Read State's Evidence: A Beverly Mendoza Legal Thriller for Free Online Page B

he was damned good at what he did. That included
investigating missing persons, where he left no rock unturned to
get at the truth, no matter how painful. Even if other detectives
avoided that detail like the plague, considering it too inactive
and often lacking a real challenge.
    At thirty-nine and still married to his high
school sweetheart for twenty years now, Stone had all the challenge
he needed at home. Two of the kids were still there and two others
were off in college. They were never too far away to call and ask
for money, which he usually gave them, admittedly a sucker when it
came to his children.
    He trained his gray-blue eyes on the man
standing at the side of his desk. Caucasian with wavy black hair,
he guessed him to be in his early thirties, probably about his own
height of six-four, with the type of solid upper body that made
Stone believe that he lifted weights. His square-jawed face was
unshaven and bags beneath sloe colored eyes suggested a man too
long without sleep. He wore a wrinkled gray suit, as if thrown on
just for the occasion.
    The man had identified himself as Chuck
Murray and stormed into the office worried about his wife’s
whereabouts.
    “Why don’t you have a seat,” Stone urged
nicely, feeling uncomfortable looking up at the clearly agitated
man.
    After a sigh, Chuck sat in one of two aging
chairs across the desk, stretching his long legs out.
    “How long has your wife been missing, Mr.
Murray?” Stone asked routinely. He hoped the man didn’t say one or
two hours. Even three or four.
    “She never came home last night,” he answered
tersely.
    “What time does she normally come home?”
    “Around seven o’clock.”
    Stone glanced at his watch. It was ten a.m.
He did the arithmetic. Just over fourteen hours. They usually
needed at least twenty-four hours before a missing person case
became official. But there was something about this one that made
him suspicious. Call it instincts or a general mistrust of nervous
men who maybe had reason to fear the worst for a wife missing less
than a day.
    “What’s your wife’s name, sir?” Stone looked
at him coolly.
    “Adrienne.” Chuck’s lower lip twitched.
    Stone took a mental note. “Where was Adrienne
supposed to be before she came home?”
    “At work.”
    “Where does she work?”
    “At a telemarketing firm.”
    Stone jotted this down. “Doing what?”
    Chuck tilted his head. “She’s an
administrative assistant.”
    “Adrienne never called to say she might be
late or was going to spend the night with a girlfriend or
something?”
    “No!” Chuck snapped. “Adrienne would not have
just gone off for the hell of it without letting me know. That’s
not her style.”
    I’ll take your word for that at the
moment . Maybe she had a reason for not wanting to come home,
Stone mused. Or could be that something—or someone—really had
prevented her from doing so.
    “Did you call her office?” he asked the
husband.
    Chuck nodded. “Yeah, and they said she left
around six-thirty.”
    “Alone?”
    “I didn’t ask. Why?”
    “Because it could tell us where she might
have gone, sir—and who with.”
    “She doesn’t really socialize with the people
at work,” Chuck said.
    “Things can change,” Stone suggested
thoughtfully. “Friendships form at work. Even sometimes a workplace
romance—”
    Chuck glared at him. “What the hell are you
trying to say?”
    Stone peered back. When a man got that
defensive over what was a legitimate question under the
circumstances, it usually meant that the prospect was not entirely
without merit. At least to him. But now was not the time to jump
too far into conclusions, although that was part of his job.
    “I’m trying to say that there are any number
of reasons why your wife may not have come home last night. In my
line of work, you have to keep an open mind.”
    “I’m open to anything that makes sense,”
Chuck said, rubbing his long nose. “But if you’re insinuating that
my