Vanessa Gray Bartal - Lacy Steele 07 - Icy Grip of Murder Read Online Free Page A

nothing made her angrier than injustice,
especially when it was happening to one of her friends. “He didn’t do it,” she
tried again, more forcefully this time. For emphasis, she stamped her foot, and
that was when it happened. With a barely audible snap, the last vestiges of her
underwear gave way and shimmied to her ankles. She stood still and ignored
them, hoping no one would notice, but four pairs of male eyes were suddenly
riveted on her feet.
    “That has almost never happened to
me before,” Lacy said by way of explanation. Michael laughed, drawing the two
officers out of their trances. They turned and led him away. Lacy couldn’t
follow without either hobbling or stooping to scoop up her underwear and carry
it in her hands. Neither was a good option. Instead, she called out to him.
    “I’m getting you a lawyer.”
    If she had expected him to protest,
she was surprised by his answer. “Good. I’m going to need it. Lock up my
store.”
    The silence left in their wake was
painful. Lacy’s mind was in full throttle, and Jason’s expression was troubled
as well. “How soon can you leave?” Lacy asked as Jason bent to retrieve her
lost item. He held the ruined wad of lace out to her, saw she had nowhere to
put it, and stuffed it in his pocket.
    “I should probably head back any
minute. I was in the middle of a meeting,” he said.
    “No, I mean how soon can you be
ready to go?” Lacy asked.
    “Go where?” he said.
    “Minnesota. Where else?”
    He stared at her, squinting as he
tried to follow her train of thought. “Lacy, we can’t go to Minnesota.”
    “Jason, we can’t not go to Minnesota. Our friend
is in trouble; he needs us.”
    “The best thing you can do for him
is hire a lawyer, and you can do that from here.”
    “Do you know that since he’s lived
here, not one person from his former life has contacted him? I think we’re all
he’s got,” Lacy said.
    “That doesn’t change the fact that
there’s nothing we can do for him in Minnesota,” Jason said.
    “There’s something else.”
    “What?”
    “How did they know where to find
him?” she asked.
    He didn’t want to tell her, but it
was obvious she already knew. “I called them when you were missing. I wanted
some background on him.”
    “Then this is all our fault,” Lacy
said.
    “It’s not. Michael is the one who
got in trouble.”
    “You can’t honestly believe he
murdered that woman,” she said.
    “No, I don’t. But he put himself on
law enforcement’s radar.”
    “How?”
    He didn’t want to be the one to
tell her, to disillusion her about Michael’s past. “Michael hasn’t always been
the person he is now.”
    “I know he had a wild past, but
that doesn’t equate to murder. We need to be with him and help him in any way
we can.”
    “Cases can drag on for months. You
know that.”
    “Not if we’re there to put pressure
on the situation. We need to go,” she said.
    “No. We need to stay here and
monitor the situation like rational, law-abiding citizens,” he said.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” she
asked.
    “It means if you go there, you will
get involved. You’ll get in trouble. I know you. Your desire to help outweighs
your common sense,” he said.
    “At least I have a desire to help,”
she said.
    “I want to help too, but in the
right way,” he said.
    “What makes you sure that your way
is the right way?” she asked.
    “Because I’m a detective, and I
know how these things work. Hire a lawyer and let the wheels turn.”
    “You said that could take months,”
she said.
    “Maybe it will, but at least you’ll
be here and not there. At least you’ll be safe.”
    “I don’t care about being safe, I
care about doing the right thing!” she said.
    “You’re so blinded by emotion that
you can’t see what the right thing is!”
    “Everything okay in here?” They
whirled to see Joe and Kimber standing in the doorway.
    “Whole lotta shouting going on,” Kimber said.
    “It’s