The Wrong Man: A Novel of Suspense Read Online Free

reason for her good mood. Her dinner with Matt Healy was just hours away. She felt herself craving both his company and his touch.
    She chose a pale gray jersey dress for the night, one that was loose fitting, but clung in the right places. And she picked the sexiest bra and panties she owned.
    She treated herself to a cab uptown so she wouldn’t feel frazzled. The building turned out to be a high-rise luxury, not farfrom Lincoln Center. She gave Matt’s name to the concierge and he nodded, lifting the intercom phone out of its cradle.
    “Is he expecting you?” he asked.
    “Yes,” she said. She felt a rush of nervous excitement.
    Before the concierge could buzz the apartment, a woman interrupted, asking about a package delivery.
    “18C,” the concierge told Kit, confirming what she already knew. “I’ll tell him you’re on the way up.” Then he redirected his attention back to the other woman.
    Kit rode the elevator to eighteen, feeling her pulse rate accelerate. “ Easy , girl,” she told herself. “You don’t want to be foaming at the mouth when you arrive.” After finding the right apartment, she pressed the buzzer. The door began to swing open and she smiled expectantly.
    But the man standing on the other side of the threshold wasn’t Matt. Kit’s eyes darted toward the number on the door. Yes, this was C. Had she heard the letter incorrectly?
    “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m looking for Matt Healy. I must have the wrong apartment.”
    “Well, I’m Matt Healy,” the man said. “Who are you?”

chapter 2
     
    For a moment she couldn’t process what he’d just said. Instead, as she stared at the man’s unfamiliar features, other phrases kept tumbling through her brain: wrong apartment, wrong building, wrong street, wrong day, wrong something .
    But then, finally, his words computed: “ I’m Matt Healy. ”
    So where was the other Matt Healy? The one who was supposed to be serving her chili or stir-fry or whatever guys whipped up when they invited you for dinner? It felt as if she’d accidentally exited a building from a different door than the one she’d entered and was on the wrong street now, momentarily discombobulated.
    “I—I don’t understand,” Kit stammered. “Is this some kind of joke?”
    He smiled. Pleasant seeming, not acting at all cagey. For the first time, she really took in his appearance. Nice enough looking. Strawberry-blond hair. Blue eyes. He was dressed casually, in an untucked, long-sleeved dress shirt and a pair of brown cords, but he exuded a buttoned-up vibe. Lawyer/banker type.
    “Well, not a joke I’m playing,” he said. “Why exactly are you here?”
    “To see a man I know named Matt Healy. We had plans.”
    He shrugged. “Like I said, I’m Healy and I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”
    “But the doorman,” she said, really flummoxed now. “He—he told me to go right up.”
    “Yeah, I know. He rang to say someone named Kit was on the way up. I said I wasn’t expecting anyone but by that time you’d hopped on the elevator. I figured he got the name wrong, and it was probably a friend of mine dropping by to say hi.”
    Instinctively, she bit her lip, trying to think, trying to make sense of the rabbit hole she seemed to have fallen down. Maybe, by a freakish chance, there were two guys named Matt Healy in the building. But this was the apartment number Matt had given her. A revelation fought its way across a threshold in her mind. Had she been played ? Tricked for some reason she didn’t understand?
    “Look,” the guy said, “maybe there’s an explanation. Do you want to come in for a minute and we’ll try to sort it out?”
    Down the long hall, the drone of a TV leaked beneath the door of another apartment but that was the only sound. No, she certainly didn’t want to come in.
    Shaking her head, she wondered what to do next. Her confusion began to morph into anger. If the man she’d had dinner with hadn’t wanted to see her again,