Cades Cove 01 - Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror Read Online Free PDF Page A

the glass exploded on the kitchen floor. This time Miriam awoke.
    “ David? Are you all right?”
    He didn’t immediately answer, creeping back toward the kitchen with his boot raised in readiness to defend himself. Had the intruder been hiding beneath the dining room table? He glanced under the table. Only a small child could successfully hide here, as chairs pushed in tight made it impossible for an adult to slide in and out unnoticed.
    “ David?”
    Miriam ran down the hall.
    “ I’m all right!” he called to her. “Stay back there!”
    Knowing she’d ignore his warning he moved quickly to secure the area, hoping to get the upper hand on whoever was in the chalet with them. The intruder had to be in the kitchen, and he wielded the boot near his head in readiness. He turned on the kitchen’s overhead light again just as Miriam reached his side. The only thing different from his last visit was the shattered wineglass on the floor.
    “ What in the hell happened here?” she asked.
    “ I don’t know.”
    He stared in disbelief at the floor. Definitely the same glass he handled earlier, he first thought that he’d set it down precariously close to the edge of the counter and it slipped off. That would make logical sense, and a hell of a lot easier to go back to sleep after he cleaned up the mess. But the stem and larger pieces of the glass lay closer to the doorway where he and Miriam stood, nearly four feet from its mate on the counter.
    “ I thought I put those away,” she said, bending down to pick up the stem.
    Her hair disheveled, and nightgown loosened to reveal her shapely form and lovely nakedness underneath made him worry more about some depraved sexual predator cleverly hiding. Despite the likelihood of an attack while they slept, it didn’t mean one wasn’t forthcoming. Someone had to be here in the chalet.
    He stepped carefully around the glass fragments and moved over to the washer and dryer, checking the back door again and this time he opened the pantry. Looking inside the dryer and washer drew a curious look from her.
    “ What are you looking for, hon’?”
    “ Just checking for something,” he said, and then opened the larger cabinets beneath both counter tops in the narrow kitchen.
    “ So, I take it you weren’t in here when this happened?”
    She looked more uneasy, and he now realized she’d thought he made this mess, that his nighttime clumsiness sent the glass tumbling to the floor.
    “ Actually, the glass is my fault,” he told her, determined to ease her concern before it grew worse. If that happened, there’d be no more sleep for her tonight.
    He glanced at the clock on the stove. 12:46 a.m. She’d be all right if he got her back into bed with at least some piece of mind.
    “ I’m just trying to find something to help me clean up this mess.”
    The last cabinet revealed two rows of pots and pans.
    “ The broom and dust pan are behind you,” she said. “So, what’s really going on here?”
    “ I just told you.” He forced a lighthearted smile while moving back to the broom and dustpan, next to the trash container. “I got up to get a drink, and I guess I set the glass too close to the edge before it fell onto the floor.”
    The look on her faced told him she didn’t believe this, at least not entirely.
    “ And you needed two glasses for that?” She placed her hands on her hips.
    Why does a woman notice everything?
    “ You must’ve forgotten to put them back up in the cupboard.” To him this sounded plausible. “Since they looked clean, I decided to go ahead and use one.”
    From her expression this time, it appeared she believed him. To further sell it, he got busy cleaning up the mess on the floor. By the time he finished, she’d already placed the other glass back inside the cupboard and left the kitchen.
    “ We’re going to have to pay for the glass, you know,” she said. From the sound of her voice she was on her way back to the bedroom.
    “ Yeah, I