Dying Echo: A Grim Reaper Mystery (Grim Reaper Series) Read Online Free

where she died, and he was devastated. He wanted to help.”
    “And incriminated himself.”
    Don held up his hands, and dropped them. “He didn’t put up an argument about the night before. He confirmed he’d been there, and that he’d left her— alive —close to eleven. They arrested him the next morning, once they’d gotten her phone number so they could retrieve a list of calls.”
    “So what can I do? I have to help him.”
    “You can’t help yet.”
    “Of course I can. It’s why I came. Why you told me to come.”
    “Casey, the cops have other priorities where you’re concerned. You know you’re wanted for questioning about what happened in Ohio three weeks ago. If they see you, that’s all they’re going to care about, and you and Ricky will be headlined as homicidal siblings.”
    Casey didn’t want to think about Ohio, about how she’d killed a man. About how she was on the run. Especially now that Ricky needed her.
    “But you said Eric vouched for me. He told them it was self-defense.” This would be Eric VanDiepenbos, a sweet, good-hearted, handsome young man who had befriended Casey three weeks earlier and then watched in horror as she’d killed the Louisville thug. She hadn’t meant for him to see it. She hadn’t meant for it to happen . “Besides, the cops know the guy was a mobster.
    “ You know it was self-defense,” Don said. “And Eric knows that. But until the cops hear it directly from you, they’re obligated to hunt you down. You can’t just waltz into the police station—or the jail to visit Ricky—until your own issues are cleared up.”
    “Then let’s go. Right now.”
    “We can’t. The people we need are all asleep. And you’re not going to get on their good side by pulling them out of bed on a Sunday night for something that could just as easily be done in the morning.”
    She glanced at Death, who was typing frantically on the smart phone. Death nodded, and said without looking up, “He’s right. Everything’s closed, and folks are finishing up the weekend. It’s best to put it on the back burner till morning.”
    “Okay,” Casey said, throwing up her hands. “Fine. You win.”
    “It’s not a competition.” Don put Alicia’s folder in his briefcase and stood up. “You have somewhere to spend the night?”
    “Ricky’s is off-limits, I guess?”
    “Still sealed off. How about your house? Or maybe,” he added quickly, “your mother’s?”
    “She doesn’t even know I’m in town.”
    “Right.” He heaved a heavy sigh. “So I guess that means you’ll be coming home with me.”
    “I can’t. The cops will look there.”
    “They don’t know you’re in town, either.”
    “But don’t they suspect I’ll be coming around, with Ricky in trouble?”
    “I don’t know what they suspect. They’re cops. They suspect everything.”
    “So here’s what we’ll do. I’ll find a place to sleep—”
    “Come home with me.”
    “—and I’ll meet you here in the morning, at…what time does your office open?”
    “Eight.”
    “Seven-thirty. And then we’ll do it.”
    “Do what?”
    “We’ll go to the police station, and I’ll turn myself in.”

Chapter Four
    Casey found a cheap motel on the edge of town, far from her old haunts, far from anything familiar, and in the morning she showed up at Don’s office, showered and wearing her last set of clean clothes, which, unfortunately, was a pale blue warm-up suit with white tennis shoes. Not exactly what one would choose to wear to confront the cops, but at least it was comfy, and she could move freely, should she need to.
    Don was already at his office, and the front door was unlocked. He met her in the reception area, briefcase in hand, wearing a dark suit. At least one of them would look professional.
    Death sat in Don’s waiting room, nose in a book, or, more accurately, in one of those new electronic tablets you can use to download things to read. Instead of a suit fit for court, Death