Five Days in Summer by Lief Katia

Author:Lief, Katia [Lief, Katia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-09-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Amy Cardoza turned onto Squaws Lane and parked two houses down from the beach. They would wait here until the backup arrived. She picked at the tape that held the photo of Snow’s teenage daughter to the dashboard, trying to peel it off, and trying not to. It wasn’t officially her car yet.

“Nice neighborhood.” Geary sat beside her in the passenger seat. He flicked the tree-shaped deodorizer hanging from the rearview mirror and it swung hard in Amy’s direction, emitting a puff of pine fragrance. “Funny, though.”

So he saw it too: the modest house in the fancy location. She was starting to like him.

“Real estate.” She shook her head.

“What I don’t get is how the ocean can belong to anyone.”

“I think it’s just the beach,” she said, “and the view.” She looked through the windshield at the blue sky and wind-frothed ocean. This was what she loved about the Cape, these pockets of tranquility she fell into when she wasn’t looking.

Geary’s body swiveled quickly in her direction, startling her. “You have that phone of yours?”

“My cell phone? Of course.” She pulled it out of her purse and handed it to him. He knew to flip it open, but that was all. “You’re kidding. Don’t you...? Never mind, here, dial your number with the area code but not the one. Then push send.”

She watched as he read a handwritten phone number off the back of Will Parker’s business card; his thick forefinger carefully pressed one button at a time before referring back to the card. When he was through, he flashed her a smile and winked.

“Will!”

Amy watched unease spread through Geary’s expression as he listened. “Why the hospital?” He paused. “We wanted to see you today —” Another pause, but this time the spirit sprung back into his face. “The cops we, that’s who. They’re hiring me, son of a gun, so now I’m working for you on the taxpayer’s buck!”

He laughed quietly to himself as he flipped shut the phone, though Amy knew his amusement was mostly for her benefit.

“What’s going on?”

Geary turned to her and spoke seriously for a change. “His baby girl’s in the hospital.”

“Why?”

“Just an ear infection that got out of hand. It’s not about this.”

“How do you know that?” She heard her tone sharpen, and registered Geary’s dissatisfaction as he sat hard into the bucket seat.

“You’re making a mistake,” he said. “Will Parker isn’t involved in his wife’s disappearance. You’ve met him. He’s a nice guy. He’s got family coming to take his kids off the island. No way is he going to hurt them.”

She looked at Geary, his rumpled face, wild white hair, unclean clothes. “Don’t try to tell me you haven’t seen worse than that.”

He smiled and a band of silver shone on the left side of his lower gum. “You got me there, missy.” He seemed to catch himself, and his smile dropped away. “Looking at the history of these crimes, it just doesn’t jibe. Never has. Won’t this time, either. You’ll be wasting your time in their house.

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