THE FBI THRILLERS COLLECTION Books 1-5 by Catherine Coulter Read Free Book Online

father.”
    She didn’t say anything, just shook her head.
    “Listen to me, Sally. He’s dead. Your damned father is dead. That couldn’t have been him on the phone. That means that it must have been either a recording of his voice or a person who could mimic him very well.”
    “Yes,” she said, still staring into the brandy.
    “Obviously someone knows you’re here. Someone wants to frighten you.”
    She looked up at him then, and remarkably, she smiled. It was a lovely smile, free of fear, free of stress. He found himself smiling back at her. “That someone succeeded admirably,” she said. “I’m scared out of my mind. I’m sorry I attacked you.”
    “I would have attacked me too if I had burst through the front door like that.”
    “I don’t know if the call was long distance. If it was long distance, then I’ve got some time to decide what to do.” She paused, then stiffened. She didn’t move, but he got the feeling that she’d just backed a good fifteen feet away from him. “You know who I am, don’t you? I didn’t realize it before, but you know.”
    “Yes, I know.”
    “How?”
    “I saw your photo on TV, also some footage of you with your father and your mother.”
    “Amabel assures me that no one in The Cove willrealize who I am. She says no one besides her has a TV except for Thelma Nettro, who’s older than dust.”
    “You don’t have to worry that I’ll shout it around. In fact, I promise to keep it to myself. I was in the World’s Greatest Ice Cream Shop when I met your aunt. A Sherry Vorhees mentioned that you were visiting. Your aunt didn’t say a word about who you were.” Lying was an art, he thought, watching her assess his words. The trick was always to lean as much as possible toward the exact truth. It was a trick some of the town’s citizens could benefit from.
    She was frowning, her hands clasped around the glass. Her foot was tapping on the linoleum.
    “Who is after you?”
    Again she gave him a smile, but this one was mocking and underlaid with so much fear he fancied he could smell it. She fiddled with the napkin holder, saying while she straightened the napkins that had dumped onto the table, “You name someone and he’d probably be just one in a long line.”
    She was sitting across from one of those someones. Damnation, he hated this. He’d thought it would be so easy. When would he learn that people were never what they seemed? That smile of hers was wonderful. He wanted to feed her.
    She said suddenly, “The strangest thing happened the first night I was here, just two nights ago. I woke up in the middle of the night at the sound of a person’s cry. It was a person, I know it was. I went into the hall upstairs to make sure something wasn’t happening to Amabel, but when the cry came again I knew it was from outside. Amabel said I’d imagined it. It’s true that I’d had a horrible nightmare, a vivid memory in the form of a dream, actually, but the screams pulled me out of the dream. I know that. I’m sure of it. Anyway, I went back to bed, but I know I heard Amabel leave the house after that. You’re a private detective. What do you make of that?”
    “You want to be my client? It’ll cost you big bucks.”
    “My father was rich, not me. I don’t have a cent.”
    “What about your husband? He’s a big tycoon lawyer, isn’t he?”
    She stood up like a shot. “I think you should leave now, Mr. Quinlan. Perhaps it’s just because you’re a private detective and it’s your job to ask questions, but you’ve crossed the line. I’m none of your business. Forget what you saw on TV. Very little of it was true. Please go.”
    “All right,” he said. “I’ll be in The Cove for another week. You might ask your aunt if she remembers two old folk named Harve and Marge Jensen. They were in a new red Winnebago, and they probably drove into town to buy some of the World’s Greatest Ice Cream. Like I told you, the reason I’m here is because their