Free The Cabin by Carla Neggers Page B

Destin never knew when to quit—and some-
    times she wondered if she quit too soon.

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    Carla Neggers
    She thought of Jack, what he might be doing late on
    a Thursday afternoon. Would he quit on her? Had she
    already quit on him?
    Her eyes filled with sudden tears, and she quickly
    shut down her computer and packed up her briefcase,
    turned off the coffeepot. It had been a lousy day, but at
    least tonight was chowder night at Jim’s Place.

    ��
    Five

    Jack unlocked the door to his empty house and stood
    in the kitchen, staring at a picture of Maggie and Ellen
    on the refrigerator. He’d taken it over the holidays. They
    had their midwinter break coming up, but they were
    spending it in the Adirondacks at Susanna’s new cabin.
    Snowshoeing. Cross-country skiing. “Freezing our butts
    off,” Maggie had said less than enthusiastically in their
    last conversation.
    He could join them. He had that open invitation from
    his wife to see the cabin.
    He smiled, thinking of what Susanna would do if he
    turned up out of the blue with a pair of snowshoes
    strapped to his back. He’d made it clear it was up to her
    to come home and figure things out here, not up to him
    to go there. It wasn’t just a matter of digging in his
    heels and forcing her to toe the line—it made sense.
    Maggie, Ellen and Iris would all be distractions. He and
    Susanna needed time alone, on familiar turf.
    So far, that strategy wasn’t working. Whatever time

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    Carla Neggers
    they’d managed to have alone during this endless stale-
    mate, they’d spent in bed. That suited him, but it wasn’t
    getting the job done—Susanna was still living with her
    grandmother in Boston. And he had to admit he was
    using his work to distract himself, taking the hardest
    cases, working the longest hours.
    He got a beer from the refrigerator and went out onto
    the patio and found a spot in the late afternoon sun.
    There’d been nothing on Alice Parker since she’d
    cleared out of San Antonio a month ago. Her former po-
    lice chief boss said he hadn’t heard from her. She had
    no family left in the area. Her parents were drug addict
    transients who hadn’t been heard from in years. They’d
    abandoned Alice to the care of her paternal grandmother
    when she was twelve, a good woman by all accounts,
    but she died five years ago.
    “She’s probably feeding the kangaroos in Australia
    by now,” the chief had told Jack.
    He wasn’t so sure. Alice Parker had unfinished busi-
    ness in south Texas, and he’d be happier knowing where
    she was.
    Jack stared up at the vibrant, golden sunset. He sup-
    posed he should get some supper, but he didn’t want to
    move. He wanted to sit here a while and think about the
    Rachel McGarrity murder investigation, Beau McGar-
    rity, Alice Parker, a contaminated crime scene, a fabri-
    cated witness and his wife.
    He had a mind to check with a travel agent in the
    morning and see about flying into the Adirondacks.
    What was the closest airport? Albany? Montreal? Bur-
    lington, Vermont? He’d rent a car, and he’d drive out to

    The Cabin
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    Blackwater Lake, find this damn cabin and surprise the
    hell out of one Susanna Dunning Galway.
    Susanna slid onto a stool at Jim Haviland’s bar and or-
    dered a bowl of clam chowder. The girls were with
    friends, and Gran had already been in and was home
    watching a game show, still trying to decide whether she’d
    come up to Blackwater Lake with them on Saturday.
    “Destin was in earlier asking for you,” Jim said, set-
    ting the steaming chowder in front of Susanna.
    She groaned. “I hope you told him I never come in
    here anymore. He’s driving me nuts. I’m tempted to in-
    vest in this new idea of his just to shut him up.”
    “Is it a good idea?”
    “I don’t know. I won’t let him tell me about it. Jim, I
    just can’t give him the kind of money he’s asking for—”
    He held up a big hand. “Hey, you don’t have to ex-
    plain to me.”
    She sighed. “Destin’s