Storm Surge Read Free

woman and her mother since that night long ago. Cora should still be able to provide her with information.
    Striding up a slate and crushed stone walkway, Paige practiced the few lines she’d prepared for introduction. She pressed the bell at the front door. Receiving no response, Paige opened the screen door and knocked on the wooden one for good measure.
    “Who are you looking for?”
    Paige glanced over her shoulder. A woman with unnatural crimson hair glared at her from the sidewalk. “Cora Showalter?” Paige said. “This is the last address I have for her. Does she still live here?”
    The woman wrinkled her nose. “Nope.”
    “Do you know where I can find her?”
    “Try the Episcopalian cemetery.”
    Paige’s fingers tightened around the notepad, spiraled wire digging into her palm. “When did she die?”
    “A few months back. Her daughter lives here now, but you won’t find her at home at this hour of the day. She works. And she won’t like an out-of-towner lurking on her sidewalk,” the woman added.
    Paige sighed. “The accent, of course.”
    “And the fact you didn’t know about Cora. Any long-time resident knew about Cora the moment she passed.”
    “Was she that well-loved?”
    The woman’s mouth twitched. “No.”
    Paige strode down the walkway but halted a short distance away from Cora’s erstwhile neighbor. “So, are you a long-time resident, Miss—?”
    “Of course.”
    No offer of a name. Paige bit the inside of her lip. “Then maybe you knew Edwin Waters or Debra Waters?”
    “Nope, can’t say I ever did.”
    Paige didn’t quite believe her. She didn’t expect her parents to be known to everyone in the town, naturally, but the way the woman looked away when she answered made her suspect. Paige recognized there’d be no point in accusations, though. She thanked the woman and turned away, crossing the name Cora Showalter from the lined paper with a vigorous scoring.
    “What have you got there?”
    Paige glanced back. “Nothing. Thank you for your information.” Paige started walking back in the direction of Main Street. Behind her, she heard the woman’s heels clicking sharply in scurrying pursuit.
    “Wait! Wait just one second.”
    “Yes?” Paige paused in anticipation of last minute information. The woman clattered up beside her and snatched the pad and pencil from Paige’s hands.
    “Let me see what you’ve got here.”
    Shocked, Paige reached to take the notebook back, but the woman turned a shoulder to her. Paige realized she wouldn’t get the notebook back without a struggle. Not until the woman finished scanning the list, making little noises through her teeth as she ticked off each name. She went back and crossed through some of them before returning pad and pencil.
    “There,” she said.
    “Why did you do that?”
    “Those people,” the woman explained, wagging her pointer finger over the page, “useless to try and hunt them up. They won’t be helping you. They’re gone, one way or another. As for the rest? You pound on the wrong doors, you’re going to find trouble. People around here, they don’t like strangers.”
    “Yes,” said Paige, “I’m getting that impression.”
    Holding Paige’s gaze while she gave a short, sharp nod, the woman backed away and spun on her heel. Paige scanned the lined page again. Her information pool had been reduced by more than half.
    * * * *
    Sweat stinging the sunburn on her nape and shoulder, Paige returned to the cottage discouraged. Not one of the residents on the remaining list had been home. Paige parked her car in the graveled spot that served as a driveway and climbed out to hammering coming from next door. If she hadn’t totally alienated the man, Liam Gray might be of some help. After sweating all day, she lifted an arm for a quick sniff to make certain she didn’t smell like a cow’s backside before heading over to the house where she had spent her earliest years.
    The first thing she saw as she rounded