Free Untraceable by Laura Griffin Page B

planted a witness to some imaginary fight?
    Or was it possible there was another side to Melanie, a side Alex knew nothing about? In addition to the trembling, terrified victim who’d gone through a box of Kleenex in Alex’s office, maybe Melanie also happened to be a loudmouth drunk who didn’t mind humiliating her husband at his workplace.
    But if she truly was afraid of him, why spark his temper in such a dramatic way?
    It didn’t make sense. And it put the first nugget of doubt in Alex’s mind. Maybe she didn’t know Melanie quite as well as she thought she did.
    Melanie’s return to Austin had been stupid. And her actions once she’d come back had been sloppy. But Alex’s background investigation had been sloppy, too.
    Of course, none of that accounted for why Coghan was spending his workdays in Captain’s Point, stopping in at various houses. Alex passed the first of three homes that had been on Coghan’s agenda. She turned a corner and drove past the other two. Yesterday, each of the three houses had had cars in the driveway. Now, as dusk fell over the hillside, those driveways were empty.
    Alex parked her Saturn down the street at a utility easement. After her run-in with Nathan, she’d dropped by the office to give Sophie back her Tahoe. Alex had been curt to the point of rudeness, and her new assistant was probably wondering what had put her in such a bitchy mood. But Alex hadn’t explained. Instead, she’d sent Sophie home, closed up shop for the night, and come here.
    Expensive gas lamps flickered along Treasure Trail as Alex hiked up the hill to the first house on her list. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of nosy neighbors out and about. But Alex liked to be prepared for contingencies, so she’d tucked a clipboard under her arm. On it was a petition for improving water quality, which gave her a reason to be wandering around the neighborhood gleaning information from people.
    A breeze cooled her bare arms as she neared the house. The two-story entrance was lit by an outdoor chandelier. No interior lights on, though. No cars, no dogs barking, no flutter of movement behind the closed curtains. It looked like no one was home, but she made her way up the cobblestone sidewalk and rang the bell anyway. After several minutes of waiting, she walked around to the wooden gate leading to the backyard.
    She hesitated a moment, listening for the slightest growl or rustle of plants that would mean she wasn’t alone. Then she stepped into the yard and quietly closed the gate behind her. In the dimness, she could barely make out the shape of a spacious swimming pool surrounded by rocks. The water looked murky. Dark shapes hovered at the bottom, and it took her a moment to realize they were leaves. And branches. From the looks of it, the pool hadn’t been cleaned in months.
    Alex stepped closer to the house, beneath a covered patio where the visibility was even worse. She pulled a penlight from her bag and shone it around.
    An empty terra-cotta planter stood beside the column closest to Alex. The plant in it was shriveled and dead. Other than that, the patio was empty—no chairs or chaise lounges or stainless-steel barbecue pits.
    And then she got it. Duh. This was a vacant house. She aimed her light inside the windows to confirm it. Not a stick of furniture anywhere, not even a rug—just bare tile floors.
    What the hell? Alex checked the other two houses on her list and found them vacant, too. She drove out of Captain’s Point more puzzled than ever. What had Coghan been doing here?
    Alex pondered the question all the way across town until her grumbling stomach broke her concentration. She hadn’t eaten all day, so she pulled into a Dairy Queen and ordered a Hunger Buster with cheese, a chocolate milk shake, and fries. While she waited at the window, she took out her phone and logged onto Google.
    The first two addresses netted nothing, but she got a hit with the third. It came up as part of the online