Bridal Reconnaissance Read Online Free PDF Page A

wondering what the hell is going on.”

    The older man nodded. “That’s fair. Okay…a little over five and a half years ago, she was attacked.”
    The breath trapped in Evan’s lungs choked him. “She was what? Was she raped? Oh, my God!” And she’d been pregnant at the time.
    The boy’s voice echoed in his head. “I’m five.” He was fine it seemed. But his mother was not. She’d trembled with fear. Of him? Or every man?
    Royce’s hand settled on his shoulder, squeezing with empty reassurance.
    Sullivan shook his head. “No, thank God! She fought him off. Boy, did she fight him off.”
    Royce squeezed again. “You gave her that, Evan. You gave her the skills to fight the bastard off.”
    “What?” the D.A. asked.
    “Evan’s a black belt in karate. You taught her some moves, right?”
    Evan nodded. He’d shown her some moves, but he hadn’t taught Amanda how to fight. She’d been born a fighter. Two months early and with no maternal nurturing…she’d been destined to die. But she’d defied all odds then, too.
    Evan cleared his throat and clenched his fists tighter. “I want to know everything. What happened?”
    Sullivan studied him for a silent moment before he spoke again. “The man, Weering, grabbed her from some other city, we believe. We never found out where. Evidently he kept her in the trunk of his car for some time. Then he pulled over by what he assumed was a deserted section of riverfront.”
    To rape, kill her and dump the body. To dump Evan’s wife and unborn child… Queasiness somersaulted through Evan’s stomach. And the name Weering…he didn’t recognize it.
    “But when he opened that trunk he was unprepared for her assault. She screamed. She fought. She blinded the bastard in one eye.”
    Royce grunted his satisfaction.
    Evan could hardly find his voice over the horror she must have experienced. “But he hurt her, too?”
    Sullivan nodded. “Broke her nose and jaw and cracked open her skull.”
    Evan struggled against the need to slam his fist into a wall. Or into the face of her attacker.
    “But she’d screamed so loud before he broke her jaw that help came. Thankfully before she bled to death. And he was caught red-handed.”
    From Amanda’s blood.
    Royce’s fingers dug into his shoulder again, but Evan could barely feel the pressure through the hatred vibrating in his body. “So he’s in prison.”
    And a good thing, too, because murderous rage pulsed through Evan’s blood, begging for vengeance.
    “For now,” the D.A. admitted.
    “What do you mean?”
    Red mottled the older man’s face. “He’s getting out in a few days.”
    “What!”
    “He did his time.”
    “His sentence was less than six years?”
    “We were lucky William Weering III got that much time with the high-powered attorney his rich family bought him.” Frustration quivered in the older man’s voice. “And then he bought his way into theearly-release program. Bastard couldn’t even serve out the rest of his sentence.”
    “So that’s why she’s so scared…”
    Evan could taste her fear with the metallic flavor of blood from where he’d bitten the side of his tongue, trying to control his anger.
    “You probably scared her, too. Christopher bears a strong resemblance to you.”
    Evan nodded. “But her memory…”
    “Gone. Blessedly gone in regards to the attack. She remembers nothing of it. She knows nothing from before the moment she woke up in the hospital days after the attack. For Amanda that’s when her life began.”
    How could memories of their life together haunt his every waking moment and she remembered nothing of it? “I need to talk to her again.”
    “She might be gone already.”
    His glance skimmed over the face of the clock again. He should have never left her house until he got these answers from her. But would he have believed it from her? His mistrust may have cost him.
    “Do you know where she’s going?”
    “She wouldn’t tell me. She’s running