Free Skeleton in a Dead Space (A Kelly O'Connell Mystery) by Judy Alter Page A

and sell it.”
    “I know you care about the skeleton, Kelly, but you’ve got to detach yourself. And the sooner you let us handle it, the sooner you can sell that house. I don’t know why a forty-year-old murder means so much to someone today, but since it does, you’ve got to let professionals handle it. Believe me; it’s dangerous—for you and the girls.”
    I thought about the door, and the girls, and Tim swearing to keep them safe. “I don’t want any part of danger,” I said, as though that concluded it. But I didn’t tell him about my request for tax records. What if homicide requests the same rolls and finds out there’s a prior request? I’d cross that bridge when I came to it, but I made a mental note to check the next day and see if the microfiche records were in the office.
    Mike finished his coffee and took the cup to the kitchen. “I best be going. I’ve got patrol tonight. Anything else, Kelly?”
    I shook my head.
    “Why do I think something’s bothering you that you should tell me about?” He smiled at me, and for an instant I thought the smile was almost paternal, as though he knew more about me than I wanted him to. Then again, a big something was bothering me—a something named Tim.
    “It’s not your problem. My ex-husband is flying in from California tonight. He wants to take the girls and protect them. Said he’s coming straight here from the airport.”
    He moved back into the room but not too near where I sat on the couch. “And you don’t want him to?”
    “Of course I don’t. He hasn’t seen them in over a year, hasn’t paid child support….” My voice was sharp and ugly in my ears, and I hated myself.
    “Will he take no for an answer in a polite way? In other words, do I need to alert whoever’s on guard?”
    “No,” I sighed. “I don’t think he’s violent. Just angry and manipulative. Trying to scare me with words will be his tactic.”
    “You get that alarm installed?”
    ”I reactivated it right after you told me, and got that little hand-held thing. Let me go see if I can find it.”
    His voice was exasperated. “If you don’t keep it near you, it does no good. Let me see the control panel.” I led him to the kitchen, where the panel was on a wall, at a point midway between the front and back doors.
“You know how to call the police on this thing?”
    I nodded. “The technician showed me.” I pawed around in the drawer under the counter and held up the panic button.
    “Good. Keep that with you all the time, and don’t hesitate to use it. This is the last night of the patrol—we don’t have the manpower to guard you for long. But I’ll come immediately if you call for help. And I’ll tell the guy on watch tonight to be a little more obvious—like right in front of the house. Okay?”
    “Yeah, thanks,” I said. I was grateful that the girls and I were safe, but I felt dependent on other people, in a way I hadn’t felt even when I was married. I wanted to take care of the girls by myself. It made me angry to have to deal with police and alarms and all. Life had once been simpler.
    As he turned to leave, Mike said, “Oh, another good thing to do. Sleep with your car keys beside your bed. Where do you park your car? Garage?”
    I laughed. “The garage is too full of Tim’s stuff. I couldn’t get the car in there. It’s in the driveway.”
    “Good. Your keys should have a panic button. You get scared, you can always hit that and it will alert someone, even if it’s just the neighbors, and it’ll scare whoever’s around. Lights flashing, horn honking, all that.”
    Mike left, giving me a smile and a salute. “Cheer up, Kelly. We’ll find out who your pregnant lady was.”
    “I hope so,” I said as I closed the door.
    It was nine o’clock. Tim’s plane would be landing. He would be here in an hour. I went upstairs and found that both girls were asleep, Em next to Maggie in her bed, the video still playing in the next room, Maggie’s