Nowhere to Hide Read Online Free

Harrigan write as Doris spoke. Why weren’t his eyes on Doris? Body language and tone of voice were more important than taking notes. What kind of a cop was he?
    “ Well, Mrs. Walters,” he said. “That’s all very interesting, but it doesn’t tell me where Jeffrey is. If you can put me in touch with him, I can call Mrs. Simon and put her mind at ease.”
    “ Pah! Her mind won’t be at ease until he gives her another handout. But you can’t reach Jeffrey. He’s in Alaska.”
    “ Alaska?” Colleen asked. She waited for Harrigan to push, but he remained silent. None of her business. He was the cop.
    “ Yes, Alaska. He left about six weeks ago. He buys and sells land, you know. There’s a lot of that in Alaska.”
    Harrigan spoke. “Do you have any way to reach him? Hotel, phone, anything?”
    Doris took off her glasses and held them aloft, peered through them, exhaled on them, then wiped the lenses again. “E-mail, maybe. He has a cell phone, but I don’t think there’s much service where he goes. I had an e-mail from him last week, so you can tell Miss Moneygrubber he’s fine.”
    “ Do you think you could give me his cell number? Or his e-mail address?” Harrigan asked. “The name of his company? Someone he works with?”
    “ What do you need all that for? I told you, his cell phone won’t work, and I had an e-mail from him. I don’t know the address. I click his name in the computer and it’s automatic.”
    Colleen could see the frustration building in Harrigan’s face. She knew as well as he did that he couldn’t force Doris to say anything, but she sympathized with him. Twenty minutes with Doris had been enough for her. Must be a carryover from the woman’s schoolteacher days, the way she spoke and tolerated no rebuttal.
    “ Thank you, Mrs. Walters,” Harrigan said. “I’ll let her know.” Doris walked through the garage to the house and closed the door behind her. Harrigan turned to Colleen. “Nice to see you again, Ms. McDonald. If you don’t mind, I have a couple of questions for you as well.”
    Her mouth went dry as paper. Colleen managed to swallow. “What can you possibly want from me? I’ve been in town all of one day.”
    “ It’s routine. Background. Let me help you with your bags. It looks like it might pour any minute.” He reached into the trunk and lifted several of the plastic shopping bags.
    As if on cue, a curtain of water moved from the street toward the house like a marching band on parade. “What the hell?” Colleen muttered.
    She grabbed some bags and started jogging toward her apartment, Harrigan right behind her. Head down, she almost ran into her suitcases stacked outside the door.
    “ Surprise, surprise,” she said. “The airline delivered the bags when they said they would. About all they did right. Then again, they lost them to begin with.” She fumbled in her purse for her house key.
    Harrigan set the plastic bags down and hoisted the suitcases. “Let me get these for you.”
    By the time she got the bags inside, he was already trotting to the car for another load. Somewhere, she knew, she’d packed an umbrella, but what did it matter? She was already soaked. She dashed after Harrigan.
    By the time everything was in the house, they were both waterlogged. “Doris was right,” Colleen said. “Florida rain plummets. I’ll get you a towel.” She toed off her sneakers and went into the bathroom. When she returned, Harrigan was still on the tiles in the foyer. Nice of him not to muddy the carpets. She tossed the towel in his direction.
    As he wiped himself down, she followed his gaze around the apartment. “Landlady seems to like green and yellow,” she said.
    “ You don’t strike me as the greenhouse type.”
    “ Once the rest of my stuff gets here, it’ll feel more like home.”
    He dried his hands, then folded the towel and held it out.
    “ You didn’t have to help, you know,” Colleen said. “One trip, and I was as wet as I could