Icy Betrayal Read Online Free Page A

stomach more than an hour or two. Oh, and there’s problems with the guy’s rifle and ammo. Other than that…”
    Captain McCallister considered his options.
    “Okay, you convinced me. It looks like this may be more than some random accident, so I want to bring in somebody to assist you.”
    Mia hesitated. “Okay, that’s fine.”
    “I’m going to ask Jack Keller from homicide to partner with you on this. He’s got some quirks, but he’s the best guy we have, and you can learn a lot from him.”
    All homicide investigators with RCSO started off in small units, a few even coming from traffic. She knew this case could be a great opportunity to showcase her skills and learn at the same time.
    “Okay, Captain.”
    “I’ll email Keller and let him know.”
    Mia stood to leave. “Oh, one more thing. Mora said the vic had pancreatic cancer. Probably had only three or four months to live.”
    “Are you thinking suicide?”
    Mia shrugged. “I don’t know. It still wouldn’t explain everything.”
    “Anything in the victim’s car found at the scene that could point to that?”
    “No note or anything. Nothing really out of the ordinary.”
    “You might want to check with family and friends, just the same. Anything else?”
    “No, sir,” she said with a smile.
    Mia suddenly realized how much she had missed him.

SIX

    J ack Keller didn’t have many friends outside the department, or inside for that matter, but the few friends he did have would do virtually anything for him. Divorced twice, he swore he’d never go down that path again. Women found Keller’s distinguished features attractive, but he had rarely dated in the fifteen years since the last divorce. It had left him both bitter and broke.
    He had arrived in Rocklin County almost seven years earlier after doing a thirty-year stint with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in Missouri. At SLMPD, Keller spent more than half his career working homicide cases—investigating more than 250 murders and posting an unheard of conviction rate of nearly 75 percent. But burnout among detectives was commonplace in his old division at SLMPD and the late night call outs, drive-by shootings, and drug-fueled murders pushed many good, hard-working detectives to an early retirement. Jack Keller lasted longer than most but ultimately went the way of the others.
    His first marriage was to his high school sweetheart; for the first few years, things went well. The marriage produced a daughter, and Jack and his young family settled in a nice middle class St. Louis neighborhood. Life was good for the Kellers and the future looked bright.
    But over the next couple years, as Jack became more and more involved with his career at the PD, things changed dramatically. He landed a coveted position within the department working undercover, but the assignment took everything he had, both physically and emotionally, leaving him with very little time or energy for his young family. The time he did spend at home was spent self-medicating, with Southern Comfort being his medicine of choice. As time went by, Jack’s drunken spells became more and more prevalent and the result was a very troubled marriage. Finally, on a cold January night, Jack returned home from working a double shift, only to find his wife and young daughter gone, never to return.
    So, Jack Keller worked harder. The department was all he had.

    “Come in,” McCallister called out from his computer screen after hearing a rap on his office door.
    “Sorry, Captain, quick question.”
    Mick looked up and saw Keller holding his cell phone, pointing to the email displayed on the screen.
    “What’s this shit?”

SEVEN

    M ia spent much of her weekend at the office reviewing everything relative to the Lombard case in anticipation of the meeting with Keller she knew would likely happen Monday. She needed to get off to a good start with him, or he’d eat her alive—or worse, humiliate her in front of the other