Dead of Night by Christine Pope

Author:Christine Pope
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Valentine Press

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Three properties. Silas stood in front of the first one, a handsome chateau-style home, and realized he could scratch it off the list he’d sent to his phone. For one thing, unlike many of the other houses in the neighborhood, it was protected only by a waist-high hedge of carefully clipped arborvitae, with no gate and certainly no tall iron fence. Also, while trees had been planted around the structure, there weren’t enough to match the description Serena had provided.

Silas slipped his phone back into a jacket pocket and headed toward his rented car. Not the Mercedes today, but an unobtrusive silver Camry that he’d rented from the Enterprise office downtown. He’d decided the Mercedes wasn’t necessary, since he had no plans to cruise around San Rafael, but only to visit the three properties he’d thought the most promising. This first house had seemed like the most likely suspect, based purely on the location of its lot, but it was clear enough that it bore only the most superficial of resemblances to the mansion of Serena’s vision.

The next place was also located off San Rafael Boulevard, only a few blocks from where he stood. Silas got into the Camry and drove away slowly, making sure he wasn’t doing anything to attract attention. Just as he had when he last visited Raoul Ortiz at the police station, he’d pulled his hair back into a ponytail, made sure he was clean-shaven and had on one of his good shirts. He hadn’t wanted to put on an actual disguise, because that would have seemed even more suspicious. At the same time, though, he thought he shouldn’t invite too much notice.

After driving those couple of blocks, he parked again. Normally, he would have walked such a short distance, but he figured it was better to keep the car close in case he needed to make a fast getaway. This second property appeared slightly more promising at first, just because it was set back from the road and nearly hidden by trees, with only the protrusions of its chimneys telling an onlooker that there was a house back there at all. Also, the fence which surrounded the lot appeared to be black iron, although those weren’t fleur-de-lis at the top of each rod, but arrowhead shapes. Still, they were close enough that he paused on the sidewalk for a long moment, eyes narrowed, as he tried to determine whether Serena might have mistaken fleur-de-lis for arrowheads. Did she sometimes make a mistake when it came to minor details like that?

A dark green Range Rover came down the street, then slowed so it could turn into the driveway of the very house he’d just been inspecting. The driver-side window of the SUV rolled down, and an attractive blonde woman, probably in her late forties, peered out. She didn’t appear worried or even irritated that a complete stranger was standing on the sidewalk in front of her house, but instead offered Silas a pleasant smile. “Can I help you?” she asked.

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