I'm Watching You Read Free Page B

everyone figures out we're a
shelter."
    Ruby's heavy feet trailed behind Lindsay. "Don't waste
your breath. I tried a couple of times to talk to that
'detective.'" The word detective sounded like an expletive. "He said to stay out of his crime scene. He
even locked the back door and pocketed the key from the deadbolt so no one
would go in or out that door."
    That ticked Lindsay off. Sanctuary was her creation. "This cop is
on my turf now and he is going to tell me what's going on?"
    Grinning, Ruby shook her head. "Sometimes I think you'd
rather fight than eat."
    She smiled. "Somebody's got to lead the charge."
    Ruby snorted. "Honey, you've got too many causes. About time
someone worried about you."
    "I'm better off taking care of myself." She'd
said those words so often in the last year that she almost believed them.
    Lindsay headed out the front door and went around the side of the house
to the loose slats in the privacy fence. She bent the slats back and slipped
through unnoticed.
    The closest cop to her was a patrolman. He stood at the lip of the
yellow tape and faced the crime scene, his back to her. He was slender, a
little gawky, and appeared fresh out of the academy. He couldn't have
been much more than twenty-one.
    A humid breeze tunneled through the backyard's still, hot air and
carried with it a host of smells. Blood. Waste. Gunpowder. Death.
    From this angle she couldn't see the body beyond the circle of six
cops who stood around it.
    She approached the uniformed cop. She cleared her throat. "Do you
know anything about the victim?"
    The young cop whirled around and glared down at her.
"Where'd you come from?"
    "That house." She crooked her head toward Sanctuary and then
nodded to the crowd of cops. "Do you know who was murdered? I hear it was
a man."
    The young cop started to answer, then caught
himself. He puffed out his chest. "Ma'am, this is a police crime
scene. You are not supposed to be here."
    His attempt to intimidate her barely registered on her radar.
She'd stared down far scarier people than this kid. "Look,
Officer..." She glanced down at the bronze name badge on his chest.
"Bennett. That house is Sanctuary Women's Shelter and I'm the
director."
    "I don't care who you are. You can't be here."
    Her tone had sounded brittle and she was reminded of Ruby's
frequent advice to soften her delivery. She remembered something about catching
more flies with honey than vinegar.
    With a conscious effort, she smiled and relaxed her stance. "I
really need to know who was killed in case it involves one of the women staying
here. It's my job to keep them safe."
    The cop's frown deepened. "Even if I knew, I couldn't
tell you."
    His attitude annoyed but didn't deter her. "How'd the
guy die?"
    "I can't say."
    "Do you know the time of death?" She edged around the cop.
If she got a little closer she might find out more about the victim.
    He shifted and blocked her path. "No one gets in that crime
scene."
    She leaned around him. Even from this angle, most of the crime scene
remained blocked by the broad shoulders of the detective, who had now removed
his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and donned rubber gloves and booties.
She couldn't see his face but noted his military short black hair and
crisp white shirt. His hands rested on his narrow hips.
    He must be the bossy detective Ruby had mentioned. Lindsay summed him up
in a nanosecond: an alpha male, a by-the-book tight-ass, and a bully.
    She suddenly felt very weary. She'd been dealing with bullies far
too long. But if he was the one she needed to talk to, then so be it.
    Reading her thoughts, the officer said, "The detective in charge
is going to talk to you when he's ready."
    She pushed her hand through her hair. "This detective got a
name?"
    "Detective Kier."
    She swallowed. "Zack Kier?"
    A smug smile lifted the edge of the officer's lip.
"That's right."
    Zack Kier was her estranged husband. They'd not spoken in almost a
year.
    She glanced toward the plainclothes