"Ed Howdershelt - Field Decision" - читать интересную книгу автора (Howdershelt Ed)

that clashed with the modern, glass and steel structures on the other side of
the campus wall. He waited in the guard shack's anteroom for a taxi rather
than walk the two miles home.
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*Chapter Two*
The day after his first meeting with Debra McAlister, Cade went to her
home when she got off work and -- under her watchful eyes -- searched Sandy's
room. McAlister stood in the room's doorway throughout the search, but said
nothing until Cade started pulling drawers out of the dresser and turning them
over onto the bed.
"What the _hell_ are you doing? The MP's didn't see a need to wreck her
room."
"They were afraid of you, ma'am. I'm not. Make yourself useful. Look at
the bottoms of drawers and up inside the bureau they came from."
The blonde was agitated. "Look for _what?_"
Cade pulled out another drawer and dumped it, then pointed at the tape
residue on the bottom.
"For anything unusual. The reports said that Sandy was always treating
her friends to movies and snacks and the occasional taxi ride. They also say
she was able to get them booze, that she wasn't employed and received only a
small allowance from you, and that she had no other known sources of income.
Where's her Dad?"
"He's in the Air Force in Colorado."
"Did he correspond with her? Send her things? Send her money? Maybe he
tried to get her to come live with him?"
"No, he lives in a BOQ on base. There's no room in his life for a teen
daughter. He sent gifts at all the usual times. Not money. Or if he did, I
wasn't aware of it."
The fourth drawer also had tape residue in a pattern that had held a
legal-sized envelope to the bottom of the drawer. He held the drawer's bottom
where Sandy's mother could see it.
"Sandy's hiding place, or one of them. Any idea what was in the
envelope?"
Debra McAlister shook her head slowly as she entered the room for a
closer look.
"No. It could have just been a favorite letter, Cade. Something from
her father or a boyfriend."
"Tape's stretched and deformed. It was a well-stuffed envelope."
"All right, then, maybe she was saving more than one letter."
"Maybe. Check under all the other drawers in the house while I finish
in here."
"What am I looking for?"
"Anything you didn't put there," said Cade. "Don't forget the phone
table in the hallway. We'll also be checking under all of the furniture."
It was a long afternoon, but the search paid off. Two un-dusty books on
the top shelf of the shelves in the living room yielded three hundred dollars
in twenties and a phone number written on a scrap of newspaper.
Debra wanted to call the number to see who answered, but Cade stopped
her.
"Let me find out who the number belongs to first. I have a friend at