Santa Fe Edge

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Book: Read Santa Fe Edge for Free Online
Authors: Stuart Woods
Tags: thriller, Suspense, Mystery
Police. She’d left a good career to go with Teddy. He knew it and was grateful.
    “I’ve booked us into the Inn of the Anasazi for a week,” he said. “If you like the town, we can look for a house to rent. If not, we can go on to California whenever you like.”
    They continued into the town, drove through the Plaza and checked into the hotel, which, like just about everything else in the town, was built in Santa Fe style. A fire of piñon logs burned in the lobby, and the piney scent filled the air.
     
     
    THE FOLLOWING MORNING, eighteen hundred miles east of Santa Fe, Holly Barker arrived at her office a little after seven AM. Holly was assistant deputy director of operations, reporting directly to the director of operations, Lance Cabot, and she wanted to get to the office before he did. Lance had been on leave when she had returned from a month in Orchid Beach, Florida, where she had once been the chief of police.
    She had been in her office for only a moment when Lance rapped on her doorjamb.
    “Welcome back,” she said.
    “Same to you. Anything to report?”
    Holly took a deep breath. “Yes. Maybe you’d better sit down.”
    “Come into my office,” he said.
    She followed him down the hall and sat on his sofa, next to the chair where Lance liked to sit during meetings.
    “So?”
    Holly decided to just blurt it out. “Teddy Fay is still alive,” she said.
    Lance put his face in his hands. “I didn’t hear that,” he said. “And I’m not going to hear the rest of what you have to tell me.”
    “I met him in Orchid Beach,” she said. “I had no idea who he was.”
    “He would have planned it that way,” Lance said. “Do you think he planned to meet you?”
    “No, I’m certain he didn’t, but I’m also certain he knew who I was.”
    “Is he still there?”
    “No, he left town shortly before I did. I stopped by the cottage he rented to say good-bye to his girlfriend, a state police officer named Lauren Cade, who I knew in the army. The house had been cleared.”
    “How do you know it was him?”
    “I didn’t until the last day. I found him interesting, and a little odd. He was an excellent cook.”
    “He cooked dinner for you?”
    “For my boyfriend, Lauren and me.”
    “Good God.”
    “When I stopped by the cottage to see Lauren, there was a big safe in a closet that I didn’t know about. He had left a note on the safe for the landlord. The note said the combination was T-E-D-D-Y.”
    “Any idea where he went when he left Orchid Beach?”
    “None,” she said. “He could be anywhere.”
    “He’s not anywhere,” Lance said. “He’s somewhere. Have you met Todd Bacon, who’s the station chief in Panama?”
    “No.”
    “He has a special interest in finding Teddy,” Lance said. “Call him and tell him he’s done in Panama, to report to me here as soon as he can clear his desk and pack his things.”
    “Am I going to be involved in this?” she asked.
    “Do you want to be?”
    “No more than I have to.”
    “You can brief Todd on your experience with Teddy in Orchid Beach,” Lance said. “After that I’ll try to keep you out of it. I know you have some sympathy for him.”
    “I’ll do what I can to help,” Holly said, but she wasn’t looking forward to it.

8
    T ip Hanks stood outside the clubhouse at Las Campanas, hitting chip shots to the practice green. About one out of six was going into the cup, but, of course, he was hitting from the same position. Still, he was getting better at sinking chip shots, and that could win tournaments. Tip had had a number of top-ten finishes this season, and one in the top five. He was determined, in the next season, to start winning, instead of just making a good living.
    The season playoffs were just ahead—four tournaments—and the winner on points would win the FedEx Cup, and that was a ten-million-dollar check. Tiger Woods was out with a knee injury, so it was anybody’s to win.
    A member ambled by and stopped for a

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