A Season for Grace. Linda Goodnight

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ about his brothers’ whereabouts than he did.

      After that, she had disappeared off the radar screen again. Probably moved in with her latest party man and changed her name for the tenth or hundredth time. Not that Collin cared. It was his brothers he wanted to find. Karen Stotz-Grace-Whatever had given them birth, but if she’d ever been a mother he didn’t remember it.

      “Do you think they’re together?”

      “Ian and Drew? No.” He remembered that last day too clearly. “They were headed to different foster homes. Chances are they weren’t reunited either.”

      His mother hadn’t bothered to jump through the welfare hoops anymore after that. She’d let the state have custody of all three of them. Collin, who ended up in a group home, had failed in his promise to take care of his brothers. He hoped they had been adopted. He hoped they’d found decent, loving families to give them what he hadn’t been able to. Even though they were grown men, he needed to know if they were all right.

      And if they weren’t…

      He got that heavy, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and logged out of the search engine.

      Leaning back in the office chair, he scraped a hand over his face and said, “Think I’ll call it a night.”

      Maurice clapped him on the shoulder. “Come by the house. Shanita will make you a fruit smoothie, and Thomas will harangue you for a game of catch.”

      “Thanks. But I can’t. Gotta get out to the farm.” He rose to his feet, stretching to relieve the ache across his mid-back. “The vet’s coming by to check that new pup.”

      “How’s he doing?” The other cops were suckers for animals just as he was. They just didn’t take their concern quite as far.

      “Still in the danger zone.” Fury sizzled his blood every time he thought of the abused pup. “Even after what happened, he likes people.”

      “Animals are very forgiving,” Maurice said.

      Collin pushed the glass door open with one hand, holding it for his friend to pass through. Together they left the station and walked through the soft evening breeze to the parking garage.

      “Unlike me. If I find out who tied that little fella’s legs with wire and left him to die, I’ll be tempted to return the favor.”

      Another police officer had found the collie mix, but not before one foot was amputated and another badly infected. And yet, the animal craved human attention and affection.

      They entered the parking garage, footsteps echoing on the concrete, the shady interior cool and welcome. Exhaust fumes hovered in the dimness like smelly ghosts.

      Maurice dug in his pocket, keys rattling. “Did your social worker call again today?”

      Collin slowed, eyes narrowing. “How did you know?”

      His buddy lifted a shoulder. “She has friends in high places.”

      Great. “The department can’t force me to do something like that.”

      “You take in wounded animals. Why not wounded kids?”

      “Not my thing.”

      “Because it hits too close to home?”

      Collin stopped next to his Bronco, pushed the lock release, and listened for the snick.

      “I don’t need reminders.” Enough memories plagued him without that. “You like kids. You do it.”

      “Someday you’re going to have to forgive the past, Collin. Lay it to rest. I know Someone who can help you with that.”

      Collin recognized the subtle reference to God and let it slide. Though he admired the steadfast faith he saw in Maurice, he wasn’t sure what he believed when it came to religion. He fingered the small metal fish in his pocket, rubbing the ever-present scripture that was his one and only connection to God. And to his brothers.

      “Nothing to forgive. I just don’t like thinking about it.”

      Maurice looked doubtful but he didn’t argue. The quiet acceptance was another part of the man’s character Collin appreciated. He said his piece and then shut up.

      “This social worker. Her name’s Carano, right?”

      Collin glanced up, surprised. His grip tightened on the metal door handle. “Yeah.”

      “She goes to my church.”

      Collin suppressed a groan. “Don’t turn on me, man.”

      He’d had enough trouble getting Mia Carano out of his head without Maurice weighing in on the deal. The social worker was about the prettiest thing he’d seen in a long time. She emanated a sincere decency that left him unsettled about turning her down, but hearing her smooth, sweet voice on his voice mail a dozen times a day was starting to irritate him.

      “Single. Nice family.” White teeth flashed in Maurice’s dark face. “Easy on the eyes.”

      Was she ever! Like an ad for an Italian restaurant. Heavy red-brown hair that swirled around her shoulders. Huge, almond-shaped gray-green eyes. A wide, happy mouth. Not too skinny either. He never had gone for ultra-thin women. Made him think they were hungry.

      “I didn’t notice.”

      “You’re cool, Grace, but you ain’t dead.”

      “Don’t start, Johnson. I’m not interested. A woman like that would talk a man to pieces.” Wasn’t she already doing as much?

      Maurice chuckled and moseyed off toward his car. His deep voice echoed through the concrete dungeon. “Sooner or later, boy, one of them’s gonna get you.”

      Collin waved him off, climbed into his SUV, and cranked the gas-guzzling engine to life. Nobody was going to “get” him. Way he figured, nobody wanted a hard case like him. And that was fine. The only people he really wanted in his life were his brothers. Wherever they were.

      Pulling out of the dark underground, he headed west toward the waning sun. The acreage five miles out of the city was a refuge, both for the animals and for him.

      His cell phone rang again. Sure enough, it was the social worker. He shook his head and kept driving.

      The veterinarian’s dually turned down the short dirt driveway directly behind Collin. The six-wheeled pickup, essential for the rugged places a vet had to traverse, churned up dust and gravel.

      “Good timing,” Collin muttered to the rearview mirror, glad not to be in back of Doc White’s mini dust storm, but also glad to see the dependable animal doctor.

      If Paige White said she’d be here, she was. With her busy practice, sometimes she didn’t arrive until well after dark, but she always arrived. Collin figured the woman worked more hours than anyone he knew.

      The vet followed Collin past the half-built house he called home to the bare patches of grass that served as parking spots in front of a weathered old barn.

СКАЧАТЬ