Free Death Takes a Ride (The Cate Kinkaid Files Book #3): A Novel by Lorena McCourtney Page A

shook his head. “So, how about it? Do you want to be my private investigator?”
    “I’m not sure there’s anything to investigate,” Cate said. Yes, she was curious about several aspects of the situation, but still, it was basically a cut-and-dried case. No mystery about who killed whom to solve.
    “My feelings exactly,” Halliday agreed. “What’s to investigate? But Candy apparently intends to keep everything as stirred up as possible. There’s no telling what she may try to pull or what trouble she may cause.”
    Radine leaned against the inside of the counter. “Maybe what should be investigated is her .”
    “As you can probably guess, we’re not exactly charter members of the Candy Blakely fan club here,” Halliday said. “In any case, I’d appreciate knowing I have you on my side if something does come up.”
    “I can send over a rate sheet on how Belmont Investigations charges for services.”
    “Yes, do that. I’m uneasy about this fire at the hospital last night. It never occurred to me until Shirley brought it up earlier that the fire might have something to do with Kane. First the attack right here, now a fire. Maybe somebody is out to get him.”

    Before going out to the warehouse, Cate showed Radine the photo of the dead man on her cell phone. “Any chance you’ve seen him around? It’s possible he came in to check things out sometime before charging in with a gun.”
    Radine studied the photo. “The police showed me a photo too. I didn’t recognize him. But someone lying there dead maybe looks different than a live person.” She shivered andlooked up from the cell phone. “Are you going to work for Matt and investigate this?”
    “I’ll have to discuss it with Uncle—with Mr. Belmont.”
    Cate took the power company bill out to Shirley but didn’t stay to chat. A tall string-bean of a guy in the standard H&B coveralls leaned on the counter while Shirley packaged a car part for shipping to a customer. Shirley introduced the guy as the mechanic Jerry, the one who’d loaned her the pickup. A guy who was interested in more than car parts, Cate suspected, from the way his eyes followed Shirley’s every move.
    Cate was surprised when she went out to her Honda to see that the Lexus hadn’t actually left the parking lot. Candy had pulled around behind Halliday’s SUV. She tapped on the horn to get Cate’s attention, then slid out of the Lexus and purposefully high-heeled it toward Cate’s car. Those dangling earrings flashed like sharpened knives.
    Cate warily touched the button to roll down the window. Candy was smiling, but those elongated silver earrings winked warning signals.
    “I want to apologize for what happened in there.” Candy shook her head, creating a charming flurry of tousled blonde hair. “I’ve just been so upset about Kane, and then Matt always can push my buttons. It’s a good thing there weren’t any sharp car parts lying around, or I’d probably have thrown some at him.” Another smile, this one winningly rueful. “You really are working for him?”
    Cate didn’t smile back. “Our client information is confidential.”
    “I stuck my foot in my mouth in there, didn’t I?” Candy put a hand on the window frame, as if suspecting Cate might raise the glass barrier between them. “I’m sorry. Actually, before you handed me the card, I thought maybe you wereMatt’s girlfriend, and he was trying to scare me by making me think he had a private investigator poking around.”
    “Girlfriend!”
    Candy grimaced. “Okay, ghastly thought, right? I’d be horrified too, if someone thought I was Matt’s girlfriend. But I realized right away, of course, that you’re much too bright and attractive to be a girlfriend of his.”
    Bright and attractive. Now Candy was trying to butter her up?
    “It’s just so hard to get my head around this whole situation.” A brightness in Candy’s blue eyes suggested imminent tears, although Cate had to wonder if they