Two for Flinching Read Online Free PDF Page B

out of the ordinary?”
    “Her husband showed up.”
    Randy sat up straight in his chair. “He
caught you?”
    I shook my head. “He was drunk, raising hell
across the hall.”
    “Why would he do that?”
    “I took a picture of it and sent it to her.
It was like our little code. That was the view from our peephole.
He must have seen it.”
    “Nice,” Coleman repeated. “Real nice.”
    “When Steven realized she wasn’t there, he
went off the deep end—even punched the door.”
    “I saw the cast. Those hotel doors don’t give
much.”
    “No, they don’t. He wrecked her car on his
way out.”
    Randy said, “He called us the next morning to
report her missing. We waited the forty-eight hours and began
looking, starting with the neighbors.”
    Coleman said, “How long has this been going
on?”
    “What difference does that make?”
    He held out his hands. “You know how these
things go.”
    “Yeah.” Ask all the questions you can
think of and see what shakes out. “A few months.”
    “How many?”
    “I’m not sure. I didn’t mark it down on my
calendar. Late summer.”
    “How did it start?”
     
    ***
     
    Midday, I was working in the yard, the sun
beating down on my bare back. I didn’t have the best looking yard
in the subdivision, nor did I have the worst. It was exactly what I
was looking for. Somewhere in the middle. There was something
satisfying about it, instant results from your hard work—a rarity
in today’s age. After a day’s labor, it felt good to sit on that
back deck, drink in hand and appreciate what you had done. I will
say this, though; I enjoyed it much less in late August than I did
in early May.
    Loud noises had long been a companion of
mine, so I took the proper precautions when I could. Weedeater in
hand, plugs in ears, I was working the fence I shared with the
Noble’s. Steven had put a privacy fence on the back and the other
side, but evidently he figured he didn’t need one between us. Big
mistake.
    Amber was sunning herself poolside, in a
lounge chair, lying on her stomach. I could tell she was topless,
to keep those telltale white lines from her back. I had that
separated feeling you get from having ear protection in, as if I
was invisible or something, above it all. Amber was blond, long and
lean, her tone body already dark from the sun. That fence line got
a lot of attention that day.
    Eventually, Amber rolled over. She adjusted
the incline on her chair so she was more or less faced in my
direction. She had to know I was there, from the racket and all,
yet she gave no indication that she was not alone. Her stomach was
flat and her breasts were full. She was wearing dark glasses so I
couldn’t tell exactly where she was looking. There was no doubt
about where I was looking.
    A smile played on her lips.
     
    ***
     
    “She invited me over for a dip in her
pool.”
    “Let me guess,” Coleman said, “you didn’t
have a suit handy.”
    “Something like that.”
    Randy said, “And it wasn’t a onetime
thing.”
    I shook my head. “I already told you we got
together about once a month.”
    “And Steven found out about it.”
    “I guess.”
    “Where do you think she is, Beason?”
    “Her mother’s? Maybe staying with a
girlfriend. She said she was leaving him. Wrecking her car was the
last straw.”
    Coleman said, “So she could be with you.”
    “We never talked about it.”
    “Then it was purely a physical
relationship?”
    “Mostly. Have you talked to her parents?”
    “Yeah. They haven’t heard from her,” Randy
said. “According to them, this is completely out of character for
her. They swear she would have called.”
    “I don’t know what to tell you. I think she
just wants some time to figure out what to do.”
    “Without her purse?” Coleman demanded.
“Without calling her mother?”
    “Beats me.”
    “Okay.” Randy made some notes on a legal pad.
“We don’t really have any reason to think foul play is involved. We
have to look. You