Shadow Image by Martin J Smith Read Free Book Online

Underhills?”
    â€œYou ask a lot of questions.” His eyes narrowed again, but suddenly his face was split by a relaxed smile. “But of course, that’s your meatier. You’re on our side.”
    Métier?
    â€œSorry if I seem a little overprotective,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with cops for the last twenty-four hours. They have a propensity to twist things.”
    Brenna shifted the umbrella to her other hand. “You have an excellent vocabulary.”
    Staggers apparently took it as a compliment. “I’m taking a course. We’re supposed to practice. I’m a believer in self-improvement.”
    Dense, she decided.
    â€œ ‘The power to change is within us. Plug in!’ ” he said. “Know who says that? William DeForce. I’ve got the whole
Summon Your Creative Potential
audiotape series—that’s the one with the
Word Power Plus
tape—plus the
Burning Path
fire-walking primer. I personally think the man’s a genius.”
    â€œA genius,” Brenna repeated.
    â€œDamn straight. You read his first book?”
    Brenna shook her head.
    â€œBrilliant.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œGet Behind Me and Stay There.
Changed my life, I’ll be the first to tell you.” Staggers offered a conspiratorial wink. “Next paycheck, I’m going for the gusto: the whole ten-tape
Ten Days to More Effective Decision-Making.
Then look out world.”
    There was an odd charm to him that Brenna couldn’t quite define. She thought of the chubby, hopeless dork in Taylor’s class with the thick glasses and the billowing shorts that were forever bunched up his crack. Life wouldn’t be easy for him, she knew, but it was hard not to root for him.
    â€œYou don’t seem overprotective,” she said. “You just seem really dedicated to the Underhills, that’s all.”
    â€œThey’ve been so good to me. Gave me a job, a place to live. Treat me like their own. And they’ve been through hell these last few years. Can’t go through that with people and not feel some sort of, you know, affination.”
    â€œThat’s nice. So you’re on staff here?”
    â€œSpecial projects and things. Troubleshooting. Very utilitarian.” He turned and started walking again. “Between you and me, I think the cops made them pretty uneasy. I’m just trying to help them understand what’s going on at that end.”
    â€œSo you have a law-enforcement background?”
    Staggers seemed to take the question seriously, wrinkling his brow and bringing his hand to his chin, but all that thinking just produced a vague “No.”
    The path curved gently around the outside of the garden, and Staggers turned left into the first gap in the hedge. Suddenly they were surrounded by an orderly march of color—red, pink, yellow, white—perfect rows of rosebushes in early bloom stretching away from them like a thorny carpet. The gardens were even more impressive from here than they were from the covered veranda.
    â€œUnbelievable,” she said.
    The flagstones led through the roses and into a central lawn, then curved back toward the bordering roses. Beyond that was the gazebo. From ground level it was far bigger and farther away than Brenna had first thought. What she’d imagined from above as a little place to sit and enjoy the view looked more like a rotunda with open walls. If Vincent and Floss Underhill were married there, they probably could have put a couple hundred guests under the roof without much effort.
    Staggers stepped around a pile of clippings. While most of the bushes were perfectly trimmed, the section just ahead was overgrown. “Watch yourself through here,” he said. “Enrique’s been clearing.” He pushed back an overhanging branch and held it while she passed. As he again took the lead, she noticed blood dripping from the hand that had held the