Love Lies Bleeding Read Online Free Page A

Erwin just glared at Phil, who didn’t seem to notice. “Ah, they’re sweet. Not like candy, but —”  
    “Antioxidants!” Erwin, beyond frustrated, yelled.
    Phil fell silent. Pamela didn’t participate.
    Erwin paced until he’d calmed himself a bit, then he turned to address Pamela. “Listen, you heard the medic. You need to eat, especially after that scene at the grave —”
    “Yeah, you should probably be in the hospital,” Phil rather earnestly interjected. Erwin looked at Phil sharply. Phil threw his hands up in defeat. “I can’t figure out what we are playing at, good cop, bad cop, concerned nutritionists …”
    “Pamela, we’ve brought you here for a reason,” Erwin said, ignoring Phil’s outburst. “And if you don’t answer our questions, we may have to use other methods.”
    “Methods that won’t go well with the fact you’ve lost a lot of blood and haven’t eaten.” Phil attempted to menace.
    Erwin glared at Phil and he backed off. Erwin then sat across from Pamela, and she looked up at him. “I’m sure this comes as no surprise, but Grady was high up in the black ops in our division.” He paused for effect, and Pamela, for the first time, looked a little confused. “Over the last few months, Grady was sent on various missions to collect, let’s say …”
    “Information,” Phil completed Erwin’s sentence.  
    Erwin clenched his jaw, but continued his prepared speech as if uninterrupted. “However, for a number of weeks his reports have been … spartan. We suspect he had allied himself with …”
    “The wrong sort of people,” Phil again finished Erwin’s open-ended statement.
    Erwin twisted out of his chair, picked it up as if to throw it across the room, but then placed it carefully back down in its exact spot. He then paced angrily. As he passed his partner, he looked pretty ready to start beating on Phil, who, conversely, seemed to be enjoying the interrogation immensely.
    “Grady is a doctor,” Pamela, still very polite, insisted. “Was. He was going to open a clinic after we returned from our honeymoon.”  
    “Hawaii?” Phil asked.
    “Barcelona.”
    Erwin spun and slammed his hands, harshly, on the table by Pamela. “Really? The same Spain you wrote about in your email?”
    “Yes,” Pamela answered.
    Pamela’s guileless response momentarily threw Erwin, who had been moving in for the kill. “Well … maybe you’d like to explain that writing?”
    Phil looked questioningly at Erwin, who was also less than pleased with his phrasing.
    “I don’t really understand,” Pamela said.“Well, understand this!” Erwin swung a briefcase onto the table, opened it, and pulled out Pamela’s laptop, which was last seen in her bedroom. “Is this your —”
    “My laptop.” Pamela, very confused now, identified it.
    “Ah, right.” Erwin was a bit thrown by her ready response. “Well, can you explain the emails we found on it?” He toggled a few keys, found the email folder he was looking for, and turned the computer to face Pamela.
    “I assume you mean the story emails that Grady and I liked to send, though I’m not sure why you’ve stolen my laptop or what interest you have in this. Grady was a doctor, and now he’s dead. If you would just let me follow —”
    “You better assume,” Erwin growled. “And assume we know everything, everything about you, Grady, and your little blonde friend, too.”
    “Karli?”
    “Kindergarten teacher, my ass,” Erwin sneered.
    “I wouldn’t mind her teaching me to finger paint.” Phil grinned and wagged his eyebrows.
    Erwin closed his eyes in utter frustration, but chose to continue to ignore Phil. “We know that Grady was sending you coded messages in this series of emails. We know you passed this information on to your superiors. What we want to know is who you work for and what information you passed on.”
    “Coded emails?” Pamela seemed to have no idea what Erwin was talking about.
    “These