Close To The Edge (Westen #2) Read Online Free Page B

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to have known Gilbert Byrd?”
    “Sure thing, ma’am. Gil lived here in town all his life.” Cleetus handed her the water then fished out her oatmeal-and-chocolate-chip bar. “He died about six months ago, found him dead in his house. Doc Ray said his heart finally gave out.”
    “Doc Ray? Is that the local doctor?” She twisted the plastic cap until the seal broke and took a long drink. Even warm it felt wonderful. Who ever knew being arrested could make a person so thirsty?
    “Used to be. Doc Ray retired not long after Gil died. Said he didn’t want to end up the same way without taking Caroline to see the world. His nephew, Clint, is the new town Doc.”
    Doc Clint. Okay, there was someone she’d need to talk with just to be sure Mr. Byrd died of natural causes.
    She took a bite of the bar, hoping to seem innocent in her questions. “Did Mr. Byrd have any family close by?”
    Cleetus rubbed his chin, staring up at the ceiling. Again he reminded her of one of her students who always looked just the same way when he was trying to find the right answer to a history question. She hid her smile behind another bite of the unexpectedly delicious granola.
    “Can’t say as I ever met any of Gil’s people.”
    The phone rang before she could think of any other questions, and blessedly before the deputy could question her interest in a dead man. She settled herself on the corner of the mattress and nibbled on the bar. So the deputy didn’t know Mr. Byrd’s nephew, Norman—the man who hired her sister to investigate Mr. Byrd’s holdings as listed in the will.
    Interesting . She doubted Cleetus was lying to her. After eighteen years of teaching, she knew when someone was telling her the truth and when she was being fed a line of horse crap. Did anyone in the town know Mr. Byrd had a nephew? If so, who?
    And what had happened to the letters her sister sent the bank? When no one could find them in the files when she called yesterday, she knew she had to come to Westen and investigate in person. Dumpster diving had been a long shot, but she’d hoped someone had panicked and simply thrown the letters out.
    All that great idea had done was land her in this itty-bitty cell.
    Looking around she sucked in a breath as the room seemed to shrink a little more.
    Slamming of file drawers and muttering from Cleetus in the front room caught her attention.
    “I don’t know where Ruby kept that file, Mayor. I looked under T for tickets and S for speeding.” Cleetus paused as if listening. “Yes sir. I’ll keep looking…yes sir, I’ll tell the sheriff when he gets back…No sir, I won’t forget.”
    Who was Ruby? And where was she?
    A few more file cabinets opened and closed hard.
    “Dang, Gage isn’t gonna be happy about this.” The poor man sounded really distressed.
    She went to the cell door and leaned far to one side to see into the front room. Cleetus paced past the door. “Cleetus? Is there something wrong?”
    He stopped mid-stride, turned and came to the door. “Our dispatcher fell and broke her hip today.”
    That answered the who and what about Ruby.
    “The Mayor wants the quarterly traffic violation reports and I have no idea where she filed them. Ruby has her own filing system that no one else can make heads or tails of.”
    “Aren’t they on the computer?” she nodded at the monitor sitting on the desk behind him.
    Cleetus shook his head. “Nope. Ruby said she’d been doing the filing for fifty years and didn’t need a computer to tell her where things were.”
    “And the sheriff didn’t want to update the system?” She couldn’t imagine the man not ordering his dispatcher to learn and use the computer system. He’d certainly had no qualms about ordering her around. “Seems like a waste of taxpayers’ money, not to use it to its full potential.”
    “Gage’s dad, he used to be sheriff, purchased them just before he took sick. Lloyd said he wanted to bring our