The Cabin by Carla Neggers Read Free Book Online Page A

think I’d pay you fifty
    thousand dollars for anything? ”

    50
    Carla Neggers
    “Not just anything. For a tape of you creeping out Su-
    sanna Galway in her kitchen.”
    “If there’s anything on this tape that should concern
    me—if it even exists—why wouldn’t Mrs. Galway have
    given it to her husband by now?”
    “Probably because you scared her shitless that day.
    I don’t know.” Alice paused, shrugging. “Look, Beau, I
    know you, and you’re going to chew on this until you
    can’t stand it. The idea of that tape being out there, out
    of your control, is going to drive you crazy.”
    “She could have made copies.”
    “Unlikely. I think she just wants to forget it exists.”
    “Then why not destroy it?”
    “She’s the wife of a Texas Ranger. She’s not going
    to destroy potential evidence, even if she doesn’t believe
    it’ll amount to anything. If she has, end of story. I only
    get the money if I produce the tape and no copies of it
    turn up within a reasonable period of time.”
    He tilted his head back, staring down at her in that
    superior way of his. At first, Rachel had said, she’d
    thought it was confidence—she hadn’t seen the truth
    until later. Her husband was one cold, arrogant son of
    a bitch. He’d put his first wife on a pedestal after she
    died, then tried to put Rachel on one, too, but she could
    never measure up. She was real. His dead wife was a
    mirage.
    “Miss Parker—”
    It used to be Officer Parker. She remembered that.
    She knew everyone in town, and they’d all called her Of-
    ficer Parker. “Think about it,” she said. “I’ll call you in
    a few days.”

    The Cabin
    51
    “This is extortion. Blackmail. You can’t—”
    “I’ll be in touch, Mr. Beau.” She started down the
    walk, breathing in the fresh smells of his yard. She’d
    grown up in this country. It was home. But she could
    get used to Australia. She wanted the chance. She
    glanced back at Beau McGarrity, still standing on his
    front steps, probably thinking about where he could
    bury her out back if he decided to wring her neck. Just
    as well he didn’t know she had Susanna’s tape in her
    glove compartment. “Now, you aren’t going to tell the
    Texas Rangers about our visit, are you?” she called back
    over her shoulder.
    “Get out.”
    She smiled sweetly. “I didn’t think so.”
    A nor’easter was blowing up the coast, promising to
    dump up to a foot of snow in Boston. Susanna noticed
    the first fat, wet flakes as she walked back to Gran’s from
    her subway stop. With a full schedule of client meetings,
    she’d avoided taking her car into the city. It had been a
    good day. Helping people sort out their finances and set
    up goals was one of the real pleasures of her work. It
    wasn’t just about money, numbers, calculations—it was
    about people and their lives. She had clients saving for
    their kids’ college, a first home, a year off to volunteer
    for something like Doctors Without Borders. One client
    was digging herself out of debt after a cancer scare and
    a deep depression that had nearly caused her to pull the
    plug on her life. Now she was excited, eager to knock
    off one credit card debt after another.
    Susanna wasn’t as good at following her own advice.

    52
    Carla Neggers
    She always told couples to talk about money. What did
    it mean to them? What positives and negatives did they
    associate with money from their childhoods? What did
    they want it to do for them, individually, as a couple?
    She and Jack had stopped talking about money be-
    yond the absolute basics. If the bills were paid and they
    had walking-around money, Jack didn’t care about the
    rest. “Accumulating wealth” fell somewhere after
    “watching gum surgery” on his list of things he was ex-
    cited about in his life.
    Some days Susanna thought he wouldn’t care that
    she’d invested her money and a chunk of his money,
    and, now, together, they had a net worth of ten million.
    Some days she