Death's Door. Meryl Sawyer

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СКАЧАТЬ lady couldn’t keep her golden retriever.”

      “Is there a city listed?” Paul asked.

      “Miami.” She’d already checked the telephone directory. Hundreds of Morgans were listed in the greater Miami area. If Rob had been correct and this dog had been liberated from the lab, his bill of sale had been forged and deliberately made to be untraceable.

      “I’ll need the certificate,” said the detective, “and the dog.”

      “The dog?” Paul said, a laugh in his tone. “What for? Gonna question him?”

      “Forensics might want to—”

      “No way,” Paul said flatly. “Too much time has passed.”

      Her brain immediately switched to trivia central. Forensics meant pertaining to or used in a court of law. Too much time had lapsed and Aspen had been too many places to make testing his fur admissible in court. But to be safe she said, “I washed him, then conditioned his fur.” It was the truth. Aspen had a strange smell; something they’d put on him at the lab, she’d decided.

      “Where is the dog?” asked the detective.

      “I’m taking care of him,” she replied, knowing he still couldn’t see Aspen from where he was sitting. “He’s my dog.”

      “You know where to find her dog if you need him,” Paul said.

      “I guess,” the other man muttered.

      “Do you want me to get the bill of sale and bring it in?” Paul asked.

      Detective Burgess looked relieved. “It’ll save me a helluva lot of time. We’re shorthanded as usual.”

      “I’ll bring it to you,” Paul said.

      Madison didn’t like the idea of being forced to spend more time with Paul, but she didn’t want Detective Burgess around any longer than necessary. He might change his mind and take Aspen.

      Detective Burgess rose and walked toward the exit from the cube. He turned, asking, “When did you learn Erin’s death would make you a multimillionaire?”

      His words were as sharp as a new razor, but she was ready for him. From the moment the lawyer had told her about the will, Madison had known she would be under even more suspicion. “I found out yesterday, when her attorney came to see me.”

      A malignant silence filled the cubicle, then the detective asked, “Your best friend never mentioned owning a piece of property worth a fortune?”

      “Yes, we talked about it when her parents were killed. At that point, the property was in the sticks and she thought it was worthless. Erin tried to sell it but couldn’t. The taxes were killing her. I understand in the last eighteen months there has been a lot of development in the area and a shopping center is going to be built on her land.”

      Detective Burgess studied her for a suspended moment and she could feel Paul Tanner’s eyes on her, too. A chill coursed through her, but she refused to allow her face to reflect her inner emotions. She knew the dead air was a police trick designed to make her talk more, but she didn’t. Let them ask their questions.

      “What are you going to do with all the money?” the detective asked.

      “It’s all going to Save the Chimps. That’s a refuge for chimps that have been confined to cages for their entire lives and subjected to scientific experiments. It’s located in Fort Pierce. According to her lawyer, that’s what Erin was planning to do with the money, but she didn’t have the opportunity to follow through. I’ll carry out her wishes, of course.”

      “Of course,” responded Detective Burgess as he consulted Paul Tanner with a quick glance. “But as I understand it, the deal for the property is still being worked out. Who’s to say you won’t change your mind and do anything you like with the money?”

      CHAPTER SIX

      Which fish swims the slowest?

      MADISON WATCHED Detective Lincoln Burgess saunter out of her cubicle. She felt as if she’d averted catastrophe, but she knew it was only momentary relief. She hadn’t seen the last of the detective.

      “Do they have any clues about Erin’s killer or am I the only suspect?” she asked Paul.

      Two beats of silence. “I don’t know. I’m on leave—”

      “You said you were in the office this morning. What did you hear?”

      He shrugged his powerful shoulders and for a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. “Not much. Your prints are everywhere.”

      She gestured for him to sit in the seat the detective had vacated. “That’s not surprising. I was at Erin’s on Friday night.”

      “What about the bottles in the medicine cabinet?” A sardonic note underscored the question.

      “I helped Erin move in. I unpacked half of everything in the house. My fingerprints are going to be everywhere.”

      His blue eyes seared hers and she shifted in her seat, realizing this man exuded masculinity like musk from every pore. Although he wasn’t handsome in a conventional way, Paul Tanner had that elusive something that made women respond to him.

      What she must look like to him hit her again. Madison had rushed out of the house this morning after taking Aspen for a walk. As usual, she was dressed in well-worn jeans, paired today with a blue T-shirt. Her hair had always been sensitive to Florida’s humidity.

      Enough temptation must come Paul Tanner’s way that he would never look twice at a nerd with frizzy hair. Like Aiden, this man would drool at the sight of Chloe and her low-cut tops and straight, sleek hair that fell over one eye. God! What was she thinking? She was in real trouble here.

      “Do I need a lawyer?” she asked, to steer her mind back to the problem at hand.

      “Wouldn’t hurt.”

      Suddenly all the air in the room went still. Her brain managed to process the information and come up with the gravity of her situation. When she’d asked the question, she’d expected him to say no. “Earlier I realized I might need an attorney, but I don’t know any criminal defense lawyers.”

      “I could give you a few names. Being in homicide, I’ve run into my share.”

      “Thanks,” she mumbled, and jotted down the names he rattled off. Madison wondered if she could possibly afford to retain an attorney. She would be forced to use the money she’d been saving for a new house. She’d reinvested the rest of her divorce settlement in expanding Total Trivia and hiring new programmers to keep up with the competition from other Web sites.

      Her anxiety mounted as she considered her options. What would she do? The Russerts would return in a little over two weeks. She would have to find another place to live with Aspen.

      Paul’s measuring eyes continued to study her in a way that gave her the urge to cover herself. It was ridiculous, of course, but she felt he could see right through her and knew all about Aspen. Her fibs about the dog might make him СКАЧАТЬ