Skin and Bones Read Free Page B

half-smile. He could still feel the spot where he’d been kicked.
    â€œCody, I get the feeling you have a suspect in mind—for everything that’s happened to you,” Frank said. “Have you got a name for us?”
    â€œMike Brando,” Cody declared.
    â€œWho’s Mike Brando?” Joe asked. “And could he be the guy who got me on the roof?”
    â€œNope, not on the roof, but everything else maybe. When I first opened Skin and Bones,” Cody explained, “Brando was one of my best suppliers. He told me he was a former game warden and had worked in animal parks and game preserves in Australia, Africa, and Brazil.”
    Cody put down his soda, then leaned back in his chair. The expression on his face showed that he was still angry. “He had the whole package—career records, references, a list of terrific contacts all over the world.”
    â€œThat sounds pretty impressive,” Frank said. “Did his references check out?”
    â€œYep,” Cody said. “He’d started his own search business and offered to serve as my middleman to line up the best specimens.”
    â€œHe’d be sort of a bones broker,” Joe concluded with a chuckle.
    â€œExactly,” Cody agreed with a lopsided smile. He ran a hand through his thick dark brown hair. “He—” Cody was interrupted by the sound of the door buzzer.
    Cody checked his watch as he stood up. “Yikes, I almost forgot—Deb was going to drop by tonight to meet you guys.”
    â€œI’ll get it,” Joe said.
    Joe went down and unlocked the shop door. Waiting outside was a pretty young woman in a long skirt and jeans jacket. Thick wavy blond hair cascaded around her face. “Hi, I’m Deborah Lynne.”
    â€œI’m Joe Hardy. Come on in.”
    He led her through the store and back up to Cody’s kitchen. Cody introduced her to Frank, saying thatDeb was his new business manager and also helped out in the store. He quickly filled her in on what had happened earlier.
    â€œSo, what did the doctor say?” Deb asked, helping herself to a piece of now cold pizza.
    â€œI haven’t seen one yet,” Cody said with a sheepish glance toward Frank and Joe. “I’m okay.”
    â€œCome on, Chang,” Deb said. She took the pizza out of Cody’s hand and slapped it onto his plate. “I’ll take you to Dad’s. At least he can check you out. My dad’s a doctor,” she told the Hardys.
    â€œAll right, all right, I’ll go,” Cody said with a grin. “I can’t fight all three of you.”
    Deb drove Cody to her father’s, and the Hardys headed back to Sergeant Chang’s. As the brothers were getting ready for bed, Deb called to say her father had given Cody a clean bill of health, and Cody was already back home. They agreed to meet at Cody’s for brunch at ten o’clock the next morning.
    Tuesday morning was cool and damp, and the city was cloaked in thick fog. Deb arrived shortly after the Hardys. In his kitchen Cody was fixing a big platter of burritos and eggs, and Frank was relieved to see that he looked well and rested.
    Over breakfast Frank got right down to business.“So, let’s finish our conversation from last night,” he said. “Why do you suspect Mike Brando?”
    â€œMike’s first deliveries were great,” Cody explained. “He got stuff I’d had trouble locating because I didn’t have his contacts. But then he offered to get things that I knew were illegal,” he said, his expression troubled.
    â€œInternationally restricted bones and skins,” Deb added. “No one can buy or sell them.”
    â€œBut at that point it was just my word against his,” Cody pointed out. “Dad organized a sting, and Brando walked right into it. Man, was he mad. He swore he’d make us pay.”
    â€œOh,” Joe said, “so that’s why you