Alpha Me Not Read Online Free PDF

didn’t see anyone who seemed even vaguely suspicious.” Fatigue descended in a shroud, coating her limbs with an acute heaviness that had her shoulders slumping and her knees wavering.
    What were the odds of the first place she could call her own, even if it was a rental, going up in smoke? Definitely not the day to be buying a lottery ticket.
    She dreaded making the phone call to Terri to tell her the news. Gawd, how did she tell Mama, Gray, Lizzie, and Melanie about this? Her overprotective siblings were liable to fly or drive down from Michigan to check on her.
    That’s all she needed.
    Heck, she didn’t have to say a word.
    It wasn’t as if it was national news. What her family didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. And there was no sense worrying everyone.
    “Can you walk me through your day?” Opie had a pen poised over a spiral-bound minipad.
    She’d seen enough Law and Order episodes to know this was the rule-the-perp-out routine. “I woke at five thirty, went for a run, came back, showered, and finished unpacking the rest of my stuff. That took me to noon. I swam in the pool. Suntanned for a while.”
    Heat scaled her cheeks, and she refused to glance Joe’s way but knew from her peaking nipples he was staring at her.
    Right then the other cop suddenly appeared next to Opie. He handed Opie a printout attached to a clipboard. Opie studied the document, raised a rusty brow, and addressed Joe. “You neglected to mention the incident that occurred earlier today.”
    Joe shrugged. “A simple misunderstanding. I’m sure the details are in the report.”
    “Helluva coincidence. Two incidents in less than four hours.” A gust whipped the papers to a light crackling, and Opie clamped the clipboard to his side.
    “Ms. White and I settled our misunderstanding over dinner at Mama Maria’s. We arrived there at approximately four fifteen. There are dozens of witnesses who can verify that. We left the restaurant at six thirty and were on our way back here when we heard the explosion.”
    “Did you see the house blow?” Opie’s partner embodied the California surfer dude with his sun-bleached hair, walnut tan, and piercing blue eyes. She knew the type only too well. Not that Chabegawn boasted ocean access, but the ka-dozens of hot-dog water skiers fell into the same category.
    “No. We were on the way home as Mr. Huroq just said. We turned onto Birch Close a few seconds after we heard the explosion.”
    A strong breeze cleared a swath of the smoke curtain, and the fading sun cast a gold hue over the burning cottage. Sections of the wooden building had been razed, and with a sickening crack, the tattered panel of the front door shattered.
    The rigid control she’d exercised to that point fissured. Moisture brimmed to overflowing in her eyes, but she chewed the insides of her cheeks, dug her nails into her palms, swallowed hard a few times, and sequestered her careening emotions. Later. She would cry later.
    “We’ll need you to make an official statement—”
    “She’ll do it tomorrow. What time’s your test?” Joe turned to face her and effectively blocked Opie and Surfer Dude, and she wanted to hug him for the slight reprieve. “Not that you’ll be taking it, but we’ll have to cancel, and that might take some doing.”
    “It’s at nine.” Crap. All her notes had been incinerated, not to mention all the textbooks on which she’d spent a small fortune. “I’ll have to go in early.”
    Joe dragged a hand through his disheveled, chin-length ebony curls. “Why don’t we go back to Mama’s?”
    That got her attention. She snorted, scrubbed at her cheeks, and said, her tone scathing, “If you think I could go back there and have a glass of wine and pretend that nothing’s—”
    “Give me a fricking break. There’s nothing we can do here, and we’ll only be in the way if they need to bring in more equipment and men. My home’s in danger too, and I could stand around and watch and worry, but