Deadliest of Sins Read Online Free Page A

hadn’t eaten in days.
    â€œSo then you came to Campbell County?”
    â€œMama got a job in a nursing home,” the boy said, his mouth full. “We moved into this duplex. The men next door were drug dealers. They used to hassle Sam all the time. That’s when I got out my pistol and started calling the police.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, hassle Sam?”
    The boy wiped his mouth with his hand, sucked down half his Coke. “They’d knock on the door, scratch on our windows. They used to holler terrible things … about how they wanted to take her clothes off and do stuff to her. Mama made us lock ourselves inside the house until she came home from work.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you move?”
    â€œWe were going to, but then the car needed a new gasket and Sam got bit by a dog and had to have a lot of stitches. After all that, we didn’t have the money to move. Mama said as bad as the duplex was, it beat living in our car.”
    Working poor , thought Mary. Staying afloat, then one or two unexpected bills come along and they’re sunk. “So how did this Gudger get in the picture?”
    â€œHe was still a cop, then. He came over once when I called. Then, after he met Mama, he came over every time I’d call. He’d go over and talk real mean to the druggies. Things would get better for a few days, then it would start all over again.”
    â€œHe never got a warrant to search the other side of the duplex?” Mary wondered if the cop had ignored standard procedure because he liked seeing the boy’s mother.
    â€œNo ma’am.” The boy licked his fingers. “He said he never found any possible cause.”
    â€œProbable,” corrected Mary. “Probable cause.”
    â€œYeah,” he said, swirling a French fry in a pool of ketchup. “That’s it.”
    â€œSo why do you think Gudger stole your sister?”
    The boy looked at her with blue eyes that seemed far too old for his peach-fuzzed face. “Because Sam stood up to him one time too many. Gudger sold her to someone—you know, to be their slave.”
    Mary almost choked. “That’s a pretty serious charge.”
    â€œBut it’s true!” Chase dug in his backpack and brought out the EVEDINSE folder again. “Look,” he said, turning to a page that looked like some kind of connect-the-dot puzzle. “Gudger always said she was too big for her britches, that Mama spoiled her, that she needed to be taught a lesson. But then one night, for the first time ever, Gudger loans Sam his car. Lets her drive, all by herself, to her babysitting job. That’s the night Sam disappears. Gudger pretends to be all shook up—he calls his old cop friends, is real nice to my mom, tells everybody Sam’s run away with a boy. But you know what I caught Gudger doing, the morning after Sam disappeared?”
    â€œWhat?” asked Mary, intrigued in spite of herself.
    â€œLooking at motorcycles, on the computer,” said Chase, triumphant. “A week later, he rolls up on a brand-new Harley, smiling like he’s never even heard of Sam, while my mom’s inside crying her eyes out. Then he got mad because nobody wanted to go on a ride with him.”
    Mary didn’t know what to say. This child had concocted an entire kidnapping theory based on his dysfunctional family and possibly abusive stepfather, then hitchhiked up here to tell her about it. Whatever else he might be, he had grit and a prolific imagination.
    â€œI’ve known hundreds of police officers in my career,” she finally said. “Most are good, courageous people, who want to do good jobs. Maybe Gudger bought the motorcycle just to take everyone’s mind off your sister.”
    â€œBut Sam promised she’d tell me if she ever left,” he said, blinking back tears. “She swore on the Bible!”
    â€œHoney, sometimes when teenagers are really unhappy, they