No offence Intended - Barbara Seranella Read Online Free

a
highway patrolman waved her angrily on. She leaned across her front
seat, rolled down her passenger window, and pointed to the wreckage.
    "I know him. I know the driver," she said.
    The cop studied her for a moment, then glanced back
at the crash scene. "Pull over up there."
    She nodded. She had every intention of pulling over,
of going to him, but then another thought came to her. Theres nothing
you can do, the voice in her head said. You don't need any part of
this. Keep moving.
    She caught a last look at the mangled pickup, then
swerved back into traffic, ignoring the people who honked and swore
at her.
    Goddamnit, Sleaze, now what have you done?
 
 
    3
    HOMICIDE DETECTIVE Jigsaw Blackstone unfolded his
long legs and swung them out from beneath the steering wheel of his
black, four-door sedan. Before exiting the car, he turned his
rearview mirror and checked that his part was straight. He pulled a
fine-toothed comb from his shirt pocket and carefully ran it through
his mustache until the dark hair was arranged evenly over his upper
lip.
    "You're like a cat, you know that?" Alex
Perez, Blackstone's partner, said.
    Blackstone didn't respond.
    "I'm going to check the victim," Alex said.
"You just take your time."
    "That's just jealousy talking."
    "Did I say cat?" Alex said. "I think I
meant pussy" Blackstone smirked and returned the mirror to its
previous position. He got out of the car and walked over to the
highway patrolman directing traffic.
    "You the first on the scene?" he asked the
officer.
    "Yes, sir."
    "What happened?" Blackstone took a step
backward and looked down at the body through the pickup truck's
driver's-side window The stiff 's eyes were open; their expression
seemed calm, almost bored. The skin around the head wound was scooted
up; the throat shot had ripped through a carotid artery and shattered
vertebrae.
    "I was cruising when I came across this scene."
    "So you didn't see it happen."
    "No, sir."
    "Paramedics get here?"
    "Been and gone. Nothing they could do."
    "Good. So they didn't move anything? Disturb the
body?"
    "No, sir."
    "Anyone come forward? Any witnesses to the
shooting?"
    "Not exactly A woman in a dark blue GTO slowed
down while I was directing traffic and claimed to know the driver."
    Blackstone looked back to where the body was
positioned. "Could she see him?"
    "Not from her angle; not the face anyway Maybe
the foot. I guess she recognized the vehicle"
    "You let her go?"
    "I instructed her to pull over. When I looked
over again, she hadn't."
    "Get a plate? No, of course you didn't. Was she
young, old, fat?"
    "Caucasian, early twenties, small build, light
eyes, curly light-brown hair—collar length."
    "That narrows the field."
    "One other thing, sir—her hands and
fingernails. They were . . . not really dirty more like stained.
Lines of black around her cuticles and under her nails."
    "All right, Officer . . ." He leaned
forward to read the name tag. "Kerr. That might be something.
Thanks. What was the speed of traffic?"
    "Fifty to fifty-five."
    "Is Cal Trans on the way?"
    "Yes, sir."
    Blackstone made a note in his notebook and walked
back to the crash site. The tow truck driver stood at the ready
awaiting permission to haul off the wreck. Blackstone held up a hand
to say not yet. He studied the accordion creases in the hood and the
crushed front grille. The drivers door appeared to have sprung open
on impact. If the truck had collided with the pole at fifty-five
miles an hour, the signpost would have been flattened. Blackstone
walked around to the passenger side, looked inside the cab, and saw
the hot-wired ignition.
    "Another fine, upstanding citizen," he said
out loud.
    The highway patrol officer looked over but said
nothing.
    Traffic advanced sluggishly on both sides of the
freeway Blackstone ignored the shouted questions of the motorists.
People are idiots, he thought, shaking his head. But that was the
job: protecting idiots from assholes. A Cal Trans truck arrived with
flashing