Afraid to Die Read Online Free PDF Page B

her niece. She’d been eyeing them both for a couple of weeks, and with the coupon she’d clipped in the Sunday paper, she got two for the price of one.
    Feeling better, she paid for her purchases and thought about treating herself to a hot chocolate at the coffee shop, then thought better of it. Her job at Wild Will’s restaurant downtown didn’t cover the expenses of raising two kids on her own, so she kept her “going out” money to a minimum and partook of the fancy coffee drinks she confined to her account at the restaurant, where she got a twenty percent discount. Sandi, the owner of Wild Will’s, was generous with her employees and she’d given Brenda the job as a waitress when Ray had walked out five years earlier.
    Already the car’s interior had cooled, so she cranked up the heat and the radio that played “Christmas, all day, every day,” and hummed along as she drove toward her house. Snowflakes caught in the beams of her headlights, seeming to pirouette and dance as they fell. Through neighborhoods with plastic Santas, wicker reindeer, fresh garlands and colored lights strung on eaves and foliage, she drove as the heater finally kicked in. Her house was located close to September Creek, a few miles out of town. A little two-bedroom cabin she and Ray had bought three years into their marriage, it was beginning to show signs of age. In the divorce, she was granted ownership of the house, though she was still making payments to Ray each month and he was supposed to reciprocate with child support ... Oh, yeah, that worked. Fine on paper. She’d considered stopping the payments to him but didn’t want to deal with a lien. Though she’d hated to do it, she’d contacted a lawyer and intended, after the first of the year, to take the son of a bitch to court.
    Stop it! It’s Christmas! Again she caught her gaze in the rearview mirror and again she saw the anger that seemed to be forever lurking just beneath the surface of her gaze. It was something she was working on. A Christian woman, she believed fervently in forgiveness. She just couldn’t find it in her heart when it came to Ray.
    Someday it might happen, she thought, once she found another man to fix the sagging porch, replace the old pipes under the sink and hold her long into the night. Oh, what she wouldn’t do to find a real Prince Charming the second time around. At forty-two she wasn’t ready to give up on love.
    Well, at least not yet.
    The residential houses gave way to countryside, where snow covered the surrounding fields and drifted against the fence posts. Even the skeletal brambles and berry vines took on an unlikely serenity with the snowfall.
    As she turned off the main road, she noticed a car parked at the side of the road. Its hood was lifted, a man peering at the engine. She slowed, the beams of her headlights catching him in their glare. He waved, flagging her down, and she told herself to be careful, then she recognized him as a regular customer at the restaurant and as a member of the church.
    Slowing, she rolled down her window as he scurried through the piling snow to the driver’s side.
    â€œHey,” she said. “You got a problem?”
    â€œDarned thing just died on me,” he said “and I left my cell phone at home. Can’t call my wife.”
    â€œI could call her.”
    â€œThat would be great.” He flashed the smile she’d always found endearing. “Or maybe I should?”
    â€œSure.” Turning, she reached into her bag, found her cell and said, “I know it’s about out of battery life, but it should work ...” As she straightened again, she was making certain the phone was on when she felt something cold against her neck. “Wha—” A second later, pain scorched through her body. She screamed and twitched, losing all control as he pressed the trigger on his stun gun. Dear Lord, help me, she