Play Dead by Harlan Coben Page B

resting on an object they found soothing, familiar, comfortable. A pair of David's size twelve-and-a-half green hi-top sneakers, extra sturdy in the ankle since he had broken his right one while in college, lay sprawled on the carpet. One was tilted over like a capsized canoe; the other stood upright, perpendicular to its partner.
    She could clearly make out the Svengali label on the right sneaker. On the left, the label was blocked by a sweat sock. Her eyes swerved and found the other sock about a yard away, twisted on the carpet like a man sleeping in a fetal position. David was not the neatest man she had ever met. He used chairs and doorknobs for hangers. The carpet made a perfect bureau for sweat-shirts and pants, while the bathroom floor tiles served as an underwear, sock and pajama drawers. His personal appearance was compulsively clean, but his apartment looked more like a fire hazard than a human dwelling.
    'It's homey,' he would argue.
    'It's messy,' she'd insist.
    Once again, a knock made the images of the past flee from her mind.
    Laura glanced at her watch and saw that T.C. had been gone for almost two hours. She could hear the wild birds of the Australia coast cawing outside her window, the sun still potent despite the hour.
    'Who is it?' she called out, although she knew it was T.C.
    'It's me.'
    T.C.'s voice made her stomach churn painfully. She stood and walked mechanically toward the door. She passed a mirror, caught her reflection in the corner of her eye, and realized she was wearing one of David's button-down shirts with her Svengali jeans. She wore his clothes all the time, his Celtics practice sweatshirt on cold Boston nights, his pajama tops as a nightshirt. Odd for a woman who ran a fashion empire. She shook the thought out of her head, puzzled by how her brain could focus on something so inane at a moment like this.
    She had another second to wonder if her thoughts were a defense mechanism, blocking out the grim reality, and then she swung open the door.
    Her gaze instantly locked onto T.C.'s, but he looked away as if scalded by her eyes. His vision sought the floor to escape her onslaught of hope. T.C.'s face was now completely covered with patches of stubble.
    'What is it?' Laura asked.
    T.C. did not step forward. He did not speak. He just stood in front of her without movement, trying to sum up some inner strength. With great effort he raised his head, his soulful eyes hesitantly meeting Laura's expectant ones.
    Still no words were spoken. Laura stared at him, tears swelling in her eyes.
    'T.C.?' she asked, her face bewildered.
    T.C. raised his hand into her line of vision. Her look of bewilderment crumbled into one of sheer anguish.
    'Oh God, no,' she cried. 'Please no.'
    T.C. held David's multicolored swimming trunks and clashing green Celtics shirt.
    They were both shredded.

    Chapter 3
    Gloria Ayars closed her briefcase, turned out the lights, and headed down the empty hallway. The company's other executives had gone home hours ago. But that was okay. They had all paid their dues already. Gloria had not.
    She glanced at her watch. The digital numbers read 11:12 p.m.
    'Good night, Miss Ayars,' the security guard called to her.
    'Good night, Frank.'
    'You've really been burning the midnight oil, huh?'
    She smiled brightly. 'Sure have.'
    Gloria walked toward her car. She shook her head, the smile still toying with the corners of her lips. It was still so hard to believe. Gloria had heard the whispers before Laura left on her trip (honeymoon, actually, but that was a secret). Don't do it, her cohorts had warned her. You'll ruin your business. But Laura had ignored them and taken the risk. A big risk. She had decided to leave Svengali in Gloria's hands during her absence -- a move that had stunned even Gloria. Has Laura gone crazy, Gloria had wondered, leaving the controls of a multi-million dollar company in the hands of someone like me?
    But now Gloria knew that the answer was no. Laura's