Twisted Innocence (Moonlighters Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

with him today, so she’d have to visit like any other loved one. She couldn’t hug him or kiss him or touch the stubble on his face or smell his unique scent.
    She shut down her computer, letting the readers take it from there, and headed to the jail.

CHAPTER 7
    C athy drank in the sight of Michael like a parched desert traveler. He sat behind the dirty glass, phone to his ear, his gaze locked to hers. “Are you sure it was Miller?” she asked into the phone.
    “No, not completely.”
    “It’s just that . . . you want to find him so badly, maybe you just think it looked like him.”
    “He almost ran over me. I was only three feet from him. I saw his face.”
    “Still . . . you said his hair was a lighter color. It could have been someone else. I just . . . I don’t think he’d come back. It’s too dangerous. He’s wanted for drug trafficking, distribution, conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder . . . and that’s not all. His face has been all over the news. He barely escaped last time. He’d be insane to come back now.”
    “But he is insane, and there are millions of dollars more to be made if he stays in the game. Think about it. A guy likeMiller, who was basically just a street dealer, who then rises to the level of distributor in an international drug ring? And then he gets chased out of town. He wouldn’t just disappear, knowing there was more to be had.”
    “But he got away with so much. Enough to live on comfortably for the rest of his life.”
    “He doesn’t think like we do. He gets a rush out of living dangerously.”
    Cathy felt that knot forming in her throat, and she swallowed hard. The pain of losing her former fiancé—Michael’s brother—had grown duller over the last two and a half years, but remembering how his killer walked free still refilled that grief well.
    And that had only been the beginning.
    She looked down at the paper she’d printed out. “So the SUV is a 2013 Lincoln Navigator registered to Sidney Hutchinson, forty-five. He lives at 1366 Pendleton Street. Only there isn’t a 1366 Pendleton Street. There was, but it was recently demolished. They’re building a CVS Pharmacy there.”
    Michael leaned forward, clutching the phone to his ear. “See? If this wasn’t Miller, the tag would check out.”
    “I agree. So we’re looking for him, and so is Max, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up.” Her eyes glistened with tears, and she touched the glass.
    He met her fingertips on the other side and smiled, always the comforter. Even in prison clothes, he looked strong and healthy, as though he could protect her from inside. There seemed to be no hint of weakness from the gunshot wound to his chest. He’d been getting some sun, and his face was tan, his cheekbones slightly burned.
    She wished they would let him have sunscreen.
    “So . . . tell me about the wedding plans,” he said.
    That was just like him, to change the subject when he saw the tears coming on. It worked. She dropped her hand and grinned. He had asked her to marry him at his sentencing, and they’d scheduled the wedding for the month after he was to be released. “Well, I heard back from the venue. Looks like the Sterling Reef is available that day. It’s nice and it’s on the beach. I want something with a beautiful ocean view from inside, so we can get the outdoor feel but still have air conditioning.”
    “I’m all for AC. Did you put down a deposit?”
    She twisted her mouth. “No. I’m still thinking about it.”
    “Why?”
    “Money, for one.”
    She wished she hadn’t brought it up. It only made him feel inadequate. “But business is good,” she went on. “Your clients are still calling, and Juliet, Holly, and I are keeping things going. Business is almost too good. We’re having trouble keeping up with all of it.”
    “Don’t forget to bill them.”
    “Yeah, Juliet is taking care of that. She’s the most organized.”
    “She also has three kids now.”
    “She’s managing.