Storm Gathering Read Online Free PDF

Gym where she works out. I just started last week. She wasn’t there last night.”
    “I’m sure Miss Franks is fine,” Aaron said. “It’s probably just a misunderstanding.”
    “I’ve called her house. Her cell phone. I didn’t want to call her mother, make her worry. She doesn’t talk to her mom much anyway.”
    “You have that number?” Aaron asked.
    Liz nodded and took his pad and pencil. “This is her address, all her contact numbers. Plus my home phone.” She handed it back.
    “Does Taylor use drugs or alcohol that you’re aware of?”
    “Absolutely not,” Liz said. She looked down at the carton of cigarettes she’d purchased from Martha. “Maybe a few drinks at a bar, but nothing more. She’s not an addict or anything like that. Just social drinking. Mostly.”
    “Okay . . .” Aaron was jotting down notes, studying Liz’s body language. “You’re . . . um . . . you’re sure, Miss Lane?”
    “Yeah, I mean . . . yeah.” She sighed. “She’s been on antidepressants,” she said in nearly a whisper.
    “For?” Aaron guided her out of the way of an approaching customer and to the sidewalk outside, with Jarrod following.
    “Losing hope in life,” Liz said. “Just like the rest of us. She’s not a freak. She just had a few bad years.”
    “Boyfriends? Lovers? Ex-husbands involved?”
    “There’s an ex-boyfriend. They haven’t been serious for a while. It’s an on-again/off-again dysfunctional thing. I don’t know much about it, really. She’s pretty private. Last week, though, she mentioned going on a couple of dates, so I figured it was over with this guy. But Tuesday she got this big bouquet of flowers from him.”
    “ Him have a name?” Jarrod asked.
    Liz ignored Jarrod and looked at Aaron. “I don’t know his full name. Sammy is all I know. She doesn’t talk about him much, to tell you the truth. That’s why it was surprising when she got the flowers. Over the past couple of years, he’s only sent a few things to work and always signed them using what I guess are his initials. SAE. Once some flowers. Well, like three measly roses. Once a candy-gram or some ridiculous thing. Usually after they’ve had a fight or something.”
    “Any indications of what the relationship was like?”
    “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think it was a good relationship. I guess Sammy’s just your regular stupid guy.” She glanced at Jarrod with those words.
    “Anything else you can think of?”
    Liz took a lighter from her purse. “We had an incident at the airport Tuesday.”
    “An incident?”
    “Guy went nuts on us when his flight was canceled. Had to be dragged away. Made some threats to Taylor, really shook her up. But that sort of thing happens. It’s just part of our job. I can’t imagine Taylor not coming to work because of it. But . . . there was something strange about her. Usually she can handle something like that. This time it seemed to really bother her.”
    “Know the guy’s name?”
    “Airport security will have it.”
    “We’ll go see what we can find out for you. I’m sure Taylor’s fine. Okay?” Aaron handed her his card and said they’d be in touch.
    “Let’s go find out why this young woman didn’t make it to work today,” Aaron said to Jarrod, who was staring at a woman pumping gas into her car.

“Coach Kline.” Owen Gruber, the athletic director for the high school, said his name with the kind of enthusiasm one uses when talking about a mouse problem in the home. Mick was trying to smooth down one side of his hair, which he hadn’t realized until now was sticking straight up. Owen didn’t fail to notice. “Looks like you had a productive evening last night.”
    Mick bit his lip, trying to hold in the string of slander that wanted to rip Owen from the top of his small head, down his pencil neck, through his flat chest to his size-8 shoes. A not-so-kind smile replaced the words. How Owen Gruber, who hadn’t played a sport in his