Leona Karr - Silent Witness

He settled for lightly tipping his chin up so he could look straight into those soft brown eyes. “It’s going to be all right.”

She nodded, but her eyes betrayed her fright. He was startled by a suddenly overwhelming need to protect her at all costs. More than that, he realized he wanted to draw her close and kiss those trembling lips. His gaze must have dropped to her lips, but instead of pulling away from his touch, her mouth seemed to part slightly with anticipation.

Then she suddenly did pull back as they heard a noise in the hall. And without much more warning than that, they were back to business.

Before turning away, she hesitated as if she wanted to say something more. Then she headed for the door.

“Good night, then,” he said, but all she gave him in return was a quick nod. And then she was gone.

The moment was over.

TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

To Leslie Pitz and Angela Hart, with thanks for their help,

encouragement and love.

About the Author

Cast of Characters

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

A native of Colorado, Leona Karr lives near the front range of the Rocky Mountains. She delights in being close to craggy cliffs, dramatic peaks and hidden valleys. It is no surprise, then, that she chooses this setting for many of her books. She has been on the Waldenbooks bestseller list and received many awards as a multipublished author of novels of romantic suspense, gothic, historical romance, time travel and mystery.

HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

574—INNOCENT WITNESS

623—THE MYSTERIOUS TWIN

672—LOST IDENTITY

724—SEMIAUTOMATIC MARRIAGE

792—A DANGEROUS INHERITANCE

840—SHADOWS ON THE LAKE

900—STONEVIEW ESTATE

949—CHARMED

973—SHADOW MOUNTAIN

1056—SILENT WITNESS

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Marian Richards—Director of the summer program for deaf children.

Ryan Darnell—Detective at Rock Creek Police Department.

Scotty Tanner—The eleven-year-old rebellious boy attending the summer program who may have witnessed a murder.

Alva Wentworth—Wealthy elderly owner of Wentworth mansion and estate.

Ruth Tilman—Officious personal secretary to Alva Wentworth.

Henry Ziller—Cantankerous caretaker of Wentworth estate.

Victor Blaise—Henry’s nephew is both transient and dangerous.

Toby Bower—Forensic detective at Rock Creek Crime Laboratory.

Arthur Kennedy—The Denver lawyer hired to oversee the summer program may have come with his own agenda.

Nancy Collins and Ron Harman—Teachers involved with the summer program.

Bertha Higgins—Motherly nurse who helps children in the summer program.

Elsie Mullens—Wentworth estate cook, who is both outgoing and friendly.

Joyce Phillips—Is Ryan’s attractive ex trying to stir up trouble?

Hidden in a thick drift of pine and cedar trees, Scotty Tanner didn’t hear the shot inside the mountain cabin even though a sharp gunfire report echoed loudly from the house. A chatter of blue jays in a nearby ponderosa pine went unheard as he waited and watched. Nothing but stillness dominated the deaf eleven-year-old boy’s world.

Scotty was spending the summer with a dozen other hearing-impaired children in a privately sponsored rehabilitation program held on a large mountain estate near Rock Creek, Colorado. He’d only been there for a week and had managed to duck out of most of the scheduled activities. He was patting himself on the back for slipping away right after lunch to investigate the mountain surroundings on his own.

About a half mile downstream from the large main house and outbuildings, he’d discovered a small cabin built near a swift-flowing mountain stream.

As he slowly moved out of the trees, his eyes darted in every direction.

No sign of anyone living in the place. No telling what kind of loot was waiting inside.

His heart jumped a beat as he boldly walked up the front steps. Shuffling nervously, he knocked on the door. He was glad he was good at reading lips and was ready with a lie about needing a drink of water if anyone opened it.

He’d lost his hearing a couple of years ago when he was running with a gang of older guys and had been experimenting with homemade bombs. One of them had gone off prematurely, injuring both his ears. Things had gone from bad to worse after that. He’d been made a ward of the court and the authorities took him away from his drug-addicted mother. Hating the close supervision and boring daily routines of foster care, he intended to make the most of this summer program for disadvantaged hearing-impaired kids. He’d go his own way and get some kicks this summer any way he could.

When no one responded to his knock, Scotty tried the door. Locked. Maybe he’d have more luck with a back door. A narrow deck circled the cabin and he quickly made his way around to a rear door flanked by two windows.

It was locked. Now what? What about a window? Both of them were locked, too, but he was able to remove one of the screens.

He hurriedly found a rock big enough to use as a sledge and used it to shatter the window glass. Carefully and swiftly, he removed the jagged shards and then hoisted himself through the opening into a small kitchen.

Inside, he hunched down in a waiting position, motionless and animal alert for any sign of danger. In the enveloping silence, he knew he had to depend entirely on sight to alert him. There would be no sounds to tell him what lay ahead, behind or beyond his peripheral vision.

Scotty could feel the skin on his neck prickling. He was alone in his silent world—or was he? Was some second sense warning him? As he fought the temptation to turn and bolt out the window, an inner voice mocked him. You turning into some yellow-bellied coward?

Straightening up and clenching his fists, he walked into the center of the kitchen and looked around. He opened some of the cupboards but didn’t see anything of interest. He couldn’t believe his luck when he spied an ashtray on the table with three long cigarette butts. He’d been dying for a smoke. He carefully put the butts in the pocket of his shirt and looked around for some matches but didn’t see any.

Then a portable radio sitting on the counter caught his attention. For a moment he forgot his deafness and reached for it. Then the truth stabbed him! Never again would he hear rap music blaring out of a radio station.

With childish fury and frustration, he lifted the radio over his head and threw it on the floor. Then, with a vicious kick he sent it sailing across the room.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair!

He knocked over two chairs, swept the counters clean, spilling objects all over the floor. Then stepping over the shattered and broken clutter, he left the kitchen through a doorway that opened into a front living room. Pressing up against one wall, he waited until he was satisfied that it was as empty as the kitchen.