Death Takes a Gander Read Free Page A

body and considered joining Kramner in his self-imposed march. Instead, she gripped the arms of her chair.
    Again Kramner gestured toward the report. “His clothes were wet. The evidence indicates he wrestled with the swan. He must have called for backup when he realized his heart condition wouldn’t allow him to carry the bird out.”
    “So the consensus is, he called for backup and then hung himself?” Even Kramner had to realize how ludicrous that sounded.
    “Do you have a better idea?”
    Angela glanced back at the report.
    “It could have been an accident.”
    “Not the way the net was wrapped around his neck and wedged into the crook of the tree for support. That was staged.”
    “Then maybe someone murdered him.”
    Kramner’s step faltered.
    She took it as a sign to go on. “Ian was meeting with someone that afternoon about a case he’d been working for more than a year. He didn’t share the details with me, or a name, but what if that person gave him a lead that led him to Barr Lake? What if his cover was blown?” She gave her words time to sink in. “Do you have any idea what he was investigating?”
    “You were his partner,” Kramner said. “You tell me.”
    The words struck home. Angela recoiled against the back of her chair. He was right. She was Ian’s partner, his brand-new rookie partner. Yet, it was her job to know what he was working on and to protect his backside. She had failed him, and now Ian was dead.
    Kramner pivoted and walked toward her. “It’s my policy to let my agents operate with autonomy. If they need help, they can come to me, but I believe in allowing my men to do their jobs without a lot of interference.” Reaching the end of his arc, he spun around again. “Besides, we both know what he was doing out at the lake. Dispatch relayed a call about the swan to him shortly after six o’clock.”
    A little more than an hour before dispatch had relayed the backup call from Ian to her.
    “For now,” Kramner said, spreading his fingertips across the folder on his desk, “this report stands.”
    Angela swallowed. “That means his wife and kids are out the insurance money.”
    “Unfortunate,” agreed Kramner.
    “He would never do that to them.” Besides, Angela had seen him around animals, especially birds. There was no way he would have taken his own life if it had also meant taking the swan’s. “Plus, he would have died trying to save that bird.”
    “Perhaps.” Kramner moved back behind his desk. “Sometimes there is no telling what goes through a man’s mind. The important thing now is what happens next.” Kramner sat down and scooted his chair up to his desk. “With Ian gone, I don’t have a supervising agent, and you haven’t completed your training yet.”
    She braced herself for the blow. Was he planning to fire her?
    “That means I am now your acting supervisor, and everything you do must be cleared through me. In your case, autonomy is out of the question.”
    Angela frowned. “Why is that, sir?”
    Kramner pinned her with his googly eyes. “Your own partner didn’t trust you, as evidenced by the fact that he withheld information from you on the case he was working on the night he died.”
    She couldn’t refute that.
    “For right now, you can tackle clearing out Ian’s desk.”
    “I was hired as a field agent.”
    “And I’ll do my best to get you back out there. But for now, your job is creating order out of chaos. Perhaps in your quest to unearth Ian’s desktop you’ll find the answers you’re seeking regarding his death. Regardless, it should keep you busy for a month.”
     
    Much to Kramner’s consternation, it had taken Angela five days.
    For the first three, she had pored over the rubble, seeking some semblance of order. In the end she had bowed to Kramner. To have called Ian a lousy note-taker was generous. Her partner had scribbled his notes on napkins, bits of paper, tattered legal pads—anywhere one could apply pen to paper.