Third Strike by Zoe Sharp

Author:Zoe Sharp [Sharp, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, Bodyguards, Thriller
ISBN: 0312358970
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2008-10-14T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

“Collingwood’s pissed,” Parker said.

“Tell him to take more water with it,” I said recklessly. Even at the other end of a bad mobile phone line, in a moving vehicle, I heard his sigh. Parker was a pretty cosmopolitan guy and he got British humor better than most, but there were days when he simply didn’t find it funny. Plainly, today was one of them.

“Okay—Collingwood’s pissed off,” he amended heavily. “That any clearer?”

“Crystal,” I said, letting my voice drawl. “What’s he got to be so pissed off about?”

“By the sounds of it, he expected you to keep your father closer to New York, so he’d be available to answer questions about Storax.”

“Well, he’s the one who left us dangling for days,” I said, allowing my irritation to flare. “And he’s the one who told us to get out of town for a while.”

“Yeah,” Parker said dryly, “but I think he hoped you’d go to Long Island, someplace like that. Not Boston.”

“And I hoped that when he said he’d keep that blond bitch on a tight leash, he meant it,” I said, as quietly as I could. Even so, I caught an offended clearing of throats from the rear seat. Across to my left, Sean took his eyes off the road for long enough to flash me an amused smile. It was the most animation he’d shown all day.

“Hey—you can’t always control your people as much as you’d like,” Parker said pointedly. “Don’t push it, Charlie. He’s doing you a favor.”

“It was supposed to be a two-way street,” I said. “But so far, the traffic’s been traveling only in one direction. What’s he been doing all this time?”

Another sigh, longer this time. “Government departments move slowly—you should know that.”

“Yeah, well, this guy makes a glacier look positively speedy.”

We were on I-95 again, heading north. It was a little after 1:30 in the afternoon. We’d spent the last couple of hours searching Miranda Lee’s house for the missing journal of her husband’s last days—without success. Suspicious that this wasn’t merely a case of absentmindedness, Sean and I went over the place thoroughly and it was Sean, naturally, who found the slight scratches around the face of the lock on the back door, showing that it had been recently finessed.

Miranda had been coping fine until the realization really sank in that someone had invaded her home and had picked through her most private belongings. At that point, she spent some time in the downstairs loo, clutching the toilet bowl with both hands while she heaved. My mother stayed with her, gently pulling Miranda’s hair back out of the way and wringing out damp cloths to wipe the clammy sweat from her face.

Meanwhile, my father collared Sean and me in the living room. “She needs protection,” he said, his face almost as pale as Miranda’s. Across the other side of the hallway we heard the muffled sound of renewed retching. “What would have happened if she’d been here when they broke in? It isn’t safe for her to be left alone.

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.