Free Fractured by Wendy Byrne Page A

money’s on Ramirez. If we’re thinking the goal was to keep your hands tied for a couple of days, then we should go over your case load.”
    His thoughts sent a chill from the tip of her skull to her toes. Exactly. Why go through all the trouble for nothing? There wasn’t even a remote possibility she’d be prosecuted for murder.
    No state’s attorney would even consider the case. To do so would be political suicide. A cop against a convicted murder recently escaped from Stateville. No way would that happen.
    Then again, Ramirez would do something like this for the sport of it and to further humiliate her. But how would he possibly know her father had broken out of prison? It didn’t make sense.
    â€œWhat could anybody gain by doing this?”
    â€œAn investigation would keep you out of the game for a couple of weeks while they cleared you of any wrongdoing. So the real question is, who have you been pissing off lately? What cases have you been working on? And what were you doing in that alley the other night? And don’t even try to give me that bull about it not being connected to Ramirez, because we both know it was.”
    â€œWhat exactly did the lieutenant ask you?” She evaded his question, at least for the moment.
    When he hesitated before he spoke, she wondered why, but didn’t ask. “He went over the same questions that we were asked the other day. When did we hook up? What happened when we got back to the apartment? How long had I been with you? Who found the body, me or you?”
    â€œRoutine.” She forced herself to think. “What did he tell you?” While she was being evasive, she suspected Landry was as well.
    â€œThat your spare matched for the murder weapon.”
    She pulled the hair away from her face and tried to think. “I know, but who would know where I kept it?”
    He shrugged, “I hate to state the obvious, but Lou had access to your place, didn’t he? He also looked guilty as hell when we saw him last night.”
    She bristled, but at the same time knew the logic of his words. “Just because he looked guilty doesn’t mean he did anything.” She closed her eyes and pushed back the feeling of helplessness. Somewhat used to the concept in her workday life, she never experienced it much in her personal life. This whole thing was really starting to tick her off.
    â€œThen what was he doing?”
    â€œI don’t know, but I know he didn’t kill my father.” She rubbed the edge of the handkerchief between her thumb and forefinger as she traced the edges of her grandfather’s initials. What she wouldn’t give to have him in her life again, if only for a few moments, to help her overcome this hurdle. Right now she craved more predictability and less chaos.
    Landry glanced at her hand before returning his gaze to her face. “Maybe not. But I bet he knows who did.”
    â€œThat’s what I’m afraid of.”

Chapter Six
    While Isabella had her secrets, Landry had his own. And no matter how he justified it in his head, he was lying to her. If she were in trouble, he’d be the first to stay by her side until the danger passed, even if he had to handcuff himself to her. But this whole thing felt different. While he remained uncertain about Malone, the lieutenant was a solid guy. Landry had no choice but to play this whole thing out as long as he could.
    â€œLet’s start at the beginning and work backwards. Are you going to come clean about what you were doing in the alley the other night? Don’t you think it could possibly be connected to all this? Maybe somebody knew you’d do anything to nail Ramirez and set you up. Speaking of which, has anybody caught wind of him now that he’s out of jail?”
    â€œWill you knock it off with Ramirez? It doesn’t have anything to do with this.” She avoided looking him in the eye and fiddled with her handkerchief.