Vicious by Kevin O'Brien

Author:Kevin O'Brien
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery And Suspense Fiction, Mystery fiction, Serial murders, Thrillers, Fiction - Espionage, American Mystery & Suspense Fiction, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Fiction, Seattle (Wash.), Serial murderers, Suspense fiction, General & Literary Fiction, Suspense, Crime, Thriller
ISBN: 9780786021369
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Published: 2010-05-25T22:08:09.432000+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

As she pulled onto Birch Way, Susan couldn’t help hoping she’d find Allen’s black BMW parked at the end of the driveway. She took one curve after another on the long, winding tree-lined drive. She couldn’t see the house yet.

“Where’s Allen gone?” Mattie asked, kicking at the back of the passenger seat.

“That’s what your dear old mother would like to know,” Susan muttered, eyes on the road.

She was thinking about her visit with Jordan Prewitt and his friend. At least she knew Allen had headed for town after leaving Rosie’s. Maybe he’d gone to meet someone after all. She still couldn’t dismiss the notion that he’d had some secret agenda for this trip.

Jordan and his friend had acted a bit strange. Why was he asking all those questions about Allen? And his pal had seemed so nervous and fidgety. Then again, they were teenagers. Acting weird came with the territory. Besides, next to Sheriff Fischer—pilfering her panties—they’d come off as downright normal and nice.

Taking the last turn in the road, Susan saw the house ahead and the empty driveway. She figured there was always the chance Allen had come and gone. Maybe he’d left a note—alongside the one she’d written to him.

Susan had hoped not to come back to an empty house. But now as she took Mattie by the hand and headed for the front door, Susan prayed the place was indeed empty. She was terrified of running into that hunter again. She didn’t care what the sheriff had said; that man had seemed far more interested in the house than he’d been in the woodlands surrounding it. Stepping inside, she didn’t let go of Mattie’s hand until she’d circled through the entire first floor. Then she parked him in the sunroom with his bin of toys so she could keep an eye on him.

Checking the dining room table, she found her note just where she’d left it. There was nothing from Allen. A weird thought suddenly occurred to her. What if Allen’s hidden reason for this trip had been to meet up with another woman? What if he was with this woman right now?

Well, that would certainly let me off the hook, Susan thought, plopping down on a dining room chair. Then she immediately felt horrible for letting that notion creep into her head. Allen was so good to her and Mattie. And everybody liked him. Her parents were crazy for him.

Yet she remembered something that had happened on the last day of their visit down in Florida a few weeks back—before the engagement. While she’d been packing for the return flight, her mother had come into the guest room. “That Allen is a real charmer,” she’d said with a smile and a hushed voice. “I think your father has just found a new best friend, and all the neighbors just adore him, dear. But I want you to know…” The smile had disappeared from her mother’s still-pretty, lined face. “You shouldn’t feel any pressure to make a commitment.

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