Free Nowhere To Run by Carolyn Davidson Page A

sisters do she guessed. He had seemed so unanchored in his early adult life, each new passion he encountered taking him headlong down a new route. There was a time when she had reason to be worried, before he had moved back to the area and begun his police training. What was planned as a couple months’ trip to visit a friend who had settled in Spain in his early twenties had turned into half a decade of drifting around the world. When he came back for his sporadic visits she had barely recognized him.
    She had asked her brother what he did on his travels, how he made a living and how long he stayed in one place, but never got a straight answer. He would give his classic Alex smile, white teeth flashing in his usually tanned and stubbled face and say something glib, like that the world was there for exploring, and he was aiming to reach each corner.
    His visits home would leave her feeling vaguely unsettled, like she didn’t really know who her brother was anymore. It may have been partly due to the fact that her life was simultaneously becoming more and more ingrained in the rooted details of family life that raised these feelings, but she couldn’t help but wonder what it was that drove Alex to keep moving, to never staying in one place long enough to forge any lasting relationships. There was something beyond the wolfish grin he would give her before messing her hair in the teasing way that had maddened her since their teenage years, something that hinted at a hunger or detachment that worried her.
    Alex had returned home after their parents’ accident, and although he had told her his intent was to stay only as long as the funeral and its aftermath, he hadn’t ended up leaving at all, surprising her by enrolling in police college, something he’d never expressed an interest in as far as she knew.
    It had turned out to suit him well, she thought now, having a job that he was passionate about had harnessed all of his energy in to one direction. Anyhow, Olivia reminded herself, she should focus on her own problems instead of her brother’s.
    The two children playing happily in front of her caused her no worries beyond the typical scrapes and stresses of parenthood. Her marriage, on the other hand, she knew could use some work. It was hard to find time for a relationship separate from the demands of parenting, and there was no question that Tony was spending longer and longer hours at the office these days. It seemed churlish to complain when he was working to provide for his family; their home was comfortable and Olivia had taken a number of years off of work to care for the children. But she was aware in the brief moments she allowed herself, or had time to acknowledge, that she felt little connection to Tony these days, and couldn’t honestly say she believed his late evenings were all spent tied to the desk in the office.
    The insistent call of “Mommy” cut into her thoughts and she stood up abruptly, brushing an errant leaf from her lap. “Snack time girls,” she said, corralling the twins towards the house.
    *
    Back at the station Alex whistled through his teeth as he pulled up Lee Daly’s record on his computer screen. He had had no trouble putting a man to the description Don Broadbent provided. This was one of the parts of police work he liked best, digging around in the dirt. Some bones you found had no relevance and you discarded them, while others helped make the whole animal when you put them together.
    No great red flags waving in this case, but an arrest in the man’s twenties for being in possession of an amount of marijuana classified as beyond personal use had landed him one month in jail and two years’ probation. It pointed to a character that might find it easy to venture outside the lines of the law. To make the leap to murder might be a stretch, but paired with the possibility of the man watching Sarah in the weeks before her death it definitely merited a visit and a close check of the