Stranger Than Fiction by Emelle Gamble

Author:Emelle Gamble [Gamble, Emelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic suspense, thriller, love story, Cozy Mystery, classic romance, harlequin intrigue
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The Rhode Island state troopers were making no effort to hide their doubts about Claire’s story. They had seen her duck into the woods and had surrounded her within minutes. When she had realized who they were, she had been delirious with relief. But her anxiety was beginning to build again as they continued to question her account of the gunman.

“Now tell me again what happened, miss. Someone was shooting at you and you thought my officers were the perpetrator’s reinforcements?”

Claire rattled through the whole thing again, letting herself sound as if she was about to cry. Maybe that would move them to do something. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize your cars as police vehicles. I never would have run away. Now please, can you start looking for him?”

With an indulgent edge to his voice, the trooper gave the order to his men to start searching the area.

Several minutes passed but they found nothing. The tall young police officer told to keep an eye on Claire peered at her intently. “Sure you heard gunshots, ma’am? The woods are full of funny sounds at night. Might have been an animal.”

“I’m sure, officer. Unless the squirrels around here spit lead projectiles. There’s no sign of anyone?”

The trooper looked out to where his partner and the two cops from the other cars were searching the marshy woodland. They had pointed their car’s headlights toward the woods, creating an eerie moonscape of monster shadows. “Not so far. But there are plenty of footprints leading to and from the cottages and the boat houses down by the bay. Might have been a couple of people running around out there. I’ve called in for more help, but those prints might belong to some locals. Don’t worry, though. No one can hurt you now.”

With a flash of new fear, Claire remembered that Tony was back at his house, alone.

What if the murderer had gone for him?

Panicking, Claire grasped the trooper’s arm. “Please, could you drive me down the highway about two miles? My friend is there, and I need to check if he’s okay.”

“If you’ve got a friend around these parts, what were you doing running down the road at night by yourself?”

Flushing at the cop’s increased scrutiny, Claire chose her words carefully. Despite her plan to let the authorities handle things, she did not want to waste the time filling them in on all the events of the past two days. “I was out jogging. I do it every night. Please, can we go?”

“Just a minute. What’s this friend’s name?”

“Tony. Tony Nichols. He’s a professor at the university.”

“I know who he is. I know real good who he is. As a matter of fact, that’s who we were coming to see when we spotted you.”

Claire blinked. With a flash of insight, she remembered Tillie’s warning that the police were looking for Tony.

“Why?”

Before he could answer, the other police officer started shouting. Ignoring the young trooper’s directive to stay put, Claire ran alongside him across the muddy land, down toward a boat shed that sat half concealed behind a thicket of trees.

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