Free Six Killer Bodies by Stephanie Bond Page A

friend.”
    Meg angled her head. “ATO is having a Hawaiian party
    tonight. Go with me.”
    “Do you think Logan wil be there?”
    “Yes, but more importantly, I’l be there.”
    “Okay,” Wes said, his heart beating faster.
    She picked up the wilting bouquet of flowers. “I’l be in
    front of the ATO house, say, at eight?”
    He nodded. “Yeah, I’l be there.”
    She walked to the door, then turned back. “Wes?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Thanks for the flowers.” She bounced out of the coffee
    shop and into her electric car like a ball of sunshine. He
    was dismayed at how much he wanted to go after her. But
    he needed to drop by the morgue and fish around for
    answers to the questions in The Charmed Kil er case he’d
    promised Carlotta he’d look into. And he needed to do it
    before the Oxy wore off and left him with another raging
    headache.
    He’d just wheeled into the morgue parking lot and was
    locking up his bike when his regular cel phone rang. He
    pul ed it out and his stomach clenched at the sight of Liz
    Fischer’s name on the screen.
    He flipped up the phone. “Hi, Liz.”
    “Hi there, handsome. What are you doing tonight?”
    He closed his eyes tightly. He wanted to be with Meg…but
    Liz was a sure thing, and sex might help him deal with the
    lack of Oxy.
    But Meg was also his connection to Jett Logan, and he
    didn’t want to disappoint The Carver.
    “Uh, I have a commitment later, but I could come over
    earlier, around seven?”
    “See you then,” she said, then ended the call.
    Wesley closed the phone and moved toward the morgue,
    nursing unease. His involvement with Liz made him
    uncomfortable, especially when he was feeling a strange
    sense of momentum about his dad’s case. Randolph had
    shown himself to Carlotta twice in the past few months,
    and now they’d uncovered a bug in the townhouse. If their
    dad had planted the device, would their absence from the
    house make him wonder if something was wrong? Would
    he reappear soon? And if he did, would he reveal himself
    to Wesley this time?
    Wes glanced around the parking lot, alert for any signs of
    being fol owed. When he saw no one, he fought
    disappointment. Then he reminded himself that now
    would be a crummy time for Randolph to appear, when his
    name had been mentioned in connection with The
    Charmed Kil er case. Remembering Carlotta’s comment
    about Randolph’s possible involvement with one of the
    victims, Wes hardened his jaw.
    He didn’t want to believe that Coop had anything to do
    with those murders. But what if proving Coop’s innocence
    made his father look guilty?

9
    Peter looked up from his cereal and newspaper as Carlotta
    walked into the kitchen, eyeing her pantsuit. “I thought
    you were off today.”
    “Uh…Lindy asked me to come in for a trunk show,” she
    lied. Peter would be livid if he knew she’d planned to use
    her Saturday off to run down leads in The Charmed Kil er
    case.
    Disappointment creased his face. “I was hoping we could
    hang out by the pool.”
    “Another day,” she promised with a smile, stopping at the
    fridge to pour a glass of orange juice.
    “Did you sleep well?”
    Her thoughts returned guiltily to Jack’s late night tuck-in.
    She’d slept soundly until the daylight had fallen across her
    face. “Yes, thank you. You?”
    He nodded absently, but the pinched look around his eyes
    betrayed him. She wondered how much her being in the
    house, as well as her father’s situation, were contributing
    to his insomnia. On top of her and Peter’s awkward
    attempts to repair their relationship, her father had
    dragged the poor guy into his mess by calling him a couple
    of months ago. Randolph had asked Peter for his help in
    clearing his name at the firm where Randolph had once
    been a partner and where Peter now worked. Of course
    Peter had agreed. He’d do anything to get back into her
    good graces, she realized.
    “You look tired,” she murmured, caressing his cheek.
    “Just a lot on my