Dark Light Read Online Free PDF

my predecessor was involved in the cover-up.”
    Her eyes widened. “You’re admitting it?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHang on.” She unzipped her purse and started to delve inside for her pen and notepad.
    He reached down and captured her hand. The bones of her wrist felt delicate and graceful.
    â€œNo notes,” he said.
    Her mouth tightened. She looked pointedly at his fingers encircling her wrist.
    He realized that he did not want to let her go. Reluctantly, he released her.
    There was a moment of tense silence. Elvis, having evidently concluded that they weren’t leaving, after all, fluttered off Sierra’s shoulder and returned to the coffee mug on the desk.
    Reluctantly, Sierra sat back in her chair, drumming her fingers on the arms.
    â€œAll right,” she said. “No notes. Tell me about the cover-up.”
    â€œUnfortunately, I don’t know much more than you do. Maybe less.”
    She acknowledged that with a small, disdainful sniff. “Try again, Mr. Fontana.”
    â€œA few months ago some of the other members of the Crystal Council and I began to suspect that Jenner was involved in the ghost juice business.”
    â€œThe police think that the juice is being distributed by the Night Riders, a motorcycle gang,” she pointed out.
    â€œIt is, but that doesn’t mean that Jenner wasn’t involved. He covered his tracks very well, but there were rumors. We hired an outside investigator to go undercover.”
    â€œYou brought in a private investigator?” She was clearly intrigued.
    â€œA former hunter.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œThree weeks into the job, he turned up dead.”
    â€œNathan Harder.” Sierra was suddenly very focused. “I wondered about that. The official story was that he got caught in a ghost river whirlpool, and when they finally pulled him out, he was brain-dead.”
    â€œFollowing Harder’s death, my associates and I decided that whatever was going on was more widespread and more dangerous than we had realized. We figured it was time for Jenner to retire.”
    â€œAccording to the press release, Jenner suffered a stroke and died. Is that the Guild’s idea of a golden parachute?”
    â€œWe believe Jenner was murdered.”
    She sat very still in her chair. “By you?”
    He smiled his faint, dangerous smile. “I know this will come as a great disappointment to you, Miss McIntyre, but the answer to your question is no. I didn’t kill Jenner. I think someone put something lethal into his IV line.”
    â€œI see.” Well, you couldn’t expect the man to confess to a reporter.
    â€œThe strategy the other Council members and I put together did not call for Jenner’s death,” Fontana added patiently. “We just wanted him out of this office. We thought that would be sufficient.”
    â€œWhat was your so-called strategy for getting rid of him?”
    â€œAn old-fashioned one. I challenged him to a duel. He lost.”
    â€œGood grief. The Guilds still conduct ghost energy duels to determine the next chief?” Disgust dripped in every word. “I’ve heard rumors, but I assumed that sort of archaic approach to running the organizations had been halted long ago.”
    â€œOccasionally there’s something to be said for the old ways.”
    She raised her eyes to the ceiling. “Talk about primitive, testosterone-driven behavior.”
    â€œWithin the Guild we prefer to call it tradition.”
    â€œRight. Tradition.”
    â€œJenner wasn’t married. That made things easier.”
    â€œHe was between Marriages of Convenience,” she said sharply. “Everyone said that he was shopping for his fifth wife.”
    â€œLike I said, that situation made things simpler.”
    â€œWhy is that?” she asked, baffled.
    â€œTheoretically, anyone in the Guild can challenge the chief to a ghost light duel. If the