Deadly Force Read Online Free Page B

about a woman getting attacked in the parking lot at her work and that she was thinking about getting a gun. I didn’t realize that she’d followed through on it. I’ve never been all that crazyabout guns, but call me a hypocrite because right now, I’m pretty darn glad she had it.”
    Sam smiled. He glanced through the pages of his notebook again before looking up. “And neither of you ever met this woman before?”
    “No.”
    Sam rubbed his jaw. “Not through your jobs? Not some night at a bar?”
    “No.” She pushed her empty soda container to the center of the table. “She was astranger. I don’t even know her name and now she’s dead.”
    “Her name is Sandy Bird. Ring a bell?”
    “Sandy Bird,” Claire repeated. She let the name roll around in her head but it didn’t bump into anything familiar. “How do you know that’s her name?” she asked. “That’s pretty fast police work.”
    He shrugged, letting her know that her grudging admission hadn’t been lost on him. “It wasn’tall that tough. She didn’t have a purse or a wallet on her, but she did have a set of keys in her pocket. When you were talking to the others, I walked outside, pointed the electric door opener at several cars, and sure enough, the lights on the green Toyota Camry started blinking. Her purse was in the trunk and when I matched up the license picture with uh...her face, I knew it was her.”
    “She doesn’t have all that much of a face left,” Claire said, swallowing hard.
    “A family member will need to make a positive ID down at the morgue. My partner, Cruz Montoya, is helping the coroner chase that down right now.” Sam pulled his straw out of his empty container and started tapping it on the table. “I understand your apartment was burglarized just a few weeks ago. Do you think thishas anything to do with that?”
    “I have no idea.”
    He bent his straw double, then again, until it was a hard ball of plastic. He relaxed his hold and it sprang apart. Then he started folding again. “How long have you known Nadine?”
    “Forever. We went to grade school together. We’d been planning this move to Chicago all through college. We both took jobs in Omaha after graduation. Ineeded some work experience before advertising agencies in Chicago would consider me. When I got the job at Alexander and Pope, she applied for nursing positions. She got one at Melrey.” Claire scooted to the edge of the booth. “Look, if there aren’t any more questions, I’d like to go.”
    “Your apartment is a crime scene. You can’t stay there.”
    Right now, she didn’t ever want to see herapartment again. “I know. I can’t even have it cleaned up until I get the okay. Fortunately, one of the officers gave me a business card. He said they’d do a good job.”
    Sam shook his head. “They aren’t supposed to do that. Just so you know, it’s probably his cousin.”
    She shrugged. She couldn’t care less. Their landlord had been one of the hundred people who’d flooded the apartment. He’dtold them it was their responsibility to get the apartment cleaned and repainted. She and Nadine had agreed the couch was simply getting thrown out.
    “So where are you two planning to stay?” he prompted.
    “I’m staying at a hotel.” At the cheapest one she could find. Her credit card balances were mounting. “Nadine’s going home for a week or two. She worked it out with her supervisor.”
    “I’m not crazy about her leaving right now,” Sam said. “I might have more questions for her.”
    “I have her cell number, her mother’s cell and her parents’ home number.” Claire slid her purse strap onto her shoulder. It wasn’t going to be Sam Vernelli’s worry. She was making that call at eight o’clock Monday morning.
    He pointed to his card that was still clenched in her fingers. “Mywork number is on that card. Let me give you my cell, in the event that you think of something else or if you...need anything.”
    “Do you