All the Beautiful Brides Read Online Free PDF

coincidental.
    Cal would find the truth, though.
    Meanwhile, she had her own answers to find.
    She stroked the baby bootie charm again. The receipt had come from a gift store here in town. That store was gone now, though, and this one stood in its place.
    As she entered, the scent of candle wax assailed her. Timeless Treasures overflowed with antiques, old books, vintage jewelry, and an assortment of gift items. She maneuvered through the customers to the counter.
    An older woman wearing a feathered hat and gold cape looked down at her from a stool where she was dusting a Tiffany-inspired lamp. For a moment, Mona studied the woman, looking for any family resemblance. But this lady wouldn’t have been the right age to have given birth to her.
    “Can I help you?”
    “I hope so.” Mona introduced herself and learned the owner’s name was Aretha Cummings. “I received this charm from the woman who gave birth to me thirty years ago. The receipt showed that it was purchased here . . . well, at the store that was here back then, Garage Sale Finds. Would you know who owned that store, or how I could find them?”
    Aretha tilted her head and studied her. “I’m afraid that was Ms. Hazel, but she passed away last year.”
    Disappointment filled Mona. Although she knew coming here had been a long shot. “Does she have family whom I could speak with?”
    “Not Ms. Hazel. She lived and died alone.” Aretha descended the steps and took a closer look at the charm. “That is pretty. But you know, whoever bought it might not have been living here. It could have been a tourist passing through.”
    Mona nodded. That was true. “Did you live here thirty years ago?”
    Aretha shook her head. “No, my husband and I retired here three years ago.”
    Mona thanked her and left. She’d visit the local hospital or county office and search their birth records.
    Maybe she’d find answers there.

    Sheriff Ned Buckley rubbed his head with a groan. If only he could quiet the damn voices. What a shitty way to go. This fucking brain tumor was not only sucking the life from him, it was also robbing him of his mind. But he knew enough to realize there was talk about that Pike boy getting parole.
    He couldn’t let him be released. And he sure as hell didn’t want anyone digging around too much.
    Not with his daughter, Anna, back in town.
    She hated him enough already.
    Although some days it was good that his memory went and the awful years eluded him.
    Then he was back in the time when Anna was a little girl, and she sat on his knee and he bounced her up and down, and she’d laugh and hug him and tell him she loved him.
    She’d stopped telling him she loved him when she’d turned seventeen. Then she’d turned her affection toward that Pike boy.
    And now another girl’s body had been found at the falls.
    He went to his desk, pulled out the folder on the Thorn Ripper case, and spread the pictures of the dead girls across the desk. The thorny rose stems in the girls’ mouths still made his skin crawl. And he never had figured out why Pike had whacked their damn hair.
    Those young ladies had gone to the falls expecting to receive a rose as an invitation to prom. Hell, that tradition had started when he was in school.
    Instead they’d been lured to their deaths.
    He limped to the window and looked out at the mountains, his vision blurring. Today was a good day. The details of the arrest and the evidence stacked against Pike was as clear as it had been back then.
    But some days it wasn’t so clear. He had flashes of himself at the falls. Of setting things up to make the Pike boy look guilty.
    Or was that just the accusation Anna had screamed at him?
    Hell, it was all a blurry damn mess. He just prayed this recent murder didn’t make people start asking questions about how he’d handled the case.

    Nervous over the fact that a girl had been murdered, Mona rushed up the steps to the small house she’d rented on the outskirts of town. The