Dark Moon Walking Read Online Free PDF

the feeling in his legs. Mind you, that was probably a good thing, he thought grimly, as a shaft of pain shot through his hip. The rest of him hurt more than enough to make up for it. Not that it mattered. There was the girl to find, and his gut told him that there was very little time to find her.
    Annie’s boat rocked gently in the shallows, lifting slowly with the waves. Its dark hull loomed a solid black against the night sky, forbidding and silent. Walker hesitated for a moment before reaching out and rapping the hull with his paddle. Annie was quick with her shotgun, and he had no desire to test either her accuracy or her temper. He craned his head back to look up at the railing as he rapped a second time, a little harder.
    â€œAnnie! Annie, it’s Walker.”
    He waited a couple of minutes and was about to try again when her harsh voice screamed down at him.
    â€œWhat the hell do you want?” she yelled as she leaned out over the rail. “It ain’t even light yet!”
    He heard the sound of metal scraping against metal and caught the glint of a barrel sliding down toward him.
    â€œCome on out where I can see you,” she rasped. “You ain’t Walker. He was here yesterday.”
    â€œIt’s me, Annie.” He slid out cautiously from under the curve of the hull. “I need your help.”
    â€œWalker? That you?”
    He couldn’t make out her expression, but he thought she might have relaxed her grip on the shotgun.
    â€œGoddamn it. You scared the shit out of me. What the hell are you doing here in the middle of the fuckin’ night?” She peered down at him for a few more seconds, then moved away from the rail. He heard her clumping heavily along the deck as she headed toward the bow. She was muttering as she went, and then came the sound of a door slamming. A light appeared in the cabin.
    It took Walker a long time to get out of the canoe. He had moved around to the beach behind the boat, but he was so cold and stiff he wasn’t sure if he would ever get his legs moving. Finally he managed to twist himself upright using a rusty ladder that hung down the side of the hull. Staggering over the rough ground, he slowly made his way over to the narrow boards that formed a path up from the shore to the deck. He used his hands to pull himself up them.
    Inside the cabin, Annie was bent over a cast-iron stove, angrily stirring the embers with a poker. She kept her back to him, pointedly ignoring him as he slid awkwardly past two large black cats and onto the bench of the dinette.
    He leaned his head back tiredly against the cabin wall and closed his eyes. “Thank you,” he rasped, his voice sounding as rusty as the rest of him felt.
    There was no response, but he heard the sound of the kettle sliding across the grate and water being poured. Minutes later a cup landed on the table in front him and the smell of coffee filled his nostrils.
    â€œFind her?” Annie’s voice was still harsh, but underneath he could hear her concern. She too had grown fond of the girl over the summer.
    He pushed himself up and shook his head. “Nope. Found her boat though.”
    Annie’s gaze sharpened. “Where?”
    â€œOver in Half Moon Cove.”
    He heard her sharply inhaled breath, but she didn’t speak. He turned to look blindly out the dark window.
    â€œLying in five feet of water.” His voice roughened with sudden anger. “Looks like someone towed it there and sank it.” He looked back at Annie, his dark eyes burning with a flat, black fury. “The dinghy’s there too, thrown up on the rocks. They holed that too.”
    â€œHoled it?” Her weathered face took on a look of complete puzzlement. “What the hell are you talking about? You crazy or something?”
    She turned away from him to poke more wood into the stove, then reached over to pick up one of the cats. It nuzzled into her neck, purring loudly as she