Free Sole Witness by Jenn Black Page B

had been rough.
    Bad enough he hadn’t seen Lori in years. Sara was
his age, had been in some of his classes. Not the art classes—Sara wasn’t like
that. She was about as opposite her sister as possible. No, Sara had been in his
block classes—History, Science, Algebra.
    Nonetheless, the girls had been inseparable.
    Davis put the photo back on the fridge and headed
for the hallway. Most of the action was at the end of the hall, which led into
a bedroom.
    The door on his left opened to a shell-themed
bathroom. The door to his right opened to an office. Davis stepped inside.
    No tchotchkes in here.
    Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covered the walls, each
row packed with neatly lined books. Paperbacks, this shelf. Hardbacks, that
shelf.
    Davis looked closer.
    How to Start Your Own
S-Corporation . Modeling
in the New Millennium . The Entrepreneurial Spirit . Home Based
Business for Dummies . Lori was many things, none of which implied
stupidity. She’d always been one to underestimate herself.
    He moved to the desk and nudged the cordless mouse
with his knuckle.
    The monitor glowed to life, displaying a blank
desktop. A book lay open next to the keyboard. Davis opened it to the bookmark.
Chapter Seven, Logos and Slogans. Interesting. He closed the book, took a deep
breath, and headed for the hallway.
    No wonder Lori looked like a Mack truck blindsided
her.
    Davis shuddered. Nobody should ever have to see
someone they love look like this.
    As many cases as he’d been on, he doubted he’d ever
get used to it. He doubted anyone ever truly did. He wished he could take Lori
into his arms, comfort her.
    But he couldn’t.
    No matter how he sliced it, Lori was still a ‘person
of interest’ until forensics said otherwise. No alibi, no forced entry. His gut
said there was no way in hell she could have done something like this, but his
report was going to have to list the facts. With no editorializing.
    He stepped back into the hall and almost smacked
into Bock.
    “You all right?” Davis asked.
    Bock nodded, but he still looked wobbly.
    “I want you to find all the hairbrushes in here and
bag some samples.”
    Bock frowned. “Why?”
    Young cops. God save him from the F.N.G.
“Exclusionary purposes.”
    “You’ve got hair at some other scene?”
    What did he need, a map? “Something like that. Can
you take care of it?”
    “Yeah, yeah, no problem. Oh, and…”
    “What?”
    Bock looked like he might throw up again. “I don’t
know if it means anything, but there’s a whole mess of cat hair outside.”
    Sweat sprang to Davis’s neck and sleet filled his
stomach. “What?”
    “You see that orange tree?”
    “Yes. Tell me about the cat.”
    Bock sagged against the wall. “No cat—just cat hair.
Lots of claw marks at the bottom, as if it fell out of the tree.”
    No doubt these marks were from the missing Mr.
Giggles. Fantastic.
    “Thanks, Bock.”
    “No problem. I’m on the hair samples, too.”
    Bock peeled himself from the wall and bounced off.
He was a freaking puppy.
    Or a cat.
    Mr. Giggles was MIA. How was he going to tell Lori?
    *          *          *
    Detective Carver stood next to Lori in what she no
doubt hoped was companionable silence.
    No matter. Lori didn’t want to speak anyway.
    What was there to say? Her best friend had been
carried outside. Not on a stretcher to the hospital, but on a one-way trip to
the morgue.
    Lori no longer faced the road. Instead, she watched
the door to her house. Waiting.
    Ah, there he was.
    She frowned. Something was wrong.
    “Where’s Mr. Giggles?” Lori demanded when Davis
reached earshot.
    Detective Carver inched away, as if she thought
there might be a throw-down in the front lawn.
    “He’s not here,” Davis answered. He slanted his
partner an inscrutable look. Stupid man. He probably thought she was going to
go bonkers. She was perfectly calm. Why not lose Mr. Giggles, too? She’d lost
everyone else.
    “But where is he?” Lori shouted,