Alana Candler, Marked for Murder by Joanie Bruce Read Free Book Online Page B

is weird.”
    Chet frowned. “You don’t believe me, do ya? One of these days, I’m gonna follow that truck and satisfy my curiosity.”
    Elliott gave him a wary eye. “You better watch out stickin’ your nose where it don’t belong. It might get cut off.”
    Chet opened the door and stepped out onto the driveway. “All right, next time he pulls outta that shed, I’m gonna call you , and you can come with me.”
    “No way, man. I’m not stupid.”
    Chet laughed and closed the door. Elliott gave him a quick wave then pulled back into the road.
    Chet lifted a hand toward Elliott as he drove off, and then he turned to study the house next door. Pops and his strange behavior gave him an idea. If he could prove Pops was involved in some kind of crime, he’d win points with the chief.
    A plan began to form in his mind. The next time the box truck pulled out of the shed and down the road, he’d be following . . . a discreet distance behind.

TWELVE
     
    AT BRAD’S HOUSE, ALANA SIPPED her coffee and watched in amazement as Lisa ran around the house gathering papers, books, and a glass jar for Jan’s science experiment. Clad in jeans and a tee shirt, Lisa looked like she was dressed appropriately for the marathon she was running. Her blond hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she looked like a teenager instead of the mother of three children.
    “Jan, I thought I told you to get all this ready yesterday,” Lisa said in exasperation to her passive four year old slumped in front of her.
    “I did, Mama. But, Rob wanted to do a ’speriment too, an’. . . an’. . . he just took mine to use for his.”
    Lisa gave her a frown as she stuffed a sack lunch into a black backpack. “Well, go and tell your brother that we have to meet the school bus in five minutes.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” The head of curls bobbed up and down as she nodded. She rushed to the bottom of the stairs in the middle of the hall and yelled to the bedrooms above. “Ro-o-o-ob! Mama says get down here!”
    Lisa looked in irritated amusement at Alana and shook her head.
    “Jan,” Lisa said quietly to her daughter. “I could have yelled myself.”
    Jan cocked her little head full of curls to the side and looked searchingly at her mother. “Then why did you tell me to do it?”
    Alana laughed inwardly at the innocent question and tried to hide her expression from the little girl.
    A loud banging echoed from the stairs as Rob barreled down the steps three at a time.
    “Never mind.” Lisa told her daughter as she helped place the backpack on her seven-year-old son’s shoulders and shoved them both toward the back door. She turned to Alana.
    “Listen for Timmy, will you? He probably won’t be up for a while, but I’ll be back in a few minutes. The bus stop is at the corner.”
    Alana nodded and laughed as she watched her sister-in-law push her offspring out the door. Jan’s blond head never stopped bobbing as she argued with her older brother about why she should sit in the middle seat. Rob’s light brown hair, straight as a board but angled with two stubborn cowlicks, remained perfectly still as he listened calmly and headed toward the back seat of the van—his usual place.
    As their Chevrolet minivan backed out of the carport, a twinge of jealousy invaded Alana’s good spirits. She remembered the happiness in Lisa’s face that morning when she greeted Brad after his morning shower.
    Alana sighed as the longing for a family and a husband to care for resurfaced. Since her choice of men wasn’t the best in the world, that itch for a family had resulted in nothing but disaster so far.
    Her first attempt at a serious relationship was with Tom Watting, a self-assured, seemingly perfect individual. After two years of dating, she was sure a proposal was right around the corner.
    In her imagination, she’d supplied a house, a family, and even a dog to complete the picture of a marriage with Tom. But when her feelings were pushed to the side gradually,