Double Cross Read Online Free Page B

He breathed deeply. “You know, the scary thing is that you can’t smell the stuff.”
    Sandra just looked at him.
    My phone rang. I checked the screen. It was Michael Harrison, the FBI agent who had investigated Kacey’s kidnapping earlier that year. Since Simon’s death, Michael had taken an interest in Kacey’s welfare. In the process we’d become friends, a result that even a casual observer would have found odd. Our backgrounds were as different as our personalities. While I was being raised by a decorated Special Forces officer, he was growing up poor and fatherless in Chicago’s most notorious housing project. If anyone were to ask ten ordinary people walking down the street which of us was more likely to be a politically conservative workaholic with an economics degree from the University of Chicago, all ten would probably point to me.
    Instead, I turned out to be a hard-partying mattress-back with the dubious distinction of being the only female Secret Service agent ever drummed out of her job because of extracurricular conduct. Michael, on the other hand, was so self-disciplined that he made accountants look exciting. He had become the youngest Agent in Charge of a major metropolitan FBI office.
    I punched the button on my phone. “Hi, Michael. You’re not going to believe what’s happening in my world this morning.”
    “I can’t wait to hear. First, though, confirm that you and Kacey are going to the gun range this evening at seven. I’m planning my schedule and I thought I’d drop by and let you kick my butt again.”
    I could just picture him sitting in front of his computer calendar, plugging in activities to fill each fifteen-minute increment for the rest of the day. “I doubt if we’re going to make it to the range. We’re over at Elise Hovden’s house. She killed herself last night.” I knew that would throw our conversation off schedule.
    “Holy smoke.” That was Michael’s version of swearing. He must have had one heck of a mother. “How did she do it?”
    “Carbon monoxide. Got in her car in her bathrobe and turned it on with the garage door shut.”
    “What time?”
    Now there was a classic Michael question. Just the facts, ma’am. “I don’t know. She was stiff as a board when we found her at around 8:30.” I knew how his mind worked. He was already calculating an estimated time of death. I wanted to move the conversation along. “Sad, huh? Living here all alone and then to end it that way?”
    “Yeah. I didn’t have her pegged for being depressed or anything.”
    I lowered my voice and cupped my hand over the phone. “We think she was embezzling money from Simon’s ministry.” Officer Ferrell looked at me out of the corner of his eye. I turned my back to him.
    “Why are you whispering?” Michael said.
    “The police are here. I don’t want to spread around the embezzlement thing.”
    “They’ll get to it sooner or later anyway, unless they’re incompetent. How did you happen to be over at her house?”
    “Kacey and I were supposed to have a meeting with her to discuss—” I paused and looked over my shoulder at Ferrell. He was walking toward the corner of the house to meet the ambulance. “To discuss the embezzlement. We were going to give her a chance to explain. It appears she didn’t want to have that conversation.”
    “How’s Kacey taking it? She can’t get a break, can she?”
    “She seems to be doing okay. She and Elise weren’t close.”
    “And how are you taking it? Everyone always assumes you can handle everything.” He paused. “I worry about you sometimes.”
    Michael could drive me crazy, but every once in a while he said something that made me want to hug him. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
    “I think I’ll come by. Where does she live?”
    I raised an eyebrow. A detour like that could throw his whole day out of kilter. “Lewisville. You don’t need to come all the way out here, though. What about your schedule?”
    “I can