Best Worst Mistake Read Online Free PDF

you?” Even with the wind, his words carried. Wilder knew how to project his voice, had years of practice yelling out commands over the noise of the jump plane or a fire’s roar. A skill he wouldn’t need anymore.
    Can’t be a smoke jumper withouta leg.
    The stranger didn’t hear him though. Or ignored him. Wilder tried to pick up his pace but shit, he couldn’t move quick.
    “Hey!” Wilder shouted as he approached. “Hey, you there.”
    Nothing.
    A chill shot down Wilder’s spine that had nothing to do with the windchill or snow. Something wasn’t right.
    He settled a hand on the man’s wide shoulder and the guy half-turned. Blackhair hung over his forehead and he had a trimmed mustache. The guy was big. Not as big as Wilder but also vaguely familiar. He knew the face but couldn’t place the name. He’d been out of Brightwater for over a decade but could still recognize a local.
    The gaze was what got him, staring into space, eyes slightly unfocused, even as his cheeks were bone white and slack lips almost bloodless.His pants were streaked with moss and his tennis shoes were mud-caked. Wilder turned and picked out a few faint footprints leading to the hill across the street. Castle Falls was below the main part of town. Where’d he come from? The silent stranger wasn’t out on a random pleasure stroll. The bluffs were steep, riddled with small cliffs and dense prickly blackberry thickets.
    The man mumbleda few words, tapping his fingers against his chest in an erratic pattern. There was something wrong with him, cognitively speaking.
    “Come on then,” Wilder said gruffly. He didn’t want company but he’d be damned if he’d leave a confused man alone on a night like this.
    S AWYE R K ANE , B RIGHTWATER ’ S sheriff, hung up the phone and stood, hooking a hand over the back of his neck. “Well, that’sthe shortest unsolved mystery in Brightwater’s history.”
    Quinn’s shoulders slumped in relief. She’d only been in the sheriff’s office a few minutes but panic had clawed her insides to shreds. “Someone found him?”
    A troubled look passed over Sawyer’s ruggedly handsome features, gone so fast Quinn wasn’t sure it had ever been there at all. “My brother of all people. Your dad was cold andconfused, but he’ll be okay.”
    “Archer found him up by Hidden Rock Ranch? But that’s miles away.”
    “No.” Sawyer took off his hat and tossed it on the edge of his desk. “My other brother, Wilder. He’s recently back in town, been living in Montana for years.”
    “Must be great having more family close,” Quinn said, distractedly. “If I could just get his address, I’ll get out of your hairand—”
    “You sit tight,” Sawyer said, grabbing his jacket. “I can collect him just fine.”
    “No, no.” She jumped to her feet. “It’s no trouble, I’m anxious to see him.”
    There was that mystifying look again. “My brother isn’t great with strangers.”
    “Oh.” Quinn didn’t know how to process that information, but there wasn’t time to ponder. “I won’t stay long. In and out. I’ll grab Dadand hit the road, keep ahead of the blizzard. I need to figure out what happened at his facility. This situation can’t be repeated.”
    Sawyer hesitated and she froze, feeling scrutinized—but why? Whatever the reason, the sheriff gave an almost imperceptible nod, coming to some private decision. “You know what? You’re right. You should go. My brother is gruff but he’s a good guy deep down.”
    “I’m sure he’s wonderful.”
    Sawyer cocked a brow and jotted something on a notepad, tearing it off to hand to her. “Here’s his address. It’s not far.”
    She swallowed a gasp. “Castle Falls Lane?”
    Wilder Kane. The great and mysterious W. Kane .
    A lick of heat shot up her spine. Too bad she hadn’t solved the mystery under better circumstances, but still. At last she’d made a definitivecrack in the case of W. Kane and his eclectic book selections, so many