ALSO BY MELINDA LEIGH
MORGAN DANE NOVELS
Say You’re Sorry
Her Last Goodbye
Bones Don’t Lie
What I’ve Done
SCARLET FALLS NOVELS
Hour of Need
Minutes to Kill
Seconds to Live
SHE CAN SERIES
She Can Run
She Can Tell
She Can Scream
She Can Hide
“He Can Fall” (short story)
She Can Kill
MIDNIGHT NOVELS
Midnight Exposure
Midnight Sacrifice
Midnight Betrayal
Midnight Obsession
THE ROGUE SERIES NOVELLAS
Gone to Her Grave (Rogue River)
Walking on Her Grave (Rogue River)
Tracks of Her Tears (Rogue Winter)
Burned by Her Devotion (Rogue Vows)
Twisted Truth (Rogue Justice)
THE WIDOW’S ISLAND NOVELLA SERIES
A Bone to Pick
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2019 by Melinda Leigh
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle
www.apub.com
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781542040181
ISBN-10: 1542040183
Cover design by Eileen Carey
To Anne Walradt, writing teacher extraordinaire, mentor, and friend. For (gently) shining a light on what my writing lacked and showing me how to be better.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter One
Why was the house dark?
Sitting in the passenger seat of his friend’s Honda Accord, Evan checked the time on his watch. Twelve thirty a.m. His mom’s car wasn’t in the driveway. She must still be at the urgent care where she worked as a nurse. Evan’s stepfather, Paul, always left a light on for her.
But there weren’t any lights on tonight.
Every window was black. Even the lamppost at the end of the front walk was out.
Unease crept up the back of Evan’s neck. His pulse kicked up a notch. A small punch of adrenaline countered his current overall state of exhaustion like a can of Red Bull. He hadn’t slept in days, not since the last court-ordered visitation with his real—no, biological—father. A real father would care about Evan, and Kirk never had.
“Are you getting out?” Jake blew smoke out the driver’s side window.
“Yeah.” Evan opened the car door. A gust of wind almost ripped it out of his hand. He caught it and held on as he climbed out. “Thanks for the ride.”
Jake waved his cigarette. “See ya.”
Evan shut the door. Jake backed his car out of the driveway, leaving Evan alone.
He glanced up and down the suburban street. Past midnight, light from streetlamps pooled in shiny yellow circles on the blacktop. Overhead, thick clouds obscured the night sky. A storm system was on its way across upstate New York, and the air seemed charged with electricity. The weather report had warned of high winds and heavy rains, maybe even hail and tornadoes. He hoped his mom’s shift had ended so she could get home before the storm started.
A hot, humid wind lifted the hair on the back of his neck. He suddenly felt as if he were being watched. Despite the heat of the June night, a shiver shot through his bones. His gaze fell on the windshield of a dark-blue sedan parked across the street, but he saw no one behind the wheel.
Now he was being paranoid. Lack of sleep must be making him stupid. Maybe a fuse had blown. That would explain the lack of lights.
Using his flashlight app to navigate the walkway and front steps, he slid his key into the dead bolt, but there was no resistance when he turned it. Had the door been unlocked? Nah. He must have imagined it. Paul would never leave the house open.
Evan was making excuses. He just didn’t want to go inside the house and face his stepfather. Evan was two and a half hours past his curfew, he’d been a complete asshole to Paul that afternoon, and he’d ignored Paul’s concerned texts about his being late.
Not that Paul would yell or anything. Paul was cool. But he’d want to talk about Evan’s shitty behavior and the root cause. Getting grounded wasn’t a big deal, but Paul’s disapproval hurt.
Evan might as well get it over with. Better to do it now, before his mom got home. Unlike Paul, she would lose her shit, and Evan didn’t want to deal with her freak-out. He opened the front door and went inside.
He heard voices that sounded like the TV coming from the back of the house. Definitely a fuse. The den, aka the man cave, was on a different electrical circuit from the front lights. A couple of weeks ago, Paul had shown Evan how to reset the switches in the electrical box in the garage.
Evan walked down the hall, his steps slowed by dread. Paul had waited up for him even though Evan had been a complete dick. Now Evan felt twice as bad.
Why did he let Kirk get to him?
Why was some fucking judge forcing Evan to spend his Sunday nights with the asshole?
Anger curled Evan’s hands into fists.
His father didn’t just bring out the worst in him. Kirk also cultivated anger and resentment. His father played him to get even with his mom. Kirk was a pro. He found a way to get to Evan every time.
Evan was an idiot.
“I bet moving out to the sticks was his idea,” Kirk had said. “He was the one who made you move away from your friends. He probably had his eye on your mom while she was still married to me. She’s his meal ticket. He quit his job as soon as they were married, right? He’s set now.”
