Read Online Nowhere To Run by Carolyn Davidson - Free Book Online Page B

looked again at the trail disappearing into the trees.
    “I appreciate you calling me,” he told the man, keeping to himself the question of why he hadn’t thought to volunteer this information earlier. “It may or may not be significant, but everything is worth looking into at this point. Would you be able point this man out if I showed you some pictures?”
    “Yes,” Mr. Broadbent nodded assuredly, “I could point him out. Long hair, he had it pulled back in a ponytail like a girl. I know he’s a local, just don’t have a name to go with it.”
    Shouldn’t be too hard to find him with that description, Alex thought to himself, thanking the man for his time. It looked like the steak would be dinner tonight by the time he got to it.
    *
    The poster on the clinic wall in front of her illustrated a full term baby inside its mother’s womb.
    I wonder if they get dizzy, Sarah asked herself, suspended upside down while their mother goes about the routine of her day. Getting off and on buses, walking down supermarket aisles pondering cereal choices, standing at the stove cooking dinner. All while the baby floats unquestioningly, adrift and upside down in their mother’s stomach.
    She checked her phone again. No message, but what message was she expecting? It’s not like it would make a difference to have someone here with her, it would probably just make things worse.
    Putting her phone away, she closed her eyes against the poster in front her, and the slight rise of her stomach beneath her shirt, while the nurse watched her from behind the desk.
    It would all be over soon.

 
    Chapter 8
     
    Alex closed his eyes and tilted his head back to better catch the warmth of the sun on his face. Far past its prime, but it still had the strength to momentarily wipe away the day’s long drive. He had been working close to round the clock since Sarah’s case began, and hadn’t been in to see his sister and the girls since before his holiday. He hated to be the absent uncle and brother in a family that was so small in numbers.
    He knew he was present in body but not in mind at the moment. He usually had no problem leaving the job behind at the end of a shift, but that usually didn’t include a dead girl with no main suspect in sight. An image of the case as a ball of yarn unravelling into endless stray ends, each one further away from the centre than the one before it came to mind, and he felt his jaw clench.
    Screwing his eyes up to better rid his mind of the image, he let the high-pitched chatter of the twins fade to a background hum, a hum interspersed with sudden squeals and giggles as the girls busied themselves with their mother’s rake. The squeals crescendoed into screams, and Alex cracked his eyelids open to see two curly headed girls rolling in a good sized pile of leaves.
    “Sleeping on the job?” his sister held a cold beer bottle against his neck as she slid into the lawn chair beside him. Reconsidering, she took the bottle back from his outstretched hand and drank a mouthful before passing it to him.
    Alex smiled at his sister, raising the beer in a cheers. “I’ve got in under control,” he winked. “I’ve organized the girls into a highly efficient landscaping service.”
    Olivia laughed, reclining the lawn chair back further. “Doubtful,” she smiled, “More likely a two girl wrecking team.”
    There was a silence as they watched the girls busily trying to bury each other in the leaves. Trying to stretch the peaceful moment out, Alex took a deep breath of the autumn air. “So how is Susan handling all of this?” Olivia broke into his reverie.
    “Susan?” Alex glanced at his sister warily. “What makes you ask?”
    Olivia chuckled, keeping her eyes closed against the sun, “I’m not prying into your private life, brother dearest. I was just thinking that there must be a lot pressure on her, being in charge of this case.” She shuddered and pulled her collar closer against her throat. “It’s