Wounded Animals (Whistleblower Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the laces of his shoes. Maybe he was just pretending with the shoelace act. Maybe he’d seen me watching him and wanted to explain himself before I went inside.
    My heart thumped against my ribcage as he looked up into my eyes. I felt silly. Even if Kareem’s warning had been real, why should I be so frightened about some weirdo dumpster-diving kid?
    “Morning, Mr. Candle.”
    I stopped short of the stairs and hitched my backpack up over my shoulder. “Morning, Darren. You can just call me Candle. The mister isn’t necessary.”
    “If you say so, sir. We were told when y’all came down from the Denver office that we were supposed to show you the utmost respect, though, so I’m just trying to be polite.”
    “I see. You waiting for some particular reason to go into the building?”
    He sucked on his teeth before answering. “Not really. Are you?”
    His words were like daggers. Compared to me, he was just a kid, but I couldn’t shake the creeping sense of dread that tickled the back of my neck when I talked with him.
    I shook my head and walked past him. He jumped to his feet. Followed me inside, staying only about two feet behind me all the way to the training room. I could have sworn I felt his breath on the back of my neck.
    “How is your hotel? They get you something nice?”
    “It’s fine,” I said, not turning around to answer. “I’m going to get some coffee, so I’ll see you in there.”
    “No problem,” he said as we parted ways.
    Today we were covering the theme builder section of the Design software, the module that guides users through setting the look and feel of their website. Keisha and Paul picked it up quickly, asked all the right questions, made great-looking demo sites in no time at all. Martin struggled a bit and I had to devote a lot of time to helping him get a decent demo started. Darren, though, sat in the back and didn’t say a word. Eyes on me, all day long. Hardly even seemed to blink. He didn’t ask any questions, just emailed me his work, which was perfect. As if he already knew all about the theme builder.
    Since today was going to be such a packed day, I’d put my phone on vibrate, but it had died at some point. Hadn’t checked it in a couple hours. As we were wrapping up, I plugged it in and powered it on, expecting to see at least one voicemail from my wife.
    Instead, Grace had sent me a single text message:
     
    This book is amazing! I can’t wait until you come home so I can tell you all about it.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    Waiting for the shuttle to take me back to the airport, I called Grace one more time. Hadn’t spoken to her all week long, and her text messages sounded like computer-generated spam emails, the kind that approximate human language but don’t make any sense. Maybe there was truth to the whole pregnancy brain thing. I imagined coming home to milk on the coffee table and the remote control in the fridge.
    My last night in Dallas, I’d texted my neighbor, who told me he had seen her car there off and on all week, but she didn’t seem to be home now.
    I stood at the rental car hub at D-F-Dubya, waiting for the number 3 shuttle. Tourists with rolling bags and businessmen in suits paraded around me. The tourists tugged little children by the hand. The businessmen stared deeply into the screens of their phones.
    My phone buzzed. My aunt again. If she was calling about Dad, as her earlier text indicated, I still didn’t want to hear it. I had enough stress in my life right now.
    After the baby was born, maybe then I’d call him. Maybe later, I’d even invite him to come see his grandchild. But not now.
    Wyatt had taken one more run at me to get me to change my mind before I left the office that morning. I was having more and more trouble finding ways to politely tell him I wasn’t interested.
    One hand held my carry on bags while the other thumped against my thigh. The music pumping through my earbuds didn’t do