But Kirk had twisted the facts. Paul had retired from his job as a sheriff’s deputy months before, and he did all the stuff around the house, even cleaning, something Kirk would never do. But Kirk had gone on and on, picking at all of Evan’s scabs until he’d found one that bled. Then Evan turned around and took out
his anger on Paul, just like Kirk had planned all along. Evan couldn’t wait until he turned eighteen, when he would be able to tell Kirk—and that asshole judge—to fuck off.
“Everyone makes dumbass mistakes,” Paul had said last time. “But you have to own up and apologize.”
Evan was going to make it right. He was not going to turn into his father.
He walked toward the den and stopped just short of the doorway, bracing himself for the talk his apology would initiate. But a loud pop brought him up short. What was that? His instincts said gunshot, but at the same time, his brain told him that was crazy.
Still in the corridor, he peered through the doorway. Paul lay on the floor. Blood saturated his T-shirt and spread to the carpet around his body.
So much blood.
Evan couldn’t even register the horror. What he was seeing was beyond comprehension. He couldn’t move, and he couldn’t look away. His eyes were locked on Paul, the pain and fear on his stepfather’s face.
Move! Do something! Help him!
Shaking himself out of his paralysis, he started forward. Paul saw him. His eyes widened. His head shook, almost imperceptibly, and he mouthed, “Run.”
But Evan couldn’t leave him there. His feet were rooted in place, as if the carpet had turned into ten inches of thick mud. He couldn’t do anything. Paul’s eyes shifted to the coffee table. Evan followed his line of sight to where Paul’s handgun lay next to gun-cleaning supplies set out on a newspaper. Paul’s fingers crawled along the carpet toward the table, but there was no way he’d be able to reach. He tried to roll, but the movement sent blood gushing onto the carpet, and he fell back.
Then a man walked into view and stood over Paul. He had a gun in his hand and wore a suit that didn’t seem to fit him very well. When he lifted the gun, his suit jacket opened, revealing a gold badge clipped to his belt. A cop? He pointed the gun at Paul’s face. The cop wore purple gloves that looked like the ones Evan’s mom used at work. Panic grabbed Evan by the balls as he realized what was going to happen. The man was going to shoot Paul again. And Paul was going to die. Paul’s legs twitched, almost in a running motion. He knew what was coming too, but he was too badly wounded to move anything except his feet.
And what did Evan do?
Fucking stood there, frozen, staring and shaking like a coward.
“What do you want from me?” Paul hissed, his voice weak as a breath.
“I want you to die.” The man pulled the trigger. The gunshot blasted through the room.
Evan jumped. His heart skipped a beat. Panic tightened his lungs until he couldn’t draw a breath. Paul’s legs went still, and Evan knew he was gone.
Dead.
Evan felt the choking gasp tear from his throat, yet he didn’t recognize the guttural animal sound as coming from his own mouth. His gaze was locked on the horror in the den.
Paul lay dead on the carpet, his body an island surrounded by a lake of blood.
Evan inhaled. At the rush of oxygen, his heart stuttered and kicked back into rhythm. He took one step forward, toward Paul, on reflex, before his brain put on the brakes.
But Paul was dead. Shot in the head by the man who now stood over him.
No. Not shot.
Executed.
The man turned, his eyes fixing on Evan, his gaze dumping pure terror into Evan’s bloodstream. It flowed into his veins like ice water. His bowels cramped. Gooseflesh rippled up his arms. He turned toward the back door, but the dead bolt was locked. Afraid of easy break-ins, Paul had had the turn lock replaced with a keyed dead bolt when they’d moved in. Where was the key?
He turned and ran the way he’d come. Equal parts anger and terror fueled his steps and scattered his thoughts. Evan tore into the kitchen, his feet sliding on the tiles. He slammed into the sideboard. A stack of dishes slid off and shattered. Framed wedding pictures fell from the wall, the glass breaking as they hit the floor. Evan went down on his ass. His tailbone rang with the impact on the tile, and his legs went numb for a few seconds.
“Where are you?” a voice called.
Scrambling to his feet, Evan ran toward the front door. He had to get out of the house. He was one of the fastest players on his hockey team, both on and off the ice. Once he was out in the open, he could outrun almost anybody.
“You can’t get away.” The voice was in front of him.
While Evan had been picking himself up off the kitchen floor, the killer had circled around through the dining room, beating Evan to the front door.
Evan stopped and tried to be silent. But his knees shook, and his breaths came fast and hard enough to echo in his ears. He fought to slow his breathing. The killer would be able to hear him.
He was going to die. Shot in the head like Paul.
His pulse sprinted in terror.
