Read Online Richard Montanari by The Echo Man - Free Book Online Page A

forth, her blonde hair trailing, arms raised high, repeatedly getting
tangled in the string. She stamped her feet, shook a fist at the sky, untangled
herself, tried again and again. But she never asked him for help. Not once.
        It
seemed as if it were just a few weeks ago. But it was not. It was a long time
ago. Somehow, Colleen, who had been deaf since birth, the result of a condition
called Mondini Dysplasia, was going to Gallaudet University, the
country's first and most preeminent college for deaf and hard-of-hearing
undergraduate students.
        Today
she was off on an overnighter to the Gallaudet campus in Washington D.C. with
her friend Lauren, ostensibly to scope out the campus and the possibilities for
living quarters, but quite possibly to scope out the nightlife and the young
men. Byrne knew the tuition fees were steep, but he had been saving and
investing for a long time, and Colleen had a partial scholarship.
        Byrne
had wanted Colleen to stay nearer to Philadelphia, but it had been ages since
he had been able to talk her out of anything once she set her mind to it.
        He
had never met Lauren, but Colleen had good taste in friends. He hoped Lauren
was sensible too, and that he wouldn't be getting a phone call from the D.C.
police telling him that the two of them had been picked up at some
out-of-control frat kegger.
        Byrne
sensed someone approaching on his right. He looked around to see his daughter
walking across the square, dressed in a navy blue suit. She didn't look like a
college student, she looked like a businesswoman. Had he missed something? Had
he been asleep for four years?
        She
looked heart-stoppingly beautiful, but something was wrong. She was holding
hands with a guy who had to be at least thirty. And they weren't just holding
hands, they were doing that wrap-around- at-the-wrist thing, and brushing up
against each other as they walked.
        When
they got closer Byrne saw that the kid was younger than he had first thought,
perhaps around twenty-two, which was still far too old and worldly for his
taste.
        Unfortunately,
in matters such as these Kevin Byrne's taste didn't matter in the least.
        Colleen
let go of the guy and kissed Byrne on the cheek. She was wearing perfume. This
was getting worse by the second.
        'Dad,
I'd like you to meet my friend Laurent,' Colleen signed.
         Of
course , Byrne thought. It wasn't Lauren. It wasn't even a girl. It was Laurent. His daughter was going on an overnighter with a man.
        'How
are you?' Byrne asked, not meaning it or caring, extending his hand. The kid
shook his hand. Good grip, not too firm. Byrne thought about taking the kid to
the ground and cuffing him, arresting him for daring to touch Colleen Byrne
right in front of him, for daring to think of his only daughter as a woman. He
put the impulse on hold for the moment.
        'I'm
quite well, sir. It's a pleasure to meet you.'
        Not only
was Laurent a guy, he had an accent.
        'You're
French?' Byrne asked.
        'French
Canadian,' Laurent said.
         Close
enough, Byrne thought. His daughter was being romanced by a foreigner.
        They
chatted about nothing at all for a while, the sorts of things young men talk
about while on the one hand trying to impress a girl's father and on the other
trying not to embarrass the girl. As
        Byrne
recalled, it was always a delicate balancing act. The kid was doing all right,
Byrne thought, seeing as the routine was complicated by his having to speak out
loud to Byrne, and sign everything to Colleen.
        When
the small talk was exhausted, Laurent said: 'Well, I know you two have things
to talk about. I'll leave you to it.'
        Laurent
wandered a few feet off. Byrne could see the young man's shoulders relax, heard
a loud sigh of relief.
        Byrne
understood. Maybe the kid was okay.
        Colleen
looked at her father, both eyebrows raised. What do