Free Vengeance Is Mine by Joanne Fluke Page B

six-foot-three-inch frame, but he could sleep anywhere when he was tired. No one expected him to spend the night in the office, but Steve wanted to stay close just in case something else broke loose tonight.
    Brian Nordstrom was doing all right, considering what he’d been through. Steve had checked on him earlier, and Brian had been full of ideas about making the jail more hospitable. Steve chuckled as he remembered Brian’s plan of painting the cots and commodes forest green with panoramic nature scenes on the walls of the cells. If he made the jail too comfortable, people would commit crimes just to get in.
    Brian had some strange ideas, but he seemed like a nice guy. So did his roommate, Greg. Steve liked both of them just fine as long as he didn’t think about what they did together in bed. Maybe he liked women too well even to think about any other possibilities.
    Michele. A grin spread across Steve’s face. She was sexy and smart, an unbeatable combination. He’d spent all afternoon looking forward to their date, and he hadn’t thought of Diane once. That was a record. What Steve had assumed was a permanent pain might prove to be temporary after all.
    Steve closed his eyes and imagined what might have happened tonight. He almost wished he’d taken Michele up on her invitation for a nightcap, but it had been past one by the time they’d left Brian’s, and he’d been anxious to check in at the station. At least he’d had the presence of mind to ask her out for breakfast after their date had been blown all to hell.
    The courthouse clock chimed four, and Steve imagined the hands of a clock, slowly turning until they reached seven-thirty. Three and a half hours away. On the dot of seven-thirty he’d wake up. It worked every time. Steve called his system the brain clock. He imagined the minutes ticking away as he dropped off to sleep. Only five hours and fifty-eight minutes before he saw Michele again.

CHAPTER 7
    â€œThat’s a wrap, Michele. It looked fine from here. If you want to wait around, we can run it for you.”
    Michele hoped the rumor about television’s adding ten pounds wasn’t true. She really wanted to see what she looked like, but she was already late for breakfast with Steve.
    â€œThanks, Kevin, but I’m rushed for time. I’ll watch it when it airs.”
    Kevin Reilly was Margaret Whitworth’s right-hand man at the station. He had a shock of red hair and freckles to match. Everyone swore he was a miracle worker, and Michele was tempted to ask him to substitute a gorgeous actress’s body for hers.
    Michele stepped carefully over the cables and hurried to the green room to get her purse. She was just slipping into her jacket when Dale Kline rushed in. He looked very uncomfortable when he saw her.
    â€œGood morning, Dale.” Michele looked around, but there was no one else in earshot. “I put Cindy on the executive express to the airport.”
    Dale nodded. He looked very relieved.
    â€œUh . . . Michele? I told everybody I was sending Cindy to boarding school so she could get a better background in science. Does that sound all right to you?”
    â€œFine, Dale.” Michele smiled. She could afford to be magnanimous now that the problem was solved.
    â€œBrian’s case is shaping up, Michele. Right after I got him out on bail, Mrs. Whitworth called me. She wants an interview on News at Noon . I figure Brian can use all the favorable publicity he can get.”
    As Dale straightened his tie in front of the mirror, Michele noticed that he had dressed for the interview. Brown suit, beige shirt, and a muted plaid tie. He looked like a successful, extremely conservative lawyer. It was a real change from the sweater and chinos he’d been wearing at the office yesterday.
    â€œI don’t think we’ll have any major problems. No judge in his right mind’ll believe that a little guy like Brian attacked