“You might as well give up now. I’ll make it easy on you and kill you quickly.” He was closer.
Evan backed through the kitchen. A piece of glass crunched under his foot. Sweat poured down his back. He was trapped. He needed the key to the back door.
He’s going to get me.
“Know this: no matter what you do, no matter where you go, I’m going to find you and kill you.” The sentence was delivered with the same cold-blooded calm that had been in the killer’s eyes when he’d shot Paul.
The faint squeak of a floorboard in the hall nearly made Evan’s bladder give way. He concentrated for a second until it passed. Then he stepped over the glass, easing his way back into the corridor that led to the den.
He slipped into the room. Paul’s eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. Tears and snot ran down Evan’s face as he skirted the bloodstained carpet. Standing next to Paul, he searched his pockets. Keys. He pulled them out, wrapping his fingers around them to keep them from jingling.
“Where are you?” the voice called, irritation clipping the words. “You’re just dragging this out.”
Evan eased to the back door. He held Paul’s keys in his palm, his shaking fingers finding the right key. He held the rest of Paul’s keys quiet as he unlocked the dead bolt. The hinges groaned as he began to open the door.
“I’m going to kill you. You can’t get away from me.” The man was in the doorway between the kitchen and rear hall. He raised his gun. “You’re a dead man.”
Evan flung open the door. The gunshot rang out. A lick of hot pain sliced through Evan’s arm. He grabbed his bicep, automatically feeling for the wound. His hand came away wet, but his arm had gone numb. He felt nothing.
“Don’t think anyone can hide you,” the man called out the door. “I will find you. I will hunt you down.”
Evan sprinted across the backyard, grabbing the top of the tall fence and swinging his legs up and over. He landed hard on the other side.
Was the killer chasing him?
Evan didn’t stop to find out. He bolted away from the house, crashing through the underbrush like a panicked deer. He couldn’t see the ground in front of him in the dark. Sticker bushes pulled at his feet and legs. His foot snagged, and he went down on his knees. He felt no pain as he shoved himself back onto his feet and kept moving.
After a short sprint, he hit the game trail he and Paul had used to hike to the lake. It was the same path that the deer and other wild animals used to access the water. The open trail let him turn on some speed, though the ground was uneven. He tripped twice but regained his footing without falling. He didn’t know how long he ran, but he didn’t slow until he thought his lungs would explode.
The physical movement was a relief. Like every coward, he was more comfortable with flight than fight.
He stopped in the center of the trail. Darkness closed around him. Something rustled the branches. The wind? He scanned the woods, but the sky was overcast, emitting little natural light. He strained for additional sound but heard nothing.
His hands patted his jeans pockets. His phone, which had been in his back pocket, was gone.
Did it matter? Who would he call?
Paul had been a former cop. He’d been trained and armed. And this man had killed him. Evan remembered the flash of a badge at the man’s belt. Evan couldn’t trust the police to keep him safe.
The killer was a cop.
And Evan could identify him. He couldn’t call his mom. She’d try to protect him, and she’d become a target too. There was no way he would endanger her. He had to stay far away.
The trail spilled onto the road. Evan came to a stop and stood still, lungs heaving, trying to listen for footsteps over the sound of his ragged breathing.
He didn’t hear anyone behind him.
Evan debated. If he crossed the road and continued on the trail, he would end up at an abandoned campground. He and Paul had hiked through it a few weeks back. There had been a few canoes and kayaks. One of them might float. Evan could get away faster on the water. But where would he go?
On the other hand, if he followed the road, he would eventually see a car. He could get help. His arm throbbed in rhythm with his pulse, the pain strong enough to nauseate him. His wound needed treatment. But who could he trust at this point?
The sound of an engine approached. But as the engine came closer, he backed into the shadow of the trees.
Headlights appeared. The vehicle approached too slowly, as if the driver were looking for something.
Or someone.
He was afraid to move. He didn’t want to draw attention. The vehicle crawled by. It was a dark sedan. Was it the same one that had been parked across the street from his house? Evan’s pulse kick-started. The sedan stopped. His heartbeat scrambled inside his chest like a fawn trying to gain traction on icy ground.
Behind him, he heard the sound of a car door opening and closing. He’d been seen. As he turned to run, the killer’s words echoed in his head.
I will hunt you down.
Chapter Two
Morgan Dane woke to the buzz of a cell phone. Raising her head, she glanced at the clock. One thirty-nine a.m. As a defense attorney, she occasionally received middle-of-the-night calls. People were arrested twenty-four hours a day. But a stomach virus had been making the rounds at the grammar school, and the two oldest of her three daughters had suffered through the bug. This was the first night in four that all her children were sleeping, and her head was as heavy as a bowling ball from lack of sleep.
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