None So Blind by Barbara Fradkin Read Free Book Online

eyes.
    A simple question had elicited a mumbled confession from Gibbs that their impromptu visit to Navan had not gone well. Not well, Peters burst out. The woman had refused to let them in the door and had virtually kicked them off the property.
    Twenty years ago, Green had met this ferocious side of Marilyn Carmichael. When her emotions were fired up, she was a formidable force, but Green was surprised that a simple visit to the house, no matter how unexpected, would have roused her to the point of rudeness. She might be feisty, but her British courtesy was deeply ingrained.
    That emotion was all the more puzzling because barely two weeks earlier she had been looking ahead to the sale of her house and the chance to start afresh. Now she seemed back in the mire.
    On the phone now, he tried for a reassuring tone. “I’m sorry, Marilyn. You’re right. I was trying to be helpful.” He didn’t add that although he had told the newlyweds about the house, he’d stopped short of suggesting a visit, particularly unannounced. He should have known Peters would seize the opportunity and charge ahead under full steam.
    “It was an invasion of my privacy.”
    He was chastened for a moment as he finally grasped the subtext. The Carmichaels had endured twenty years of prying eyes and invasive questions, both from media and community. Their life had been laid bare and dissected. If Marilyn had become hardened and less forgiving, she could hardly be blamed. The sight of a strange car in her drive must have flooded her with old fears.
    Nonetheless, he sensed another emotion lingering beneath the surface of her indignation. “Marilyn, is there something —”
    “I’ve decided not to sell, that’s all.”
    “Fair enough.” He trod carefully. “As you said, you have friends there now. The book club and the arts fair …”
    His voice trailed off when she left him dangling awkwardly in silence. Mumbling reassurances into the empty air, he hung up and sat looking at the phone. Worry piqued him. Marilyn sounded brittle and on the edge again. On his last visit, she had appeared to be looking forward to her new life, so he had been lulled into complacency. But Marilyn could act with the best. She could hide her deepest pain. Living with her broken husband and navigating the complex feelings of her children, she had had plenty of practice.
    And then there was the gin …
    “I’ve seen her crash before, when the trial was over,” he said to Sharon later that evening. He had waited until she had a rare moment of peace, nursing their daughter who had fallen asleep at her breast on the living room sofa. He had lit a fire and placed a cup of herbal tea at her elbow. Modo, their hundred-pound rescued mutt, was in her favourite spot, stretched beneath Sharon’s feet. Snoring gently.
    Sharon hadn’t been part of his life back then. He had been on his own, his first wife having stormed out of his life in the middle of the case, taking their infant daughter with her. Ashley had been in way over her head as the young wife of a brand new detective. While Green waded hip-deep in human depravity and despair, she had been overwhelmed and self-absorbed, leaving Green without the support and safe haven he hadn’t even known he needed.
    Until Sharon. Now she was sprawled amid pillows, with her head resting on his shoulder and her tiny feet propped on the coffee table. Her diminutive frame had more curves now and her rich dark curls were shot through with silver, but she still stirred him. Although her eyes were shut, he knew she was listening, and he felt a twinge of guilt for burdening her. But no one had better insight into the contortions of the human mind than Sharon. No one listened better, and no one knew him better.
    She nodded drowsily. “The trial was probably her only reason for getting up in the morning. Once the killer was convicted, her work was done.”
    He took a sip of wine, his mind replaying the memories. “Not quite. The jury