Free Finding Harmony (Katie & Annalise Book 3) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins Page A

meantime, I had work to do, and apparently Nick had piled a bunch of crap on my desk before he left. I started to move the stack of paper to the floor but stopped when I recognized maps of the refinery. This was no longer my business, since he had dismissed me from the Petro-Mex case “for my own safety,” but I began to study the pages one by one. They were printouts of the harbor and the huge field of tanks, shipping schedules from the Petro-Mex harbor, and a stack of emails to and from Eddy Monroe. I read every last word of them, but nothing held any significance for me. I set Nick’s papers on the floor and logged into my email at exactly 1:00 p.m. I loved catching a clock with double zeros.
    As I browsed my inbox, the power suddenly cut out and my screen went black. Damn, another power outage? I looked up as the ceiling fan’s blades slowed. The digital display on the clock was black. I waited a few beats for the generator to kick on—nothing. I walked to the second story landing and leaned out.
    “Kurt? Can you hear me?” I called.
    “Ye-ah,” he shouted. His Maine accent drew the word out into at least two syllables.
    “I think the power is off, but the generator didn’t kick on.”
    Silence for several seconds. “Umm, no, the power is working fine down here.” Hee-yah, I heard.
    “Weird, because everything lost power in the office.”
    “I’ll check the breaker.” Bray-kuh.
    As I stood at the railing, galloping my fingers and thinking about Kurt’s Maine accent instead of the oogie things that kept happening in my house, Oso slipped out of Taylor’s room and lay down at my feet.
    Kurt returned. “Nope, breaker’s fine.”
    “OK, let me re-check. Thanks.”
    “Yup.”
    I went back into the office with Oso and flicked the light switch on and off. Nothing. The fan was motionless. All screens displayed black. And then I heard the whine of a computer coming to life. That was more like it. I walked over to my computer, but the noise wasn’t coming from there. I looked over at Nick’s desk and my throat constricted as I saw the Windows logo come to life on his screen. What the hell? His computer hadn’t even been on before the power went out. And, still, nothing else in the room had powered up yet. I fell back into my chair hard. White spots on a black background danced before my eyes, then thinned out as my focus returned.
    I stepped unsteadily over to Nick’s desk and pulled his chair under me. His screen glowed in 256 colors and his Outlook email auto-loaded in its startup sequence. I typed in his password, katie18annalise, and his inbox filled the right-hand side of the screen. Unread after unread message, ten in total, all from today, and several read messages from the Petro-Mex security manager, José Ramirez, last night. I opened each one, looking for a clue to my husband’s whereabouts. The messages from Ramirez were the source of the printouts from Eddy’s computer. Nothing about the site of Nick’s interviews today.
    And then his screen went black, and his computer died.
    I sat in the silent, dark office with the wind blowing through my hair. Oso whined and I reached down to pet him. The fur on his back stood on end, and that’s when I finally understood.

Chapter Eight
    I would regret the sharp tone of my voice, I knew. “I am still waiting to see Detective Tutein. I’ve been here since seven a.m.”
    “Have a seat, miss. Detective Tutein very busy today,” the female officer manning the front desk explained again.
    “My husband is missing! I spoke with Detective Tutein last night. He is expecting me!” Sharp became shrill, and my fellow sufferers in the crowded waiting room turned to watch me. “Have you told him I’m here?”
    “I sure he come by soon.”
    “Is Officer Morris here?” I said, referring to Jacoby’s former partner. He would help me. I knew he would.
    “Morris move down island Easter last. His wife homesick.” She sniffed. “Please have a seat,