Read Bye Bye Bones (A CASSIDY CLARK NOVEL Book 1) for Free Online

back a chortle. “I know, a bloodhound! You need a bloodhound. Get it?”
    I cocked my head to the right, then to the left, with my eyes closed. “I get it. How about you either figure out a way to get my dogs to love you or quit dropping by?”
    Manning laughed as he looked around. I knew the pattern.
    “And to what do I owe this honor?” I asked Manning.
    “I didn’t feel like racing to work today,” he mumbled. “And I wasn’t pimping for breakfast.”
    “Not like you’re getting much. So?” I asked.
    “The story is breaking on our missing Congresswoman Strong.”
    “It’s been three full days. You’ve been lucky.”
    “The feds will have their hands full because it was the family that didn’t want to release it to the press. Her husband and staff insisted she’d taken off to their cabin in the White Mountains which is a ritual when she wants to get away. She wasn’t there. Then it was rumored she was at a friend’s cabin at Mt. Lemmon. Not there, either, but it bought us some time. The feds will be pulling in here this afternoon, trying to make us look like country bumpkins while I’m guessing going guns-a-blazing after the husband.”
    “Oh, I get it. The big guys are pulling into town. That’s the reason you aren’t at the office. But by the way, we all know how you can win over the big blue suits with your charming personality,” I said, winking at him.
    The pattern emerged. Manning, a familiar fixture in my home, got up and pulled out the Baileys from my liquor cabinet, telling me my coffee sucked, which it did. Without asking, he poured the smooth brown liquid into his mug. He gestured toward me and my cup. I declined.
    “They aren’t going to connect any dots. Certainly not our dots. They don’t care about any other dots on that wall of yours of other presumed missing people,” I said. “Give them the facts on Elizabeth Strong. That’s all they want.”
    Manning stirred his mug with the enhancing additive, and then walked over to my patio window where a plethora of birds and lizards and javelina could often be seen.
    “Here’s my summary. With missing females, it’s usually prostitutes or, being in such proximity to the border, a second category would be illegal immigrants. They’re hard to trace. No one cares. No one reports them missing. We have none of that here. We have victims that have families and careers and futures. We also have no bodies so we don’t know if it’s a crime of a sexual nature. We don’t know if the victims have been raped. We don’t know if they’re dead. They could be holed up behind bars anywhere in this desert or even in Mexico. Or Toledo, for that fact. I pretty much don’t have anything to give these suits,” Manning said, sighing in frustration.
    “How is the story breaking on the congresswoman?”
    “As always, Jessica Silva. She seems to have a sixth sense about anything going down. But you’re right. The story was primed to break. Honestly, I’m glad she’s the one running with it.”
    “Yada, Yada, Yada, Here’s what I want. The FBI is going to ask you for a list of her enemies. We know that’s a long list. I want it, too, but I also want a list of her staunch supporters,” I said.
    “You’re nuts.”
    “That’s one of the nicest compliments you’ve paid me. This is why I’m on the case. I’m going to connect those damn dots of mine and as I said, the feds aren’t going to be looking for those dots with any other cases. Especially when they see the backgrounds of the other women. But I feel it in my bones. Somehow, there’s a connection. We just haven’t found it,” I said.
    Manning gave a quick nod before gulping down the juiced-up coffee.
    “Time for me to hit the road,” he said.
    “Never drinking on duty, my ass,” I said.
    “Hey! It’s just a bit of chocolate milk. It will be the sweetest thing I encounter all day. I may even go home and put on a blue suit.”
    “David, you are going public with all of the