Read Online Running Blind by Shirlee McCoy - Free Book Online Page A

the bullet hit.
    â€œAnd the second?”
    â€œRight at the edge of the porch.” Nikolai gestured to the spot, then stepped out from under the portico. “The shooter was right at the tree line after the first shot. He ducked into the trees after the second.”
    â€œThink you can take me to the spot? Maybe he left behind some forensic evidence. It’s doubtful in this rain, but we’ll take a look.”
    â€œSure.” Nikolai started toward the trees, Jenna’s father and brother following, Sergeant Lawrence walking beside them.
    Jenna wanted to follow, but her body refused to cooperate, and she stood where she was, staring at the hole in the wooden beam. She’d been close to death and hadn’t even known it. If the gunman had better aim, or if it hadn’t been raining, or if she’d moved a little to the right…
    â€œJenna?” Nikolai appeared in front of her, his tan face creased with worry.
    â€œI’m all right.”
    â€œNot now, but you will be. Come on. Let’s go back inside.” He put his arm around her waist, and she allowed herself to be led back into the dining room.
    â€œI thought you were helping Sergeant Lawrence.”
    â€œI showed him where I saw the guy. Your brother and father are taking him along the path we took through the trees.”
    â€œAnd you’re here with me.”
    â€œYou looked like you could use a friend.”
    â€œI could use some answers.”
    â€œI told you I’d help you find them.”
    â€œIt doesn’t make sense, Nikolai.”
    â€œDeath never does.”
    â€œIt’s not just that.” She hesitated, everything John had told her filling her mind.
    â€œThen what is it?”
    â€œJohn told me some things that just don’t gel with what I know about Magdalena.”
    â€œLike?”
    She told him, the words rushing out and tripping over each other, almost too surreal to repeat. When she finished he was silent, his expression unreadable.
    â€œI don’t believe it, Nikolai. I will never believe that Magdalena had a drug problem.”
    â€œHow about her husband? Does he believe it?”
    â€œHe’s on the fence.”
    â€œThat’s telling.”
    â€œHow so?”
    â€œEither he knows more than he’s saying, or their relationship wasn’t strong enough and he didn’t know his wife well enough to stand by her in death. How long were they married?”
    â€œSeven years.”
    â€œThat’s a good amount of time.”
    â€œThey met in college and married while Magdalena was in medical school.”
    â€œAnd they’ve always lived in Texas?”
    â€œYes. Magdalena went to medical school here, and she fell in love with the area. After she and John married, they bought a condo near the hospital where she was doing her residency.”
    â€œAnd lived there until they moved to this place?”
    â€œYes.” The move had surprised Jenna. The house had surprised her even more.
    â€œAs I said before, it’s quite a place.”
    â€œIt makes a statement, anyway.”
    â€œAnd you said it isn’t the kind of statement Magdalena usually liked to make?”
    â€œShe didn’t like to flaunt her wealth, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    â€œBut she did have it, right? A place like this is expensive, and I don’t imagine that a doctor who gave so much of her time to charity would have a ton of cash lying around.”
    â€œShe wasn’t trafficking drugs to finance her lifestyle. Her parents were both doctors. They left her a substantial trust fund when they died. And John is a defense attorney; he makes good money.” Disgusted, Jenna stood and paced across the room, her head throbbing more with every step.
    â€œYou asked for my help, Jenna. I can’t help if I don’t ask questions.”
    Of course he couldn’t, and Jenna didn’t expect him to. She planned to tell him that,