Diagnosis: Danger Read Free

May I speak to Clancy?”
    “I’m sorry, he’s not here.” She could almost visualize the man stiffening as he frowned. “He left for the evening.”
    Ordinarily, that would be what she’d thought. But since she was standing in the middle of Clancy’s apartment and he wasn’t there, she had no choice but to assume he was still being kept at work. There weren’t that many places that Clancy frequented. Outside of her apartment and her parents’ house, there was a restaurant he liked to go to with her. “Are you sure?”
    “Very.” Tolliver’s tone told her that the man was offended at having his answer questioned.
    Right now, she didn’t care about Tolliver’s feelings. She wanted to find Clancy. “Would you happen to know what time he left?”
    “He clocked out at five,” Tolliver informed her crisply. “Why?” he wanted to know, though his manner was impersonal. “Is there a problem?”
    Yes, there’s a problem, Natalya thought. Clancy’s disappeared.
    She frowned, going over the little pieces of information that she knew. If Clancy left the mortuary at five, there was no reason why he wouldn’t be home right now. And yet, he wasn’t.
    So where was he? she wondered. And why had he sounded so odd when he’d called? Why hadn’t he said anything more?
    Because she knew that Tolliver was waiting for a response she said, “Clancy was supposed to meet me for a gallery opening tonight.”
    “I’m afraid your friend feels that mundane things such as time do not apply to him,” Tolliver told her. She heard him give a dismissive snort. “He’ll turn up. If he doesn’t,” he added with an air of superiority that she found extremely offensive, “I’d consider myself lucky.”
    Hot words hovered on the tip of her tongue, but she bit them back. “Well, you’re not me, Mr. Tolliver. And I’d say that was fortunate for both of us.” Natalya didn’t bother saying goodbye when she broke the connection.
    If she’d been moderately worried before, she was really worried now.

Chapter 2
    “ H ot date tonight?”
    Detective Michael DiPalma closed his locker door only to find his partner, Louis Rawlings, filling the space where, minutes ago, no one had stood. Considering the man’s portly build, he moved with the speed and quiet of a stealth bomber.
    At the moment, Louis was grinning wistfully, waiting for an answer to his question.
    “No,” Mike finally answered.
    Mike gave his locker a quick tug to make sure that the lock had taken. The PDA where he kept all his important phone numbers had gone missing for several days before it had been mysteriously returned. He was taking no chances this time.
    Like a puppy denied a favorite toy, Louis’s jovial expression sagged around the edges until it was almost hangdog in appearance. “But, Mike, it’s Friday.”
    Mike placed his motorcycle helmet beside him on the bench to fix the cuff of his jeans. “I’m aware of what day of the week it is, Louis.”
    “You always have a hot date on Fridays.”
    Mike straightened and got up. “Now you’re exaggerating.”
    Louis shook his head. Fringes of carefully preserved hair moved from side to side. “No, that’s for you to do. But you do it so well that it seems real.” Brown eyes looked at him eagerly. “C’mon, Mike, you’re the only fantasy life I have.”
    Lips that were just as quick to frown as they were to smile curved tolerantly as he looked at the shorter man. “You’re married, Lou.”
    “My point exactly.” The sentence was accompanied by a large, pronounced sigh.
    With a laugh, Mike zipped up his leather jacket. His motorcycle was waiting for him and all he wanted to do tonight was get on it and head for his one-bedroom apartment. “Jackie is supposed to fulfill all your fantasies.”
    Louis stared at him in wonder as they began to walk out of the locker room together. “Have you seen Jackie lately?” He stopped a moment, holding hishand up approximately five feet from the floor.