The Past Came Hunting Read Online Free PDF Page A

and become the best of buddies? “You don’t exactly come with sterling references, lady, and I’m not about to sacrifice my kid.”
    Glancing away from him, she drew her hands into fists in her lap. For a time she didn’t speak. At last she returned his gaze. “I’d probably do the same thing if I were you.”
    Hell. A quiet, logical response was the last thing he’d expected. Reconciling the proud, beautiful woman sitting next to him to the hellion of yesterday was nearly impossible. It was like watching an actress perform two roles.
    Then it occurred to him. Maybe she was. He’d met all kinds in his line of work. People who could look you in the eye, tell you they didn’t pull the trigger, while holding the murder weapon in their hand. On the other hand, he could also cite numerous examples of people who against all odds had turned their lives around.
    A throbbing ache resonated behind his left eye. Of one thing he was certain, Matt wasn’t going to be part of the equation while Joe made up his mind. He switched on the ignition. “I’m glad we understand each other. I’ll take you back to your car.”

Chapter Three
    At home in his darkened den, Joe sat, arms crossed, feet propped upon his desk, surrounded by a growing stack of paperwork and unopened mail. Why did he feel like the proverbial heel in this misadventure? Obviously, the boys had been confused when both parents showed up and took them home in separate vehicles. The kids liked each other, and from what Coach Hood had said, Melanie had raised an exceptional son.
    Hold everything . When had he stopped thinking of her as Mrs. Norris and transitioned to Melanie?
    Joe glanced across the room at his liquor cabinet, but Jim Beam failed to call to him tonight. Besides, if more robberies occurred, he needed his wits about him. He lifted his feet off the desk, then rose and sauntered to the den’s side window. A full moon illuminated the sky, and a silhouette in the upstairs window next door caught Joe’s gaze.
    Not what he wanted to see right now, the woman stood brushing her hair. Captivated, he watched until the ghostly vision moved away.
    Jesus, she was beautiful.
    If he wasn’t careful, he’d be arrested for voyeurism. What a career-ending headline that would make. Police lieutenant nailed as Peeping Tom . He’d joined Coach Hood’s ranks in thinking about the woman, and officially gone insane.
    Joe studied the ragged scar on his forearm. Seeing her again after all these years had been a shock, that’s all. After he became accustomed to the idea of her living next door, she’d be no more, no less to him than the rest of his neighbors.
    Joe turned the mini-blind wand, double-checked the locks and climbed the stairs. Matt’s bedroom door was closed, but light glowed from the crack beneath it.
    He knocked.
    “Yeah?”
    “It’s after eleven, Matt.” Joe opened the door to find the boy absorbed in something on his computer. A short sound played from the speaker, and by the way his son’s gaze darted toward the screen, Joe assumed it had to be some kind of instant message. “Is your homework done?”
    “I finished it at school.”
    Narrowing his gaze, Joe said, “Heads up. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be logging in to see your grades.”
    Matt mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.
    “What was that?”
    “I said, ‘yes, sir.’” Matt looked up, but not happily.
    “Right answer. Good night, son. Lights out in ten.”
    This time as Joe shut the door, he made no effort to glean the boy’s muttered response. He had enough on his mind trying to understand his inexplicable attraction to the off-limits Melanie Norris.
    Fluffing her pillow for the twentieth time hadn’t helped. Mel couldn’t sleep. And if she didn’t fall asleep she’d be a zombie tomorrow. Damn Officer Joe Crandall or Lieutenant or whatever his stuffy title was nowadays. He’d taken her happy new life and reduced it to rubble. And damn her scarred, impetuous