The Defender. Cara Summers

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СКАЧАТЬ that she didn’t have her purse, Sadie shook her head. “No, I—”

      “Then I can’t help you.” Even as he rolled up the window, the ambulance shot forward, its siren piercing the night air.

      Time for plan B. Sadie spotted her car half a block away and ran toward it. Thank heavens she’d developed a habit of carrying her keys in her pocket because of all the time she’d wasted plowing through her purse for them.

      Her purse. She thought briefly about it as she slipped behind the wheel. She’d dropped it when she’d raced up those stairs to look for Juliana. There was no time to go back and get it now, not if she wanted to keep that ambulance in sight. The police probably had it tucked away all nice and safe in an evidence bag.

      As she shot away from the curb, she recalled the policeman’s words. “He’s a suspect in a homicide.” She had to find out exactly what had gone on in that church.

      IT WAS NEARLY TEN O’CLOCK when Theo slipped out of the cabin and nearly stumbled over Bob.

      The dog rose and wagged its tail.

      “Ari’s still not here.”

      Bob merely looked hopeful.

      “Okay.” Theo opened the door. “You can go in, but no more treats until I get back from my swim.”

      Sleep had been eluding him. At the end of the dock, Theo paused. The moon was bright and full, the water black and fairly calm. His grandfather’s cabin had been built in the center of a little inlet. A half mile to his right, he could see the clear outline of a row of rocks that jutted out into the ocean. When they were younger, he and his brothers had frequently raced to it and back. If he managed a couple of laps, he ought to be able to catch a good five hours of sleep before sunup. There was nothing he knew of that could drain away his tension more easily than a swim.

      Theo stretched his arms skyward, tucking his head between them. Then, bending his knees, he bowed his body slightly forward and shot cleanly into the water. The shock of cold sang through his body. He swam underwater for as long as he could hold his breath, then surfaced and struck out for the rocks. Within minutes, he sank into the rhythm of it, keeping his kick steady and strong, pulling with his arm, turning, breathing and pulling again.

      He wondered if Sadie Oliver was a swimmer. She had the sleek, lean body for it. He could almost picture her swimming beside him, matching the rhythm of her strokes to his, kicking those long legs as they sliced through the water together. He imagined their legs scissoring, their bodies stretching, flexing almost as if they were making love.

      The water no longer felt cold, Theo noticed. He wasn’t sure whether it was the exercise that had raised his temperature or the thoughts of swimming with Sadie Oliver.

      He picked up his pace. It wasn’t just his career path that he was going to have to make a decision about. He was going to have to make a decision about Sadie Oliver, too. And he was beginning to think that the two choices were related.

      4

      IT WAS CLOSE TO ELEVEN when Sadie parked her car next to a silver SUV that was a couple of shades darker than her Miata. The small parking area was exactly where Kit Angelis’s Aunt Cass had said it would be, a little ways in from the road. But she’d expected three cars.

      When she’d tried to reach Kit from the pay phone at the hospital, she’d gotten his office answering machine again. Then when she’d called his house, his aunt had picked up and told her that Kit was joining his brothers for a weekend of fishing at their grandfather’s cabin.

      That meant that Theo would be here, too.

      The fact that she’d thought of that more than once on the drive annoyed her. She was twenty-six years old—way beyond the age of silly crushes. And she had far more pressing concerns. Her brother was injured and a suspect in a homicide and she didn’t know where her sister was. When she reached to open the glove compartment, Sadie saw that her hands were shaking. Reaction was setting in. She couldn’t, she wouldn’t, fall apart yet. Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath and willed the shaking to stop. This time her hand was steady as she pulled the flashlight out and climbed from the car.

      According to the directions she’d received from Cass Angelis, the last half mile to the Angelis family’s fishing cabin had to be traveled by foot. She located a path on the far side of the SUV. It was narrow, but appeared to be well used when she shone the light over it. The full moon was bright overhead and there were all those stars. Still, she hesitated. Leaves rustled in the wind and she thought she heard the sounds of some small animal scurrying through the brush. At least, it sounded small. Were there bears in this part of California?

      Suppressing a shudder, Sadie gave herself a mental shake. Walking down a strange path through the woods at night might not be her cup of tea, but this was no time to be having second thoughts. She could have turned back at any point during the hour’s drive from San Francisco and she hadn’t. Because she wasn’t going to let her brother down. She’d made her decision even before she’d seen her father and stepmother and Michael Dano arrive at the hospital. She’d made it the moment that Roman was being wheeled away on that gurney. Ever since she’d been little, her big brother always seemed so strong, so capable. But as they were taking him away for tests, he’d looked so…vulnerable.

      She felt her throat tighten. She’d wanted so much to stay at the hospital, to be with him. But when she’d waylaid one of the attending physicians and asked if she could see Roman, he’d told her that her brother’s condition was currently listed as stable, but that they were concerned about a skull fracture and would be doing tests for some time. If she’d stayed at the hospital, all she could have done was wait.

      If Roman weren’t injured, he’d be moving heaven and earth to find out what had happened to Juliana and what had gone on at that church. So she was going to step into his shoes.

      Drawing in a deep breath, Sadie started down the path, shining the light back and forth across it. Thank heavens the ambulance had brought Roman to St. Jude’s. Her father had donated the new trauma center there and as soon as the head nurse had found out who Roman was, she’d called in their top specialists.

      She’d made herself scarce at the hospital because she hadn’t wanted to draw the attention of the two cops who’d accompanied Roman. After all, she’d left her purse in the vestibule of the church. Sooner or later, someone was going to figure out that she’d been there. She might be suspected of having something to do with whatever had gone on.

      So she’d slipped away without talking to Michael Dano or her father. She was going to follow her brother’s advice and trust only Kit Angelis.

      No. That wasn’t completely true. Sadie drew in a deep breath and let it out. It wasn’t just because of Roman’s words that she was walking down this dark path near the midnight hour. Deep in her heart, she knew that she’d come here to ask Kit for his help because her deepest fear was that her own father had something to do with what had happened at St. Peter’s church. Her sister Juliana was the apple of Mario Oliver’s eye. If he had learned that she planned a secret wedding to Paulo Carlucci…

      Sadie had had plenty of time to think while she’d been waiting at the hospital and while she’d been driving. Roman might have tried to stop the wedding, but someone had sent another man to prevent it, too. And if it was their father who’d sent that man Roman was chasing? Well, it would have been just like Roman to take their sister’s side. Of course, there was also the possibility that Paulo’s father had gotten wind of the wedding, too.

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