Southern Lights by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page A

wandering the world. For now.
    “How is she, by the way?” Jack asked, changing the subject. He felt as though he knew her from the gallery of photos on Alexa’s desk, and he’d met her once or twice at the office. She was a pretty girl just like her mother.
    “She’s applying to college. She wants to go to Princeton, at least that’s in New Jersey. I’m scared to death she’ll get into Stanford. I don’t want her that far away. My life is going to be a wasteland when she goes.”
    He nodded and could see the real sadness in Alexa’s face. She was too young to have given up her whole life for a child. “Maybe that’s something for you to think about. You still have time to do something about it.”
    “Excuse me? This from a guy who works as hard as I do? My last date may have been in the stone age, but something tells me yours was several millennia before.” He laughed out loud at her response.
    “So take it from me, it’s a mistake. It’s too late for me now. By my age, I can either go out with younger women who want babies, and I don’t, or women my age who are angry and bitter and hate guys.”
    “And there’s nothing in between?” Alexa wondered if he had a point. She knew she was bitter herself, about Tom, and men in general. She had vowed never to trust any man again, and she hadn’t, even those she had gone out with, rare as it was. Her walls were a mile high.
    “Nope,” Jack confirmed. “Hookers. But I’m too cheap to pay for sex.” They both laughed at that, and he paid for their lunch as Alexa thanked him. “Don’t say that I don’t take you to the best places. If the theory about getting laid in exchange for a good dinner holds, you should probably kick me in the shins for lunch. How’s your stomach holding up after that salad? Feeling sick yet?”
    “Not yet. It usually takes about half an hour.” The jokes about the deli were legion, but it was just as bad as they all said, and worse. All the cops swore the jail food was better, and it probably was.
    They walked back into the building together, and Jack said he’d keep her posted on the latest developments about Quentin. The press was taking a major interest in him, and they were all being extremely careful about what they said. Reporters had already tried to interview Alexa and she declined. She was leaving that to the DA.
    Alexa spent the rest of the afternoon in meetings, worked on her file for the grand jury, and left work earlier than usual, at six o’clock. Her mother and Judge Schwartzman were coming for dinner, and Savannah had just put a chicken in the oven when she got home. She looked pretty and fresh and had played volleyball that afternoon. She was elated that they’d won against a rival school. Alexa tried to get to her games whenever she could, but it wasn’t as often as she liked. And she was struck again by the resemblance between her daughter and Luke Quentin’s victims. It made the death of all those young women seem that much worse to her.
    “How’s your big serial killer case coming?” Savannah asked her as they stood in the kitchen. Alexa was making a salad, and they had just put baking potatoes in the microwave. Her mother and Stanley Schwartzman were due in half an hour. They could chat, as they always did, until dinner was cooked.
    “It’s coming along,” Alexa answered. “I have a grand jury hearing on it in two days. How are the applications coming? Did you finish any more? I want to see them before they go out,” she reminded her, but Savannah wrote excellent essays, and her grades and board scores were high. She was going to get in everywhere. Alexa had done her job well, and Savannah was a bright girl.
    “I finished Princeton and Brown. I still have Stanford and Harvard to do. I don’t think I’ll get in anyway, they’re both too hard. GW would be okay too. And Duke.” Going to college still seemed unreal to her, like a dream, but she was excited about it. She was looking forward to