Cold Sweat Read Online Free

lights or trains he encountered, it took him anywhere from five to twenty minutes to get to work.
    Rich stopped at the railway tracks behind a green SUV. Two locomotives rolled by, pulling a chain of wagons as far as the eye could see.
    With nothing to do but wait, he leaned back in his seat and dug his hands into his pockets, stumbling onto the envelope Maria had given him.
    Let’s see...
    He opened it. As soon as he glimpsed the folded piece of blue paper inside, his past caught up with him, jabbing an invisible knife into his chest.
    Phoenix...
    Eighteen years later, her name still evoked heartache and regrets. With quivering heart, he unfolded the tattered piece of paper he’d read so often he could recite it in his nightmares.
    West Point, May 11th
    This is a goodbye letter, Ducky.
    On his third year at Harvard, he’d made the rowing team. During an exhibition race against West Point, he’d struck a duckling with his oar, catapulting the feathered baby into the crowd. After the race, which they’d won, a female cadet had approached him. It’d taken Rich an eternity to divert his eyes from her gorgeous blues eyes to the quacking duckling she held with her gloves.
    From that point on, she’d called him Ducky.
    Meeting your parents was a mistake I regret. Your mother refused to shake my hand and your father kept staring at my arm. Their actions made it painfully clear that you deserve a perfect woman and that I don’t belong in your family.
    She’d been perfect in every sense of the word, but his parents had treated her with contempt. His cowardly silence had reinforced their positions.
    I’m graduating on the 15th and I’m being deployed in Europe on the 18th. They want me to improve my Russian and German.
    Only in the Army would they want her to improve something she mastered better than the local residents.
    The last weekend we spent together, I asked you to come with me. You said you’d think about it. It’s been three weeks, and I still haven’t heard from you. Your lack of response speaks volumes.
    He’d chosen money over love—and lived long enough to regret it.
    Please take care of yourself.
    Love you always,
    Phoenix
    Like the mystical bird, she’d risen from the ashes, and at her touch, he’d crashed and burned.
    ***
    Gil picked up the infamous business card from Eve’s desk.
    SFS Photos - Show your Fangs and Smile
    Sly Serpent, PO Box 8888, Montana
    The male model had forgotten where he’d put the card. By the time he found it in the glove compartment of his Porsche and drove to the sheriff’s office to drop it off, it was hours later. Too late to work on the lead.
    Not a lead, a wild goose chase.
    “Four slithering eights. Fangs. Snake. That Serpent guy is a creep.” Gil dropped the card next to her keyboard. “I can’t believe Joel didn’t notice the name of the town was missing.”
    “An extra dose of grey matter isn’t a prerequisite in his line of work, that’s for sure.” A rosy tinge colored Eve’s cheeks. “Now, about that missing town. Nathan’s back was killing him last night, so he stayed up and did some research for us.”
    “You mean hacking?” Gil’s appreciation for his shrewd partner and her techie civilian husband bordered admiration. “You know you’re corrupting the poor guy, don’t you?”
    “At least he’s working for us. Now look at this.” She tipped the screen of her computer toward him. “This is a list of all the places in Montana where you can rent a postal box.”
    A low whistle wisped through his lips. “Tell me you narrowed it down to the dozen locations highlighted in pink?”
    “The actual number is thirteen.” An air of satisfaction enveloped her. With her hands over her belly, she glowed. “And yes, these are the only places where they have a box 8888. If the sheriff authorizes it, you and I could go on a road trip starting with this one.”
    With her index finger, she pointed at the town of Anaconda.
    “Anaconda?” It was a snake