Shades of Truth. Sandra Orchard

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СКАЧАТЬ eyes sparked. “What about next time?”

      “Next time?”

      “Yes. The next time this maniac races down the street, he could send a helpless kid flying into the ditch.” Something indefinable flickered across Ethan’s face. “And that kid may not be as lucky.”

      Kim’s mouth went dry. Too stunned to respond, she could only stare at him. Was she endangering others by protecting Blake?

      Surely not. Whereas the manor’s closure might.

      Ethan’s tone gentled. “What are you afraid of, Kim?”

      The low, intimate pitch of his voice trembled through her, warm and soothing, entreating her to trust him. But too much was at stake. She couldn’t let him involve the police.

      “I’m not afraid. I just overreacted. I told you, I probably scared the driver more than myself.” She twisted sideways, forcing Ethan to loosen his hold. Stones dug into her palms as she scrambled to her feet. Her ankle faltered under her weight, but she stood firm. “I’m fine. See?” She bit the words out through clenched teeth.

      “Nevertheless,” he said, all traces of warmth gone, “we’ll call the police. You may not have seen anything, but I did.”

      The jump of Kim’s pulse at her throat confirmed Ethan’s suspicion. She was hiding something. The driver ran her down in broad daylight. An innocent victim would be demanding justice. Never mind that the only information he had for the police was that the culprit’s car had a broken taillight. Kim clearly didn’t want them to catch the guy.

      Something inside Ethan shifted at the obvious implications.

      He blew out a breath. When Kim had first opened her eyes, the mix of fear and determination swirling in her gaze had tugged at him in an elemental way he found hard to ignore. But he had a job to do, and the fastest way to deep-six his objectivity was to start caring about the suspects.

      Of course, even if Kim weren’t a suspect, he’d keep his distance.

      She deserved better than the likes of him. His own parents had disowned him after his reckless-driving charge. And his ex-girlfriend had cured him of any illusions that anyone else would ever want him.

      Kim shoved her hands into the soggy pockets of her shorts. “I don’t see what the police can do. The car didn’t hit me.”

      “So you said.” Based on the background checks he’d done, Kim Corbett—daughter of the detention facility’s founder, vocal supporter of the facility’s mission to rehabilitate young offenders and faithful member of Miller’s Bay Community Church—was the last employee of Hope Manor he imagined likely of luring residents into the drug trade.

      “What would they arrest him for?” Kim persisted. “Scaring the daylights out of me?”

      “How about reckless driving?”

      Ethan didn’t miss the way Kim’s jaw clenched at the suggestion. The only plausible reason she’d cover for the jerk was if she had something bigger to lose.

      In the past year, the local cops had identified two former residents of Hope Manor as drug pushers. The pair negotiated a deal to give up the person who’d recruited them in return for a suspended sentence. But neither survived long enough to finger him. Somehow, someone got to them in the jail cell. Which meant whoever was behind the operation would stop at nothing to ensure his anonymity.

      And maybe Kim knew it. Maybe this was a warning to keep her mouth shut, or else.

      Ethan winced at the thought. Okay, so forget calling the police. He’d handle this himself.

      Darryl nudged his sister to start walking. “Let’s get you ice for that ankle and into dry clothes before we worry about anything else.”

      Despite her earlier bravado, Kim gingerly avoided putting her full weight on her left foot.

      Thankful that at least she didn’t have a spinal injury, Ethan dragged in his first full breath since finding her sprawled in the ditch. He may have relinquished his hold on her, but the tension in his muscles took longer to let go. This guy had some sort of control over her, and if Ethan wanted to win her confidence enough to learn what it was, he might as well forget about keeping his distance.

      The rustle of a dirt-smeared newspaper caught his attention. “Is this yours?” he called after Kim, and then stooped to retrieve the paper. The headline—Funding Cuts Threaten Detention Center’s Future—dominated the page.

      The instant Darryl scanned the headline, his eyes darkened. “Please tell me you aren’t hatching another one of your schemes.” At Ethan’s raised eyebrow, Darryl explained. “Our dad founded this place, and as the oldest child, Kim seems to think she has a sacred duty to save it.”

      Kim gasped. “How can you say that?”

      Another reason crossed Ethan’s mind. Closing the manor would dry up a ready supply of eager recruits.

      Kim met his gaze. “Is it so wrong to not want to see my father’s work lost?”

      “No, I think it’s admirable.”

      Kim shot her brother a smug grin.

      Ethan chuckled at Darryl’s snort. Joining Kim’s cause might be the perfect opportunity to get closer to her and, more importantly, closer to the truth. He tucked the newspaper under his arm and fell into step beside her. “How do you plan to save Hope Manor from the chopping block?”

      “I want to get a petition together to pressure the provincial government to reconsider,” Kim explained. “And I want to pitch an idea to the newspaper for a series on former residents who’ve made good. Once people see the impact we have, I’m sure they’ll support our petition.”

      “You’ll only make the situation worse.” Darryl swiped his pass card over the lock to the staff entrance and opened the door. Chilled air spilled out, but the crisp blast did nothing to cool the heat in his voice. “Half the people in this town didn’t know there was a detention center here until you wrote that letter to the editor a few weeks back.”

      Kim eased onto one of the benches lining the space between the walls of lockers and unlaced her shoe. “That’s why they need to hear its success stories.”

      “Trust me. They don’t want to know that Miller’s Bay harbors young offenders. Involve the papers and it’s only a matter of time before the incident with Mitch gets out, too.”

      “The Mitch I was hired to replace?” Ethan asked, surprised they’d managed to suppress the news this long in such a small town. The town’s size had been one of the reasons he’d been recruited for this assignment from outside the local force.

      “Yeah,” Darryl said. “He got injured chasing a resident who ran off during a field trip.”

      “Ouch, not the kind of news that will endear Hope Manor to the citizens of Miller’s Bay.”

      Darryl shot his sister a look. “Exactly.”

      “I won’t give up, Darryl. Dad poured his life into this place, because he believes in God’s forgiveness. These СКАЧАТЬ