Homicide! (Parker & Knight Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

waiting for permission, Heather climbed into the passenger seat.
    “I thought you could use some company.”
    “You thought right,” Parker said, and then an uncomfortable silence began. Heather ended it with a question.
    “I heard that you recently got divorced, were you married long?”
    “Um, not very long I guess, about four years.”
    “What happened?”
    “Is this an interrogation?”
    “I know it’s rude, but I’m curious,”
    Parker gave a shrug.
    “She cheated on me. I forgave her the first time, but not the second.”
    “I’m sorry, that must have hurt.”
    “Yes.”
    “Can I call you, Rick, at least when we’re alone? It seems odd to keep calling you Detective Parker.”
    “I would like that,” Parker said, he then checked out the driver of a vehicle that had just arrived, but recognized the man getting out of it as an employee of a local business.
    Heather turned sideways in her seat.
    “Do you really think Mr. Woolley’s killer will come back here?”
    “I hope so. I’m looking forward to this case being closed.”
    “So that you can ask your question?”
    “Yes.”
    “Catch the bad guy, Rick. I look forward to giving you an answer.”
    Heather smiled, got out of the car, and sent him a wave as she headed back inside. 
    It was only a few minutes later that Parker spotted the four figures running out of the woods wearing ski masks and carrying baseball bats, he thumped the button on the radio.
    “Trouble Jo, four guys with bats,”
    Knight didn’t reply, and Parker was still getting out of the car when one of the bats shattered the windshield of a pick-up truck, even as the three other men raced into the bar.
    ***
    N ico’s cell phone rang; it was his employer.
    He had been ignoring the man’s calls ever since Woolley’s body had been discovered, and at their last face-to-face meeting, he had sworn that he had nothing to do with the man’s disappearance, but was certain his employer knew he was lying.
    He took the call this time, because this time he had good news to deliver.
    “What’s up, partner?”
    “Have the police questioned you?”
    “No, and they won’t, because they don’t know where to find me.”
    “I want out, Nico; I think things have gone too far.”
    “Don’t wimp out on me now. I’ll have Taggart ready to sell by the end of the week.”
    “Why? What have you done now?”
    “I sent more trouble his way, just like you wanted.”
    “Is anybody going to be hurt?”
    Nico smiled into the phone.
    “Oh yeah, count on it,”
    ***
    A s one of the men smashed windshields, Parker took out his gun and ran towards him while shouting, “Police!” and the man immediately dropped the bat and sprinted back into the woods. Parker ignored him and entered the bar.
    The first thing he saw was a customer lying on the floor, his teeth, gritted against the pain of a newly broken arm as one of the punks stood over him. The second thing he saw was the man standing atop the bar threatening his partner with a baseball bat.
    The man must have leapt onto the counter before Jo could get to her weapon. Movement on the left caught his eye and Parker saw the fourth man, his bat raised high and threatening as he stared at Parker’s gun. A clatter came from the right, and Parker saw that the punk who had injured the customer had dropped his bat and was now holding a small shotgun, a Serbu super shorty that was smaller than the bat, but far deadlier.
    Parker was about to tell the man to drop the weapon when Heather, who was carrying a tray of food, burst through the swinging doors that led into the noisy kitchen.
    Her sudden appearance startled the man with the shotgun and he jerked his gun at her and fired, even as Parker leapt into its path while firing off a desperate shot. All this took place so quickly, that Parker had only entered the bar three seconds earlier.
    The shotgun went off, spraying Parker with pellets, as his own shot hit the man in the chest.
    ***
    J o’s back had