Free Truth and Consequences by Linda Winfree

going to offer to screw me to get me to talk?”
    Swallowing her fury, Kathleen frowned at him. “Did you mean what you said?”
    Confusion glittered in his eyes. “About what?”
    “About wanting to see me again.” Oh, if Altee found out about this, she was dead.
    His eyebrows rose. “Yeah.”
    “Good. Dinner tomorrow night. Same time.”
    “You’re sure?”
    No. Anything but. She nodded. “I’m sure.”
    A quick nod and he was gone, bounding down the steps, handcuffs and keys jingling against his gun belt. Kathleen watched him go, dread and anticipation mingling in her stomach.
    What on earth had she just done?

Chapter Five
    “We’ve got positive IDs and preliminary autopsy results on the boys from the truck.”
    At Altee’s cool voice, Kathleen looked up from the witness statements she was rereading for the umpteenth time that morning. She couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t convince her mind to stop straying to Jason Harding. Her thoughts wandered to the way his cheek dimpled when he smiled or how his voice rumbled over her nerve endings, instead of considering the repercussions her actions could have, like destroying her career.
    “Kath?”
    After dropping the statements on her desk, Kathleen rubbed a hand over her eyes. “So who are they?”
    “Runaways from Pensacola. The driver took his mom’s car the night they left. It was found abandoned in the public parking lot by the beach in Panama City, which, by the way, is where the S-10 was stolen from. The rifle? Belonged to the owner of the truck.”
    “What about the handgun?”
    “Neither set of parents or the truck owner reports a handgun missing.”
    Kathleen shook her head. “Like anyone would admit to having an untraceable gun with the serial numbers etched off.”
    “An untraceable gun with no serial number and no fingerprints,” Altee pointed out, her voice wry.
    “It doesn’t make sense. Jim Ed’s not that sloppy.” The man was known for his meticulous behavior. The whole thing didn’t make sense. If he’d killed the boys, what was his motive?
    “Maybe he’s not. Maybe someone else is. Someone not as experienced at being a corrupt son of a bitch.”
    Someone like Jason Harding .
    “You said we had positive identifications?” Kathleen tried to banish the unsaid words hanging between them. What if it really wasn’t Jim Ed? What if it were Jason?
    God, this case was going to make her insane before it was all over.
    Altee handed her a fax printout. “Connor White, age seventeen. Heath Brannon, age fourteen. Although you might as well say fifteen. His birthday would’ve been in a couple of days.”
    Two days. April 16. Heath Brannon would have been fifteen on April 16. Kathleen brushed her finger over the smudged characters. So would Everett.
    He shared Everett’s birthday.
    Pain crashed through her body, freezing the breath in her lungs. She refused to close her eyes, knowing if she did, she’d be confronted with an image of bright brown eyes, sparkling with laughter and golden flecks, a chubby face surrounded by russet hair.
    What would that face have looked like at fifteen? Her eyes burned, and she swallowed against the tightening of her throat.
    “You want to know what’s really weird?” Altee perched on the edge of her own desk.
    Kathleen struggled to bring her attention back to the conversation. “What?”
    “Cause of death for both boys was a gunshot wound to the head.”
    “We knew that without the autopsies.”
    “The wound damage couldn’t have come from that .38. Williams is willing to swear to it in court.”
    “A defense attorney will argue they shot themselves with the rifle.”
    Altee smiled. “See, that’s the thing. Chandler County reports two shots fired at one of their deputies. We found only two shell casings in the truck. And it gets better. The wounds are to the left side of their heads.”
    “Okay.” Kathleen tried again to focus on her partner’s words. She pushed the memories and the pain into