Read First Grave on the Right for Free Online

sobbed with her. Dead people I could handle. They were usually beyond hysteria. This was the people-left-behind part. The hard part. We hugged each other a long time until Uncle Bob arrived on-scene and dragged me off her. Elizabeth’s brother-in-law got the kids ready, and they all went out a side door and loaded up the car for a trip to Grandma’s house. All in all, they were a very loving family.
    “Slow down,” Uncle Bob said as I panted into the bag. “If you hyperventilate and pass out, I’m not catching you. I injured my shoulder playing golf the other day.”
    My family was so caring. I tried to slow my breathing, but I just kept thinking about that poor woman losing her sister, her best friend, her comadre. What would she do now? How would she go on? Where would she find the will to survive? I started crying again, and Uncle Bob gave up and left me alone in his SUV.
    “She’ll be okay, hon.”
    I looked in the rearview mirror at Elizabeth and sniffed.
    “She’s tough,” she added.
    I could tell she was shaken up, and I probably wasn’t helping.
    I sniffed again. “I’m sorry. I should never have gone in there.”
    “No, I appreciate you being there for my sister instead of a bunch of male cops. Sometimes guys just don’t get it.”
    I glanced over at Garrett as he talked to Uncle Bob, shook his head, then leveled an expressionless gaze directly on me. “No, I guess they don’t.”
    *   *   *
    I needed to get the heck outta Dodge—and how—but Elizabeth wanted to go to her mother’s to check on things. We made plans to meet up at my office later; then I asked another officer to drive me back to my Jeep.
    The ride was calming. People were just getting out, heading to work. The sun, still looming over the horizon, cast a soft glow on the crisp morning, suffusing Albuquerque with the prospect of a fresh start. Pueblo-style houses with neat lawns slid past us and broke away to a business district with new and old buildings covering every available inch.
    “So, are you feeling better, Ms. Davidson?”
    I peered at Officer Taft. He was one of those young cops trying to get in good with my uncle, so he agreed to give me a ride, thinking it might boost his career. I wondered if he knew he had a dead child in his backseat. Probably not.
    “Much better, thank you.”
    He smiled. Having asked the requisite question of concern, he could now ignore me.
    While I normally don’t mind being ignored, I did want to ask him about the tiny blonde, who looked to be about nine years old, gazing starry-eyed like he’d just saved the earth from total destruction. But this line of questioning took tact. Skill. Subtlety.
    “So, are you the officer who had a young girl die in his squad car recently?”
    “Me?” he asked in surprise. “No. At least I hope not.” He chuckled.
    “Oh, well, that’s good.”
    He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he thought about what I’d said. “I haven’t heard that. Did someone—?”
    “Oh, just a rumor, you know.” Officer Taft had probably heard all about me from the other kids on the playground. Recess could be such a gossip den. Clearly he wanted to keep the conversation to a minimum. But my curiosity got the better of me. “So, did you have a young girl close to you die recently? Something in a blond?”
    He was now eyeing me as if I were drooling and cross-eyed. I wiped the swollen side of my mouth just in case.
    “No.” Then he thought about it. “But there was a young blond girl who died at the scene about a month ago. I gave her CPR, but we were too late. That was tough.”
    “I bet. I’m sorry, too.”
    The girl sighed. “Isn’t he the greatest?”
    I snorted.
    “What?” he asked.
    “Oh, nothing. I just think that would be really hard.”
    “Look, bitch.”
    I concentrated with every fiber of my being not to let my eyes widen in reaction. It just looks odd to the living when you react to something they can’t see or hear. I eased around to the