Free Untraceable by Laura Griffin Page A

Coghan’s a nutcase,” Nathan said. “She actually showed up at the station once, shitfaced drunk, and got into it with her husband, right there in the parking lot. She cursed him out. Told him she was leaving him. I talked to a patrol officer who says he saw the whole thing.”
    “What are you trying to say?” Alex asked.
    “I’m saying, all that doesn’t jell with your helpless, battered wife running away from her husband.”
    “I can’t believe you.” Alex snatched up her tote bag and stalked back toward the parking lot.
    Nathan followed. “What can’t you believe? That I checked into some facts before tossing around accusations?”
    “I asked you to do this quietly .” She shook her head. “Human Resources is the gossip mill of any office. Don’t you know that? You’re going to tip him off! He’s probably out right now, getting rid of evidence!”
    “Alex.” Nathan took her by the arm. “Listen to yourself. You’re not making sense.”
    “ I’m not making sense?”
    “No.” He gazed down at her. She actually caught a flicker of concern in his expression, but she didn’t care. She was too mad.
    “I understand that you’re worried about your client,” he said. “But you’ve got to get some perspective here. All you have is one woman’s story. And no evidence. And you’re accusing a veteran police officer of murder.”
    She looked down at her feet and swallowed the lump of frustration in her throat. He didn’t believe her. And worse, he’d betrayed her trust.
    “Let me ask you this.” His gentle tone made her chest hurt.
    “What?”
    “Does Melanie owe you money?”
    “A little.” A lot, actually. Alex had paid the security deposit on her Orlando apartment out of her personal bank account. Ditto her utility deposits.
    “You think it’s possible she’s avoiding you because she doesn’t want to pay?”
    Alex looked away. It was possible. But she didn’t believe it.
    In her heart of hearts, she believed Melanie was dead. And in her heart of hearts, she believed Craig Coghan was responsible. Melanie had come to Alex for help. She hadn’t had anyone else to turn to, so she’d turned to Alex.
    “Alex? Isn’t it possible you’ve got this wrong? That you’ve made a mistake?”
    She gazed up at him and felt the bitterness expand in her chest. He’d opted to trust his colleague over her because the guy was a cop. She’d always heard about the Blue Wall, but she’d never seen it up close like this.
    She stepped back, away from him. “The mistake I made was thinking you’d help me.”
    Captain’s Point was a luxury subdivision carved out of a hillside overlooking Lake Travis. During the dot-com heyday, hordes of thirtysomethings had built huge custom houses and thrown lavish parties there. Times had settled down, though, and now many of the houses were owned by retired couples or banks that had foreclosed after some Dellionaire couldn’t make his payment.
    Alex wended her way through the neighborhood, too distracted to be dazzled by the pseudo-Tuscan architecture or sweeping sunset views. Nathan was wrong. That’s all there was to it. Alex didn’t care how many commendations Coghan had under his belt, the man was a wife beater, and probably a murderer, too. And just because Nathan couldn’t find a record of something didn’t mean it hadn’t happened.
    Of all the things he’d discovered during the course of his nano-second-long investigation, one thing stood out. It was the parking lot scene, when Melanie allegedly showed up at Coghan’s workplace, drunk and verbally abusive. It didn’t sit well with Alex. For one thing, Melanie had told Alex once that she didn’t drink. And for another, the meek, mousy woman who’d walked into Lovell Solutions all those months ago had seemed completely incapable of staging a scene like that. Alex couldn’t imagine Melanie threatening her husband at all, much less in public and in front of his coworkers. Was it possible Coghan had