“So what, Joel, you’re just going to leave?”
He started picking up the boxes of Pad Thai, gathering up the two wineglasses.
“Stop cleaning up, dammit, and talk to me.”
Joel paused, but did not look at me. He set the glasses and garbage down very gently on the floor and headed toward the door.
“If you’re going to go to the trouble of putting your tie back on for the drive home, why don’t you tighten it up a little and choke yourself with it?”
Joel closed the front door and made a point to turn the key in the lock.
I could not believe he was going to walk out like this, and my hands were shaking, my stomach full of butterflies. I didn’t mind arguing things out, but I can’t stand it when a man walks off and won’t deal with things. I hate uncertainty. I want confrontation and closure.
I grabbed the front door and twisted the doorknob. “I don’t need you to lock me in, Joel. If you’re leaving, just go.”
I knew he was standing right outside the door. Come in here, I thought. Come back and talk to me.
“I’m tired, Lena. I need to go home and get some sleep.”
“Fine then, go.”
I heard footsteps on the sidewalk, a car engine catch, the grind of tires on the drive.
Would he really be able to sleep? Could he just set this aside and go on with his routine, because I knew that I’d spend the next ten hours agonizing and punching my pillow.
At least now I knew what made him mad.
Buy Fortunes of the Dead Now!
Acknowledgments
I am always grateful and surprised by the generosity of people who will share their time and expertise with writers.
My thanks to the multitalented Matt Bialer, a gifted photographer, as well as the world’s best agent and my particular friend.
And to my friend and editor, Peter Rubie, whose insight and flashes of brilliance helped make this a stronger book. I’m glad we didn’t kill each other.
To my good friends Jim and Becky Lyon, who answered my endless questions on criminal law, the legal system, and various matters of plot—usually while cooking me dinner and entertaining me with bagpipes. And most especially to Jim, who prepares me for the real world by disagreeing with everything I say.
Also to attorneys Jeff Darling and Sharon Hilborn of the legal firm Lyon Golibersuch & Darling, and to Lexington attorney C. Wayne Shepherd.
My thanks to Ron Balcom, of Balcom Investigative Services, for generously inviting me to his office and letting me bombard him with questions.
To Captain Dick Owen for advice and answered questions, and to Officer T. Jay Wilson, for letting me ride along, answering my questions, and sharing insights, even though I fell asleep during a suspected B&E.
About the Author
Lynn Hightower grew up in the South and graduated from the University of Kentucky, where she studied creative writing with Wendell Berry and earned a journalism degree. She is the author of ten novels, including two mystery series, one featuring homicide detective Sonora Blair and the other featuring private investigator Lena Padget. Flashpoint, the first Sonora Blair mystery, was a New York Times Notable Book. Satan’s Lambs, the first Lena Padget mystery, won the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel. Hightower has also written the Elaki series of futuristic police procedurals, which begins with Alien Blues.
Hightower’s novels, which have been translated into seven foreign languages, have appeared on the Times (London) bestseller list and have been nominated for the Kentucky Literary Award, the Kentucky Librarians First Choice Award, and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She teaches at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, where she was named Creative Writing Instructor of the Year in 2012. The author lives with her husband in Kentucky.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1993 by Lynn Hightower
Cover design by Andrea Worthington
ISBN: 978-1-5040-3751-8
This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
180 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
www.openroadmedia.com
EARLY BIRD BOOKS
FRESH EBOOK DEALS, DELIVERED DAILY
BE THE FIRST TO KNOW—
NEW DEALS HATCH EVERY DAY!
The Web’s Creepiest Newsletter
Delivered to Your Inbox
Get chilling stories of
true crime, mystery, horror,
and the paranormal,
twice a week.
THE LENA PADGET MYSTERIES
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
Available wherever ebooks are sold
Find a full list of our authors and
titles at www.openroadmedia.com
FOLLOW US
@OpenRoadMedia
Satan’s Lambs Page 29
