Sweeter Than Sin Read Online Free PDF Page B

the same cloth as Andrews. Sorenson was actually digging into things, arresting people. People would burn over this.
    Did they need to know what had happened twenty years ago? How much could she tell them anyway? She didn’t remember anything beyond trying to get David to leave. And she couldn’t share his secrets—they were his to share. They wouldn’t help, and none of it was admissible.
    How could she help? Even if she could, did anybody even care ?
    She didn’t know.
    Her gut was in a tight, nasty knot just then and she eyed the lovely, elegant memorial erected in front of the Methodist church where Sutter had preached. That evil, manipulative bastard.
    On Saturday nights, he met up with his boys’ club.
    Then on Sunday mornings, he’d stood before his faithful flock.
    And this town honored him with a memorial.
    They mourned his loss.
    She reached out and traced the elegant scroll of David’s name.
    True enough, they mourned David, too.
    But Peter Sutter shouldn’t be memorialized.
    She wanted to find something sharp enough, hard enough, to ruin the elegant lines of both his and Diane’s name.
    As far as Lana was concerned, the names of monsters should be wiped from the pages of history, and this town put this bastard up on a pedestal. If they had any idea the things he’d done, they’d probably bury their heads in the sand and refuse to believe it.
    That was what people did .
    Their idols fell, and instead of acknowledging it, they blamed the victims. A girl got assaulted by a couple of football stars and instead of blaming them, they pointed fingers at her. A powerful football coach systematically abused boys for decades, and instead of dealing with it, stopping it, people helped hide it.
    The abusers were protected and sometimes revered … while victims were shunned, mocked or abused even further.
    The rage she felt inside turned into a vicious scream. Everything, breathing, thinking, functioning, past that rage felt like a battle. And some part of her, that weak part, wanted to go back to the peace she’d known just a few weeks ago. Before she knew what was going on here.
    Maybe that part of her understood. That part of her understood the apathy that let others turn a blind eye to evil.
    It was so much easier to just look away.
    Deatrick would let her come back. She could find another place to hide, another job. He’d help her.
    But if she did it, she’d never be able to face herself again.
    Turning her back on the memorial, she headed back to Main Street. She’d see it through this time.
    She never should have left.
    Injured or not, afraid or not, whether she even remembered what had happened, she should have stayed, and she should have fought.
    Hooking a left, she headed down the street. Her belly rumbled as the scent of food caught her attention. She hadn’t had much to eat and she was tired, hungry and ready to crash.
    She had no place to sleep, although she’d been prepared for that.
    First, though, she needed to get some food.
    The last thing she’d eaten was a burger from McDonald’s and that had been hours ago.
    She’d hitchhiked her way from Louisville, clutching a sleek six-inch blade against her thigh the entire time in case the friendly-faced truck driver who’d given her a ride decided he wanted to do more than give her a ride.
    She’d had to fight her way through that sort of thing, more than once. She’d probably have to do it again. That didn’t make it any easier to think about, and she’d been glad once he left her off at the top of the hill. I can’t go through downtown. It’s a mess and a half right now thanks to construction and I need to get this delivery made.… Can you make it okay? He’d looked worried as he let her out.
    She’d promised him she’d be fine and she’d breathed easier once he’d driven off.
    He hadn’t recognized her.
    She knew his name.
    That was Vernon Driscoll, and for a while in school he’d been a horrible bully. Something must have