remains that Patricia has been taken far too soon.”
    He patted. “It’s a reminder to us all, Maggy, that we must love each other while there’s still time.”
    Judging by Ted, Caron and Roger, that