Freak by Jennifer Hillier Read Free Book Online Page A

it and wasn’t sure what to say next. “Shit,” she said instead.
    Jerry was quiet for a moment. He drummed his fingers on her desk. “I know she’s seeing someone,” he said finally.
    “Jerry . . .”
    He lifted a hand, his expression pained. “That’s not why I’m here. But since you brought it up . . . I saw her with him the other day. It’s pretty obvious they’re . . . close.”
    “You saw Marianne the other day?” Sheila looked at him closely. “You saw her, or you followed her?”
    Jerry wouldn’t meet her gaze.
    “Oh, Jerry.” She sighed. “That’s not the way to get her back.”
    “I didn’t say I wanted her back.”
    “Of course you do. She’s your wife. You love her. Fifteen years of marriage is a long time.”
    “She left me .”
    Sheila was growing more uncomfortable by the second. “You know why she did.”
    “Because I pulled away,” Jerry said, frustrated. “I know I was terrible to live with, for months. Maybe I still am, I don’t know.”
    “It was a difficult time for us all, Jerry.” Sheila hadn’t wanted to have this conversation with him, but she supposed now it was inevitable. They were friends, after all, and it wasn’t realistic to think they could sit alone in her office and not talk about something major that was affecting them both. “People cope with it differently.”
    “Your hair is longer.” Jerry looked at her, his eyes soft. “Like Annie’s. You look more like her.”
    Sheila and Marianne were both of Chinese descent, and yes, Sheila had let her dark hair grow out over the past year. It now fell well past her shoulders. “We’ve been mistaken for sisters more than once,” she said with a smile.
    Jerry sighed deeply and tugged at the collar of his turtleneck. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. I was at a crime scene this morning. There was a body found at a hotel downtown.”
    Sheila was instantly intrigued. Despite the craziness of last year, she still had a thing for true crime. “Yes, it was all over the news this morning. I heard it on the radio as I was driving in to the office. What happened?”
    “A young woman was murdered.” Jerry cracked his knuckles. “She was strangled, then carved.”
    “The news didn’t say anything about her being carved.” Sheila found herself both fascinated and repulsed. “Do they know who did it?”
    “They’re working on it. You remember my old partner, Mike Torrance?”
    She nodded. Detective Torrance had interviewed her at length after her rescue from Ethan’s basement. Mid-forties, scruffy, gruff voice, generally unsympathetic and a borderline jerk. Morris couldn’t stand the guy, and Sheila couldn’t say she blamed him.
    “He called me over to the hotel. Wanted me to see the body.” A dark look flitted across Jerry’s face. “Not my idea of a fun Saturday.”
    “I don’t understand. You’re retired. What does a murder victim have to do with you? Did you know her?” Sheila sat up with a start. “Oh God, Jerry, I’m so sorry—”
    “No, no, it’s nothing like that,” Jerry said. “I didn’t know her, but she . . .”
    Sheila waited for him to continue. After a few seconds, impatience and curiosity got the better of her. “Okay, out with it already. What does a dead body in a hotel room have to do with you? Or me? Because you wouldn’t be here if this didn’t have something to do with both of us.”
    Jerry sighed, and it was then she noticed how deeply the lines were etched into his forehead. He’d really aged in the last few months, and Sheila didn’t have to wonder how bad his scar looked under the turtleneck. There was a reason he was still wearing them. Marianne had tried for months to get him to go to a plastic surgeon who might be able to improve its appearance, but apparently Jerry had never been willing to discuss it.
    “The victim had the message ‘Free Abby Maddox’ carvedinto her back.” Jerry spoke clearly but softly, his rasp worse than ever.
    Sheila froze. She