Murder in the City: Blue Lights Read Online Free Page A

sure Kendall doesn’t stop loving her and that mom’s house is as fun and cool as dad’s.”
    Julie nodded. Because Lainey had nailed it.
    “That was lousy the way he cheated on her mom. Kendall gets really mad about that still.” Julie flounced back onto the bed.
    “I just made that bed.” Lainey turned to look at her. “How’d you know I went out last night?”
    “I heard Mrs. Maxey’s voice and figured that meant you were going out.”
    Thank God for Mrs. Maxey.
    She was a little lonely since her husband had died and seemed to really want to help out. And the money Lainey insisted she take couldn’t hurt either on a fixed income.
    Mrs. Maxey had been like an aunt to them since their parent’s death.
    Julie’s life wasn’t like other little girls. Sometimes Lainey missed the sisterly type relationship she and Julie should have had, with joking and no responsibility on Lainey’s part to raise her little sister.
    “Maybe I would look good with a purple highlight?” Lainey looked at herself in the mirror and lifted a front strand of her brown hair with a finger. “What do you think?
    Julie guffawed, her head fully back. “That’ll be the day. I’ll get my turquoise streak one day. But you,” she pointed a finger at Lainey, “will never get a purple streak.”
    Julie stood and walked up behind Lainey, shrugging innocently. “Unless I catch you in your sleep one night.”
    She danced away as Lainey grabbed for her. “There’s always Halloween,” Lainey said.
    Julie flicked on the little television that sat to the right of Lainey’s dresser. “Hey, breakfast,” Lainey said.
    “I just want to see the news for a minute. See if you’re on it.”
    Lainey smiled to herself. There was nothing Julie liked more than to see Lainey giving a sound bite on television, preferably one about a guy she’d just put away for a bad crime.
    “Oh, look, that girl that was missing, they found her.”
    Lainey turned to the TV and listened to the anchor for a minute. “She ran away? Well, thank goodness she’s safe.”
    “She ran away?” Julie looked at Lainey indignantly. “She scared her parents for no reason at all. She could have at least left a note saying she’d run away. Everyone thought she’d be found dead.”
    Lainey nodded. Missing girl cases didn’t always turn out so happily for the parents.
    “Her parents are rich too,” Julie spouted off. “They probably bought her everything she wanted. What’d she have to be unhappy about?”
    “Yeah, yeah. We’ve all learned way too much about that family’s personal life this week.” A banker had stood beside his crying wife on television, pleading for the safe return of their beautiful teenaged daughter.
    The girl’s picture had been flashed everywhere. If that had been Julie missing…
    Lainey looked at Julie, who glanced up under her eyelashes as if she could read Lainey’s thoughts. “That would never be me,” Julie said in a very adult tone. “I would never run away. Without leaving a note,” she added in a joking tone.
    “The bus will be here in ten minutes. Breakfast.” Lainey turned off the television and waved Julie toward the kitchen.
    Alone since their parents were killed by a drunk driver, they’d developed an easy routine. Lainey was mom, pure and simple. She’d gone from big sister to mom in the space of one phone call telling her that their parents were dead.
    * * *
    Another night, another crime scene. Lainey flashed her badge and stepped under the yellow crime tape. That was three people killed this week in the same neighborhood.
    Detective Brice walked toward her. “Got ourselves a crime spree.” He nodded a greeting.
    “Who’s this one?”
    “A hooker who lives three blocks over.”
    “A female.” None of the victims were similar. “Two guys and a girl. Are you seeing any patterns?”
    Brice nodded. “Actually yeah. There’s a bullet casing left that I think’s gonna match a couple of bullets from the previous