Innocent Prey (A Brown and de Luca Novel) Read Online Free Page A

for a while, and then they just...stopped.” He shrugged. “My wife’s a wreck.”
    “I told Howard I’d put my best detective on this,” Chief Sub said. “And I assured him, Mason, of your absolute discretion.”
    “You’ve got it, Chief.”
    The judge got up. Mason did, too, and this time the older man extended a hand. Mason shook, then watched Judge Mattheson turn and thread his way around the empty tables and out of the bar.
    Mason turned to look at the chief, who was still sitting. “I want to bring Rachel in on this.”
    “Sit down. I ordered a pair of burgers, and since Howard left, you might as well eat his.”
    Mason sat. As if on cue, the waitress returned with more coffee, and two plates piled high with burgers and fries. She had a much easier look on her face than before. Yeah, it had been tense. It was like a dark cloud left the bar when the judge walked out the door.
    “Tell me how you think Rachel can help,” Chief Sub said as he pounded the bottom of the ketchup bottle.
    “Well, to start with, she was blind for twenty years. She can give us some perspective on where this girl’s head is at, one we’re not gonna get from anyone else.”
    “Mmm.” The chief got the ketchup flowing and made several neat round dots of it along the edge of his plate. “Can she keep this quiet? She is a writer, after all.”
    “It’s not like she’s a freakin’ reporter.”
    “I know that. The question is, do you trust her?”
    “I trust her.” If the chief knew the enormity of the secrets Rachel had kept for him, Mason thought, he wouldn’t ask. “Actually, I can honestly say I trust her more than anyone I know.”
    “Is that so?” Chief Sub dipped a fry in ketchup, then ate it whole. “You and she, uh...been seeing a lot of each other, haven’t you.” It wasn’t really a question.
    “Some. Not...a lot. Really.”
    “Why not?”
    Mason looked up, surprised by the question. “She’s only had her eyesight back since last August, Chief. It’s a whole new world for her.”
    “For you, too, I imagine, with raising those two boys.”
    “Exactly.”
    The chief shrugged. “I trust your judgment, Mason. If you think she can help you and you trust her, use her. I want Stephanie Mattheson found. Hell, I’m her godfather. Since this is off-the-books work, de Luca’s an off-the-books consultant. Just don’t let Howard find out you told her. You got that?”
    “Yeah.” Mason picked up the gargantuan burger, took a huge bite and knew he would regret it later. After he chewed and swallowed, he said, “If I don’t turn anything up right away, you’re gonna have to convince him to make it official. You know that.”
    “You let me worry about Howard.”
    “All right, Chief.”
    “There’s a party at my house Friday night. My fiftieth wedding anniversary. You’ll be there.”
    Once again, it wasn’t really a question.
    “I will,” Mason said.
    “Good. Get a sitter for those boys of yours and bring de Luca.”
    * * *
    I had Myrtle on a leash, which was a joke, really. She was short and fat and slow, and about as likely to bolt away from me as I was from a glazed sour cream doughnut. We were doing our midday walk along the four-mile-long dirt track that passed for a road. It ran along the back side of the Whitney Point Reservoir, which really was more like a lake. There were a couple of houses at the other end of the road, near the village, but mine was the only one way out this way, just before the dead end. I loved the privacy. The quiet. And now that I had eyes, I loved the beauty of it, too. Trees and woods, all sporting their newborn pale green leaves now that spring had sprung in the Point, and the way the sun would sometimes shimmer on the water, making every ripple wink like bling on a rapper. Damn, I loved where I lived.
    I had my cell phone with me in case Mason called. But he didn’t. He interrupted our walk in person, instead, breaking into our solitude with the too loud motor in his