Read Before She Dies for Free Online

O’Malley’s.”
    “So is there a reason someone would file a complaint?” Sinclair repeated.
    “And you are?” Richardson said.
    Sinclair pulled out her badge. “Detective Sinclair. This is my partner, Detective Rokov.”
    “Big guns,” Richardson said. “I’m guessing you’re not here for me, then.”
    “Why’s that?” Ten years on the force had taught Rokov never to trust anything at face value. He’d solved more than a couple of crimes by pure chance. Once as a traffic cop he’d pulled an SUV because of a broken taillight. The driver, a thin man with a plaid shirt, had been nervous and unable to stop fidgeting. Rokov had called the plates into dispatch, learned there’d been no priors, but the guy had just been too damn squirrelly. He’d asked the guy to get out of his car. The man had opened the door abruptly, trying to drive it into Rokov and knock him into traffic. Rokov had dodged the assault, stumbled, and righted himself just as the guy pulled a gun. Rokov fired and killed the man with the first shot. Turns out, the assailant had murdered his wife and was fleeing the state.
    Rokov still had moments when those tense seconds came back to him in a flash. He could recall each detail as if the film had been put in slow motion. The way the guy’s eyes had shifted to the left. The way his own hands had trembled very slightly as he’d gripped the handle of his gun tighter. The way the assailant had reached under a newspaper on the front seat and pulled out a Berretta. Rokov could remember the sound of a horn blaring as a car passed behind him, the rust-colored stain on the man’s jeans and the sweat beading on his upper lip. It had felt like a lifetime but in reality was mere seconds.
    Without realizing it, he had already eased his hand to his belt and draped his fingers over his gun handle.
    Duke glanced at Rokov’s hand and then held up his own. “Hey, I don’t want trouble.”
    Rokov’s own heart raced and for a moment he said nothing. He’d not been shot but he still had lingering moments of stress related to the incident. Charlotte had been shot, and yet she insisted she was just fine. No fucking way she’d walked away unscathed.
    Rokov cleared his throat and lowered his hand. “We have a few questions. There was a problem across the street last night.”
    Duke folded his arms over his chest. “I was open until midnight. Slammed until a half hour after that. I never got more than a few feet from the bar. What happened?”
    Rokov let the question pass. “See any customers that might have aroused your suspicions?”
    “Yeah, a lot of them.”
    “Particulars?” Sinclair said.
    Duke shrugged. “A couple. One dude had to be cut off, and I called a cab for him. He didn’t appreciate either gesture and told me so in so many four-letter words. And a gal, tall, dark. She sat at the corner of the bar and drank until about midnight. She didn’t say much, but just sat and stared.”
    “Either of them use a credit card?” Rokov said.
    Duke shrugged. “The chick paid cash. Twenties. But the dude used plastic. Name was Matt Lowery.”
    “You remember the name?”
    “Sure. I took his keys. I tried to take his license, but he screamed identity theft. So I wrote down his address and gave the license back to him. Planned to mail the keys back to him this morning with a note telling him to stay clear of O’Malley’s.”
    “You take keys often?”
    “When I have to be sure. I don’t mind anyone coming here and enjoying a few drinks, but no one is going out of here hammered with car keys. I don’t need that kind of trouble.”
    “You said you got an address for Mr. Lowery?” Sinclair said.
    “Sure.” He turned and moved toward the bar and retrieved a padded envelope. “You can deliver his keys. Chances are he’s still sleeping it off.”
    Whoever had positioned the victim had not been drunk, but that didn’t mean he’d seen the killer. A long shot, but a shot. “Just give me his