Her Darkest Nightmare Read Online Free PDF Page B

pinched the bridge of her nose while she gathered herself together. Then she braced for another blast of icy snow, opened her door—and nearly hit him. The sergeant had already come out. It looked as if he’d been about to knock on her window.
    â€œSorry!” She had to raise her voice above the howl of the wind. “Didn’t mean to—”
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” he broke in, getting right to the point. He didn’t want to be out in the storm any longer than he had to be. Evelyn felt the same.
    â€œCar won’t start.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    She shouldn’t have left the prison without her hat. But by the time she’d realized she’d forgotten it, she’d been too lazy to pass through security again, figured she could survive a quick dash to her car. She was paying for that decision now, just as she was paying for keeping her BMW instead of trading it in for a truck. “The ultimate driving machine” wasn’t built for this kind of weather. “Don’t know. Started fine at the center.”
    â€œLet me try.” He waved her out of the driver’s seat, but she didn’t see how he’d be able to do anything more than what she’d done. Maybe he wanted to hear what happened when he punched the starter button.…
    The engine made no sound, same as with her.
    â€œGet in the store!” he snapped as he reached for the lever that would open her hood.
    Thanks to her gloves, it wasn’t easy to hold the hair out of her face, but she tried. “What can you feasibly do in a storm like this?”
    â€œWithout more light? Most likely nothing.”
    â€œSo … what if we can’t get it started?”
    â€œI’ll give you a ride and we’ll deal with this tomorrow.”
    If the storm was even over by then. She could be stuck indefinitely at her house with only Sigmund, her cat, for company.
    Just in case that possibility became a reality, she went inside and loaded up on more cold cereal, some cans of soup, cookies, crackers—anything she could find that looked remotely appealing. The cashier, Garrett Boyle, a grisly old widower who lived in the back of the store, raised his scruffy eyebrows when she began emptying his shelves, but stocking up on food made her feel as if she was protecting against the worse.
    Amarok came in, stamping snow off his boots, just as Garrett was ringing her up.
    â€œAny luck?” she asked.
    Amarok frowned. “No, and I can’t tell what’s wrong. But I’m not much of a mechanic. I’ve certainly never worked on a Beamer. You don’t see many of them in Hilltop.”
    She was pretty sure only she and a few of the other doctors drove luxury cars. But she didn’t do it to be ostentatious. Her small sedan wasn’t even one of the more expensive models. Instead of trading it in, she’d kept it as a security blanket of sorts. By moving here she was giving up every other aspect of the life she’d built in Boston. She hadn’t been ready to part with her car, too. The idea of that had felt too final, as if she’d never be able to leave Alaska if she did.
    â€œI hope I can find someone to fix it,” she said.
    â€œYou will. Tomorrow. Come on, I’ll take you home.” His gaze dipped to the groceries in her arms, then shifted to all the others piled on the counter. “Don’t tell me there’s nothing to eat at your house.”
    â€œOther than a year’s supply of cat food, there’s nothing to eat at my house,” she said. “As you know, I’m rarely there.”
    He shook his head. “You don’t belong in Alaska.”
    â€œExcuse me?” She blinked up at him until he glanced away.
    â€œNever mind.” He lifted a box out of one sack. “At least you bought donuts. Those are pretty imperative in an emergency.”
    He was playing off his first comment so she wouldn’t pursue the