Death Before Diamonds (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 10) by Mary Maxwell Page A

mix of nerves and pride. I’d known Trent long enough to realize that he
wasn’t truly angry, but I wasn’t sure exactly how his little speech would end.
    As I waited for him to finish, I
slowly raised one hand.
    “Yes?” he said. “Do you have a
question?”
    “Can I make a statement in my
defense?”
    He smiled. “That’s not necessary,
you crazy rabble-rouser. I know you don’t mean any harm. But I think maybe next
time, if there is a next time, you’ll leave the evidence where you find
it and give us a call so we can process it according to department regulations.”
    He was right. And we were both
tired. So I apologized for overstepping and reminded him that the phone and
photographs were in a sealed envelope.
    “I never actually handled the evidence,”
I said, slipping out of the chair. “That’s at least one thing in my favor,
isn’t it?”
    He got up again and walked around the
desk. Then he gave me one of his standard issue Deputy Chief Walsh bear hugs.
    “Thanks, Katie,” he said as we
walked toward the doorway. “I’ll let you know if we get anything useful from
the phone.”
    “I’d appreciate that,” I said. “I’m
just trying to help Rex find his brother.”
    Trent nodded and walked me to the
elevator. When the bell chimed and the doors opened, he waited until I’d
stepped inside.
    “And I hate to burst your balloon,
Katie,” he said. “But they haven’t done ticker tape parades around here in
about twenty years.”

CHAPTER
16
     
     
    Zack answered on the first ring when
I called him from home a few minutes before midnight.
    “How’d it go?” he asked. “Was the
guy okay?”
    “Let’s just say that I would be comatose
for a year if I took half of the pain pills they’d given him.”
    I sat on the edge of my bed and
fell back onto the mattress.
    “They had him pretty doped up?”
Zack asked.
    “Massively,” I said, kicking off my
shoes. “The nurse told me that Rex was in really bad shape when the paramedics
brought him in. I only have part of the story, but it sounds like he was
assaulted in front of the post office by someone with a Taser. They think he
fell after he was zapped and hit the decorative fence around the flower beds in
front of the building.”
    “How bad was it?”
    “He had a deep puncture wound on
one side just below the rib cage,” I said. “As well as another on the back of
his head.”
    “Any idea why he was attacked?”
    “Not really,” I answered. “Rex told
me a couple of details, but he was too drowsy to make much sense. My guess is
Dina or Tyler will interview him in the morning after he’s had a chance to get
some rest.”
    “Doesn’t that sound nice?” Zack
murmured.
    “The interview?” I said. “Or the
rest?”
    “The second one,” he replied with a
yawn. “I fell asleep watching a documentary about the Wright Brothers.”
    “Was it good?”
    Zack laughed. “The first ten
minutes were riveting, but I couldn’t tell you a thing about the rest of it.”
    “Well, you sound pretty sleepy,
handsome.”
    “I am. Although my guess is that
you’re the same, Katie. You’ve been up for about nineteen hours or so, right?”
    I glanced at the clock on the bedside
table. “Give or take. But going to see Rex was definitely worth it. I get the
sense that he’s trying to be stoic and brave, but this thing with his brother
has him pretty scared.”
    “Did you talk to Trent at the
hospital?”
    “He wasn’t there,” I said. “But I
stopped by the office for a quick chat. I’ll probably call him again tomorrow to
get the latest.”
    “Is that when you’ll tell him that
you’ll be doing some snooping, too?”
    “I don’t know if I’ll use that
exact phrase,” I answered. “But I’ll have another talk with him. For whatever
reason, I think Rex Greer trusts me.”
    “I bet it’s your eyes,” he said.
    “Is that right?”
    “You bet, babe. I remember the
first time that we met. I thought, ‘Now, here’s somebody