Double Vision Read Online Free

was . . . different somehow. “Have you done something new with your makeup?”
    Nancy’s eyes clouded over; her face dropped. “No, Dad, I . . .” She stopped, turned to the girl. “Nancy. I’m Eldred’s daughter.”
    â€œNice to meet you. S.A. Teva Williams,” the girl said. She shook Nancy’s hand.
    Now that he could see them up close, it was obvious to Eldred that Nancy and this girl looked nothing alike. This girl was much younger, Nancy more mature than he was thinking. Maybe that was the way of fathers. You always held only the most flattering mental picture of your child in mind.
    â€œMay I speak with you for a moment?” Nancy asked the girl.
    â€œSure,” the girl replied.
    They stepped to the side, and Eldred watched as Nancy and the girl exchanged quick, hushed words. He looked around, the parking lot seeming to come into view for the first time. Police cars everywhere, other people sitting with blankets wrapped around them, hugging. Crying.
    A thought niggled the back of Eldred’s mind. What was happening?
    Then, the next moment, Nancy was beside him, her hand on his arm. “I’m going to sit here with you, Dad. We have to wait a little longer. Then you’re going to come back home with me for a while. How would that be?”
    â€œWhat for?”
Please explain all this.
    Nancy squeezed his shoulder. “I just don’t want you away from me right now because I can’t . . . Dad, do you remember what happened inside?”
    Heat climbed up Eldred’s face. “Remember? Of course I remember! I was just . . .”
    Then, before he could say anything else, the tears stung his eyes. He bit his lip hard, trying to stifle them, but Nancy’s frown told him she’d already seen.
    â€œOh, Dad,” she said, pulling him into a tight hug.
    He watched a few tears dribble onto his daughter’s neck before squeezing his eyes shut. With them closed, she felt like Sarah. Smelled like her. His wife was one of the few things he could remember distinctly, even if it had been years since she passed on somewhere he couldn’t follow.
    God help him if he ever lost her. He could lose everything else and still make it, but if he lost Sarah . . .
    He couldn’t lose her. Not again.
    Blood. Gunshots. Running. A monster.
    Eldred pulled away from his daughter, looked into Nancy’s eyes. “There was blood.”
    Nancy blinked. “Did you see anything, Dad? Did you see the shooter?”
    What was she talking about? “What shooter?”
    She sighed, shook her head. “Never mind.”
    And she hugged him again.

4
    O fficer Daly led Jenna and Saleda to the back warehouse where the witnesses who said they’d actually
seen
the shooter had been sequestered. Sniffles permeated the air, soft muttering as some of the less traumatized of the group whispered among themselves.
    â€œI’ll be out front if you need me,” Daly said.
    As soon as he was out of earshot, Jenna leaned in to Saleda. “You find Dodd, I find Molly?”
    â€œSounds good to me,” Saleda answered.
    Jenna scanned the crowded room, looking for the littlest witness. She’d have asked Daly about her, only technically, this wasn’t the FBI’s case yet, and Jenna didn’t want the locals homing in on the girl if it wasn’t necessary. She knew how she’d feel if it was Ayana in this room and there weren’t any parents here to look out for her.
    She wove through the crowd of people, and finally she spotted the pint-sized brunette sitting in a corner, arms wrapped around her knees. She wasn’t alone.
    The man crouched across from her looked to be in his late fifties. He gestured with his age-spotted hands as he spoke, the wisps of his tawny hair thicker at the sides of his oval-shaped head than on top.
    As Jenna approached, she could hear what he was saying to the