Atonement Read Online Free Page A

state to get behind the wheel.
    “I’ll be in the diner up the street,”  Logan said, parking the pickup in a slot outside the hardware store, above which was located the office of the only lawyer in town.
    “I’d be obliged if you sat in on this, Logan,”  Clifton said.  “I’d like you to hear what she knows firsthand.  Will you do that for me?”
    Logan followed him up the narrow staircase.  There was a short landing at the top with a door facing them.  The upper half of the door was a frosted glass panel with K. DONNER ESQUIRE in gold leaf on it.
    “Come in,”  Kate said when Clifton knocked lightly on the glass.
    They walked in to a room that was a little small for the desk, chairs and filing cabinets that crowded it.  “Take a seat, Clifton,”  Kate said as she stood up to greet them.  “And tell me who this is you’ve got in tow.”
    “This is Logan,”  Clifton said.  “He’s a friend and knows all about what is happening.”
    “Then Mr. Logan knows a lot more than the sheriff or I do,”  Kate said.  “What interest do you have in this?”  she said, directing the question to Logan.
    “You heard the man; I’m a friend, which makes me an interested party. And it’s just Logan.  Pleased to make your acquaintance, Ms. Donner.”
    Logan gave her a small smile and put his hand out.  Noted a lot about her without taking his eyes off hers.  And her eyes were almost violet, like the actress Liz Taylor’s had been.  Kate Donner looked to be in her mid-thirties, about five-nine, and her hair cascaded onto her shoulders in mahogany drifts.  The dark power suit looked a little shiny, but did not detract from the slim and almost beautiful woman that wore it.  No wedding band.  Clear varnish on short, manicured nails.  No obvious downside, but as he was all too well aware, looks could be skin deep.
    Kate shook the proffered hand.  Was surprised at how big it was, and noted the numerous white scars on the tanned knuckles.  The man seemed to fill her office.  He was very tall and powerfully built, with a craggy face and short mid-brown hair that had a little gray at the temples, which was the same color as his eyes.  She guessed that he was in his late forties.
    “Okay Mr―”
    “Just Logan.”
    “Right, Logan.  I find this a little unusual, but if Clifton is happy to discuss this in front of you, I see no legal reason not to.”
    Kate offered them coffee.  Clifton shook his head.  Logan accepted.
    “Your son, Ray, is at this moment in time and by his own admission guilty of drink driving and being in possession of an illegal substance,”  Kate said to Clifton.  “And all that is penny ante when faced with the fact that he is now a murder suspect.”
    “Ray wouldn’t have harmed Tanya,”  Clifton said.  “He thought the world of the girl.”
    “I’ve spoken to Ray,”  Kate said.  “He swears to God that she walked away from the car and that he then fell asleep or probably passed out.”
    “Do you believe him?”  Logan asked her.
    “For what it’s worth, yes.  He seems to be genuinely bemused and distressed.”
    “So what’s the official line?”
    “Humor me, Logan,”  Kate said.  “Just who are you?”
    “Just a concerned third party.”
    “Bullshit!  You act like a cop, or a private investigator.  And you’re not local.”
    “I’m an ex-cop,”  Logan said.  “I’d much rather just get on with being who I am now, but Clifton asked me to look at this, so here we are.”
    Kate took a pack of cigarettes from a desk drawer and fired one up.
    “They’ll kill you,”  Logan said.
    “Probably, but I keep it to five a day.  And life kills us all eventually, whether we smoke or not.”
    Logan smiled.  Her take on it was one he shared.
    “Officially, what I know at the moment is very little,”  Kate said.  “Tanya’s body was found between where Ray had parked up and the ruin of the Carver house.  Until there has been an autopsy, we