On Ice by J. D. Faver Read Free Book Online Page B

than she felt. Let’s go to sleep. I’m really tired.” She glanced at the papers Maddy assembled for her. “Tomorrow,” she vowed. “First thing tomorrow I’ll read those papers.” She found a warm gown and crawled into bed beside Sara. Rene was asleep when her head hit the downy pillow.
    ~*~
     
    If Mark was angry when he left Byrondale School, he was rabid by the time he got home. He spent some time rearranging the condo. He knocked over the china cabinet, demolishing the entire service for twelve of antique Rosenthal china. The pieces that survived the fall were quickly dispatched under Mark’s heels.
    “Nobody screws with Mark Desmond!” His voice echoed off the glass. He felt a little better.
    Mark went to Rene’s dressing room. All the luggage was in place. He couldn’t tell if any of her clothes were missing. He checked the children’s rooms and they looked untouched. It was as though they were coming right back.
    “Stupid, stupid bitch!” What was she thinking? What was in her little brain? He slammed his fist into the drywall and then again.
    Mark poured whiskey into a water glass and drank it all at once. What was she thinking?
    He walked around the flat feeling disconnected. No one had prepared his dinner. No one had lit candles or set the table. No one told him goodnight and no one waited for him in the big empty bed.
    He poured more whiskey into his glass and stretched out in the center of the king-sized bed. He stared at the ceiling and visualized Rene’s face. Mark pulled her pillow from under the duvet and held it to his face. Her scent brought tears to his eyes. Why did she do this to me? I’m her husband.
    He finally fell asleep, exhausted by the day’s events. In the morning he awoke groggy and hung over. The enormity of the situation engulfed him. His wife and children were gone. Rene left him and took his children. He struggled to rise but his legs were made of rubber.
    No woman could do something like this. Not to Mark Desmond. No, he wouldn’t allow it.
    She has to be somewhere and I’ll find her. Then she’ll be sorry she was ever born.
    Mark searched for the coffee. Why didn’t she put it where he could find it? He finally located a tightly sealed bag of beans in a canister by the coffee grinder. When he tore it open the beans spilled onto the floor and countertop. He growled and threw the rest of the bag against the granite backsplash.
    He picked up the grinder but stopped just short of slamming it through the window. He stood for a long time, leaning against the counter with his lips pressed together. When he got control he gathered a handful of coffee beans and ran them through the grinder. He managed to start the coffee maker.
    By then he had an idea. She didn’t have any money. He went to his laptop and logged on. He checked activity on her credit card. In a few minutes he knew. She had purchased three one-way tickets to Paris, France. She took his children and left the country.
    The white hot anger was gone only to be replaced by something else ... something cold and deadly.
    ~*~
     
    Maddy and Ted held hands, sipping wine and gazing into the crackling blaze in the fireplace of their cozy suite in the old inn. Their late-night rendezvous took place after they had dined and tucked the girls into their beds in the adjoining room. The inn sheltered travelers for hundreds of years and was said to have been the haunt of local highwaymen who preyed upon wealthy wayfarers. Maddy shivered in spite of the fire.
    “Are you cold, my dear?” Ted asked solicitously. He reached to arrange a woolen throw around her feet.
    “Not really,” she said. “I was just thinking about the romantic history of this lovely old inn. Isn’t it exciting?”
    Ted smiled warmly as he pulled her into his arms. “Exciting?
    “Yes it’s exciting. We haven’t taken a real vacation since Miranda was born.”
    “We went to Barbados just last year.”
    “It was a medical convention. When you take a