Risky Return. Virginia Vaughan

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ died of cancer five years earlier.

      “What about you? What are you doing these days?”

      “I work for the court system. I’m a psychologist specializing in child welfare. I act as a representative for children who come through the courts, usually those who’ve been removed from their homes and gone into the foster care system.” It wasn’t the career her parents had hoped for her, but she enjoyed her work and the kids she helped. Only now, helping one of them had placed her life in danger.

      She glanced out the window again and still saw no one behind them, but would she even know how to recognize a tail if she had one?

      Collin reached over and covered her hands with his right hand again. “No one is following us,” he assured her. “I’ve been watching. Whoever it was that attacked you is gone.”

      She gave him a warm smile. He always could reassure her.

      “I knew you would do good things,” he told her. “You always had a good heart.”

      But not good enough to keep him around. She grimaced at that thought as their past and present collided. She had to keep her focus on today and what was happening now. “I enjoy my work. I’ve gotten quite close to some of the kids I work with.”

      “No kids of your own?”

      She stared at him. How could he even ask that when they were still technically married? The day he’d left, her dreams of family and children were placed permanently on hold. “No, of course not.”

      She pointed out her driveway and Collin pulled into it and got out. She got out, too, her balance steadier but still off-kilter. He held on to her arm as he walked her toward the front door.

      “Are you sure you’re okay to be alone? You don’t want to go to the hospital?”

      “No. I’ll be fine. It’s only a cut. I’m more shaken up than anything.” She pulled out her keys. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, to ask him, but none of them would come out. He’d come back to town not to see her, but to clean up his mother’s house and finally sever his last connection to her and this town. She wouldn’t intrude on his life. And she wouldn’t drag him into her mess. She forced herself to move away from him.

      “Thank you for your help, Collin. It was good to see you again.” It didn’t sound like enough after all they’d been through. They’d never even talked about their marriage or the baby they’d lost. It had all just seemed to fade away in the years they’d been apart.

      She glanced up at him and thought she saw something more in his eyes, something he wanted to say. He stepped closer and her knees weakened, and it wasn’t from the bash on her head. He still had that power over her. But he didn’t say whatever was on his mind. Instead, he stepped back away from her. “It was good to see you, too, Rebecca.” Such simple words and yet they stung her. It was really true. Everything they’d ever had was over. She turned, her hands shaking as she pushed the key into the door and stepped inside. She leaned against the door as she closed it, heaving a sigh as she closed the door on her life with Collin as well.

      She opened her eyes and a scream escaped her lips.

      * * *

      He turned and ran back toward the house at the sound of Rebecca’s scream. Pushing open the door, he saw her huddled in the corner. Written in paint on the opposite wall were the threatening words Today was only the beginning. Someone had been here, inside her home.

      “Stay here,” he warned her. “I’m going to check the house to make sure he’s not still here.”

      Again, he wished for his gun, but he was ready if he saw anyone hiding. He checked room by room but saw no evidence that anyone was still here. He did find broken glass by her living room window. That must have been how the intruder got inside.

      “No one is here,” he said, returning to the front hall, where she was still crouched, her face pale and her eyes wide with fright.

      Rebecca was small and frail in his arms as he helped her to the couch and his instinct was to pull her to him for comfort. But he checked that feeling, since they weren’t in a relationship any longer.

      Tears rolled down her cheeks. “They were in my house.”

      “I know, but we’ll find them.” He took out his phone and called Kent, explaining the situation. He promised to come by as soon as he wrapped up the scene at the parking lot.

      Collin hurried into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water for her. Her hands were shaking as she held it and took a sip.

      He cringed as he thought about the man who had attacked her earlier. Had he been the one inside her home as well? Someone was after her and they knew where she lived. “You said you had threatening letters? Can I see them?”

      She nodded then got up and walked on shaky legs into the kitchen. She opened a drawer and pulled out a plastic bag. Inside were several pieces of paper with letters cut out of magazines and glued onto them to form words of warnings. They were old-school and that was notable, but it was also harder to trace than emails or text messages. The notes were chillingly to-the-point.

      Mind your own business.

      Stay out of our way.

      Stop investigating or you will die.

      He shuddered at the threat. She’d stumbled across a serious and potentially dangerous person. And they’d already tried to make good on their threats. Fear crept up his neck—fear for her and her safety. “We should get these to Kent. When did they start coming?”

      “I found the first one on my car windshield eight days ago. The next two were here at my house.”

      He didn’t like the fact that whoever was after her knew where she lived and had been inside her house. “Do you live alone?”

      “Yes.”

      “Any pets?”

      “No. Why?”

      “Dogs are the best alarm system you can have.” He slid into the chair opposite her.

      “Do you have a dog?”

      It struck him as an oddly personal question that had nothing to do with keeping her safe. “No, I don’t.” He wasn’t generally home enough to take on the commitment of a pet. That might be changing soon however, after his team’s actions in Libya. They’d been working security for a covert CIA base when an attack on an American embassy occurred only a few miles away. Collin recalled seeing the smoke from intentionally set fires even from their base, but they’d been told to stand down, as the government had decided its CIA interests were more important than the Americans dying nearly in front of them. His team had defied those orders and gone in, anyway. Assuming the CIA continued to utilize Security Operations Abroad operatives, Collin doubted his contract, and those of the others on his team, would be extended.

      It looked like he was back on American soil for good.

      He heard a car pulling into her driveway and walked to the window. “It’s Kent. How did that guy get to be a cop?”

      “He’s worked his way up the ranks. He СКАЧАТЬ