Seven Minutes to Noon by Katia Lief

Author:Katia Lief [Lief, Katia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780983499015
Publisher: Blue Table Books
Published: 2011-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

“Are you sure, Alice?” Frannie’s voice sounded tinny. Their cell phone connection was breaking up.

“Frannie? Are you there?”

“Who’s Frannie, Mommy?” Nell had walked into the kitchen and was searching the refrigerator.

Alice shushed her, whispering, “I’m on the phone. What do you need?”

“Apple juice, please.”

She poured Nell a cup of juice and left her alone in the kitchen to hide out in the bathroom, where she could talk in private; she didn’t want the kids to hear her talking about being followed.

Alice put down the toilet seat and sat, listening to the swoosh of traffic on Frannie’s end of the phone. Where was she? Finally her voice materialized.

“Hello?”

“I’m still here, Frannie. Where are you? Are you driving?”

“Paul’s driving. We’re entering a tunnel. If I lose you, I’ll call you back.”

If they were in a tunnel, chances are they were heading into New Jersey. Why were they going there?

“Alice,” Frannie said, “tell me exactly what you saw.”

“I first noticed the man a week ago, over by the Carroll Street Bridge. Then I saw him again on Clinton Street. And I’m starting to think he was the man who turned around and walked away on Degraw Street on the block where we park our car. The way he ran away today, I’m sure he was following me. He’s creepy, Frannie. He smells like dirty laundry.”

“He came that close?”

“This morning, the first time,” Alice said. “I thought I’d have a heart attack when I turned around and there he was.”

“Describe him.”

Alice told her everything she could remember about the limo driver. Thick, steel-gray hair. Mismatched blue and green eyes. Tall and beefy, the reek of tobacco, badly dressed.

“Well,” Frannie said, “we can see if we get a hit on him in the DMV database. Not too many people have two-color eyes. We’ll start by finding out who he is.”

“Thanks.”

“Try not to go out alone if you can help it. Walk on busy streets if you have to. Okay? If you’ve got a real stalker, we’ll get him.”

“Frannie?” Alice had to ask this. “What if he’s the other half of Metro Properties? What if he’s the one who killed Lauren? What if he’s after me now?”

There was a pulse of silence.

“There are so many assumptions in what you just said, Alice, I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“Right. But what if—”

“Do you think you’re in danger?”

“I don’t know. He never tries to talk to me.”

“Here’s what we’re going to do.” Frannie’s voice was breaking up again and she spoke quickly. “If you see him again, you’ll call us right away. You’ll keep telling us everything. Everything. We’ll do the rest.”

Then her voice evaporated into whatever tunnel had swallowed the car she was in.

The next morning, Mike dropped off the kids at school, then returned home to wait for Alice to get ready for the ten o’clock appointment with Pam. She found him at the kitchen table, wearing clean but torn work clothes, his eyes fixed on a single spot of the morning paper.

“Mike?” Her presence seemed to startle him.

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.