Hearts On Fire Read Online Free PDF

sheriff’s silly sense of humor. “No can do, sheriff. I have a lady out
here who insists she see you. Pronto.”
         Constance was still new
to the job, so he reminded himself to be patient with her. He sighed. What
now?
         “Says her sister’s gone
missing and she wants someone to look into it.”
         “Then take her down to
Missing Persons, Connie.”
         “I would, except for the
24 hour thing. When I explained to the lady that we couldn’t issue a missing
persons report on a twenty-six year old woman who is only proved to have been
missing overnight she got a little upset. Insisted on seeing you.”
         He thought about telling
Connie to make the woman wait a while. Long enough that she’d give up and go
away.
         He was about to when
Connie popped her gum and said, “Claims she knows you from way back. Name’s
Elizabeth Waring. Dr . Elizabeth Waring.”
         “Waring?” he asked, truly
startled.
         “Yeah. Sister is—”
         “Katy. Kathleen Waring.” Perplexed,
he leaned back in his squeaking leather chair. “Lizzie is here?” God, he hadn’t
seen her in what? Thirteen years? Last he’d heard she’d run off with Brian
Castellano and had a kid. When he’d asked Katy about her once he’d been told
Lizzie would never, ever, set foot in White Pigeon, Colorado again. Period. She
had her reasons.
         Connie popped her gum
again and frowned at her boss. He’d been working too hard the last week or so.
“Boss? You want me to shoo her off or what?”
         “No!” He stood too
quickly, nearly knocking his coffee cup over. As it was some of it sloshed out
of the cup and onto his fishing magazine. “Send her on back.”
         Now Connie smiled a
little devilishly. “I’m not from here so I don’t know but one of the guys told
me that you and this Elizabeth used to—”
         “Just send her on back,
Connie. For the love of God.” Great. Just what he needed. Someone had
recognized her name. Someone with a memory. Had to have been Robbie Danvers,
one of his detectives. He’d been a grade below in high school.
         He’d finally been calm
but now his heart raced and his palms sweated. He couldn’t decide whether he
should sit or stand. Lizzie. Little Lizzie Waring. God but he’d had it bad for
her back in the day. He was still trying to decide on sitting or standing when
she walked in his door. When she met his gaze with those big blue eyes of hers
and she smiled almost shyly he forgot to be nervous. “God, Lizzie, you haven’t
changed a bit.”
         She chuckled. “You have,”
she told him, reaching out to shake his hand. “You’ve filled out even more.”
Gone was the lanky baseball player. Now he resembled a football player. A very
fit football player.
         He smiled crookedly.
“Okay, so you’ve changed too.” He looked at her hair, which had once been long
chestnut curls. Now it hung just below her shoulders without a curl in sight.
But still that fiery chestnut color. And she’d filled out too, he noted. In all
the right places. He remembered her as a coltish girl. A tomboy who raced to
keep up with the boys. And, he found, those eyes of hers still captivated him.
Indicating a chair across his desk he said, “Have a seat, Lizzie. We’ll talk.”
         She placed her coat on a
rack and sat down. “I wish I was here on a social call, Matt, but I’m not.”
         “Connie told me you think
Katy is missing.”
        
     
         Lizzie could tell just by the look on Matt’s face and the tone of his voice he wasn’t worried
about Katy and didn’t understand why she would be.
         “What makes you think
she’s gone missing?”
         “She was supposed to be
at my place yesterday, very early morning. She never showed up.”
         Matt’s smile was patient.
“Well now, Lizzie, you know your sister. She was never very… reliable. Could be
she got distracted and