Midnight Fear by Leslie Tentler Read Free Book Online Page B

always did,” Reid reminded.
    She sighed. “You’re right. Girls, thirty minutes and then off to bed.”
    He leaned against the counter, watching as Megan cleared the remaining dessert dishes from the table and wiped it down so the girls could use it for their game. He thought back to his own childhood. For so many years, it had been just the three of them—their father, Ben, a vice detective with the D.C. police—Megan and himself. Their mother had died at the young age of thirty-five, the victim of a fatal brain tumor. Reid had been twelve and Megan, ten. Ben Novak never remarried. But they’d had a solid family life, thanks to grandparents, uncles and aunts who filled in the gaps.
    Reid was helping Maddie set up the game when his cell phone went off. Both his nieces giggled at the ring tone that still hadn’t been changed.
    “Novak.”
    He walked to the far end of the kitchen at the sound of Caitlyn Cahill’s voice, trying to hear her above the conversation in the room. He listened as she explained what she thought she had seen inside her house.
    “I want you to call the local police. Drive to a public location and tell them where to meet you. Don’t go back home until they give you the okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
    Closing the phone, he caught Megan’s gaze.
    “The case you were talking about?”
    “Yeah.” He kissed her cheek and mussed the hair of each child as he moved toward the door. “Thanks fordinner. Tell Coop I’ll have to take a rain check on the second half.”
    Outside, he started up the SUV. Middleburg was nearly an hour away, but he felt the need to go up there. Caitlyn had been unsure of what she’d seen, but he didn’t want her taking any chances. And she’d called him, asking for help. That meant something to him.
    Despite her attempt to hide it, Reid had heard the slight tremor in her voice. And it was possible things were about to get worse. What he hadn’t yet told her was that, thanks to the Tiffany charm, they had just gotten an ID on the dead woman in the Columbia Heights row house. She and Caitlyn did share a connection beyond horses.
    The victim was a resident of Middleburg.

7
    C aitlyn waited tensely in the living room as Reid spoke with Chief Malcolm on the front porch. Around her, much of the wood furniture, as well as the light switches and door frames, carried a sooty dusting of carbon fingerprinting powder. Although the conversation outside was mostly inaudible to her, she already had the gist of what Reid was probably being told. Someone had gained entrance into her home through the kitchen door, shattering the window and reaching inside to unlock it. The phone line wired into the standard house-grade security system had also been cut, rendering the alarm ineffective.
    As far as any theft or vandalism, however, there were no indications. While the filing cabinet in her home office and the drawers in her bedroom were rifled through, it appeared nothing had been taken.
    Two uniformed officers nodded to Caitlyn as they walked past. One of them carried a dusting kit.
    “Did you find any prints?” she asked.
    “Quite a few, but based on ridge size and density they appear to be female. They’re probably yours,” the younger officer said. He was the same one who had waited with Caitlyn at a nearby gas station until she’d been given the okay to return home. “The chief wants you to come by tomorrow to have your fingerprints rolled. We’ll know more then, ma’am.”
    The men disappeared through the front door. It was several more minutes before Reid wrapped up his conversation and came inside.
    “Well, at least you know you weren’t imagining things,” he commented.
    “What does Chief Malcolm think?” Caitlyn stood and smoothed her hands over her gray wool skirt, still dressed in the clothing she’d worn to dinner. Outside, the remaining patrol cars were starting up their engines and leaving the property. “Does his theory of rampaging teenagers