Read Online Silent Witness by Richard North Patterson - Free Book Online

Road, past Alison’s sprawling house, and veered abruptly into the empty parking lot in the middle of Taylor Park. The park was empty; the only sounds were birds chirping in the trees above them.
    Hastily, Sam jerked open the car door and leaned over the asphalt. The sound of retching started before Tony jumped out the driver’s side.
    Propped up by his hands on the asphalt, Sam hung halfway out of the car, his white-blond head almost touching the pool of vomit. Though he still retched, nothing more came out. When at last he stopped, shivers ran through his body.
    â€˜Sam?’
    Slowly, Sam turned over, head resting on the vomit-covered asphalt, and began laughing until the tears ran down his face.
    â€˜I fooled them,’ he said when he could speak again, and then grinned up at Tony, pale and wasted, eyes dancing. ‘I absolutely fucking fooled them.’

Chapter 5
    Tony and Alison pulled into the darkened lot of Taylor Park. Before he could turn off the motor, she said quietly, ‘I think we should be where no one can see us.’
    Tony felt the constriction in his chest. Without answering, he drove across the grass until his headlights caught a grove of oaks clustered near the cliff above the lake. Slowing, he edged the car forward until it was hidden among tree trunks and low-hanging branches. When he switched off the headlights, it was pitch black.
    Alison took his hand. ‘Do you want to know,’ she asked, ‘what I told my parents?’
    Though he could barely see her, Tony knew that he did not need to answer. Solitude, and emotion, seemed to soften her voice still more. ‘I told them that I loved you. And that they should get used to it. Because if that ever changed, it would be about something between you and me, not me and them.’
    The certainty in her tone surprised him. ‘What did they say?’
    â€˜A lot that you’d expect. Mostly that I’m too young to make decisions, for all of the reasons I’m still too young to understand. My mother cried.’
    â€˜Over what? It’s not like we’re getting engaged.’
    Alison was quiet. ‘I think she’s afraid,’ she said at last. ‘Not just of you and me, but that I’m starting on my own life, and that there are some decisions I’m going to make without her. Some without her even knowing.’ Her fingers tightened around his. ‘I know that’s how this feels to me.’
    There was something new in her voice – at once wistful, fearful, and determined. Just as the decision she seemed to have made was not about her parents, Tony sensed it was also less about him than about Alison herself, resolving to share a moment of her life with him. It made him hold her close.
    She leaned back, touching his face, and then kissed him without hesitance.
    He did not quite know what to do. To kiss her passionately, as if trying to sweep away her senses, seemed foolish. What was happening felt too rational for Tony’s comfort; he was not in charge, a seducer, but a partner in a rite of Alison’s choosing. He felt both flattered and diminished.
    As if sensing this, she stopped, looking into his eyes. ‘I had to be ready, Tony. It didn’t matter what you did, or how much I might have wanted you. Can you understand that?’
    Silent, Tony nodded. Alison leaned her forehead against his. He could feel her soft breath against his face: she was waiting for him, he realized. She knew what she wanted to do, but not how. This she would trust to Tony.
    â€˜I’ve got something in the glove compartment.’
    She shook her head. ‘It’s okay, Tony. I just had my period.’
    There was a chill in the car. Turning on the heater, he saw that the clock read 10:55. Alison must be home in little more than an hour.
    Tony took off his letter jacket and, reaching over the front seat, spread it to cover the back upholstery. Shrugging out of her coat, Alison said with a