Dead Wrong Read Online Free Page A

outside her office. “How
are things?” she asked.
    Kristin Gregovich, Joanna’s
secretary/receptionist, was busy sorting through a newly arrived
basket of mail.
    “Not so hot,” Kristin said.
“Shaundra’s teething. She didn’t get any sleep
last night, which means I didn’t either.”
    “I’m in the same boat,” Joanna
said. “Not getting any sleep, that is. Let’s hope my
baby isn’t teething.”
    Kristin laughed. “They say that parents of
new babies lose bunches of IQ points. It’s no wonder. They
never get any sleep. How’d it go down by Paul’s
Spur?”
    “Unidentified homicide victim,” Joanna
replied. “Ernie’s on his way to observe the autopsy.
Everybody else is working the problem. In the meantime, how much of
that mail is for me?”
    The daunting amount of paper that flowed across her
desk each day made Joanna wonder how any trees remained standing
anywhere. She wasn’t surprised when Kristin picked up the
largest of the several stacks and handed it over. As she headed
into her office, mail in hand, it occurred to Joanna that it might
not have been such a bad idea to tag along to Doc Winfield’s
office and observe that autopsy after all.
    She paused just inside her office door. “Any
calls?” she asked.
    “Just Reverend Maculyea calling to remind you
about today’s lunch. And speaking of lunch,” Kristin
added, “there’s an errand I need to run at noon today
at the same time you’ll be out. I know you don’t like
to leave the office unattended, so I alreadyasked if one of the clerks from the public office
could come over and cover for me. I hope you don’t
mind.”
    “I’m sure it’s fine,”
Joanna said.
    Once at her desk, she forced herself to put this
latest homicide case out of her head and buried herself in dealing
with the stack of correspondence. Her years of running an insurance
office had given her superb typing skills, so she wrote, printed,
and answered as much of the mail as possible without using
Kristin’s help for anything other than printing the
envelopes. By the time Joanna headed out for her lunch date at
eleven-thirty, Kristin was already gone.
    Pulling into the parking lot at Daisy’s
Café, Joanna was surprised to see several familiar cars there
as well as Marianne’s antique VW bug. Joanna’s
mother’s blue Buick was parked next to the VW and her former
in-laws’ Camry was parked next to that. She recognized Angie
Hacker’s husband’s Hummer as well. It was only when she
saw Kristin’s little red Geo tucked in behind the Hummer and
the pink and blue balloon bouquets on either side of the door that
Joanna finally tumbled to what was going on. This wasn’t just
her usual weekday lunch with Marianne. It was a baby shower.
    Grinning from ear to ear, Junior Dowdle, Daisy and
Moe Maxwell’s adopted developmentally disabled son, greeted
Joanna at the door. “It’s a party,” he said,
pointing at Joanna’s belly. “A party for your baby.
We’ve got flowers and cake and everything.”
    And “everything” was exactly what they
had. Half of the restaurant had been cordoned off with strips of
pink and blue crepe paper to accommodate the party. Much to
Joanna’s surprise, Jenny was seated at the makeshift
flower-festooned head table.
    “Aren’t you supposed to be in
school?” Joanna asked. “Who sprung you?”
    “Grandma,” Jenny said, nodding in Eva
Lou’s direction. Taking that as a signal, Joanna’s
former mother-in-law came over and gave her a hug.
    “It’s a big occasion,” Eva Lou
Brady declared. “I didn’t think she should miss it. And
I wouldn’t miss it, either, not for the world.”
    Andrew Roy Brady, Joanna’s first husband, had
been gunned down years earlier. Nevertheless, his parents, Jim Bob
and Eva Lou, continued to be unfailingly supportive and loving to
their former daughter-in-law. Joanna didn’t have the
slightest doubt that they would treat this new grandchild, Butch
and Joanna’s baby, with the same love and