Killer's Prey Read Online Free PDF Page B

kind of power grab by the city council and realized it almost managed to amuse her to think that he was right. As she recalled, the council had been nearly a nonentity when she grew up here. Basically they had taxed and licensed businesses and put up some cheesy Christmas decorations on the light posts. Had they ever done anything else? Not that she was aware of. So, yes, they’d probably feel a whole lot more important running a police force, however indirectly.
    But thinking about that reminded her that she was riding in a car with a chief of police. She wanted to yank her thoughts away from that as a wave of darkness threatened to descend over her once again. Instead, she forced herself to reach for a semblance of normalcy.
    “So people in town call you now instead of the sheriff?”
    He chuckled quietly. “It doesn’t make much difference to them. We share a switchboard. Whoever happens to have the closest car responds. Mostly that’s the sheriff. I’ve only got six of us, me included. That’s nowhere near enough for round-the-clock coverage, assuming the officers get time to sleep, eat and see their families.”
    He swung the car onto a narrow road that led to his ranch. “You could say we cooperate fully. The difference is I have no jurisdiction outside the city limits. The sheriff continues to have jurisdiction in town. Like I said, I feel we’re more of an auxiliary.”
    “Would have made more sense to hire more deputies with that money.”
    “I won’t disagree.”
    Yet he was doing this anyway. More money, he’d said. It troubled her to think of that when she remembered the days when that hadn’t been a huge concern for his ranch.
    All of a sudden, panic struck her. No matter where she looked, she saw nothing but fences. Like when she’d staggered out of that ditch in the dead of night far outside Minneapolis. Nothing. There was nothing out here, and she was alone in a car with a man....
    “Take me home!”
    The panic in her voice must have been unmistakable. He jammed on the brakes, pulling to the grassy shoulder, and rammed the car into Park. “Nora?”
    Her heart hammered so hard that she could hardly hear him. She was panting like a runner at the end of a long sprint. Her mouth turned as dry as cotton, her palms gripped the armrest, slippery with sudden dampness.
    “Nora?”
    She tried to grab on to his voice as the world seemed to shift dizzyingly from then to now and back again. “Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me!”
    “I won’t. I swear I won’t.”
    She wanted to get out of that car, but a vast wasteland was all that lay out there, offering no safety, no help.
    “Nora, can you look at me? Please?”
    She knew that voice. Jake. Somehow she managed to turn her head one jerk at a time toward him. He had turned in his seat, one arm on the steering wheel, one on the back of his seat. He had moved as far away as he could get in the confines of the car. Giving her room. His posture unthreatening.
    “Jake,” she croaked.
    “Yes, Jake,” he said quietly. “I’m Jake. You’re safe with me. I won’t touch you. If you want to go home, I’ll take you right now.”
    Home. The image of her father’s house, the emptiness inside it, made her shudder. Being alone wasn’t good. It was never good. “No,” she said finally, a mere whisper. “I don’t want to go back there.”
    “Will you be all right? It’s only another mile or so to my place.”
    She looked down at her lap. “I’m sorry.”
    “For what?”
    “Sometimes...I remember.”
    “I’d be surprised if you didn’t.” He turned and put the car into Drive, resuming the trip. With each turn of the tires on pavement, her heart slowed down. Her mouth moistened again, and the tension seeped out of her.
    She forced herself to think about riding a horse, something she hadn’t done since she’d left here. One of those promises she had made herself, that she’d find a Saturday and some money and go to a stable for a few hours, but