Read Online Misery Loves Company by Rene Gutteridge - Free Book Online Page B

the selection, though her mind was reeling about how she might alert someone she was here. She had yet to see a phone or a computer. Just a TV.
    She scanned the shelf in front of her. A lot of classics: Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Faulkner, Hemingway. The list went on. She pulled If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino from the shelf.
    Patrick smirked as he noticed and gave her a small “how clever” smile. He then busied himself with cleaning her bowl and didn’t seem to care or notice much more. With his back still turned, he finally said, “Off to your room.”
    “I don’t really want to stay in there. It’s cold and . . . and I’m alone.”
    He set the bowl down and turned to her. “You are right that you are alone.” He paused. “I have never brought a visitor here, so respect the privilege.”
    Clutching the book, Jules walked back to her room and closed the door. After a few moments, she heard the door lock.
    Crawling onto the bed, she pulled the quilt that was neatly folded at the end over her legs. She curled up into a ball and cried. Then she prayed to Jason, that he would hear her and rescue her like he had so many years before.
    Outside her room, she heard the canned, carnivalish laughter of another sitcom.

CHRIS STOOD ON THE PORCH, hands deep in his pockets, hoping that 9:30 p.m. was not too late. By the long pause that followed his ringing of the doorbell, it seemed it might be. He’d been to the captain’s house only one other time, for a Christmas party right before Jason died.
    Finally a shadow moved across the small window to the left of the door. Then he heard locks being unlocked.
    The door opened and Captain Perry stood in sweats and a Boston Red Sox T-shirt. “Downey?”
    “Sir, I wanted to see if I could talk with you for a little bit.”
    The captain widened the door and stepped aside. “I’m glad you’re here, actually. I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”
    That didn’t sound good, but Chris walked in, following the captain into a small sitting room, with a floral decor that looked like the wife had been 100 percent involved. The captain turned on a couple of lamps, and they took seats opposite one another.
    The captain had aged pretty drastically over the past couple of years, ever since Jason’s death. His hair was almost completely white and deep wrinkles were etching their way into both cheeks.
    “Sir, I’ve been investigating Juliet Belleno’s disappearance.” Chris waited, watching for the captain’s reaction to his insubordination.
    The captain sighed and rubbed his forehead with a thumb and forefinger, like he was trying to pull the wrinkles off. “I know.”
    “You do?” Chris cleared his throat. “It’s just that . . . it’s Jason.”
    “I know,” the captain said again, his expression softening. “The Lt. Colonel giving you fits?”
    “Yeah, a little,” Chris said. “But he’s doing okay. Very worried, as you can imagine.”
    “So what have you turned up?”
    “Well, there’s no sign of forced entry, and everything seems to be in place. I probably would’ve left it at that, except . . .”
    “Yeah?”
    “This is going to sound crazy. But I talked to this kid at the grocery store, and he said he was certain Jules had beenin on Tuesday morning. He distinctly remembered it because he said that Patrick Reagan was also in that morning.”
    “Patrick Reagan was at the grocery store?”
    “Yes. And the kid said it was significant because Reagan doesn’t stay here in the winter. He apparently has some mountain cabin he goes to.”
    “That’s the rumor. But he’s sure he saw Patrick Reagan?”
    “He was more than sure. I guess he’s a fan. So here’s the weird part. I was going over Jules’s last blog to see if there were any clues about what’s going on. Her last post was a review of Reagan’s latest book, and it wasn’t flattering. I know it’s so far-fetched, but I can’t help wondering if it was a coincidence that Reagan