Read Online Eclipse by Hilary Norman - Free Book Online Page B

strictly for elimination purposes.
    â€˜We’re guessing, since you have a key,’ Sam said, ‘you’re a regular visitor.’
    â€˜Regular, no,’ Delgado said. ‘But sure, I’m here now and then, for Felicia.’ He stood up. ‘So who’s looking for my daughter while we waste time here?’
    â€˜There are a lot of people working on this case, sir,’ Sam told him.
    â€˜They’ll find your daughter,’ Martinez said.
    Unless, of course, Delgado had done something to her.
    Both detectives thinking the same ugly thought.
    They went on with their questions.
    The last day of the conference had ended at five.
    It had, overall, been a good experience for Grace. She’d listened to fine speakers, had met caring people from many countries, enjoyed stimulating debates with more strangers than she had for many years. Her own expertise appeared to have stood up well, if Dr Mettler and Stefan Mainz’s compliments were to be believed.
    But she could not wait to go home.
    She’d called Sam during recess, and he’d told her about his evening with Billie Smith, and she’d been glad when he’d mentioned that awkward moment, even if it was a reminder of what she already knew: that her husband was a handsome, compelling man, and that women of all ages noticed him. And when the woman concerned was young, beautiful and talented, it was probably wise not to be complacent.
    Yet Sam had told her about it, and she trusted him, same way he’d trusted her when she’d mentioned her encounter with Thomas Chauvin.
    All done now at the conference, but not quite over yet for her, because four colleagues were coming for dinner at her hotel; the same group she’d lunched with yesterday, plus an Italian child psychologist.
    A pleasant way to end.
    And then, a bouquet of large pink roses waiting for her at the hotel’s reception desk as she and her guests arrived.
    â€˜How lovely,’ Grace said.
    Until she saw the message on the card: ‘With my undying gratitude. Thomas Chauvin.’
    â€˜You have an admirer,’ Natalie Gérard said.
    Grace smiled and asked the receptionist to hold the bouquet for her.
    â€˜I’m guessing they’re not from your husband,’ the French teacher persisted.
    â€˜Why not?’ Cecilia Storm, the Italian psychologist, asked.
    â€˜The evening before his wife’s return?’ Mlle Gérard said. ‘Making her either waste the flowers or carry them with her luggage onto a crowded plane.’
    â€˜If I were fortunate enough to be married to Doctor Lucca’ – Stefan Mainz was in gallant mood – ‘I think I might send roses morning, noon and night.’
    Grace laughed and thanked him.
    â€˜I don’t know if we’re even permitted to carry flowers onto planes these days,’ Elspeth Mettler said. ‘Regulations alter all the time.’
    â€˜Shall we have a drink first?’ Grace changed the subject. ‘Or go straight through to the restaurant?’
    â€˜I’m absolutely starving,’ Cecilia Storm said.
    â€˜Dinner then,’ Grace said.
    Felicia Delgado had been found wandering on the beach near 80th Street shortly after two p.m.
    Bloodstains on her school uniform.
    Her clothes almost certainly fresh on that morning, placing her at home prior to and either during or after her mother’s murder, and making it less likely that the killer – if a stranger – had been there overnight.
    Sam and Martinez were still with her father in his ex-wife’s living room when the news came in that she was safe.
    â€˜Thank God.’ Delgado was up on his feet. ‘Where is she now?’
    â€˜Apparently she’s unhurt,’ Sam told him, ‘but she’s distressed and confused, so she’s been taken to Miami General as a precaution.’
    Delgado seemed to hesitate, then sat down again.
    Which threw Sam, since as a father he’d be