Hide in Plain Sight by Marta Perry Read Free Book Online Page A

works, but not your grandmother’s.”
    “I suppose not.” Her grandmother was an odd mixture—clever about people, but naive about business, which had been her husband’s prerogative. “You’re trying to give me nightmares, aren’t you?”
    He gave a rueful smile and shoved away from the wall. “Sorry about that.” He touched her hand in a brief gesture of sympathy. Warmth shimmered across her skin and was gone. “I figured I shouldn’t be the only one.”
     
     
    Andrea was still wrestling with the difficulties when she went up to her room that evening, hoping to concentrate on some work. A half-dozen times she’d nearly confronted Grams about the financial situation, but each time a look at her grandmother stopped her. Grams looked so tired. So old.
    She’d never thought of her grandmother as needing someone to take care of her. Now she’d have to, even though she suspected Grams wouldn’t take kindly to any suggestion that she couldn’t manage her own affairs.
    Well, she’d let the topic ride until tomorrow, at least. Maybe by then she’d have come up with some tactful way of approaching the subject and Grams would, she hoped, have had a decent night’s sleep.
    She opened her laptop. In an instant she was completely engrossed in work.
    Finally the numbers began to blur on the screen. She got up, stretching, and walked to the window. Full darkhad settled in, and her attention had been so focused on the computer screen that she hadn’t even noticed. Maybe she’d been trying to shut out the human problems that she found so much more difficult to deal with than figures.
    Her eyes gradually grew accustomed to the darkness. She could make out the pond now, the forsythia bushes along it, and the pale line that was the flagstone path.
    She stiffened. There—by the toolshed. That wasn’t a bush—it was a person. She froze, watching the faint gleam of a shielded light cross the door of the shed.
    He was breaking in. She whirled, racing out of the room and across the hall to burst in on her grandmother, who sat up in bed with a Bible on her lap. Barney jumped up, ears pricking.
    “Andrea, what—”
    “There’s someone prowling around by the toolshed. Call the police and alert Cal. I’m going to turn the outside lights on.”
    She could hear Grams protesting as she bolted down the stairs, the dog at her heels.

FOUR
     
     
    A ndrea reached the back door and slapped the switch that controlled the outside lights. They sprang up instantly, bathing the area with soft illumination. The yellow glow was probably intentional on Rachel’s part. It fit well with the style of the two-and-a-half-century-old building, but at the moment, Andrea would rather have harsh fluorescents that lit up every shadowy corner.
    She peered through the glass pane in the door, shivering a little. The dog, pressing against her leg, trembled, too, probably eager to get outside and chase whatever lay in the shadows.
    The flowers were mere shapes that moved restlessly in the breeze, as if they sensed something wrong. She strained to see beyond the patio. There was the pale outline of the pond, and beyond it nothing but angular shadows.
    She heard a step at the top of the stairs behind her.
    “I tried Cal, but there was no answer. Perhaps it’s him you saw outside.”
    If so, she was going to feel like an idiot for overreacting. “Does he usually look around the grounds atnight?” He’d mentioned looking for the prowler, and after their conversation, that seemed likely. The tension eased.
    “Sometimes. But I called the police anyway. Now, don’t start worrying about it.” Grams seemed to be reading her mind. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
    But she couldn’t help the chagrin she felt. City-dweller, jumping to conclusions at the slightest thing.
    Well, if so, Cal was the one who’d spooked her, with his talk of prowlers and thieves. He and Uncle Nick had done the job between them.
    A heavy flashlight hung on the hook