Deadly Intuition(45)
“Morning,” Grady murmured when he felt Sophie shift next to him.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t. I was already awake.”
“Then why are you laying there with your eyes closed?”
“I’m hoping that, if I pretend to be asleep, you’ll pretend, too.”
Sophie laughed. “I have to go to work today.”
Grady sighed deeply. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”
“Don’t you have work to do, too?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“James has been giving me leeway over the past few days so I can focus on you,” Grady said.
“Me?” Sophie’s heart rolled.
“I mean your case,” Grady corrected.
“How am I a case for you guys? It’s not like I’m paying you,” Sophie said, trying to tamp down her sudden disappointment.
“Maybe we’re just good guys,” Grady suggested.
Unfortunately for Sophie, she was starting to believe that was the truth. “I need to take a shower.”
“Do you want help?”
Sophie glanced at the clock. “I better not,” she said. “If you help, I’ll be late.”
“When do you have to be to the office?”
“I’m not going to straight to the office today,” Sophie said. “I have to go to a funeral first.”
Grady stiffened. “Who died?” Why didn’t she tell me someone died?
“A local fireman, Ed Reid,” Sophie replied. “He was the one who died in that apartment-building fire last week.”
Grady ran his hand up and down Sophie’s naked back. “Was he a friend of yours?”
Sophie shook her head. “I never met him. I have to cover it for the newspaper.”
“Oh,” Grady said, sighing in relief. “I thought you were going because it was personal. I didn’t realize you were going for work. It’s got to be tough to go to a funeral and have to cover it.”
Sophie shrugged. “In some cases? Yeah. Like when a teenager is killed in an accident, or someone is murdered, it becomes intrusive when it’s one of those things. This is different.”
“How?”
“This is kind of a … show,” Sophie said. “Every fireman not on duty in the county will show up in their dress uniform. They’re expecting photographers and reporters. They want Ed to be revered as a hero. They want him to get a lot of attention. In cases like this, we’re feeding into what the public – and the fire department itself – wants. They want the attention. It’s like a public feeding frenzy.”
Grady raised himself up on his elbow, pressing a kiss into Sophie’s shoulder. “Your job sucks sometimes, doesn’t it?”
“Sometimes,” Sophie agreed. “I think that can be said of any job, though.”
“Well, I guess I’ll leave you to your job then,” Grady said. “I have some things I want to run down today anyway.”
“Like what?”
“I want to see what I can find out about John Madison.”
“What do you think you’ll find?”
Grady shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s why I have to look.”
Sophie reluctantly pulled away from Grady and climbed out of bed. “If you promise to be quick, you can take a shower with me.”
Grady smirked, following her wordlessly.
FUNERALS are sad – even when they’re for show.
While Ed Reid’s family had hosted a private event for the fallen hero earlier in the week, the tears were just as fresh and real at this public funeral, Sophie figured. His wife, a thin, blonde woman, looked frail and weak as she was led down the aisle by two of Ed’s firefighting brethren. His daughter, a blonde teenager, was devoid of makeup and already had tears cascading down her face as she followed behind.
Sophie sat through the funeral, taking the occasional note, making sure to seclude herself in the back of the room so she wouldn’t intrude on anyone’s grief. When the funeral ended, Sophie moved outside – interviewing a few tearful residents – and then waiting for the casket to be carried out by the uniformed firemen’s procession.
Sophie was surprised when two men moved in behind her. She glanced up, recognizing two sheriff’s deputies right away. Mike Monahan and Trevor Gold were both lieutenants. They’d been with the sheriff’s department longer than Sophie had been with the newspaper. While she wasn’t particularly familiar with either of them, she hadn’t had any nasty run ins with them either.
“Deputies.”
“Ms. Lane,” Gold said. “What are you doing here?”