Read Online Buried Leads (A Headlines in High Heels Mystery) by Lyndee Walker - Free Book Online Page A

was the officer who’d been at the body dump. And I couldn’t remember his name to save my shoe closet.
    I squinted, but I couldn’t see his nametag in the glare from the sun, so I stayed with the generic. “Hello again, officer.”
    “You here to trespass in another crime scene?”
    “Nice to see you again, too, officer.”
    “You can park over there.” He pointed to a stretch of concrete shaded by a line of Magnolia trees where the Channel Four van was already sitting. Damn.  “A word of advice: don’t try to go inside this time. They aren’t sure they can even pull that thing out of there without the whole place falling down. I’d hate for you to get hurt.” His smirk said that last part wasn’t true, and I shook my head, having learned the hard way that some cops just despise reporters. Period.
    I looked past him at the back end of the double-cab that was buried in the side of the building.
    “That’s why I love my job, officer. Never a dull day.”
    He grunted and stepped out of the way.
      I parked next to Charlie’s van, climbed out of the car, and crossed the parking lot, picking my way around the shattered glass that littered the pavement as I waited for Aaron to finish talking to Charlie’s TV camera. He rolled his eyes when he turned to me, waving an arm at the truck.
    “Can you believe this shit?”
    “Hey, who needs stealthy?” I grinned. “Just plow through the wall in broad daylight and clean the joint out while people are still shaking from the adrenaline.”
    “That would at least be funny,” he said. “This was just a stupid mistake, best I can tell. Fool’s lucky he didn’t kill anybody. We had to transport the driver and three other people to St. Vincent’s by ambulance, but the medics said none of the injuries looked life-threatening.”
    I scribbled as he talked.
    “How does one manage to run a truck into a jewelry store on accident?”
    “From what he said while they were loading him into the ambulance, the guy came into town to buy a gift, and when he was leaving, he thought he had the truck in reverse. But it was in drive, and he plowed right through the side of the building. That thing has some horsepower. There was a sales clerk who got cut up pretty bad by the flying glass, and a couple looking at engagement rings who got hit. The guy tried to throw his girl out of the way, so he took the worst of it.”
    “The driver was alone in the truck?”
    “Yeah. It’s entertaining, but it doesn’t look like there was anything sinister here. Just an accident. Glad it wasn’t a tragic one.”
    “Non-tragic is always nice,” I said.
    “Hey, I got a message that you came in this morning,” Aaron said. “What did you need?”
    “I wanted to pick your brain about the hearing I covered this morning,” I said. “The story’s done, though, and I’m buried today.” I did want to talk to Aaron about Billings, but he didn’t have time for a sit-down in the middle of an accident scene, and I didn’t want to ask him about the burglary until I had time to find out if it fit the cat burglar’s profile.
    “Don’t have to tell me twice,” he said. “I know the feeling, and if I can brush you off, I’m going to. No offense.” His grin brought out the lines around his eyes, but his round face was eternally boyish. Aaron had two girls in college and didn’t look a day over thirty-five, if you didn’t notice the flecks of gray at his temples.
    “None taken.” I thanked him and let him go back to work while I looked around the parking lot. There was a young woman sitting alone on the curb, hands buried in her auburn curls. Her pale pink pantsuit was splattered with blood.
    I cleared my throat when I stopped next to her. She squinted up at me.
    “Can I help you?” she asked. The pale features under her smattering of freckles looked tired.
    I introduced myself and asked if she felt like telling me what had happened. Over her shoulder I saw Charlie stop on her way back to