Free DEAD BY WEDNESDAY by Beverly Long Page B

presence of her father, she told her mom the news. I guess there were lots of tears but it sounds as if everybody held it together.”
    He felt a chill run down the back of his neck. Which was crazy because the air from outside was blowing in his face. “Don’t let your guard down around that man. There’s something about him that I really didn’t like.”
    “I won’t. But I’m hopeful that he’ll get past his disappointment in his daughter and give her the support she needs.”
    “I don’t think his daughter was too confident of that and she knows him best, right?”
    “Yes, but teenagers don’t have the reasoning skills to understand that adults, once they’ve had time to assimilate new information, have the capability to deal with all kinds of things. When a kid messes up, she can’t imagine that her parent will ever be able to understand why she did it or how she could have made such a mistake.”
    Her eyes were serious and her voice soft. There was pain in both and he wasn’t sure what had put it there. “But I bet you’re good at painting the picture that things can get better,” he said, wanting to make her smile again.
    It must have worked. She lifted her water glass. “Here’s to sharp crayons,” she said. And she took a big drink. “How was your day?”
    “Cold,” he said. “Irritating because we’re not making more progress on the case. Plus,” he added, “I had to go see my mother. Her husband is leaving her.” He wasn’t sure why he told her. He never talked about his mother.
    “Oh, no,” Carmen said.
    He waved a hand. “It’s okay. I mean, she’s sad and all. But she’s been through this before. Sometimes she’s even the leaver, not the leavee.”
    She was looking at him as if he had two heads.
    “I know that sounds bad. But she’s been married six times and she’s had a couple live-ins, as well.”
    “I see,” said Carmen.
    There was no way. Nobody could understand it.
    “She likes being with someone, being part of a pair,” Carmen said.
    That was a nice way to put it. “Yeah, well, she’s the left shoe and she enjoys the search for the right shoe very much, but then she quickly tires of wearing the same pair so she has to go shoe shopping again.”
    She smiled. “I bet she’s fun.”
    He nodded. “She is and she’s my mom so I can’t stay irritated with her for very long.”
    “Of course not,” Carmen said.
    Five minutes later, they got in the cold car and he drove to her apartment. “It will probably be hard to find parking,” she said. “You can just drop me off.”
    He smiled and kept driving. She wasn’t getting rid of him that easily.
    As they neared the building, she put her hand on the door handle. It looked as if she was ready to make a break for it.
    “I’ll walk you in,” he said. “I want to make sure Raoul’s doing okay,” he added.
    He found a parking spot, pulled in and was around the car before she could get her seat belt undone. They walked up the stairs to her apartment and she unlocked her door.
    When she opened the door to the apartment, he saw that almost every light in the apartment was on. They hadn’t been when they’d left. That was a good sign that Raoul had been up and about, so maybe the kid was feeling better.
    “I’m going to check him,” she said.
    He watched her walk down the short hallway, appreciating the view. Her slacks weren’t tight but just snug enough to hint at a nicely rounded bottom.
    He heard the door open and then slam shut. When Carmen returned to the living room, her face was pale and her eyes were big. Robert’s protective instincts shot up a notch.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked, already moving closer.

Chapter Seven
    “He’s gone,” she said. “He’s not in his bedroom.”
    “Check the other rooms,” Robert instructed.
    It didn’t take her long. There was only her room and the bathroom. She came back into the hallway and shook her head.
    “Does he have a cell phone?” Robert