Free Take the Money: Romantic Suspense in Costa Rica by Lucia Sinn Page B

armchair beside the desk. 
    Maggie squeezed a crumbled Kleenex to hide her nervousness as she lowered herself onto the hard seat.
    “I heard you were once elected Sheriff.” she said.  “I wasn’t living here at the time.”
    Mike laughed without humor. “Yes, my brief but illustrious career as a public servant.”
    The room fell silent and Maggie was sorry for her inane attempt at small talk. She suddenly remembered there had been a scandal--something about his son committing a robbery while driving the sheriff’s car.  The voters had decided such failings as a father made him unfit for law enforcement.  But the Mike Basinki that she remembered had been the nun’s favorite altar boy and she had no reservations about his integrity.
    “You were the only boy in the school who wore a starched long-sleeved white shirt every day.  That was something at St. Margaret’s.”
    Mike gave her a tight little smile.  “My mother wanted me to be a priest.”
    “Children often disappoint their mothers.” Maggie said.  “That’s partially what brings me here today.”
    “Your mother?  I thought she’d passed away.”
    “Not my mother, my daughter.”  Maggie found it hard to get the words past the lump in her throat.
    “Sound’s serious.  Is she in some kind of trouble?”             
    “I’m not sure; the thing is, she’s run off.”
    “Run off?  How old is she?”
    Maggie hesitated, realizing it was going to sound ridiculous reporting a twenty-seven-year-old woman as a runaway. “Okay,” she said.  “She’s a grown woman and has a right to do whatever she pleases, but I think she’s in trouble.”
    “Why don’t you start from the beginning,” Mike said. “And please, if you want me to do my best, don’t leave anything out.”
    When Maggie was finished, Mike had a full page of notes on a yellow legal pad.  He put down his pencil and touched his forehead with his fingertips. “What do you know about Kevin DuFrain?”
    “Not a lot. I think Julie was having an affair with him, although I can’t imagine why.  He certainly wasn’t her type.”
    Mike’s thick black eyebrows knit together.  “Why do you say that?”
    “Julie wasn’t one for casual encounters. She never dated around like other girls.  Her boyfriends were always serious, what other girls called nerds or geeks.”
    “DuFrain was neither.”
    “You knew him?”
    “In a town this size?  You kidding?  I suppose this sounds a bit sanctimonious but he had an unsavory reputation.  From what you tell me about Julie, I’m surprised she would have gotten mixed up with him.”
    “Oh God.  It was my fault--or maybe Jed’s.  Julie came back to try and decide what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.  My husband, her stepfather, got tired of a twenty-seven year sitting around reading books, getting free room and board.  He thought a college graduate ought to be doing something useful.”
    “I guess I’d have to agree, although I can’t claim any prizes in the parenting department.” Mike pressed his lips together and looked past Julie’s shoulder as if a painful memory had crested in his mind.
    “I know.  To an outsider, or someone who wasn’t her parent, it looked like she was goofing off.  But her father--my ex husband--thought she was special.  We never wanted her to have a part time job in high school.  We just wanted her to study and develop her talents and abilities.”
    “Which were?”
    “Just about anything she wanted to do.  She had artistic ability and played the violin.  She was a cross-country runner, had top SAT scores.”
    “Sounds like an anorexic standing in front of a smorgasbord.  Too many choices, no appetite for anything.”
    “She said she wanted to do something that made a difference, was thinking about going into law or medicine. She thought Jed wasn’t supportive; maybe that’s why she started running around with this Kevin person.  You said he had an unsavory