Alone in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

night.

    King gave him the same penetrating look he'd given him that morning.

    Brady sighed. Who the hell did he think he was fooling? "Yeah, right, we're police
    officers. That makes everything our problem."

    Muttering something ripe and piercing under his breath, he started up the lovingly
    restored Mustang that served as his single private mode of transportation from the time
    he had leftGeorgiabehind in his rearview mirror. The only original thing left of the cherry-
    red car was its outer shell. Everything beneath the hood was new, or at least had been
    replaced once if not twice. The vehicle was in prime running condition. He made sure to
    keep it that way. Working on cars helped soothe him whenever he felt particularly
    agitated.

    Brady paused before pulling out of the lot. He knew he should go home, maybe tune up his
    engine to work the frustration out of his system.

    Instead he turned his car in the opposite direction and headed back to the animal clinic.

    "Yeah, yeah, I know, we're not going home. At least not yet." He glanced at the dog in the mirror. "Don't give me that look. She's a tax-paying citizen. Those are the ones we're
    supposed to protect, remember?" King's face remained impassive. "I just want to check up on her, make sure everything's all right. Something happens to her, the department's
    gotta find a new vet. Which means that you've got to get used to someone else poking at
    you. You want that?"

    King continued to stare at him.

    "I didn't think so." Brady took a sharp right. The open stretch of road in front of him
    invited him to go faster. He did.

    Fifteen minutes later he eased his car to a stop, parking across the street from the
    animal clinic, which was attached to Patience's home. After tossing the dog a large treat,
    Brady looked out at the two-story building. Except for the one just above the front
    entrance, the lights within the clinic had long since been extinguished.

    The lights inside her home, however, had not. She was home. Most likely alone.

    Brady settled in.

Chapter 3
    «^»

    Patience pushed back the curtain. There it was again.

    The car parked directly across the street from her home had been sitting there for a
    while now. Ordinarily she might not have even noticed it, except that for once, there were
    no other cars parked along the street. The neighbor who had a hundred and one excuses to
    throw a party was off traveling inEuropesomewhere. According to the neighborhood gossip,
    he wasn't due back for another three weeks.

    Everyone else around her parked their cars either in the garage or in their driveway.
    Which made this particular vehicle stick out. Even if it hadn't been red, which it was.

    Walter owned a beige sedan. Beige, like his personality. Had the man bought a new car?

    Her palms felt damp. Why did anxiety always crowd in the moment sunlight left?

    Her mind was working overtime. She had to stop doing this to herself. So there was a
    strange car parked across the street from her house, so what? There were a hundred
    reasons for it being there.

    She could think of only one.

    She'd noticed the parked vehicle as she'd walked by her family room window. Ten minutes
    later, she was drawn back to the window. And again. Each time she looked, she could feel
    something in her chest tighten just a little more.

    Get a grip.

    She worked the curtain fabric through her fingers, staring at the vehicle. Telling herself
    that memories of her father's case were making her overreact. Walter hadn't hurt her
    last time. Why would he this time? Patience didn't know for sure that the flower had come
    from Walter. But it had begun the last time with a single rose. Just because Walter had
    sent it, didn't mean that someone else couldn't send her a flower for a completely
    innocent reason.

    There could be all sorts of explanations for that flower. It could have even come from a
    new real estate agent trying to make an impression. Realtors were always doing strange
    things