Dark Debts Read Online Free

building.”
    Was that the big news flash? She knew the liquor store he was talking about. It was on the corner of Sunset and Vista, with a wide front door angled for easy access (and getaway) from both streets. She and Cam had joked that the owner should just put out a sign that read PLEASE ROB ME . (“My brothers would have used that place as an ATM,” he’d said.) But what did it have to do with Cam’s death?
    â€œÂ . . . witnesses described the robber as a white male in his late thirties, about six-three, salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a nice suede jacket, an odd shade of green. He asked the cashier to throw in a bottle of Chinaco tequila. Not exactly your standard profile.” He smiled a little. “Your run-of-the-mill liquor-store robber will usually settle for Cuervo Gold.”
    Randa stared at him. Cam had a tequila fetish that was no secret to anyone who knew him or had read his books. And she had given him a sage-green suede jacket two Christmases ago. But surely the detective wasn’t implying . . .
    â€œI noticed an unopened bottle of Chinaco on Mr. Landry’s desk and it rang a bell. Far-fetched, I know, but I swung by and had some of the witnesses take a look at Mr. Landry’s driver’s license, and what do you know? Bingo.”
    It was all Randa could do not to laugh.
    â€œThat’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. It’s . . . comical.”
    â€œYeah, well, I’ve got a nineteen-year-old stock boy over at the county morgue with a bullet wound in his chest, and he ain’t laughing.”
    â€œWell, if you think Cam had anything to do with it, you’re out of your mind.” The incredulity in her voice raised it an octave.
    â€œWhat makes you so sure?” the younger one asked, in his best serious detective voice.
    â€œIn the first place, Cam had more integrity, more humanity , than anyone I’ve ever known . . .” For the first time, she choked up. “And he hated guns. He would never have touched a gun, much less shot someone. And then there’s the fact that he’d just signed a book deal with a two-hundred-thousand-dollar advance, which would pretty much alleviate the need to rob a liquor store.” She was practically yelling at them, which was a waste of adrenaline. This whole thing was from The Twilight Zone .
    â€œTwo hundred thousand dollars?” It was the older one who spoke, but the younger one’s jaw had dropped open with the sudden knowledge that he was in the wrong business. The older one recovered and continued.
    â€œHow do you know that if you haven’t talked to him in a year?”
    Because all my so-called friends sent me every clipping they could get their hands on, just in case I’d missed it.
    â€œI read it in Publishers Weekly .”
    The older detective nodded, momentarily appeased. “Well. Be that as it may . . .” He stared at his desk for a moment, then looked back at Randa.
    â€œThe neighbors told us some interesting things about Mr. Landry’s family history, which I assume you know.”
    So there it was. Randa had figured they’d end up here eventually.
    â€œThat’s exactly why I know this is crazy.”
    â€œWhy’s that?”
    â€œBecause it is. Look, I’ve known Cam for a long time and I know him . . . knew him . . . well.”
    â€œYou hadn’t seen him in a year.”
    â€œI don’t think he had a soul transplant in that time.”
    Then why did he do what he did to you? And why did it catch you so off guard, if you knew him so well? And what was that phone call about? What about what he said . . . “I’m in trouble that I didn’t know existed.” He certainly knew that liquor stores existed. But what about the witnesses? Could they have been that mistaken? Impossible. No one else on earth looked like Cam.
    â€œMaybe he