Free She's Not There by Marla Madison

house.

22
     

Six years earlier
    She was the one—the woman of his dreams—the one woman he could trust. Her name was Allyson.
    Intrigued by the anonymity and simplicity of meeting women online, he found her in a chat room for singles. They exchanged emails for weeks before their first meeting late at night in a small coffee shop. Thrilled when Allyson turned out to be as lovely as the picture she’d sent, he suspected his own good looks put her off—she’d been nervous and shy the entire time they’d been together.
    Two more such meetings ensued, both under the cover of night, both in out-of-the-way places. He decided not to pressure her for more; the right time for them to be together would come soon enough.
    He’d wait.
    The next time she wanted him to meet late at night, he asked if she was married.
    ”I’m not. But there is something I have to tell you. I’m going to my class reunion Saturday. If you can pick me up after the dance Saturday night, we can spend some time together and I’ll explain everything.”
    Anticipating an intimate evening with her, he sloughed off her mysterious words and booked a hotel suite near the college. He imagined her in bed with him and could almost feel her silken skin against his; hear her crying out his name when he made love to her.
    But another, darker, image kept imposing itself over the bedroom scene—an exciting image, enticingly wicked. He couldn’t wait to be with her.

23
     
    Friday morning when Lisa arrived at the office, Shannon was waiting for her at the door with a cup of coffee. “I thought about calling you when I got home last night, but you said you were going out, so I had to wait until this morning to tell you the news.”
    “Tell me what?”
    “We had an intruder last night!” Shannon’s dark eyes were bright with excitement.
    “An intruder?”
    “Sure seemed like it.” Shannon repeated what she’d seen and heard the night before.
    “You must have been terrified. What did they say at the police station?”
    “Stan was there. He promised that they’d have whoever was on patrol last night check out our building every time they passed through town.” She paused, breathless. “He said we needed a security system.”
    Lisa snorted. “For what? No one keeps money here and neither of our computers are anything a thief would want.”
    “Yeah, I told him that.”
    Frowning, Lisa looked around the room. “You’ve succeeded in spooking me. Now I’m seeing things that look out of place.” She glanced over at her file cabinets. Top-of-the line, they were equipped with an ultra-secure lock system, and appeared untouched. But some of her things seemed out of order.
    “Are you sure? Do you want me to call Stan?”
    “No, I’m not sure, and don’t call Stan yet. Wouldn’t the lock be broken or something if someone had gotten in?”
    Shannon’s pale complexion turned white. “Oh my god! What if when I thought I heard something, it wasn’t someone trying to get in but someone already in, leaving?”
    “The door looks all right, and it’s still locked, so that couldn’t have happened.”
    “But it could have,” Shannon argued, her voice rising an octave. “That door has the kind of lock that can be locked on your way out.”
    “Maybe you were just spooked by the wind.”
    “Lisa, you haven’t got a real complicated lock on that door. I bet I could open it with a screwdriver and a credit card.”
    Shannon had a point. Lisa hadn’t worried about security because she didn’t keep any valuables on the premises, but her files were another matter. “All right, but forget calling Stan. Nothing’s missing. Call a locksmith and have the locks changed to something more secure. It was probably just a kid from the neighborhood out for a thrill, but it feels intrusive.”
    Shannon persisted. “There’s a good locksmith close by and I’ll call him right away, but we still have to tell the police. And you have to be sure nothing is missing. You