Cause For Alarm Read Online Free PDF

restaurant and into the chill, late afternoon.
    Julianna pulled her coat tighter around her. The sidewalks were crowded with workers heading home after the long work day. The St. Charles Avenue streetcar rumbled to a stop at the curb before her. Sun glinted off the glass, momentarily blinding her. A cloud drifted over the sun; the streetcar passed.
    And she saw John.
    He had found her.
    She caught her breath, and took an involuntary step backward, panicked. He stood directly across the street from her, his head turned slightly away, as if gazing up St. Charles Avenue, looking for someone or something.
    For her. Or for a place to take her and kill her.
    Julianna froze, uncertain what to do—able to do little but stare, her heart pounding so heavily in her chest, she could hardly breathe.
    The way it had fourteen years ago, when she had met him for the very first time. He’d been the most handsome man she had ever seen, tall and strong-looking and young, not shriveled and prunelike the way Senator Paxton was or fat and bald like Justice Lambert.
    John hadn’t been like any of her mother’s other men friends.
    Her mother had introduced her to him, calling her softly forward, letting her Alabama roots show in her gentle drawl.
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    â€œThis is my baby,” she said. “My Julianna.”
    Julianna curtsied, keeping her eyes downcast, the way her mama had taught her.
    â€œJulianna, honey, say hello to Mr. Powers.”
    â€œHow do you do,” she said, her cheeks growing hot, wanting more than anything to really look at him.
    â€œHello, Julianna,” he said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
    She dared a bold peek up at him, then another. She made a small sound of surprise. “Your hair’s white,” she said. “Like snow.”
    â€œYes, it is.”
    â€œBut how come?” She drew her eyebrows together, confused. “You’re not old and wrinkly like Dr. Walters and he has white hair.” She tilted her head. “You’ve got lots more than him, too.”
    Her mother gasped, and Julianna knew she had made a mistake. But John Powers wasn’t angry. He laughed, the sound deep and rich and really…nice. She decided she liked him better than all her mother’s other friends.
    He squatted down before her and gazed into her eyes—in a way none of her mother’s other friends ever had. In a way no one ever had.
    As if she were as important as a grown-up. As if she were special.
    â€œIt turned white overnight,” he said. “I was on a mission. I almost died.”
    She widened her eyes. “You almost died?”
    â€œThat’s right.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I survived by eating bugs.”
    She sucked in a sharp breath. “Bugs?”
    â€œMmm. Big, ugly ones.”
    â€œTell me about them.”
    â€œSomeday. Someday I’ll tell you all about it.”
    â€œOkay,” Julianna said, hanging her head, disappointed.
    He gathered her hands in his and for long moments simply gazed at her, his expression serious. Then he smiled. “I have a feeling about us, Julianna. Do you want to know what it is?” She nodded eagerly, and he continued. “I have the feeling that you and I are going to be the very best of friends. Would you like that?”
    She glanced up at her mother, saw that she looked pleased, then back at John Powers. “Yes, Mr. Powers. I’d like that very much.”
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    The best of friends. The father she’d never had. Her protector. Her lover.
    John Powers had become her everything.
    And now he wanted her dead.
    A horn ripped through air, followed by a shouted epithet. Julianna blinked, startled out of her reverie. She looked around her, disoriented. People, anxious to get home after a long day of work, streamed around her, a few sending her curious glances. John, if that had really been him, was gone.
    Gone. She blinked again, despair rising up in