Hallowed Ground Read Online Free PDF

your custody agreement and snatched your daughter.”

    My sunglasses slid down my nose; I peered at him over the pink plastic rims. “FYI: Sheriff Richards’ number is on my speed dial. It’d take him about three minutes to have a deputy here.”

    Donovan didn’t say a word.

    “What’s it gonna be?”

    “You work for the county?” he demanded.

    I said, “Suit yourself,” and pretended to dial.

    He backtracked. “Okay, okay, put the phone away. I’ll talk.”

    I clicked it shut. “Look. I’m here ...” Much easier to offer proof. I reached into my back pocket for a business card.

    “Whoa.” His hands came up in surrender. Bet as a kid he killed at freeze tag, his immediate statue impression was superb. “No need to flash your piece.”

    He thought I was packin’? Way cool. Instead of disabusing him of that notion, I shrugged. “Fine.
    But I’ve got cuffs”—a complete lie, I’d forgotten them at home—“so don’t try anything.”

    “Not a problem,” he assured me.

    “Tell me where I can find Chloe and I’ll be on my way.”

    A thin line of sweat tracked down Donovan’s temple and neck, adding to the damp stain below his yellowed T-shirt collar. A muscle jumped in his jaw. The man was as skittish as a calf at branding time. “Who sent you?”

    Nervous usually meant unstable. An unarmed woman, alone in a field with a man I didn’t know, great plan, Julie. I’d have to win his trust pretty damn fast. “Someone who’s very concerned about Chloe’s well-being.”

    Disparaging laughter boomed. “That narrows it down some, ’cause it sure as shit ain’t Chloe’s mother.”

CHAPTER 3
    “YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?” WITH A BORED SIGH, I REMOVED my sunglasses and tucked them in the pocket of my flannel shirt. “Rondelle won’t file charges against you if Chloe is returned to her immediately.”

    Donovan studied me from behind mirrored shades, which was disconcerting as hell. I preferred fear to curiosity.

    “Yeah? Maybe I oughta file charges against her .”

    Color me surprised he’d finally called my bluff. “Why? You’re the one who snatched Chloe from her daycare in the first place.”

    “Who tole you that buncha horseshit?”

    At my blank look—which wasn’t entirely faked—he swore again.

    “Let me tell you a little story ’bout how I happened to ‘snatch’ my daughter. More than two weeks ago, Rondelle dumped Chloe off at Smart Start, on a day Chloe wasn’t supposed to be there.”

    Donovan paused, ripped off his sunglasses so I could see the aggravation in his eyes.

    My breath stalled. I knew what he was about to say before the words huffed passed his lips.

    “Rondelle never showed to pick her up. When they got a hold of me, as a last resort ,” he stressed, “I was in Pine Ridge, three hours away.”

    He glanced at a fluffy white cloud passing overhead, a temporary reprieve from the burning sun, but nothing shielded his heated words. “Had to talk fast to convince the supervisor, Cindy, not to call Social Services or the cops, which might’ve been the best choice, but at the time, I decided enough was enough.”

    “Couldn’t you have called someone else to pick her up? Like another family member who lives close by?”

    Donovan’s gaze snapped back to mine. Hardened like cement.

    I blinked innocently, an offhand comment, but he saw right through it.

    “Rondelle didn’t hire you.” Donovan’s impassioned denial sent his braid slithering over his shoulder like a fat, black snake. “No fuckin’ way am I lettin’ that psycho Harvey get his hands on my daughter, I don’t care how much he’s payin’ you.”

    Clarifying who’d actually written the check wouldn’t set Donovan’s mind at ease.

    And why in the hell did Donovan’s state of mind matter to me? He’d been thrust into the villain’s role in this melodrama, ripping the poor child away from her loving mother. But if what he’d told me was true, I didn’t blame him.

    Once