Read Online Just One Look by Harlan Coben - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Harlan Coben
Tags: Fiction, General, thriller, Suspense, Psychological, Thrillers, Mystery & Detective, Suspense fiction, Domestic Fiction, Missing Persons, Suspense Fiction; American, Married Women, Suburban Life, Domestic fiction; American, Identity (Psychology), Photographs, Runaway husbands
Ads: Link
country-club lunch-told her that this was life, that Charlaine had everything a woman could want, that her expectations were simply unrealistic. The saddest part was, Charlaine feared that her mother was right.
She checked her makeup. She applied more lipstick and rouge and then sat back and appraised herself. Yep, she looked like a whore. She grabbed a Percodan, the mommy equivalent of the lunchtime cocktail, and swallowed it. Then she took a closer look in the mirror, squinting even.
Was the old Charlaine still there somewhere?
There was this woman who lived two blocks down, a nice mother of two like Charlaine. Two months ago, this nice mother of two walked up to the Glen Rock train tracks and committed suicide by stepping in front of the 11:10 A.M. Bergen line heading south. Horrible story. Everyone talked about it for weeks. How could this woman, this nice mother of two, just abandon her children like that? How could she be so selfish? And yet, as Charlaine tsk-tsked with her fellow suburbanites, she felt a small pang of jealousy. For this nice mother, it was over. There had to be relief in that.
Where was Freddy?
Charlaine actually looked forward to this, her Tuesdays at ten, and perhaps that was the saddest thing of all. Her initial reaction to Freddy’s peeping had been revulsion and rage. When and how had that slid into acceptance and even, God forgive her, arousal? No, she thought. It wasn’t arousal. It was… something. That was all. It was a spark. It was something to feel.
She waited for his shade to come up.
It didn’t.
Strange. Come to think of it, Freddy Sykes never pulled down his shades. Their properties backed up to each other’s, so that only they could see in each other’s window. Freddy never pulled down the shade in the back. Why would he?
Her eyes roamed toward the other windows. All the shades were pulled down. Curious. The curtains in what she assumed was the den-she had never, of course, stepped foot in his house-were drawn closed.
Was Freddy traveling? Had he perhaps gone away?
Charlaine Swain caught her reflection in the window and felt a fresh wave of shame. She grabbed a robe-her husband’s ratty terrycloth-and slipped into it. She wondered if Mike was having an affair, if another woman had drained that once insatiable sex drive, or was he just not interested in her? She wondered which was worse.
Where was Freddy?
And how degrading, how truly scraping-the-bottom pitiful it was, that this meant so much to her. She stared at the house.
There was movement.
It was slight. A shadow had crossed the side of a shade. But movement nonetheless. Maybe, just maybe, Freddy was truly peeping again, upping, if you will, his excitement level. That could be it, right? Most peepers got off on the stealth,
I Spy
aspects of the act. Maybe he simply didn’t want her to see him. Maybe he was watching her right now, surreptitiously.
Could that be it?
She loosened the robe and let it slide down her shoulders. The terrycloth reeked of man sweat and the aging remnants of cologne she’d bought Mike, what, eight, nine years ago. Charlaine felt the tears sting her eyes. But she didn’t turn away.
Something else suddenly appeared between the window shades. Something… blue?
She squinted. What was it?
The binoculars. Where were they? Mike kept a box of crap like that in his closet. She found it, dug through the many power cords and adapters, and unearthed the Leicas. She remembered when they bought them. They were on a cruise in the Caribbean. The stop was one of the Virgin Islands -she didn’t remember which one-and the purchase had been spontaneous. That was why she remembered it, the buying of the binoculars, because of the spontaneity of such a mundane act.
Charlaine put the binoculars up to her eyes. They were auto-focus, so there was nothing to adjust. It took her a moment or two to find the space between the window and the shade. But the blue spot was there. She saw the flicker and her
She checked her makeup. She applied more lipstick and rouge and then sat back and appraised herself. Yep, she looked like a whore. She grabbed a Percodan, the mommy equivalent of the lunchtime cocktail, and swallowed it. Then she took a closer look in the mirror, squinting even.
Was the old Charlaine still there somewhere?
There was this woman who lived two blocks down, a nice mother of two like Charlaine. Two months ago, this nice mother of two walked up to the Glen Rock train tracks and committed suicide by stepping in front of the 11:10 A.M. Bergen line heading south. Horrible story. Everyone talked about it for weeks. How could this woman, this nice mother of two, just abandon her children like that? How could she be so selfish? And yet, as Charlaine tsk-tsked with her fellow suburbanites, she felt a small pang of jealousy. For this nice mother, it was over. There had to be relief in that.
Where was Freddy?
Charlaine actually looked forward to this, her Tuesdays at ten, and perhaps that was the saddest thing of all. Her initial reaction to Freddy’s peeping had been revulsion and rage. When and how had that slid into acceptance and even, God forgive her, arousal? No, she thought. It wasn’t arousal. It was… something. That was all. It was a spark. It was something to feel.
She waited for his shade to come up.
It didn’t.
Strange. Come to think of it, Freddy Sykes never pulled down his shades. Their properties backed up to each other’s, so that only they could see in each other’s window. Freddy never pulled down the shade in the back. Why would he?
Her eyes roamed toward the other windows. All the shades were pulled down. Curious. The curtains in what she assumed was the den-she had never, of course, stepped foot in his house-were drawn closed.
Was Freddy traveling? Had he perhaps gone away?
Charlaine Swain caught her reflection in the window and felt a fresh wave of shame. She grabbed a robe-her husband’s ratty terrycloth-and slipped into it. She wondered if Mike was having an affair, if another woman had drained that once insatiable sex drive, or was he just not interested in her? She wondered which was worse.
Where was Freddy?
And how degrading, how truly scraping-the-bottom pitiful it was, that this meant so much to her. She stared at the house.
There was movement.
It was slight. A shadow had crossed the side of a shade. But movement nonetheless. Maybe, just maybe, Freddy was truly peeping again, upping, if you will, his excitement level. That could be it, right? Most peepers got off on the stealth,
I Spy
aspects of the act. Maybe he simply didn’t want her to see him. Maybe he was watching her right now, surreptitiously.
Could that be it?
She loosened the robe and let it slide down her shoulders. The terrycloth reeked of man sweat and the aging remnants of cologne she’d bought Mike, what, eight, nine years ago. Charlaine felt the tears sting her eyes. But she didn’t turn away.
Something else suddenly appeared between the window shades. Something… blue?
She squinted. What was it?
The binoculars. Where were they? Mike kept a box of crap like that in his closet. She found it, dug through the many power cords and adapters, and unearthed the Leicas. She remembered when they bought them. They were on a cruise in the Caribbean. The stop was one of the Virgin Islands -she didn’t remember which one-and the purchase had been spontaneous. That was why she remembered it, the buying of the binoculars, because of the spontaneity of such a mundane act.
Charlaine put the binoculars up to her eyes. They were auto-focus, so there was nothing to adjust. It took her a moment or two to find the space between the window and the shade. But the blue spot was there. She saw the flicker and her
Similar Books
