Silent Witness by Richard North Patterson Read Free Book Online

Alison’s discomfort.
    â€˜Just don’t let the cops catch you,’ Tony said to Sam.
    Sam laughed. ‘In this town, tonight? Who’s going to throw either one of us in jail? Like Alison says, we’re heroes, man. We can do anything we want.’
    For a night, Tony thought. There was something worrisome in Sam’s elation; he had too far to fall.
    â€˜See you Monday,’ Alison said to Sue. She said nothing to Sam.
    Turning, Tony and Alison walked to Tony’s car. It was a ’61 Ford Fairlane; Tony had bought it with his earnings from two summer jobs, and he kept it waxed and polished. But the most important thing was that the radio worked.
    Inside the car, Alison turned to him.
    She even looked different – like money, Tony sometimes thought, or a delicate sliver of steel. Her raven-black hair fell straight on both sides of her face, accenting the hollows of her cheeks, the cleft chin, the china complexion. Whereas Sue was vibrant, Alison was watchful and had a certain mettle. Sometimes when she smiled, it was with an air of secret reflection, but her black eyes had a quiet directness, and she seldom looked away. She appeared much like what she was: the class president, a girl other kids were more certain they admired than that they knew. The gift she had given Tony was to let him in.
    Now he did not wish to rush her. ‘I guess we’ve still got things to work out.’
    She gave him a pensive look. But her voice had a quiet resolve. ‘No,’ she answered. ‘I know what I want now.’
    Silent, Tony kissed her. They would end what they had started, he thought, on the summer night that had torn them both apart.
    The night had been warm, even for Lake City in the summer; wearing T-shirts and shorts, the four of them had cut through Alison’s backyard, down the steps from the cliff to the Taylors’ mooring, and then over to the public beach of the park that, like the old house that was now the library, had belonged to Alison’s family before they gave it to the city, and years later still bore their name.
    The beach was sandy, soft enough for sitting on or making out. Lake Erie was befouled; a somewhat fetid smell hung over the water, the sources of which did not bear close thought. But they were seventeen, and this was all the beach they had.
    They built a campfire with driftwood and kerosene, cooked hot dogs. Sam had brought the beer; good-naturedly, he popped the tops off the cool brown bottles of Carling he had bought with fake ID and handed them each a beer. Once more, it struck Tony that they were a somewhat curious foursome: whereas Alison plainly liked Sue, she seemed to look at Sam with wariness, as if observing a natural phenomenon whose course she could not quite predict. Still, she was willing to admit that Sam brought to most occasions a sense of fun and a certain magnetism; Tony knew that Alison felt it too, even if Sam sometimes called her the ‘Ice Queen.’
    They sat back, drinking beer, in no hurry. The moon was large and full, its light refracting on the water that lapped against the shore. Beneath the quiet, Tony noticed Sam studying Alison, then him.
    Tony could guess why. Though it was never spoken among the four of them, everyone knew that Sam and Sue had been doing it for months. With Tony, Sam was quite open about this, and expected reciprocity. But Tony had nothing to offer. Just the week before, he had said as much yet again.
    Sam’s eyes widened. ‘After six months?’ he said with exaggerated amazement. ‘Come on, Tony, don’t be such a fucking gentleman. Not with me .’
    â€˜I’m not being a gentleman. I guess Alison figures she has some say in who gets to be the first.’
    Sam’s eyes glinted with amusement. ‘She never has?’
    Tony shook his head. ‘And if that ever changes, don’t expect to hear it from me. . . .’
    Now, Sam looked at Alison and said,