Stranger At My Door (A Murder In Texas) Read Online Free Page B

you prefer. Everyone else around here does.”
    She meant it as joke, but he didn’t crack a smile. “Why do they call you that?”
    “You must not have been around when my daddy got hauled off to jail.”
    He shook his head. “I heard about it from my sister, and my ma. What your daddy did is on him, not you.”
    Dinah turned away. Esme had been her best friend, and his ma, Miss Peppie, like a second mother. The emptiness inside her throbbed.
    “Besides, Dinah is a fine name. Be a shame to ruin it with all that nonsense.” He winced and clutched at his knee.
    “Bad knee?”
    He shrugged. “Football injury. It just aches now and again.”
    Yeah, right . Turning away from him, she rifled through the cabinets for bandages. She hated cops, so why did she want to help this one? Behind her, he shifted in his seat, and the atmosphere in the kitchen grew heavy with melancholy. That’s why.
    “When did you lose your nerve?” She spoke gently so she wouldn’t upset him.
    “Huh?”
    She pulled out the bandages and iodine and wet the washrag by the sink. “I’m an ex-cop’s daughter. I know a little about the game. You walked into two dangerous situations tonight without drawing your weapon.”
    He took the washrag from her and dabbed at the nasty-looking gash on his thigh before scrubbing his palms. After setting the bandages and iodine down, she sat and waited for him to answer. Through the tear in his pants, she could see a firm, tan leg feathered with dark hair. She averted her eyes.
    He finished cleaning his wound and stuck the bandage over it. “Thanks for the supplies. I better get along.”
    “You didn’t answer my question.”
    His dark eyes met hers, and for a moment she was positive he was going to tell her. Then he grinned. “It’s complicated.”
    She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off.
    “And not very interesting. Can I drive you somewhere?”
    “I’m staying put.”
    The chase had taken the fight out of him. “Be sure to lock up after I leave. I’ll drive by and check on you later.”

Chapter Four
    The dead body in the creek bed sent noxious fumes skyward. Rafe wiped the sweat off his forehead and tried to breathe through his mouth. He really needed a cup of coffee. Make that a gallon of coffee. Iced.
    On a day like this, he regretted coming home to El Royo. Five freaking police officers for twenty-thousand people. Barely enough even with backup from the county sheriff. Coming off a double shift yesterday—and a brutal second shift—he was running on empty. Plus his leg stung like a son of a bitch, and his shoulder muscles ached from throwing himself over a half-dozen backyard fences. Maybe he wouldn’t be hurting so bad if that sucker hadn’t gotten away.
    “Hey, Morales.”
    Rafe glanced up from the yellow police tape he was roping to a withered sapling. A tall, skinny cop with heavy lips that never stopped moving, pale eyelashes, and permanent sunburn loped in his direction. His kickass day was complete. Officer Derek Swope.
    “What’s up, Swope?”
    “Got an I.D. on the body?”
    “Teke Cruz.”
    “The old guy who ran the garage in town?”
    “Seems like it.” Rafe tied off the plastic tape and pulled on plastic gloves, then began his visual inspection, inching forward slowly as his eyes scanned the thick buffalo grass for evidence.
    “Must have gotten a belly full at the Beer Hut and taken a tumble off the bridge,” said Derek.
    “Someone went at his throat with a knife. Medical examiner thinks it could be murder.” Rafe bent down and studied an empty vodka bottle lying in the grass.
    “Think the perp left that?” asked Swope.
    Rafe straightened. “Nah.” He nodded at the bridge. “Teke took a tumble off the bridge. That’s where we found his blood and a piece of his shirt that tore off when he went over. Don’t think the perp would hang around and get drunk at the crime scene.” Still, he wouldn’t mind talking to whoever was drinking in the park last