Identical Stranger. Alice Sharpe

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СКАЧАТЬ few seconds later, pounding footsteps heralded the arrival of the parking valet, who stopped short in his tracks and stared at them as he gasped for breath.

      “Is everyone here okay?” he finally managed to sputter.

      Jack titled Sophie’s chin up. Her brown eyes were huge but a resolute expression had begun to chase away the initial fright. “How about it? Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

      She shook her head. “No.”

      “Are you sure?”

      “Shaken but recovering,” she muttered.

      “What happened?”

      With a glance at the valet, who seemed to be hanging on their every word, she shook her head again. “Later.”

      The valet was not as reticent. “I heard a racket down here and then a car came flying out going ninety miles an hour!” he said, his eyes as round as hubcaps. “I thought for sure someone had been run over flatter than a pancake.”

      “Did you get a license plate number?” Jack asked.

      “Are you kidding?”

      “How about a glimpse of the driver?”

      “As I was ducking out of the way for my life? Nope.”

      “Was it a car you’d parked?”

      “Doubt it. We have valet spaces reserved on the first floor so we can deliver as fast as possible. If it came from down here, chances are good someone parked it themselves.”

      “How long have you been on duty?” Jack asked.

      “Since morning. I’m going home soon.”

      “Then do you remember a woman who looked a lot like Ms. Sparrow here parking an older white SUV Chevy?”

      “Or taking it out,” Sophie added, her voice shaky.

      “No. I haven’t seen a car like that, not that I remember anyway. There’s a parking lot outside. Some people prefer to use that no matter what the weather. Some people really don’t like underground garages.”

      “I may now be one of them,” Sophie mumbled, then took a deep breath and straightened up, pushing herself away from Jack’s grasp. “I’ve lost my shoulder bag and my phone,” she announced, nose and eyes dripping.

      “I’ll find them,” the valet said, and went to work searching for the bag. With a triumphant whoop, the kid found her purse on top of a car parked a few spaces away and retrieved it. He handed it to Jack, who pressed it into Sophie’s hands.

      Sophie opened the purse and withdrew a tissue to wipe at her face.

      “I’ll look for your shoe,” the valet offered as he scanned the pavement and kept talking. “You know, we get some awful drivers here, we really do, but this guy took the cake.” He leaned way over to shine a penlight under a row of vehicles. He stood again and turned to search the other direction. “That dude peeled out of here like the cops were after him.” He knelt again to shine his light. “Found it!” he called as he all but crawled under a van. He stood up grasping the shoe and focused the narrow beam of light on the skid marks scorching the pavement. “I guess you’re just lucky he was a good enough driver to miss hitting you,” he said as he handed the shoe to Sophie.

      Sophie’s lips parted. Jack thought she was going to say something but instead she slipped the black loafer on her foot as he steadied her arm.

      “Do you have your phone on you?” he asked the valet.

      “Sure.”

      “Sophie, give him your number. Let’s see if your phone will ring.”

      “Good thing I turned it back on,” she said as she rattled off her number.

      A second later they heard a ring that Jack tracked down to the far side of the garage, where he found it had landed against the tire of a truck. As he picked it up and glanced at the lit screen, he saw numerous alerts that “Danny” had called. He handed it back to Sophie. She scanned the screen momentarily before turning the device off and shoving it in her pocket.

      “Let’s get out of here,” she said as she settled her handbag on her shoulder.

      “Sure.”

      She waited until the valet was far ahead of them before tugging on Jack’s sleeve. “The car didn’t veer to avoid me,” she said. “It swerved to hit me.”

      * * *

      “WHY DID YOU wait to tell me that?” Jack asked as they took their first deep breath of fresh ocean air. The rain Sophie had previously avoided now created a welcome cleansing, and she closed her eyes to turn her face upward.

      “Sophie?”

      She let Jack lead her under the portico, relieved when the valet left to help an arriving customer. “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I didn’t want to make a fuss.”

      He looked down at her as if to speak, but his expression suddenly softened. With one finger he touched her cheek. A raindrop glistened on his fingertip and he met her gaze. It was a strange moment full of currents Sophie didn’t understand, but that was okay. This whole day had been a time out of time, one bewildering moment following another.

      “Jack?” she finally said.

      He blinked away whatever place he’d been lost in. “You sound just like Sabrina,” he said. “She didn’t want to make a fuss either. And now she’s gone.”

      “Well, I’m right here. Weren’t you going to try calling her again?”

      He pulled out his phone and a moment later shook his head. “It goes right to voice mail.”

      They walked back into the lobby. Feeling shaky, Sophie took a chair by the door as Jack continued on to the front desk.

      After leaving the hairdresser, she’d headed to Seaport almost on autopilot. This town and this hotel were familiar—she’d been vacationing here for years, first with her parents and then alone after she graduated from college. She’d felt sure this was the place she could figure things out before returning to Portland and explaining herself to Danny and her mother.

      In light of what had happened within the last hour, that plan now seemed ancient.

      She thought again to the parking garage—could she be mistaken about the driver’s intentions?

      Jack sat down next to her. “Sabrina is still not answering her room phone, her own phone, anything. I’ve called the town’s other hotels and the hospital. The front desk has no record of her checking out. She’s just vanished.”

      “People don’t just vanish,” Sophie said.

      She saw him flinch and wondered what nerve she’d inadvertently touched. “Actually, people do,” he said softly. “At least for a while, sometimes forever.” He seemed to shake off whatever had distressed him and leaned toward СКАЧАТЬ