A Killing Rain by P.J. Parrish Read Free Book Online Page B

expression carefully. Her brows knitted slightly and she looked up.
    “She didn’t check in, did she?” Louis said.
    The woman still said nothing.
    “That should tell you I’m not lying,” Louis said. “Just tell me, please. Did the boy get on that plane?”
    Louis waited but the woman wasn’t going to say anything more. He started away from the counter.
    “Young man?”
    Louis looked back.
    “Neither of them did. The man or the boy,” the woman said.
    Louis hurried away. He realized he had left the beeper in the car. For all he knew, Austin had dropped Benjamin off back home and gone on his merry way. He had to call Susan.
    He found a pay phone. Susan picked up on the first ring. “Did you find them?” she asked.
    That wasn’t good. “No.”
    “Louis, oh God.” Her voice was trembling. “Are they —-”
    “ Austin never got on the plane.”
    Louis heard her let out a long breath.
    “He hasn’t called?” Louis asked.
    “No, no, nothing! I swear if I see him again I ’ll kill him for this!”
    “Susan, calm down.”
    “No, I won’t calm down! How can you even tell me that?”
    Louis rubbed the bridge of his nose. There was a long silence on Susan’s end.
    “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “It’s just...I’m going crazy sitting here, Louis.”
    “I know.” His eyes swept over the crowd, almost like he expected to see Austin and Benjamin emerge from it. But he knew they weren’t here. He wondered now if Austin had even left Fort Myers. What the hell kind of game was Austin playing?
    “I’m heading back, Susan. There’s nothing to do here.”
    “What if he changed his ticket? What if he took Ben somewhere else because he couldn’t get a passport?” she asked.
    Louis could almost imagine what sort of scenarios were running through her head now.
    “There’s no way I can find him if he did, Susan,” Louis said. “I got lucky at Qantas. No one’s going to tell me anything. I’m not a cop. There’s nothing else I can do here.”
    Susan said nothing.
    “I’ll see you in a couple hours,” Louis said. “We’ll figure out something then.”
    A long pause. He could tell she was crying but trying to not let him hear it. Then she said softly, “All right,” and hung up.
    With a final scan of the crowd, Louis headed for the exit . Outside, he paused, shocked by the cold night air. The temperature had dropped a good ten degrees. The newly arrived people standing in the taxi lines were shivering in shorts and bare arms, expressions of mild shock on their faces. No one ever expected cold weather in Miami. No one ever planned on it.
    In the Mustang, he quickly started the engine and flipped on the heater. He sat with his hands pressed between his knees for warmth. A musty burning smell filled the car, signaling the old heater kicking on.
    Damn, what now? What the hell could he possibly do to help Susan, other than turn this over to Wainwright and then sit there and hold her hand? His anger was heating up with the car, anger at Austin Outlaw and at his own sense of impotence.
    You don't look like a policeman. Show me your badge.
    Three years since he had worn one. He had learned to live with it, even finding some sense of satisfaction in hanging his P.I. license on the wall. But Benjamin was missing and Susan needed his help. Help he had no power to give her.
    He reached down and slammed the gear shift into reverse. His eye caught a spot of white on the floor of the passenger side. Austin’s business card. He had tossed it there the first night out of disgust
    He picked it up and pressed it open. AUSTIN OUTLAW, PACIFIC IMPORTS. And a Miami address on Southwest Eighth Street. His eyes went to the beeper on the seat.
    If Austin was still in Miami, there was a chance he might have gone to his office. But there was no sense in giving Susan false hope or more reason to be upset. He would go check out the office first and then call her back. He popped open the glove box and rooted around for a