Window of Guilt Read Online Free PDF Page A

time. Rory was due home from camp in less than an hour. Besides, I felt around for bumps and bruises. Just one owie.”
    Ryan briskly rubbed his palms together. Then he interlaced his fingers and placed his hands across her forehead. “You didn’t call me.”
    “Why?” she grumbled. “You never leave your cell phone on. Whenever Rory or I try to reach you, we get your voice mail, which you never answer.”
    He kissed the top of her head. “I’m here now.”
    She pulled away. “So now I’m thinking the young guy can’t be dead. Maybe he stepped on the invisible dog fence and got zapped, which temporarily put him ‘out of order.’”
    “He wearing a dog collar?” Ryan asked wryly.
    “Quit talking down to me, Ryan.”
    “The amount of current pulsing through the dog collar is minimal. And child safe. You researched that out when we had Rory, remember?”
    “But what if the guy had a heart condition, like you?” asked Laurie.
    “The voltage running through the fence latched on to a pacemaker?” Ryan asked uneasily. “Sounds pretty far-fetched to me.”
    “Then you explain how a dead guy just up and walks away.”
    “Simple. There was no dead guy,” Ryan said in a condescending tone. He wanted nothing more than to assure his wife that her instincts were right on the mark. Yet his admission could put his family in jeopardy. “It was ninety-eight degrees outside today and you were working in the garden for several hours. You dehydrated, and then imagined the whole scenario.”
    “I did go through two water bottles,” Laurie admitted. “The water hose was dry.”
    “There you go.” Ryan regretted his slick reply.
    “How do you explain the folded paper napkin I discovered in the same vicinity as the missing body?” Laurie blurted. “Both our Chicago and Wisconsin addresses were printed on it.
    Ryan frowned. “You mentioned a dead squirrel and an empty nutshell, not a napkin.”
    “I discovered it lying by a bush when I watered the lawn tonight.”
    “Rory obviously meant to give his addresses to another camper and dropped the napkin on the ground,” Ryan said reassuringly.
    “He says it never happened.”
    “How about our renter? She’s got both addresses.”
    Laurie hesitated. Her husband didn’t know Shakia had broken their lease. “Why are you so bent on disqualifying my vision?”
    His wife’s frustrated sobs stung him like barbed wire. Yet he stoically continued the masquerade. “A napkin bearing our addresses doesn’t prove the landscaper’s demise.”
    Laurie inhaled deeply. “It wasn’t the landscaper.”
    Ryan’s pulse quickened. “What?” He hoped against hope she hadn’t learned the identity of the young man who’d perished on their property.
    “A similarly clad vagrant was spotted at Rory’s camp one hour before my discovery.”
    Ryan yearned to take her into his confidence. Instead, he kept his expression neutral. “Could have been a kid’s dad, or a relative.”
    “According to Officer Gomez, the camp supervisor indicated the young man appeared dirty and sweaty, like he’d been walking for hours.”
    “Did the supervisor check the soles of his shoes?” Ryan quipped.
    Laurie gave him a disgusted look. “A relative would get out of the car and introduce himself to a staff member. I’m telling you, this guy was a stranger to the area.”
    “It’s a tight-knit community up here, Laurie. People keep an eye out for each other.”
    “Who’s going to report it, Ryan? The eighty-six-year-old man next door?”
    Ryan’s chest banged like a firecracker. How many more catastrophic arguments would ensure his wife’s final exit from their marriage? “Right now, we need to be concerned about camp security.”
    His wife crossed to the fireplace. “Officer Gomez told the campers to hang with a buddy or counselor when they traverse the campgrounds. I’m concerned because Rory likes to slip away and go exploring.”
    “A chip off the old block,” he joked.
    Laurie’s