Beautiful Storm (Lightning Strikes Book 1) Read Free

impossible to see anything but shadows beyond the light, certainly nothing that clearly defined a person, which meant she had no other clue besides the military tag. Still, it was something. Hopefully, it would be enough to help find the missing woman.

Two
    It was after nine o'clock when Alicia sat down in a hard chair next to the desk of Detective Ron Kellerman of the Miami-Dade Police Department, Criminal Investigations Unit. The detective was a middle-aged, balding man with a few extra pounds around the gut. He'd been called away from his Friday night plans, and during the past hour he'd asked her many of the same questions two and three times. She was beginning to feel like she was more of a suspect than a witness.
    "Let me get this straight," he said. "You were shooting storm photographs when you saw two people fighting by the carousel. Lightning hit the tree next to you and a branch knocked you on the ground. During that time, the couple disappeared. Is that right?"
    She sighed. "Yes, yes, yes. How many times are you going to ask me the same questions?"
    "As many times as it takes to get every detail correct." He gave her a sharp look. "How's your head?"
    "I'm fine. I just want to help find Liliana."
    His brows drew together, a speculative look in his eyes. "You say her name as if you know her."
    For some odd reason, she felt like she did know Liliana, but she wasn't about to try to explain that odd feeling to this cynical and suspicious police detective. "No, I never heard of her before tonight. I looked her name up on the Internet when I got back from the park. When I realized she was a missing person, I thought I might have found an important clue to her disappearance."
    "You said you were in the park between five and six. It's nine. What took you so long to come down here?"
    "I wanted to develop the film I'd taken to see if I'd captured the fight. Unfortunately, I had not."
    "Did you bring the photographs with you?"
    "No. They didn't reveal anything, so I didn't think they were important."
    He glanced down at the paper where he'd jotted down notes during their interview. "The man was wearing a hood and the woman had a long, dark coat. Is that correct?"
    "I think so." She frowned, wishing she could provide a better description.
    "Did you get a feel for size, weight, hair color?"
    "The man was taller than the woman by at least six inches. That's all I could see."
    "Were there any words spoken between them?"
    "Not that I could hear."
    "Did they see you?"
    She hesitated, surprised by a new question. "I don’t think so." Worry followed her answer. Had they seen her? She really didn't know what had happened in those few minutes when she'd been knocked off her feet. "Do you have any suspects? Can you tell me what's going on with the investigation?"
    "I'm afraid I can't disclose details of an ongoing investigation. Thanks for coming in. We'll take it from here."
    She frowned, wanting a lot more information than he was willing to give her. "Do you think the tag will help you?"
    "I hope so. It's the first clue we've had in two months. We'll get a search party out to the park as soon as we can." He rose to his feet. "Have you spoken to anyone else about the tag or what you saw in the park?"
    "No," she said, standing up.
    "Not anyone at the Chronicle ?"
    "No. Why?"
    "I'd like to release the information to the press without using your name—for your own protection."
    A chill ran down her spine at his words. "Am I in danger?"
    "I don't think so, but we don't know who we're dealing with, and one woman has already disappeared." He handed her his card. "Call me if you remember anything, or if you have any concerns."
    "Thanks. You know, you're scaring me a little."
    "Better to be scared and more cautious is what I always tell my daughters."
    It's what her mother had always told her, but she'd never listened. Like her dad, she had a tendency to be more courageous and less careful than she should be, more determined to live her life