Free Shadows by Edna Buchanan Page B

escape. Saw on the news last week that she got away again on South Beach. But the reward is always so big that people keep bringing the poor thing back.”
    â€œWhadaya mean ‘poor thing’?” Corso demanded. “I’d trade places with that lucky little pooch anytime.”
    â€œPuleeze.” Salazar grimaced. “Can you imagine where that dog’s been? What it’s seen?”
    â€œExactly. Anytime.”
    â€œGuys? Lieutenant?” Kiki Courtelis peered timidly around the door to the interview room.
    â€œYou won’t forget about me, go home, and leave me in here, will you?”
    â€œNo way to forget you,” Burch said. “Much as we’d like to. Somebody will be right with you.”
    â€œGetting back to Fergie and Di.” Nazario lowered his voice. “Apparently, the smaller the dog, the smaller the bladder. And Kiki just got a new carpet. So she was in a hurry.”
    â€œCut her loose. Take her home,” Riley said, disgusted. “Pick her brain. Find out what else she knows about the house, its history, and the people who lived there.”
    Â 
    Nazario’s red Mustang convertible burned rubber, screeching out of the police parking garage.
    His passenger clung to the door handle. “Is this how you always drive?”
    â€œSorry.” His foot eased off the gas for a moment. “Want me to put the top down? So the space is not so small?”
    â€œYes.” She sighed and leaned back as the convertible top slowly receded, exposing Miami’s big, wide sky awash in Technicolor shades of star-studded midnight blue, streaked by purple, pink, and gold.
    â€œI’ve traveled a lot,” Kiki said softly. “This is the only place you see clouds these colors at night. And see how the crescent moon is upended? Like a bowl upside down. This is the only place in the country where you can see it like that.”
    She took a deep breath, turned to him, and grinned. “It feels soooo good to get out of your office. How do you work there every day?” She’d returned to her usual feisty, self-confident demeanor. “You need to go green in your cubicles, Pete. Live plants will minimize the effects of electromagnetic frequencies from phones, fluorescent lights, and computers. They’ll reduce that geopathic stress. In other words, you don’t feel as tired, fuzzy, and depressed with green plants around you. And everyone knows that fluorescent lights cause eye strain, headaches, and an overwhelming sense of stress and disorder.”
    â€œA lot of that’s been going around.” He raised an eyebrow. “I thought it was from working with Corso.”
    She had a girlish giggle. “That institutional gray in your office is way too depressing. Bring in some throw rugs and bright colors.”
    Horns blared and she closed her eyes as the Mustang careened through a yellow caution light on Northwest Second Avenue.
    â€œWe do have a few potted plants around the station,” he said. “Personally I could live with more, but forget the throw rugs and bright colors—no way. The gray is working out fine, better than orange. When they built the new station, they made all our cubicles a bright international orange. Hurt your eyes to look at it. Witnesses would get all hyper and agitated after sitting in there for a while. Detectives were taking swings at each other. Two a the secretaries wound up in a cat fight. That last one was a real bad scene.”
    She frowned. “Maybe some soothing shades of—”
    â€œLook,” he interrupted, slowing down as they passed La Esquina de Tejas. “I didn’t eat breakfast. We both missed lunch. Want to stop for some Cuban food?”
    â€œNo,” she said.
    â€œPizza?” he offered hopefully.
    She shook her head.
    â€œOkay.” Shot down, he sighed.
    â€œSo what’s with your alias, Lisa Court?” he asked after an awkward pause.
    She