Read Online Fatal Harvest by Catherine Palmer - Free Book Online
Authors: Catherine Palmer
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Hewondered if teaching and famine relief kept her too busy to be interested in marriage. Or was there something else?
“Billy says you sent Matt an e-mail,” he said.
“And I’m going through all this data he downloaded,” she replied without looking up. Her slender fingers sped across the keyboard.
“What was he copying?”
“Lots of things. The amount of information he compiled on the food industry is incredible. By the way, you’ll be happy to know your son is not into pornography. I can’t find anything suspicious here at all. The gaming sites are weird, of course, all those mythological characters and fantasy worlds.”
“I’ve watched Matt and Billy play.”
“It’s a lot of strategy—I think that’s what appeals to Matt. The RPGs are a concern, but—”
“Wait. RPGs?”
“Role-playing games.” She glanced at him for the first time. “Do you know anything about your son, Mr. Strong?”
His hackles rose. Add abrasive to the list of Miss Pruitt’s attributes. “I know Matt is impressionable,” he shot back. “I know he’s susceptible to the influence of people he admires.”
“Look, I’m aware you want to blame me for his disappearance, but it’s not going to work. Matt’s interest in famine relief was his own.”
“Is that so?” Cole put one hand on the back of her chair, bent down, and tried to read the computer screen over her shoulder. How could anyone who smelled so good be so testy? She was like a rattlesnake hiding in a lilac bush.
“Didn’t you tell my son about your little famine-relief jaunts around the world?”
“Of course I did. I talk about a lot of things in my class.”
“I thought the subject was computer science.”
“If a person has tunnel vision, Mr. Strong,” she said, peering at him with those glittering emerald eyes, “then maybe he or she can only do one thing at a time. Some peoplelet their jobs become their lives. They don’t leave time for family or hobbies…or volunteering…or ministry. I strive for a full, balanced life. And my enthusiasm for it spills over into my job.”
He stared back at her. “Some people don’t have a job that demands constant vigilance—twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and no weekends or summers free to flit around having a full, balanced life.”
“Yeah, well, some people have children, and they ought to—”
“They ought to stop listening to people who don’t.” He reached over her shoulder and touched the computer screen. “Who are all these messages from?”
As she swung around, her curls fluffed out, grazing the hair on his arm. A jolt of adrenaline raced up his skin, shocking him in its intensity. Irked at this as much as at her words, Cole straightened and jammed his hands into his pockets. Miss Jill Pruitt was a stuck-up little do-gooder who thought she knew how to parent Matt better than his own father did.
“I think it’s them,” she said. “Look at this stuff they’ve written to him. This is appalling. Poor kid!”
Drawing a deep breath, Cole bent over again and read the message Jill had pulled up on the screen. Whoever wrote it had every intention of intimidating and threatening Matt. The writer informed him that he was in violation of privacy laws and that he had better stay out of the company’s business if he knew what was good for him.
Jill closed that message and opened another. More of the same. As she clicked chronologically backward through the long list, Cole saw that the tone of the e-mails had gone from fairly polite to downright hostile. Now she opened another window and found the messages Matt had sent.
“Bingo!” she called out. “It’s Agrimax, all right. This is who he’s been writing to, see? In this message he’s trying to get information. And in this one he’s broaching hisconcept—that Agrimax participate in a global plan to end hunger. I wish we could find that plan.”
“It’s probably in his term paper.”
“No, Billy and I found a
“Billy says you sent Matt an e-mail,” he said.
“And I’m going through all this data he downloaded,” she replied without looking up. Her slender fingers sped across the keyboard.
“What was he copying?”
“Lots of things. The amount of information he compiled on the food industry is incredible. By the way, you’ll be happy to know your son is not into pornography. I can’t find anything suspicious here at all. The gaming sites are weird, of course, all those mythological characters and fantasy worlds.”
“I’ve watched Matt and Billy play.”
“It’s a lot of strategy—I think that’s what appeals to Matt. The RPGs are a concern, but—”
“Wait. RPGs?”
“Role-playing games.” She glanced at him for the first time. “Do you know anything about your son, Mr. Strong?”
His hackles rose. Add abrasive to the list of Miss Pruitt’s attributes. “I know Matt is impressionable,” he shot back. “I know he’s susceptible to the influence of people he admires.”
“Look, I’m aware you want to blame me for his disappearance, but it’s not going to work. Matt’s interest in famine relief was his own.”
“Is that so?” Cole put one hand on the back of her chair, bent down, and tried to read the computer screen over her shoulder. How could anyone who smelled so good be so testy? She was like a rattlesnake hiding in a lilac bush.
“Didn’t you tell my son about your little famine-relief jaunts around the world?”
“Of course I did. I talk about a lot of things in my class.”
“I thought the subject was computer science.”
“If a person has tunnel vision, Mr. Strong,” she said, peering at him with those glittering emerald eyes, “then maybe he or she can only do one thing at a time. Some peoplelet their jobs become their lives. They don’t leave time for family or hobbies…or volunteering…or ministry. I strive for a full, balanced life. And my enthusiasm for it spills over into my job.”
He stared back at her. “Some people don’t have a job that demands constant vigilance—twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and no weekends or summers free to flit around having a full, balanced life.”
“Yeah, well, some people have children, and they ought to—”
“They ought to stop listening to people who don’t.” He reached over her shoulder and touched the computer screen. “Who are all these messages from?”
As she swung around, her curls fluffed out, grazing the hair on his arm. A jolt of adrenaline raced up his skin, shocking him in its intensity. Irked at this as much as at her words, Cole straightened and jammed his hands into his pockets. Miss Jill Pruitt was a stuck-up little do-gooder who thought she knew how to parent Matt better than his own father did.
“I think it’s them,” she said. “Look at this stuff they’ve written to him. This is appalling. Poor kid!”
Drawing a deep breath, Cole bent over again and read the message Jill had pulled up on the screen. Whoever wrote it had every intention of intimidating and threatening Matt. The writer informed him that he was in violation of privacy laws and that he had better stay out of the company’s business if he knew what was good for him.
Jill closed that message and opened another. More of the same. As she clicked chronologically backward through the long list, Cole saw that the tone of the e-mails had gone from fairly polite to downright hostile. Now she opened another window and found the messages Matt had sent.
“Bingo!” she called out. “It’s Agrimax, all right. This is who he’s been writing to, see? In this message he’s trying to get information. And in this one he’s broaching hisconcept—that Agrimax participate in a global plan to end hunger. I wish we could find that plan.”
“It’s probably in his term paper.”
“No, Billy and I found a
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