Read In the Still of the Night for Free Online Page A

Don't get your hopes up, though. You know how she feels about the weather over here."
    Barb busied herself loading the dishwasher, and just as she'd put the last plate in its slot, she glanced out the window over the kitchen sink. She saw a green and white squad car parked at her mother's house. It looked like a Spokane County sheriff's unit.
    She wasn't alarmed. Whenever there was a loose or injured horse, the deputies usually came to her to ask her who owned it. She was the "go-to" expert on horses in her end of the county.
    Daisy sat by the door expectantly, her whole body wiggling with delight as she was about to meet someone new. Daisy knew no strangers. She was always looking for someone to play with.
    Barb was usually glad to help round up wayward horses, but it never took less than two hours. Right now she didn't want to be delayed when she was just about to go back to the airport to pick up Ronda.
    But she realized that she couldn't refuse to help; she lived so close to a four-lane, much-traveled highway. Ronda, of all people, would understand and she could call Gramma Virginia when she landed if Barb wasn't home.
    She opened her front door, and an older man stood there, gazing with some doubt into Daisy's brown eyes. Barb grinned at the stranger, and said, "She's okay--she doesn't know she's a Rottweiler. She's hoping you've come to play with her."
    At that point, Barb Thompson saw that her visitor had a bar with writing etched on it pinned to his shirt. She leaned forward and read "Chaplain."
    But what was he doing at her front door? Her worldtilted only a centimeter off its axis, and she felt a knot in her stomach. A chaplain usually meant something bad had happened to someone.
    She would not allow herself to believe that had any connection to her.
    "Are you Barbara Thompson?" the gray-haired man asked.
    "Yes, I am," she said, opening the door wider. "But I only have a couple of minutes. We have to get to the airport to pick up my daughter."
    He hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I have a message here. I'm so sorry to tell you that your mother has passed away and you need to call your father."
    Relief washed over Barb's body. Whatever had happened, it couldn't involve her or her family. "That can't be right," she said. "My father passed away years ago, and my mother lives right next door. You were just at her house."
    The chaplain pressed on. "I have a message that you are to call your father at the coroner's office in Lewis County."
    She felt dizzy. Lewis County? She didn't know anyone in any Lewis County. Lewis County, where? What state?
    "Do you have a telephone number? Do you have a
name
?"
    He shook his head, apologizing. "I'm sorry--but that's all I have."
    "Was there anything about a Ramsey, or a Thompson, Liburdi, or Reynolds?"
    Again, he shook his head. If he hadn't arrived in a sheriff's car, she would have thought the man was demented--someone who went around knocking on strange doors and scaring the hell out of people. Why
didn't
he have more information? This could all be resolved so quickly if he only had a name to give her.
    "
Your
name is Barbara Thompson, right?" he pressed.
    "Yes, that's me. But my mother is right next door and she is very much alive. There must be a mistake here."
    "This
is
7711 West Highway Two,* isn't it?"
    "Yes."
    "This is definitely the address and name I was given, and I was told to tell you that you need to call your father."
    Barbara wished Freeman would show up. The "chaplain" was giving her the creeps.
    She suddenly recalled that there was another Barbara Thompson living in Spokane, a woman who worked at the racetrack. In the past, she had received some of the other Barbara's mail and phone calls. She didn't have any idea where the other woman lived, but she was sure the sheriff's office could find out. Barb looked at her watch and told the chaplain that she really had to leave for the airport. He nodded and went to his car. Barbara called Freeman, reminding him it