In Between by Kate Wilhelm Read Free Book Online Page B

forest, a hint of ocean air, cool and refreshing, long, slanting rays of evening sunshine filled with dancing dust motes, a bird call… He heard Lori’s door open and close and turned to tell her they had to go back.
    Instead, he gulped a quick intake of breath. Her hair was down to her shoulders, lustrous black in soft waves. She was wearing jeans and a close fitting t-shirt, sneakers. She looked great, better than great.
    â€œHave you decided?” she asked.
    â€œI’m not going anywhere,” he said. “There are seven billion people on earth. Let them find us if they can.”
    For a moment Lori looked shy, surprised, then she smiled. “Let’s walk down to the beach. If the fog doesn’t roll in we might get a nice sunset.”
    It was a good trail through the woods. Where it got a little steep he took her hand and he continued to hold it when they reached the sand. As she had said, it was a good beach, small, intimate, sheltered. Gazing seaward, he could see the white wall of fog already close and moving in. He tightened his grip on her hand as the first wisps of ocean fog curled around their legs.
    â€œIf we were regular people,” he said, his voice unexpectedly hesitant and husky, “what we’d do now is hightail it back to our retreat, maybe light a fire, maybe go to bed while we wait for the house to warm up.”
    â€œI’m feeling pretty regular,” she said, her voice low and almost as husky as his.
    â€œWhat I have to do is sort all my material on Ben, seven identical sets of pictures, DVDs, audio tapes, write a note to the recipients of the stuff, put it all in the prepaid post office boxes and everything will be ready to mail. That’s going to be tricky, you know. We have to pick our time when there’s no one around, and that’s hardly ever.”
    Sam grinned at her. They were in the kitchen, having coffee and cookies for breakfast, just like regular people, he thought happily. “I want to look in on Ben sooner or later,” he said. “He must have learned that his safe was robbed by now.”
    She nodded. “It’s going to be a couple days before we get the blackmail stuff. And not much to do while we wait.” She picked up another cookie.
    â€œSo we play at being regular people,” he said, his happiness mounting.
    It was late in the afternoon the next day when they popped in at the mansion that was strangely quiet. A new man was in the party room reading a magazine, and another new man was in the kitchen eating a sandwich. Ben was stretched out on a sofa, one leg dangling off, his eyes closed, breathing heavily, something between a snore and an asthmatic gasping for air.
    â€œHe’s soused,” Sam said regarding him. “Looks like he’s been drinking a lot.” There was an empty Jack Daniels bottle on the floor by the sofa, another half empty on a table near it. “I guess those guys are security. Let’s have a quick look around.”
    Darla’s room had been ransacked, other rooms had been tossed and nothing restored. Arthur’s room had been searched and he was not on the premises. It appeared that a hurried and careless search had been made of the entire mansion.
    â€œEnough?” Lori asked.
    â€œMore than enough,” Sam said.
    They flitted back to their retreat. “Way I see it happening,” Sam said, nursing a beer on the patio, “Ben went to his office and found his safe empty when he started to replace that snapshot. The security camera blocked by the pillow must have made him really sweat. No one had come or gone except the nerd and he couldn’t have known about the safe. It had to have been an inside job and we know who was present. His partner, his lawyer, his security guard and his lover. And the cook in the kitchen. So he made a search for the missing envelopes and junk. Probably had Arthur search everyone and sent them all packing. Called in more