Cry Wolf Read Free

talk to him that much, thank God , I’m too busy working, you wouldn’t believe what a drain this place is on one person, but Cody—my son—seems to think he dropped out of Heaven.”
    “What did Cody say about him?”
    “Oh, God, what didn’t he say? All sorts of stories.” She waved them away along with a horsefly that zoomed in through the hole in the window screen. “I can’t remember half the stuff Cody’s been telling me. I have work to do. My husband died two years ago and saddled me with this place and yes, it’s a living, but it’s such a drain! ”
    “Can I talk to Cody?”
    “Sure. Knock yourself out! It’s summer vacation, so he’s around.” She paused. “I just heard from Terry Barnett, he’s the ranger here with the Forest Service? So maybe Cody knows already.” She paused, touched her mouth again. “It’s gonna hit him like a ton of bricks.”
    “You haven’t talked to him?”
    “I just heard my self .”
    “So they were good friends?”
    “He filled Cody’s head with all sorts of stuff. Cody liked him—like hero worship.” Her face crumpled. “This is going to be so hard on him. Especially now, after Jack died.”

    As Laura left the cabins office, the helicopter flew overhead. She squinted against the sun and waved.
    She’d been up in helicopters looking down on crime scenes dozens of times, but was perfectly happy to let Anthony take over. The way the thing banked always sent a thrill of fear into her belly, and she guessed it always would. Anthony, on the other hand, looked at a helicopter ride the way her flat-coated black retriever, Jake, looked at car rides. He couldn’t get enough of them.
    Yellow crime scene tape had already been strung around Perrin’s cabin and blocked off half the parking lot. Additionally, yellow tape had been sealed across the door. A Forest Service ranger named Dolan had parked his truck just outside the tape—she could hear reports on his radio. He was the responding officer, and would block entry to the scene.
    Laura talked to him for a minute, told him she wanted to catch people first and get their accounts, and leave Perrin’s cabin for later.
    She didn’t have to go far to find Cody. The boy was sitting on the low post and rail fence that fronted the road, throwing pebbles into the gravel parking lot.
    His mother said he was eleven years old. He was big for his age, chunky like his mother. He wallowed in an oversize “Zombies Ate My Homework” tee—Xtra Large—and polyester sports shorts—like basketball shorts. Completing the ensemble were new athletic shoes.
    His complexion was mottled strawberry and cream—like her partner Anthony, he didn’t seem to tan. Black curly hair, a broad face like his mother.
    He was wiping his face and sniffling.
    Laura said, “Hey.”
    He swiped at his nose and looked at her. “Who are you?”
    “I’m Detective Laura Cardinal. I’m sorry for your loss.”
    “Yeah, well.”
    “Mind if I sit? My feet are tired.” She motioned to the post and rail fence.
    “Free country,” he said. He threw more gravel, picking it out of one cupped hand and flinging it.
    Laura sat. She stared at the quaint, rustic cabins. Must have been built in the twenties, her guess. As she recalled, they didn’t even have satellite TV here. She sat and listened to the pinging of gravel on gravel. Got down, got herself some gravel, and started throwing it herself.
    “What are trying to do? Pretend you’re just like me to get me on your side?”
    Smart kid.
    Laura swiveled her head to look at him. He looked straight ahead, but she knew he was aware of her scrutiny.
    “I’m going to level with you,” she said. “I’m here to find out who killed Sean Perrin, but I need help. I need cooperation or we might never know who did it. You were friends, right?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Well, you might know stuff nobody else knows, okay? If you were any kind of friends at all—”
    “We were friends. Good friends!”
    “Then