River's Edge Read Online Free Page A

here drilling everybody who came in last night. I’m thinking they probably had a fight and she ran off for the night. She’ll turn up this morning, and they’ll get it all worked out, I reckon. They have to. Neither one of them would want to jeopardize the mayoral debate.”
    Blair took her coffee and turned back to Cade. “How long’s she been missing?”
    “Not quite twenty-four hours, best we can tell. But I didn’t see any point in waiting after Ben reported it. If she shows up today, so much the better.”
    She thought that over as she took a sip. “The stress of this debate probably got their tempers flaring. Ben can’t be easy to live with right now.”
    “He’s convinced something happened to her.”
    “Well, we both know that Ben’s usually wrong. Does make for a more interesting story about the debate, though. I was picturing a big front-page article with a bunch of sound bites from their dogfight this morning, but now I can talk about missing wives and the stress this has put on the families. Heaven knows, it’s been stressful for mine. Morgan has been so tense you can hardly talk to her. You’d think Jonathan’s been in politics for years.”
    “Don’t exploit it, Blair. There’s not a story there yet.”
    Blair tried not to look insulted. “Me? Hey, I just report the truth. You know I don’t embellish.”
    “Every journalist embellishes, and your imagination is right up there with the best of them.”
    “You know I’m fair.” At least, she hoped he knew. Before, when she had lived by her own set of rules, she might have exaggerated for the sake of subscriptions. But her life had changed. Just weeks ago, she had given her life to Christ, and everything had changed. Now, even in her work, she tried to live by the biblicalprinciples of honesty and love. It wasn’t always easy—sometimes she just didn’t get it—but God was teaching her.
    Cade slipped off the stool and got his cane. “I’ve got to go.”
    She tried to hide her disappointment. “You don’t have time to eat?”
    “I had a bowl of cereal at home.” His voice dropped to a deep bass as he leaned in close to her ear. “I just came to see you.”
    She smiled up at him, knowing that her feelings flashed like neon through the transparency of her eyes. He grinned as he limped out the door, letting the screen door bounce behind him.
    When she turned back, she saw the Colonel grinning at her. “What?”
    He started to chuckle. “You’ve got it as bad as he does.”
    Laughing softly, she brought the cup to her lips and hid behind it, hoping the Colonel hadn’t read Cade wrong.

CHAPTER 6
    T here was bad blood between Cade and Ben Jackson, but Cade knew he had to put it out of his mind during the course of this case. He couldn’t dwell on rumors and stretched truths, on Ben’s unfounded criticism of his department and Ben’s promises to fire Cade if he was elected. If anything, Cade had overcompensated on Lisa’s case to prove he wasn’t holding anything against him. Most departments wouldn’t even start a search until she’d been missing twenty-four hours, but Cade had a special interest in missing persons since he had so recently been one himself. It didn’t matter that Lisa’s husband was out to destroy him.
    Cade knew Ben would have called him if he’d heard from Lisa, but he decided to go by his house after leaving Cricket’s, just to update him on the search. He found Morgan and Jonathan there, and while it surprised him that Ben would have let Jonathan into his house, he was glad the man wasn’t alone. Morgan was known as one of the chief comforters on the island—one of the first to show up after any tragedy with a casserole and a hug.
    Jonathan, who had grown more compassionate since becoming a pastor, would have a harder time comforting his political rival. But Cade knew his buddy was up to the task.
    Ben looked even worse than he had last night. His eyes had a wild fear about them and his hands