Castle Fear Read Online Free PDF Page B

here?"
    "Funny, I was about to ask you the same question."
    The young woman came into the living room, pushing the door closed with one leg. "I'm looking for Jillian Seabright."
    "So am I. That could mean we're on the same side of whatever game's being played."
    A thoughtful look came into the woman's eyes. "Who are you?"
    "Joe Hardy. Sorry I didn't get around to introducing myself last night. And you?"
    "You wouldn't have a brother named Frank, would you?"
    Joe sighed. "Sometimes I wish I had a choice in that matter. But I have to admit I do."
    "The Hardy brothers. You're sort of detectives."
    "Sort of," Joe repeated, grinning. "And your name is . . . ?"
    "Oh, I'm Karen Kirk." She pulled her right hand out of the bag, empty. "Really, I don't have a gun. But from the back you looked like you might be a burglar - or worse."
    "Lots of people say that about me. You really are a friend of Jillian's?"
    "Yes, I met her when I was in London last summer." Karen walked over to the sofa and sat down. "I interviewed her, in fact."
    "You're a reporter?"
    "Sort of." Karen grinned at him. "It was just an article on a promising young British actress for my high school paper back in Connecticut." Her grin faded. "This trip, though, I'm working for Teen Travel magazine in New York. It's a summer intern program, and I was supposed to stay with Jillian for the two weeks I'm in London."
    "When did you arrive?"
    "Two days ago. I came right here, but she wasn't around. I checked into a youth hostel, and I've been trying to find her ever since."
    "How did you get in today?"
    "I finally managed to track down an actress friend of hers who had a spare key to the flat. But she didn't know where Jillian had gone." Karen shrugged. "Anyway, I came here today just to look around her flat. Hoping, you know, to find some clue as to where she is. Do you think she's in trouble, or in some kind of danger?"
    Joe straddled the desk chair. "First tell me what you were doing hanging around Jed Shannon's place last night."
    "I knew Jillian was planning to see him when he came to London," she answered. "I was intending to ask if he had any idea where I could find her."
    "How did you get his address?"
    "Oh, I know some people working for one of the teen magazines over here. It wasn't too tough to get his temporary address."
    "It wasn't tough for whoever pumped a couple of shots at us, either." Joe got up, remembering something, and headed for the phone table next to the sofa. "Why didn't you go ahead and try to talk to Jed?"
    "I was right across the street when that man shot at you." Karen shook her head. "It suddenly didn't seem like such a safe place to be. I decided I wouldn't want anyone linking me up with Jed Shannon. So I ran and hid - and then I met you."
    Joe raised his eyebrows. "You mean there isn't any Bozo?"
    Karen sighed. "I made up the dog."
    "What kind was he?"
    She thought about it. "A Great Dane, probably."
    "Did you get a look at the guy who shot at us?" Joe picked up the phone receiver and began unscrewing the mouthpiece. "Keep talking."
    "Do you expect to find a bug?"
    "I want to check it out. Tell me about the guy."
    "Well, he was crouching down behind a car almost directly across from Jed's house. I was about half a block away on the same side of the street. But because of the fog, I didn't see the man till he popped up and took two shots at you. Then he took off, and so did I - in the opposite direction."
    "So it was you I saw running off." Joe gave Karen a piercing look. "Can you describe him?"
    "Big, wide shoulders, wearing a pea coat - like sailors in the movies. A knit cap - dark clothes. I didn't get a good look at his face, but I think maybe he had a broken nose."
    "Young?"
    "Not especially - maybe in his thirties."
    Joe frowned in thought. Could have been the one who left us a note, he said to himself. He cut Karen off before she could bombard him with questions. "Somebody planted a threat in our car."
    "Sounds like you should have locked