Read Online Until the Final Verdict by Christine McGuire - Free Book Online

happened on that plane.”
    When Granz finished, he asked, “When you chased the drunk into the lavatory, where was Kate?”
    â€œWith Simmons.”
    â€œThe whole time?”
    â€œExcept when I had her bring a camera to take photographs. She went back to her seat while I secured the crime scene.”
    â€œThen what?”
    â€œShe yelled for me to help resuscitate Simmons.”
    â€œHow long after Kate went back to her seat did Simmons collapse?”
    â€œA few minutes.”
    â€œHad Simmons been eating or drinking anything?”
    â€œThe flight attendant poured him a Diet Coke, but he never got it because the drunk crashed into her cart. What’s up with all these questions?”
    â€œJust trying to figure out what happened.”
    â€œSimmons had a heart attack.”
    â€œNo, it wasn’t a myocardial infarction.”
    â€œIf it wasn’t a heart attack, what killed him?”
    â€œI won’t know for sure until I get the blood-toxicology report. But when I do, the question might not be what killed him.” Nelson cleared his throat. “Have you and Katie moved in together?”
    â€œNot until after we tell Emma this weekend. Why?”
    â€œI might need to talk to you before next week.”

CHAPTER

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21

    D AVE G RANZ OPENED ONE EYE and squinted at the clock on the nightstand. “Hello.”
    â€œDave, Morgan Nelson. I’m glad I caught you at home instead of at Kate’s.”
    â€œWe’re going to tell Emma today, then we’ll figure out where to live. What’s up at seven o’clock on Saturday morning?”
    â€œWe need to talk.”
    â€œSure, when?”
    â€œFifteen minutes?”
    â€œI can’t get to my office that fast, make it an hour.”
    â€œHow about I come to your house, then?”
    â€œI’ll have coffee waiting.”
    He slipped on a pair of faded Levi’s and Fila thongs, then rummaged through a dresser and pulled out a Harley-Davidson T-shirt with a bald eagle gripping lightning bolts in both talons. The front showed a biker with one leg over a candy-apple-red ElectraGlide. Arched over the biker’s head, the logo said, release your lightning, feel the thunder.
    He slipped the worn shirt over his head, filled a water pot and set it on a burner, ground fresh Sumatran beans and dumped them into paper filters, then placed the cones over two clear-glass mugs that he had preheated with hot tap water.
    After he brushed his teeth and made his bed, he tossed the remains of Friday night’s dinner with Kathryn—four almost-empty Chinese take-out cartons, three empty Corona Light beer bottles, and an empty pint of Baskin-Robbins chocolate chip icecream—into the garbage.
    The doorbell rang just as he finished pouring boiling water over the coffee grounds. When he opened the door, he found Nelson wearing a sweatshirt over wrinkled green surgical scrubs.
    â€œYou’re a damn workaholic. Do you ever sleep?”
    â€œWhen it’s unavoidable. Can I come in?”
    Granz led him to the kitchen and handed him a steaming cup of coffee, then pointed at the leather sofa. “Let’s sit in the living room.
    â€œI’m not complaining, but I can’t recall the last time you came to my home. We’ll do better when it’s Kate, Emma, and me living together.”
    â€œThe last time was when I brought you home from Quick Doc Box after that fiasco with Julia Soto.”
    Granz closed his eyes and reopened them slowly. “The morning after she accused me of raping her, and they threatened to throw my ass in the slammer if I refused a suspect kit so they could gather evidence to hang me. Not one of my best days.”
    â€œMine, either, but I knew you didn’t rape her.”
    â€œWhat if Kate hadn’t proven I didn’t?”
    â€œWouldn’t have mattered.”
    â€œBesides Kate, you were the only person who believed me.”
    â€œI