Bay of Deception Read Online Free Page A

said, desperately, marveling at the lady's calm.  "I need an ambulance at 822 Franklin in Monterey!” 
    He heard his address typed into the computer.
    “Okay sir, stay calm. Help is on the way. What do you believe caused the convulsions?" 
    “She, I, I knocked her down and she fell onto a table leg.”  Immediately he regretted such an admission but was distracted by the sound of pages being rifled through.
    “All right, sir, stay calm.  Do you know CPR?”
    “Yes, yes, I’m a police officer in PG.”  His heart was pounding now as he tried to hold Linda still, afraid she might injure herself.
    “Okay, officer, you’re doing great.  An ambulance has been dispatched and they’re about three miles away and should arrive in less than four minutes.” 
    “Hurry!  Please , you’ve got to hurry !”
    He knew his voice sounded wildly desperate, like all the recordings he’d heard on television and in real life.  Linda had stopped convulsing and now lay deathly still and somehow, this seemed worse.  He leaned forward to listen for her breathing and realized with horror that she wasn’t.  Gently laying her down, he quickly got to his knees to listen for her heart beat.  When he heard a faint thumping he began giving mouth-to-mouth. 
    Though it was only minutes which passed before paramedics stormed into his house and took over, it seemed to Oliver that he had kneeled over his wife for hours.  Several times he had nearly gagged at the bile which had come up during her convulsions and it was a long time before it's foul taste was completely washed away.

CHAPTER THREE
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    “I don’t understand.”
    Oliver opened his eyes, then quickly shut them as the mid afternoon sunlight imprinted swirling colors onto his eyelids.  Using his fingers to rub the afflicted areas, he blinked several times until his vision was largely clear of them. 
    “What,” he asked as the last of the swirls faded away. “Do you not understand?”
    “What don’t I...?” Exasperation fought with amazement, the two playing back and forth across her face until the former won out.  “Why...all of this.  The paper said nothing about your wife assaulting you.”
    “Mrs. McKenny,” he said, trying not to sound obvious, “the paper didn’t mention it because their sources didn’t know it.”  He watched her eyes narrow and it was his turn to become exasperated.  “Mrs. McKenny, no one knew about it until weeks after my trial ended and only then did I tell my closest friend. I couldn’t take the chance of Linda being charged.”
    Lifting her outstretched legs off the couch and to the floor, she turned and settled her back slowly against the soft leather.  Oliver saw he was losing her.  He sat, rose from the couch and deciding on a different tack, turned toward Mrs. McKenny.   
    “I understand you were a professional cheerleader, Mrs. McKenny,” he said offhandedly.
    “Why...yes, yes I was.  For the Chicago Bears,” she said, her eyes wistful, then cleared at the apparent change of subject, then went on. 
    “For three and a half years, until I met Collin during a playoff game.  The Bears lost that day, but we got married six months later and I thought I’d won a true prize.”  The cynicism in her voice abruptly turned hard.  “Most people have no idea how hard it is out there on the side lines, to make it look so easy and effortless, like we did.”  Then after a moment she met his eyes, “Why do you ask, Detective?”
    “Did you all get along?” he asked, ignoring her question.  “The cheerleaders, I mean?” 
    Her sudden bark-like laugh surprised him. 
    “Hah!  Are you kidding; piranha treat their meals better.  All us girls watched our backs every hour of the day or we were gone from the squad.”
    “Why do you think cops are any different?”  He asked. 
    She opened her mouth while folding a leg beneath her, then closed it again until after a few seconds