The Woman Read Online Free PDF Page A

military march. She recalled the cleft she had seen momentarily when he turned toward her. He had not looked right at her, but in her direction. Still, his gaze had made her momentarily look away. She enjoyed watching men more than watching women, but did not enjoy them being aware.
    Then a thought swirled in her mind the way a floating leaf circles in an eddy. Clark could have been the man in the alley. He has a similar build, but the voice hadn’t sounded like Clark. But then, in my state of mind, I can’t be sure I’d have recognized his voice.
    Linda shook off these thoughts and again called Cynthia. Again she got no answer. She was no longer concerned. She was worried. Enough so that she decided to return to town and go to SMITH & CO. , a company without a listed business phone. That had always seemed strange for a consulting firm, regardless of their brand of consulting.
    Linda walked to town quickly. When she arrived at SMITH & CO., she found the door locked. She knocked. No answer. According to her watch the time was four-fifty-four, but she had been there at least a minute, probably two. She walked a little further to check the time in the window of the antique shop in the next block. There, the grandfather clock in the window displayed one minute after five, her watch now saying four-fifty-nine. Apparently, Cynthia and her coworkers had left a little early, but, in truth, she didn’t know their hours of business and they were not posted on the door.
    Linda spent that evening doing the same things, worrying and wondering. Leaving messages on Cynthia’s cell phone and praying her friend would return her calls. She even checked with the nearest hospital and urgent care center, both twenty-five miles up the coast. Cynthia had not gone into or been taken into either. Thank God for that, but it didn’t change the facts. She had been attacked. Her friend had disappeared. What were the odds of those two things happening in Sea Crest on consecutive days?
    Linda fell asleep with that discomforting thought and the resolve that in the morning, if Cynthia had not reappeared, she would return to SMITH & CO., and demand to see her friend.

Chapter 5
    The sun had been up for about ten minutes when Linda rolled out of bed. The sun came up later in Oregon than it did farther south. But the process was the same. The black diluted into ever lightening grays, at first dull and matte. Then the colors started as the new day quickly blossomed into the vibrancy of youth, without any of youth’s silliness or petulance.
    With the morning light, Linda backed out of her decision to go to Cynthia’s place of employment, admonishing herself for having spent the previous night being overly dramatic. She even convinced herself she would laugh upon hearing Cynthia’s explanation. Besides, she wouldn’t want to embarrass her friend who had often made it clear that she should not come to SMITH & CO.
    Oh, bull feathers, Linda said out loud a few moments later. A dress on a pig can’t change what you have. Something was very wrong. She had to stop vacillating and take action. Cynthia was one of the most polite people in the world. For her not to call to explain and apologize was completely outside her personality.
    Halfway through her first cup of coffee, Linda settled on a new explanation. Cynthia did not have a land-based home phone, only a cell phone. She could have accidentally left the cell at work and became too sick to go in. That would also explain why all the workers had left yesterday before five o’clock.
    By the time Linda stepped out the shower, she had a new reasoned calm plan. She would take the bus and go to Cynthia’s home. After all if Cynthia was that sick she might need help, just as Linda needed Cynthia’s help. She had decided to tell the wise older woman about her being attacked in the alley, and about the mysterious man who saved her and then warned her not to go to the police. Linda was certain Cynthia would agree