Bed of Bones (A Sloane Monroe Novel, Book Five) Read Online Free Page A

had kidnapped and murdered a handful of women, my sister included.
    They both got what they deserved in the end.
    Hadn’t they?
    Maddie looked at me and winked. “I was going to say ‘penny for your thoughts,’” she said. “But for yours, I’d offer at least a quarter. Maybe even two.”
    “Trust me; you’re better off not knowing.”
    “Do you want to make a quick pit stop? Use the ladies room or grab a donut…use the ladies room and grab a donut?”
    I glanced at her.
    “Didn’t think so,” she said. “It’s not much longer anyway.”
    Since we left, I’d tried calling Giovanni’s right-hand man, Lucio, every fifteen minutes. Four hours and sixteen calls later, he still hadn’t answered, and my OCD had officially gone into overdrive.
    I pulled the visor down and flipped open the mirror. Strands of my long, usually lustrous, straight, black hair, were stuck to the side of my face, like they’d been hair sprayed in place. I picked them off, using my fingers to comb them to the side. My mascara was gone, but even without it I could always count on my sparkly, brown eyes to brighten things up, especially when the rest of me was falling apart. “What reason would a person have to bomb a theater in Park City?”
    Maddie looked over. “You know as well as I do this type of thing can happen anywhere at any time. There are a lot of crazy people out there.”
    “Yeah, but Park City seems so low risk.”
    “Think about it. Columbine, Oklahoma City, Newtown. Most of these places never make national news otherwise.”
    “I was just thinking…”
    “That’s your first mistake.”
    “What—trying to figure things out?” I asked.
    “I was leaning toward your lack of patience. There’s nothing to figure out. We don’t have all the details yet.”
    I slumped back in the seat. Maybe she was right. If only there was a kill switch, something to put my brain on hold a little longer.
    After a few minutes passed, Maddie began gnawing on the inside of her mouth.
    “What is it?” I asked.
    “Nothing.”
    “It’s something. You’re biting your lip.”
    She sighed. “Out of curiosity, what were you thinking?”
    “I imagine there are a lot of people out there who want Giovanni dead.”

CHAPTER 4
    The statement was true. You don’t get to the top of the mafia food chain without making a significant number of enemies. Daniela wasn’t snatched for no reason. Whoever took her wanted to send a message. It made me wonder what kind of message the theater bomber was sending, and to whom.
    We arrived back in Park City a little after nine in the morning. As we neared the theater, two patrol cars became five, and then seven. The traffic headed out of town stretched as far as the eye could see. Cars ahead of us were being rerouted through a side street that weaved through a neighborhood in Prospector before spilling out a good distance away from the theater. Everyone was curious, and those who weren’t were packing their bags, returning from whence they came.
    When it was our turn, we weren’t steered in another direction; we were stopped by the last person I wanted to see, Detective Drake Cooper, a man who, in his fifty-seven years of life, had spent half his time mulling over all the ways he’d been screwed over by everyone from the police chief to the checker at the local supermarket, and the other half doing something he actually excelled at: fighting crime. When he spotted my Audi, he flattened his hand in front of him like he was prepared to stop my car with it. He then circled his pointer finger in the air.
    Maddie lowered the car window, but kept her eyes on the road.
    Coop bent his six-foot-five frame down, poking his enlarged head inside. “Good morning to you too.”
    He wasn’t smiling, per his usual.
    “Let us pass, Coop,” I said.
    “Can’t do that, sweetheart.”
    His tone dripped with sarcasm.
    “What’s wrong this time?”
    “Only police personnel can be admitted to the scene. We’re