Official Duty. Doreen Roberts

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СКАЧАТЬ muscles that he realized just how tense he’d been. “Thanks, Ginny. I sure appreciate your cooperation.”

      Her face was bleak when she nodded. “I guess I can stop by to see the Corbetts’ lawyer, then I’ll go with you to the house.”

      “Great. I’ll pick you up at eight-forty-five.”

      “I have a car. I’ll find it.”

      “I have to be there, too. I might as well pick you up.”

      Her indifferent shrug stung his pride. “If you like.”

      She reached for her purse and he said quickly, “I’ll take care of it.”

      She gave him a tight smile. “Thanks. You were right. The steaks are still good here.”

      “My pleasure, ma’am.” He pushed his chair back. “Can I give you a ride back to the Sagebrush?”

      She stood with him, avoiding his gaze. “Thanks, but I have my car. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

      He watched her leave, cursing the ache under his ribs. He knew better than to let his emotions get the better of him. She was even more out of his reach now than she’d been twelve years ago, when he’d watched her march away from him and out of his life.

      She’d taken his heart with her that day and she’d cared so little about him it had taken her exactly ten months to forget him and find someone else to fall in love with. Ten months, while he’d waited and hoped. What a damn fool he’d been.

      He picked up his hat and jammed it on his head. Well, there would be polar bears roaming the desert before he let anyone make an ass out of him again. He turned his back on the table and headed for the door.

      GINNY CLIMBED into her car and gunned the engine. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back to the motel and fall into bed. She couldn’t do that just yet. She couldn’t go to sleep in this town without having visited the graves of the people who meant the world to her. She couldn’t rest easy until she’d said her goodbyes. She deeply regretted having missed the funeral. This was all she had left. This last final farewell over their graves.

      Cully had told her the Corbetts were buried in the cemetery on the hill. It was a beautiful spot, shaded by cottonwood trees, with a clear view of the mountain range in the west, where the sun had already dipped below the peaks.

      In the shaded light of dusk the haphazard rows of gravestones rose and fell like undulating waves of a silent ocean. Her sneakers made hardly a sound on the pathway as she hurried past bouquets of roses and lilies of the valley, their sweet fragrance blending with the pungent smell of the pines.

      She found the graves, freshly dug and with a gleaming white headstone with both their names carved on it. The coarse grass felt prickly beneath her knees but she knelt for a long time, allowing the bittersweet memories to take her back to a happier, carefree time, when she was loved and protected and safe from the world.

      The darkness settled around her and the rustling of night creatures whispered among the trees, disturbing her thoughts. A cool breeze wafted a lock of her hair across her forehead and sighing, she climbed wearily to her feet. “Goodbye, Jim,” she whispered. “Goodbye, Mabel. Thank you for the love you gave me and for the ten years of happiness I’ll never forget.” A sob choked her words and she struggled for a moment, striving to control her grief.

      In the silence she thought she heard Jim’s voice, whispering urgently in her ear. The words weren’t clear to her but the message was.

      “Cully will find out who did this to you,” she said, her voice loud in the darkness. “I promise you both that Cully will hunt him down and see that he pays. No matter what it takes. Then you’ll both be able to rest in peace.”

      The whispering stopped, bringing her the first small measure of peace she’d felt since hearing Cully’s voice utter the inconceivable. With an ache in her heart she headed back to where she’d left the car.

      The night had drawn in now, with only a tiny sliver of moon in the starlit sky to light the way. Below her she could see the lights of the little town, glowing like the embers of a dying fire. She shivered in the desert breeze that had suddenly grown cool.

      She had neared the end of the path when without warning the shadow of a man crossed in front of her. For a startling second he was illuminated between her and the flickering lights below. Then, almost at once, he vanished.

      Feeling cold and shaken, she assured herself her eyes were playing tricks with her. A deserted graveyard at night was no place to hang around on her own. No wonder she was seeing things.

      She started walking…faster…and then she heard them. Distinct footsteps, echoing from behind her, keeping in time with her own.

      Heart pounding in her throat she spun around, her gaze probing the shadows for a sign of movement. The footsteps had stopped, too. All she could see were the branches of the cottonwoods swaying gently in the night wind.

      She started off again, running now. There they were again…the footsteps…running with her, closer than before. A man’s voice, low and guttural, laughing softly, the sound barely audible above the pounding of feet.

      The terror gripped her like hands of steel, closing around her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Only a few more yards to go. Could she make it? Her legs were already trembling and weak. She had to make it, for she knew as sure as she knew her own name, that if those footsteps caught up with her, she’d end up just like Mabel and Jim, buried deep in the dark, cold ground.

      Chapter Three

      Reaching the car, Ginny fumbled in her purse for her keys. Her hand shook so badly she couldn’t fit the key into the lock. He had to be right behind her. He had to be….

      With a sob of relief she got the door open and slid inside. It was then that she realized the footsteps were no longer echoing out of the darkness. She slammed the door and locked it, then struggled to fit the key into the ignition. The engine fired and the beams from her headlights poured a wide swath of yellow light across the road ahead of her.

      As she pulled out onto the road, she glanced into the rearview mirror, fully expecting to see her pursuer standing there, watching her leave.

      There was no one there. No man, no other car, no lights, no movement, nothing. Had she imagined it? But she’d heard the footsteps, the ugly, taunting laugh…hadn’t she?

      The thought that the whole thing could have been nothing more than a wild flight of fancy terrified her almost as much as the reality of a stalker. For weeks now she’d been afraid that the long months of hiding had taken their toll and that she was losing her mind. It was getting to the point where she couldn’t be sure anymore what was real and what was in her imagination.

      Thoroughly shaken, she drove too fast, taking the curves down the hill at a speed that rocked the car from side to side. She couldn’t outrun the cold feeling of dread that gripped her. Taking a long, deep breath, she made herself slow down. She wouldn’t be much help to Cully if she landed in hospital.

      Cully. Her mouth curved in a wry smile. What would he think of her if he knew the turmoil going on inside her? If he saw her fleeing from a monster that existed only in her troubled mind?

      She’d always СКАЧАТЬ