Nowhere to Hide - Softcover

Carlene Thompson is the author of Last Whisper, Black for Remembrance, and Don’t Close Your Eyes, among other books. She attended college at Marshall University and earned her Ph.D. in English from Ohio State University. She taught at the University of Rio Grande before leaving to focus on her writing full-time. Besides writing, she spends her time caring for the many dogs and cats she's adopted. A native West Virginian, she lives with her husband Keith in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

Chapter One
FOUR AND ONE-HALF YEARS LATER
1
Marissa Gray strapped her seat belt, turned the key in the ignition, and glared at the large, fluffy flakes of snow cascading on her windshield. “Oh, great,” she muttered angrily.
“What’s wrong?” Marissa looked at her beautiful older sister, Catherine, rapping insistently on the closed passenger’s window. “Are you too scared to drive?” Catherine called.
Marissa pushed the automatic opener and the window purred halfway down. “I’m not scared, Catherine; I’m pissed off. The snow is falling faster, I’m the reporter who was supposed to be at the Addison party ten minutes ago, and I haven’t even left home!”
“Oh, to heck with the Addisons.” Catherine’s long brown hair blew in the wind and her eyebrows pulled together above her light blue-green eyes. “Evelyn Addison wants you there early so she can name every single gourmet dish at the buffet and have that new photographer take her picture alone with the magnificent Christmas tree—no annoying guests trying to crowd into the shot. Of course, that’s if she hasn’t gotten too wide to entirely block the tree from the photo.”
Marissa laughed. “Shame on you! She’s our esteemed mayor’s wife. Where’s your respect?”
“It vanished when you said you were driving to the Addison house in your ridiculously small, convertible sports car.”
“I have enough sense to put up the car top, Catherine.”
“The tops of most convertibles aren’t as sturdy as those of hardtop cars and you know it. Besides, a blizzard is coming.”
“The weatherman didn’t say anything about a blizzard. He said a heavy snow is predicted around two in the morning.”
“Heavy snow is weatherman code for a blizzard, and of course well-behaved blizzards always arrive exactly when the weatherman predicts they will. James has a Lincoln with a very sturdy roof. Why don’t you wait and go with us?”
“Oh, that would be fun,” Marissa said dryly. “Me tagging along with my sister on a date. Besides, I told you I’m already late.”
Catherine folded her sweater-covered arms. “I’m freezing!”
“Well, that’s not my fault! You wouldn’t be freezing if you’d go inside instead of standing in the driveway badgering me!” Marissa closed her eyes for a moment, fighting for patience. “Look, Catherine, this is our first Christmas since Mom died. Maybe we shouldn’t have decided to spend it in the family home, but we did and now we both feel at sea. Everything is so different and not in a good way. You’re twenty-eight, though, and I’m twenty-five. You’re my older sister, not my big sister. You don’t have to take care of me.” Catherine didn’t answer. “I know driving on snow terrifies you, but I’m only driving eight miles and I’m wearing my seat belt.”
“You have to drive on the three worst miles of Falls Way to reach the Addisons’.” Catherine sighed and looked beyond the car, batting her eyes against the snow. “I have a very bad feeling about you tonight, Marissa.”
“Oh, Catherine!” Marissa burst out, then reminded herself she was speaking to the only remaining member of her immediate family—her sister, whom she’d always admired and loved. She softened her voice. “You worry about me too much, Catherine. You worry about everyone. It’s endearing, but it must be exhausting for you. And frankly, trying not to worry you is exhausting for other people. You can’t keep everyone at home under your wing like a mother bird. Can’t you ease up at least one night?”
Catherine raised an eyebrow. “I never thought of myself as a mother bird. A crow?”
“A skylark. She makes the most beautiful song.”
Catherine tilted her head, smiling. “When all else fails, try flattery. Okay, I guess I do clutch at other people, trying to hold them near me, as if I could keep anyone safe,” she said grudgingly. “But it’s so hard to shake these feelings of responsibility for you. Mom has been gone for only four months and Dad for three years. . . .”
Marissa had learned over the years that simple reason couldn’t stop Catherine’s worrying. Diversion was the only answer.
Marissa started with sincerity: “I promise not to drive too fast and to be extra careful. I’m not worried about the weather conditions and I’m looking forward to having a good time. This year the Addison Christmas party is supposed to be the biggest ever.” Marissa paused and frowned, moving on to distraction. “But Catherine, you’re having your very first date with James Eastman tonight and look at your hair! The curl is falling out and the ends are frizzing. It will look awful if you don’t get inside and fix it before James comes.”
Got her! Marissa thought as something close to panic flashed in Catherine’s eyes. Catherine seemed to think she’d hidden the crush she’d had on James since she was a teenager. Marissa had always known, though, and now almost giggled that the thought of not looking perfect for her first date with James temporarily banished everything else from Catherine’s serious mind.
“Oh my God!” Catherine usually pretended oblivion to her striking appearance. The act would have been shattered if anyone had witnessed her whipping her hair over her shoulder and looking at the damp strands in near horror. “Look at it! What’ll I do?”
“Your hair isn’t soaked. If you get inside immediately, you’ll just have time to spray it and put it on large hot rollers for five minutes. Five minutes only!” Marissa ordered urgently.
“You don’t think I need to wash it and start over?”
“Absolutely not. Just use the rollers and it will look beautiful.” Still, Marissa couldn’t resist adding, “Oh, I tried on Mom’s pearls you were going to wear tonight, but I can’t remember where I put them. You’ll need to look for them.”
“You can’t remember!” Catherine cried in dismay.
“I’m sure you’ll find them. Maybe I left them in my room. . . .”
“Honestly, Marissa, you’re impossible! I don’t know how you hold on to a job. Well, you should leave before the weather gets worse.” Catherine was already rushing for the front door, grasping her wet hair, touching her throat as if searching for the pearls she feared she’d never see again. Marissa grinned. She’d placed the pearls in their padded velvet box on Catherine’s dresser. “Bye,” Catherine called absently over her shoulder. “Don’t drive too fast. Be—”
The wind carried “careful” away just as the big front door slammed behind her.
She’ll race up that staircase faster than the speed of light, Marissa thought, imagining Catherine’s relief at discovering her addle-brained little sister hadn’t stuck the pearls under the bed or in the refrigerator. Marissa knew that Catherine, who was finishing the last few months of internship needed to receive a license in clinical psychology, didn’t truly think her sister was as capricious as she acted. Catherine’s habitual fretting nearly drove the airy Marissa wild, though, and she couldn’t resist occasionally pretending to be a complete fly-by-night, hoping the repetition would eventually break Catherine’s habit of overreacting. Besides, within twenty minutes Catherine would be...