Catastrophe by James Emily

Author:James, Emily [James, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781442206281
Google: qwJlp_yTmcAC
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2010-09-16T15:06:18+00:00

14

A knock on the doorframe of our home office made me jump. I’d been so focused on my research that I hadn’t heard anyone approach.

I finished jotting down a phone number and spun the chair around.

Keith stood in the doorway instead of Judith. She must have let him in, but I’d even missed the doorbell ringing. My eyes were gritty as if I’d forgotten to blink. What time was it?

Keith stepped into the room. “You weren’t answering your phone. I’m headed to the store. Do you need anything last minute for Christmas dinner?”

I scrunched my eyes shut. Christmas dinner. Mr. Clunes had a turkey thawing in his fridge and was going to roast it for all the guests who weren’t vegetarian, but the pies and side dishes were Judith’s and my responsibility. I hadn’t even given a thought to Christmas, even though it was now only a few days away. I did keep a stocked pantry and freezer just in case, so we should have everything we needed anyway.

I looked around for my phone. No luck. I must have left it in the kitchen. “I’ll ask Judith.”

A frown flickered across Keith’s face and was gone. He pasted a smile on in its place. “What are you working on?”

A strange impulse to turn off the computer screen before he could see made me twitch. But I shouldn’t have to hide it. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. “I’m making a list of homeless shelters and other organizations that work with the homeless.”

Keith took another step into the room. “I don’t think Harper would have gone to a shelter if she were trying to hide.”

“No, I’ve already called a lot of them with her description, but the people who work with the homeless population will be able to tell me where they’re likely to go if they don’t come to the shelter. Harper has to be staying somewhere. I can start checking those spots.”

Keith came forward and examined the computer screen, as well as my notes. He straightened and looked at me for a second, then took a knee beside me and held my hand in his. My heart did a weird panicked stutter as if it wanted to flee the room. He wasn’t about to propose now, was he? Not after our previous conversation.

But his expression was grim, not the way a man would look when he was about to ask a woman to marry him. “I’m worried about you. This is becoming an obsession. How long are you going to keep this up?”

He shouldn’t have had to ask. Not if he really knew me. “For as long as it takes. Until we find her.”

He pressed my hand warmly between his. “With everything you know now, it’s time to let the police handle this. She’s a suspect in a murder.”

“Person of interest. It’s not the same thing. I looked it up. They don’t have enough proof she was involved to call her a suspect.” I leaned back from him, but my rolling chair was pressed up against the desk behind me, preventing me from moving away.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.