3 The Chain of Lies by Debra Burroughs Read Free Book Online Page A

the address book once more.
    “I’m so lonely for you, Colin.” Her heart ached for him.
    “Maybe this will cheer you up.” His voice was deep and warm. “I spoke to the police chief about getting my old job back—that is, when I’m ready to come back to Paradise Valley.”
    “Did he agree?” she asked, lying back against the pillows.
    “He did, said ol’ Ernie is itching to get back to his old position as a patrolman.”
    “Yes, Ernie mentioned that several times to me during the Wakefield case—that he wasn’t cut out for being a detective.”
    “He mentioned ? That doesn’t sound like Ernie.” Colin chuckled.
    “Well, more like complained—I was trying to be nice. I can’t wait for you to come back, Colin, I miss you.” Emily twisted a strand of hair around her finger.
    “I know. I miss you, too. It won’t be much longer, Babe, I promise. Dad’s doing a lot better.”
    “That’s good to hear.” She sat up straight and crossed her legs Indian-style on the bed. “Oh, did I tell you that Camille’s brother is in town?”
    “No. Just visiting or moving there?”
    “Just visiting. His name’s Peter MacKenzie. He’s a TV reporter. He starts a new job in Seattle soon, and he’s here to see Camille and her family before it begins. I think he’s planning to stick around until after Molly gets back from Hawaii so he can see her.”
    “What’s he like?”
    “Handsome, interesting, funny.” How could she tease poor Colin so?
    His voice became serious. “Hmmm, should I be jealous?”
    “Well, he did ask me out.”
    “What!” Colin shrieked. “What did you tell him?” Suddenly his voice was high and intense.
    “What do you think? I told him no, that I was seeing someone, of course.” She probably shouldn’t have baited him that way, but it felt kind of nice to hear a sizzle of jealousy in Colin’s voice, standing up for his woman. It made her want him all the more. “I told you I’d wait for you.”
    “I guess I’d better be moving my butt back there sooner rather than later.”
    “I guess you’d better.” She laughed. “Not to change the subject, but I had a heart-to-heart with Isabel the other night and it turns out she was Izzy Handler from Evan’s address book.”
    “No kidding.”
    Emily explained to him what Isabel had shared about her relationship with Evan, and how she had moved to Paradise Valley to help him. However, the part where someone was possibly hiding in her house while the girls were there and may have overheard her conversation with Isabel, well, she thought she’d keep that to herself. It would only upset Colin and there was nothing he could do from seven hundred miles away.
    “I’d better let you go, Emily. It’s getting late. I’ll call you again tomorrow.”
    “That’d be nice,” she replied, reclining against the pillows once more.
    “I love you.”
    “I love you, too.”
    ~*~
    With nothing on the agenda for Sunday, Emily hadn’t bothered to set the alarm, hoping to get some extra sleep. She’d had too many exhausting nights with little sleep because of Evan, so sleeping in would be a treat.
    At nine o’clock, there was a loud knock at her front door. She was still in bed, hovering in that dream-like space between sleep and waking. She was dreaming Colin had come back to Paradise Valley and was knocking at her door. Then another loud knock interrupted her dream and she realized someone really was at her front door.
    “Coming!” she hollered as she grabbed her robe, not knowing for sure if the visitor could hear her or not. As she rushed to the entry, she could see the top of a police officer’s hat through the windows across the top of the door. “What on earth?”
    She cinched the belt on her robe and opened the door part way, peeking around it. “Good morning, can I help you?”
    “Emily Parker?” the officer asked.
    “Yes. Is something wrong?”
    “Do you mind if I step inside?”
    She knew most of the officers in Paradise