Web of Deceit Read Online Free Page A

… you really are dead.Why do you have to be dead?” Tears
begin to flow down her cheeks.“Since you’re in the know, what’s it
like?”
    “You wouldn’t
believe me.”
    “I want to know.”
    “Blessed is the
name of the Lord.” As the words come out of her mouth, Claire begins to change
in front of Beth’s eyes.The gray in her dark brown hair disappears,
along with her crow’s feet and laugh lines –– all the signs of her
mother’s age disappear.“It’s easy; just praise the Lord.”
    “I’m dreaming.”
    Knock. Knock.
Knock.
    “What?” Beth
musters. I miss you, Mom.
    “Hon, meet me at
the coffee shop at eight,” Elliot says.
    “What?” Beth
whines.
    “Coffee
shop—eight!” Elliot says loudly enough to be heard through the door.
    “’K!”
    Elliot’s footsteps
fade as he descends the stairs.
    Beth pulls the
comforter over her head.  While drifting back to sleep she hears the distant
thump of the apartment door closing.
    Two hours later, the alarm screeches, waking Beth from a
sound sleep.  She throws the covers back and smacks the alarm silence button
twelve feet away in under four seconds. Shower, coffee, meet Elliot at eight. Mrs. Freedman at nine. Great, one hour before the chaos starts
… plenty of time.

Chapter
2:The Case
     
    Elliot, stretched
out on one side of the plush leather sectional, stirs.Kelly is lying on
the adjacent section next to the windows on the south wall covered in the soft
gray blanket Elliot retrieved from his room.He gazes at her beautiful
features lit by the flicker of the natural gas flame from the fireplace. Beautiful,
but … not. His eyes squint to make out the time on the missionary clock
above the mantle. Four-thirty; she’ll be late. “Kelly.” He rolls upright
and leans to shake her shoulder.“Kelly,” he says louder.
    Kelly opens her
eyes slowly.“What time is it?”
    “Four-thirty.”
    “I’m gonna be
late. I am supposed to be there at five on Friday’s.”
    “You can be late
this once.”
    “Not if I want my
job.This’ll be number four.”
    “Four? Last month,
this week, or jobs?”
    “Augh!”Kelly
jumps to her feet.
    “ Relax, use
the shower.I’ll take you. You’ll be there with time to spare.” Elliot
attempts to calm Kelly with a wide smile.“The towels are in the linen
cupboard.”
    Kelly is already
closing the bathroom door behind her.
    Fifteen minutes
later, Elliot finishes his quick shower in the upstairs guest bathroom. On his
way to the stairs he stops in front of Beth’s door to knock and yell through it
for her to meet him at Odell’s. Odd, her door’s locked. It’s usually open. The
fireplace warms the upper floor of the suite during the winter.The
Barstow might be an elegant old hotel, but some of the basic utilities still
need to be modernized.The radiators upstairs do not always do an adequate
job heating when the temperature dips into the teens or below. Did she hear
me? She can be such a bear. I’ll call if she doesn’t show.
    “Are you ready?”
Elliot asks Kelly, who is waiting by the open door.
    “Are you kidding
me?” Kelly says to Elliot, pushing him through and allowing it to slam behind
them.
    Later, Elliot sits
at his usual booth in the back of Odell’s Coffee Bar.The booth has a
dark cherry laminate table top with a low-hanging, yellow and green
stained-glass light fixture.The case file Beth gave him is spread out.Too engrossed to savor the smell of the fresh gourmet coffee, Elliot’s eyes
twitch back and forth as he reads the details.
    He flips a page
and yawns, then stretches and continues to read,
     
    Mrs. Freedman’s
granddaughter, Vicky, and her mother were abducted last Thursday, the third of
January. Vicky is eleven. Her parents were dysfunctional. Her biological father
left when she was four. Guys move in and out every couple of years. Grandmother
tried to take custody of Vicky several times. They live in a small house in
Dorchester. Her mother has been unemployed for five years.