Read Online Double Blind by D. P. Lyle - Free Book Online Page B

her knees.
    “I wish I could help,” Sam said.
    “Just your being here helps.”
    “Then, let’s have some fun,” Sam said. “Laugh a little.”
    “I could use that.”
    “What about Burt Eagan?” Sam asked. “He seemed interested.”
    “I don’t know. I’m too old for the dating game.”
    “You’re 35, not dead.”
    “It’s awkward, uncomfortable. You know. The guy wears his best shirt and splashes on enough cologne to be flammable. And the girl destroys her hair, trying to make it something that it’s not, and suddenly develops perfect manners, all the while hoping the childish nervousness that causes her giggle too often and laugh too loud, doesn’t settle in her stomach and make her throw up. Not my idea of fun.”
    Sam laughed. “You’ve been out of circulation too long. You’re not eighteen. You’re an adult.”
    “Is that why last week I cried because the new curtains I bought for the honeymoon suite didn’t match anything in the room?”
    Sam smiled. “Honestly, I don’t see how you’ve kept this many balls in the air.”
    “It’s had its moments.”
    “It’s time you lived a little. Burt is handsome and charming and successful. What have you got to lose?”
    “Only what’s left of my sanity,” Alyss laughed.
    “See. You’re better already.”
    “What about you?” Alyss asked. “Tell me about your new guy.”
    “Nathan? He’s a doll. You know he writes for that tabloid, ‘Straight Story.’ He lives in LA and travels a lot so we don’t get to see each other that often.”
    “I read his story on the Richard Earl Garrett case. He made him out to be the son of Satan.”
    “He may have been Satan himself.”
    Alyss raised an eyebrow.
    “Garrett seemed to have some kind of power over people,” Sam said.
    Alyss looked at Sam as if she had spoken in tongues. “Come on, Sam. Don’t tell me you bought into that stuff.” Alyss laughed. “What has this Nathan guy done to you? Samantha Cody believes in the supernatural?”
    The specter of Garrett’s face, haughtily laughing, then surrounded by flames and contorted in pain, formed in her mind. A montage of images from her Garrett infused dreams followed. She pushed these memories aside and shrugged. “You had to be there, I guess.”
    “You should’ve brought Nathan with you. I’d love to meet him.”
    “He might be able to get away in a couple of days.”
    “Where’s he now?
    “He’s in upstate New York chasing a story. Probably a three headed alien or something like that.”
    Alyss laughed. “I’m sorry. But, knowing you...little Miss Pragmatic...I can’t see you with a tabloid reporter.”
    “You should see him. Gorgeous with a capital G.”
    “Like Dan,” Alyss said.
    “Yeah.”
    “Next time,” Alyss said, “I’m going to marry an ugly guy who can cook.”
    They laughed.
    *
    Shelby followed Aspen Creek as it wound upward, through the trees until she came to a place where it tumbled down a stair step of rocks and boulders and into a wide crystalline pool. She had found this place her first day in Gold Creek and had immediately claimed it as her own. No one around, no one to bother her or nag her, no noise except the chirping of birds, the scurrying of squirrels, and the swirling water. And, of course, her music.
    She dropped her Elmo pack near the bank and sat down, leaning against a thick spruce trunk. After adjusting her headphones, she pulled a plastic bag from a zippered pocket near Elmo’s ear. Inside lay several neatly rolled joints. She selected one, lit it, and inhaled deeply.
    Her mother would shit if she knew what she was doing. And if she knew about the raves back in LA, she’d probably have a seizure.
    Her father would be upset, but he’d get over it. Tiffany? Tiffany gave her the bag of joints just before she boarded the plane for her trip here. Tiffany was way cool.
    *
    Luckily, he had completed refilling his water bottles when he saw her approaching through the trees and had concealed