The Cabin by Carla Neggers Read Free Book Online Page B

thought he’d care a lot. And wouldn’t
    like it. That he especially wouldn’t like that she hadn’t
    told him. Not that he’d asked. Not that he’d shown any
    interest whatsoever.
    In the months before she’d headed north to join Mag-
    gie and Ellen, he’d talked very little about his own work.
    Things hadn’t been right between them even before
    Beau McGarrity had walked into her kitchen.
    The wind picked up, slapping her in the face as if to
    get her attention. Maggie and Ellen had been back five
    days, still filled with tales of friends, vintage clothing
    scores, Jane Austen, and Dad this and Dad that. Susanna
    was pleased they’d enjoyed their visit home, and they’d
    had the grace to say they’d missed her. She wondered
    if they’d be happy about the snow.
    She turned up Gran’s narrow street of mostly big,
    multifamily homes built in the late nineteenth and early
    twentieth century. Iris Dunning had managed to buy

    The Cabin
    53
    one of the few single-family houses on the street, an
    1896 two-story stucco with a glassed-in front porch, an
    open back porch and a detached one-car garage, not that
    common in crowded Somerville. She’d planted flower-
    ing trees and perennial gardens, battling skunks, cats,
    raccoons and the occasional neighborhood miscreant.
    Susanna kicked off her boots in the front hall and
    found her daughters doing their homework in the din-
    ing room. Gran was already off to Jim’s Place for clam
    chowder. She never missed chowder night.
    “Dad called,” Maggie said. She was wrapped in a
    1950s shawl she’d found in Gran’s attic and had on fin-
    gerless Bob Cratchit gloves. Drama, Susanna thought.
    Gran liked to keep the house cool, but not that cool. “He
    wants you to call him back. He said to call him on his
    cell phone.”
    Ellen looked up from her laptop. “We told him about
    the snow. Mom, can you believe less than a week ago
    we were in south Texas and now it’s snowing? I hope
    they cancel school.”
    Susanna smiled. “Be careful what you wish for.
    Gran’ll put you to work shoveling.”
    She grabbed the portable phone off the clunky din-
    ing room table and sat in a chair badly in need of refin-
    ishing. It was a comfortable, lived-in room with its dark
    woodwork and flowered wallpaper. Her parents liked to
    tease Gran about coming in and redoing the place, strip-
    ping the wallpaper, tearing up the rugs, getting rid of all
    her tacky artwork, but she paid no attention. She was
    happy with her house just the way it was. As long as the
    roof didn’t leak, she didn’t plan to change a thing.

    54
    Carla Neggers
    Susanna dialed Jack’s number, and he answered on
    the first ring. “I’m on the patio,” he said, laying on his
    slow, deep Texas drawl. “It’s a beautiful night.”
    “Liar. It’s in the fifties and raining.”
    “Ah. You checked.”
    “Only because we’re tracking a nor’easter. Thank
    God it didn’t blow in last week when the girls were fly-
    ing. What’s up?”
    “I wanted you to know Alice Parker is out of prison.
    She took a room in San Antonio for a few days. Now
    she’s gone. Her friends in prison say she was obsessed
    with Australia. Maybe she’s headed in that direction.”
    His voice was businesslike, but not matter-of-fact.
    Susanna glanced at the girls, both pretending not to be
    listening. Maggie was frowning over her math home-
    work, Ellen tapping keys on her laptop.
    “She’d need a passport, money—” Susanna took a
    breath, noticing that Maggie and Ellen were no longer
    making any pretense of studying. “Jack, are you wor-
    ried she’ll come after you? You investigated her. She
    thinks it’s your fault no one’s ever been charged in Ra-
    chel McGarrity’s murder.”
    “Alice Parker isn’t required to tell me or anyone else
    where she is or what she’s doing. Provided she doesn’t
    break the law, she can do whatever she wants.”
    Susanna frowned. “Then why tell me she was re-
    leased from prison?”
    He