The Sheriff's Son Read Online Free PDF Page A

you hardly have any evidence to work with.”
    â€œI’ve had less.”
    Behind Justine, the door opened and closed. She peered around to see Charlie skipping toward her.
    â€œMommy, I’m hungry. When are we gonna eat?”
    Justine took her son by the shoulders and turned him back toward the door of the house. “Go get a graham cracker. Aunt Kitty and I will fix supper in a few minutes.”
    The child went back inside. Justine looked at Roy, and suddenly felt more awkward than she had since he first arrived. Maybe it was because he was leaving and she knew that she’d probably never see him again.
    The idea should have relieved her, and it did, to a certain degree. But it also reminded her of how empty, how devastated, she’d felt when she lost him all those years ago. He’d been her first and only lover. Whether she wanted him to be or not, a part of him was still ingrained in her.
    â€œWell, another hungry mouth to feed,” she said, with a faint smile and a shrug. “I guess I’d better get to work.”
    Nodding, Roy turned and walked the remaining distance to his Bronco. He needed to get back to work, too. But he could feel her eyes on his back until he heard the door to the house shut
    Roy climbed into the vehicle and reached to start the motor. Before he could, his eyes were drawn to the house, and his fingers paused on the ignition keys. Through the living room window, he could see Justine bending down and planting a kiss on the top of her son’s head. The boy took a bite of cracker, then offered it to his mother. Shetook a bite, then put her arm around the child and led him away from Roy’s view.
    Annoyed with himself for letting his attention stray once again to the family inside the house, Roy muttered a curse and started the engine. It was high time he got home.
    Justine was helping her aunt prepare supper when Rose and Chloe returned to the house. Both sisters were instantly captivated by the twins and insisted on feeding them mashed bananas at the supper table.
    â€œAren’t they the cutest things you’ve ever seen?” Chloe exclaimed as she scooped a spoonful of fruit into the boy’s mouth. “What do you think we should call them?”
    Justine glanced anxiously at her aunt then back to her younger sister. “Chloe, we can’t name the babies. Remember what I told you earlier? Someone from social services will be out tomorrow to get them.”
    Chloe kissed the top of the boy’s head, whose dark auburn hair just happened to match her own, then glanced adoringly at the girl sitting contentedly on Rose’s lap.
    â€œOh, Justine, surely we can keep them until the real parents are found. And who knows? They might not be able to get them back. Not after dumping them like they did.”
    Justine sighed inwardly. She knew what these two babies probably meant to Chloe. At eighteen, an infection had scarred her reproductive organs and left her barren. Now, at twenty-three and with no chance of ever having a baby of her own, she probably saw the twins as two little angels sent from heaven.
    But Justine knew it wasn’t that way, and she didn’t want Chloe or Rose to get attached to the babies, then go through the heartache of giving them up.
    â€œChloe,” Justine began, “we don’t know who left the children here. And I doubt—”
    At twenty-eight, the chestnut-haired Rose was the oldest of the three sisters, and always the quiet one. But at thismoment she chose to interrupt, making the other three women look at her with raised brows.
    â€œIf Sheriff Pardee allowed them to stay here tonight, perhaps he’ll consider letting them stay until the case is solved.”
    â€œYes!” Chloe seconded that idea with an eager yelp, then turned pleading eyes on Justine. “Justine, will you call and ask him?”
    Justine glanced frantically at her two sisters. “Me ask him! Why