Read Twelve to Murder (A Mac Faraday Mystery) for Free Online

whisper.
    “What’s stopping you?” David’s voice was equally soft.
    “I loved Christine, too,” Mac said. “I had no doubt in my mind back then that it was right. Twenty years later…” He raised his eyes from the message sheet. “If Archie was to do to me what—”
    “Archie isn’t your first wife,” David said.
    “Christine wasn’t the same woman I married when she cheated on me and left me with nothing. She’d changed. I’ve seen so many cases of couples who change and…if that happened with Archie and me…”
    “So you’re scared. That’s what’s stopping you. Fear.”
    “Yeah,” Mac said with a nod of his head. “Archie says she understands—”
    “They all say they understand,” David said, “and they do. They sincerely try to be patient. But eventually they become frustrated. Friends are getting married and having babies, and they want to start a family and their clocks are ticking. Before long, the frustration turns into resentment, and how can two people stay together when they resent each other?”
    Fighting the urge to get up and run away from the conversation, Mac shifted in his seat. Reaching over the back of the chair, David grasped his arm as if to hold him there to hear what he had to say. Mac turned. They locked eyes.
    “Listen, Mac, I can’t tell you what to do. You already know Archie is the best woman any man could ever want, and you are damn lucky that you’re the one she’s fallen in love with. I can’t tell you whether to marry her or to leave her. You’re the only one who can answer that. The answer to that lies in the answer to this one question.” He held up a finger in front of Mac’s eyes. “What’s stronger? You’re love , or your fear?”
    Staring into David’s eyes, Mac picked up a hint of intensity, a sense that he knew this topic intimately. “Are you talking from experience?”
    David let out a hollow laugh before answering, “Do you know why Yvonne took that network job and moved away?”
    “Your fear outweighed your love for her?”
    Releasing Mac’s arm, David stood up. “I’ve got to go put out that BOLO on Frost.” He turned the chair around to return it to its proper place.
    “Any regrets?”
    “I’m with Chelsea,” David said, “and Yvonne is married to some rich dude and living in Connecticut. We’re both where we belong.” He patted Mac on the shoulder. “I need to go put out this notice to be on the lookout for Frost.” He hurried out to issue the order to police dispatch.
    Mac picked up his cell phone to call Archie. The background on his phone was a picture of her in the rose garden at the manor. Her pretty face was surrounded by rosy blooms. She looked like a wood nymph—his wood nymph.                    Tonya came into the squad room. “Gnarly is out cold,” she said. “We’ve got a visitor out front and his nose hasn’t even twitched.” She placed a business card in the center of Mac’s desk for him to read. “Where’s the chief?”
    Mac turned off the phone and returned it to the case on his belt. “Putting out a BOLO on Lenny Frost.” He picked up the card to read the name. “Who’s Zachery Harris?”
    “A writer. He claims to have information about the Stillman murders.”
    “Send him in.” Mac clipped the business card to his notepad and picked up a pen. “Tell David. He’s going to want to join us.”
    “Sure thing, Mac.” She turned on her heels before he stopped her.
    “Can you do me a favor, Tonya?”
    She turned back to him with a wide grin on her face. “Anything for you, hon.”
    Mac’s cheeks felt warm when he asked, “Can you call the florist and have them send a dozen… no, make it twelve dozen long-stemmed white roses to Archie at the manor today? I have an account there already.”
    “White roses?”
    “White,” Mac said.
    “That must have been some fight,” Tonya said. “If I were you, I’d send a box of chocolates, too.”
    A grin crept to Mac’s lips.