Deadly Valentine (Special Releases) Read Free

to the foyer table covered in gifts and the body of a woman lying on the floor beside it. A box of spilled chocolates dotted the marble floor around the body like thrown dirt clods.
    Under the table was a woman’s large black leather purse with a shopping bag next to it. Against the opposite foyer wall were two more shopping bags and another purse, this one pink and dainty.
    Jack bent down, and without touching anything, took a look at the murder victim.
    ‘‘She’s Mr. Sanders’s secretary,’’ Dodson informed him. ‘‘Her name is Peggy Kane.’’
    That news startled him. Both seemed implausible. He’d gone to school with Peggy Kane. Knew her relationship with not only Oliver, but Mitzy. At least he thought he did. It seemed a number of things had changed since he’d been gone—and Peggy Kane had changed the most.
    This woman looked nothing like the one he remembered even if her face hadn’t been blue. Peggy Kane had lost a lot of weight, but it was more than that, he realized. It was the way she was dressed, the expensive jewelry, the hair, the whole look. It made him wonder what Oliver paid her.
    In River’s Edge, there were two classes of families. The ones with money who owned the condos, huge seasonal homes and the businesses that thrived because of them. And the ones who worked for the businesses. The Kane family fell into the latter group, just as the McAllisters had.
    Peggy had a piece of chocolate gripped in her right hand. It had melted down to just the nut. On closer inspection, in her other hand was what appeared to be a crumpled piece of white paper. He didn’t touch it and wondered if anyone else had noticed it.
    ‘‘I took down everyone’s statement, just as you instructed,’’ Dobson said. ‘‘I’m also the crime photographer. I shot the elevator, all of the rooms in the penthouse and the possible crime scene.’’ Standard procedure in a sudden death of this nature. ‘‘I’ve sent the photos to the lab. You should have them within the hour.’’
    ‘‘Good work,’’ Jack said, pushing himself to his feet again. He asked both deputies to remain at the elevator door and protect the scene until the coroner arrived to tell them whether or not a crime had actually been committed. Then bracing himself, he followed the irritating sound of Mitzy’s voice into the living room.
    Mitzy actually stopped talking when she saw him. Her mouth remained open, but thankfully nothing came out. Her husband, Oliver Sanders, was at the bar making drinks, his back to Jack. Jack caught his own reflection in the mirror over the bar, seeing himself the way Mitzy must. Older. His dark blond hair still thick although graying at the temples. His blue eyes faded like old denim and lined from the sun. Just seeing how life had weathered and aged him, he remembered with a jolt his real reason for coming back here.
    Oliver turned at the sudden quiet, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the new sheriff.
    ‘‘Well, I’ll be damned,’’ was all Oliver said, but he seemed to tense as if expecting a blow.
    Jack knew that one of the town councilmen had voted against hiring him as sheriff and figured it had been Oliver Sanders. He told himself that Oliver’s obvious anxiety at seeing him could be nothing more than having a dead woman in his foyer. Or it could be the past. Considering his and Jack’s past, it could easily have been that alone.
    ‘‘Jack?’’ Mitzy cried, finding her voice too soon. ‘‘Jack McAllister?’’
    She’d remembered his name. But he’d have hoped as much considering how...intimate they’d been for a short period of time during his junior year in high school—a time he would have just as soon forgotten.
    He reminded himself that she probably felt the same way, in fact, might have forgotten him and only remembered when she saw his photo in today’s paper. Then again, the story about the new sheriff moving into his office hadn’t gotten a lot of play in the resort town’s