Anathema by Colleen Coble Read Free Book Online

word. We don’t need children. All we need is you and me, happy together.”
    “Why don’t you want babies, Reece?” She edged closer. “They bring so much joy to a house.”
    His expression turned stony. “I was a foster kid with nothing that was sacred, nothing that belonged to me. I was always the last person anyone cared about. I knew someday I’d find a woman who would love me only. Aren’t I enough for you, Hannah?” His gaze searched hers.
    “Of course you are, Reece!” She cupped his cheek in her palm. “I love you. We won’t talk about it now.”
    “I won’t change my mind, hon.” He turned his head and kissed her palm. “But we’ll have a good life without kids.” His smile turned tender. “Let me show you the bedroom.”
    A DREARY GRAY day held Rockville in its grip. It was a shock after the sunshine in Hawaii. Matt glanced around the room of assembled deputies. “What do you mean Reece is gone?”
    “He ran off with the Amish chick,” one of the men said. “After the funeral.”
    Matt sank onto a chair. That’s what he got for taking off two weeks for his honeymoon. “What about the investigation?”
    “The poison was in the cookies. Long was seen making the cookies, and he’s dead.”
    It seemed too easy to Matt. “Motive? And if he knew the cookies were tainted, why would he eat one?”
    “According to the coroner, he likely either inhaled the strychnine or absorbed it through his skin during the baking of the cookies. It was accidental.” Captain Sturgis cleared his throat. “The motive is unclear, but that’s the way it is sometimes. People do crazy things and we never figure out why.”
    Matt had seen plenty of that over the years. “You find the quilts?”
    “We dredged the lake, but nothing turned up.”
    “Then he had an accomplice.”
    “Probably, but we have no leads. No one saw a thing. It’s been a frustrating case. It’s your baby now, with Reece gone. If you can find anything, you’ll be a hero. How was the honeymoon?” A sly grin crept out.
    “Great.” He left the other deputies and went to his office. Maybe Reece had left him a note. It was unlike his partner—his foster brother, in fact—to take off without a word. Matt rummaged through his desk but found nothing but a new report on a burglary of a local convenience store. Maybe Reece had left something with Trudy, their grandmother. Matt dialed her number.
    “Matthew, I never even got a postcard,” she said when she picked up the phone.
    Stupid caller ID didn’t even give him a minute to get an explanation in. “Analise was sick a lot. Migraines. I took care of her and didn’t get outside much.”
    “She should have that checked.”
    “That’s what I told her, but she ’s had them for years. Hey, did you know Reece ran off with an Amish girl? Hannah Schwartz.” Silence on the other end. “Trudy?”
    “When did this happen?”
    “I guess after the funeral. I just heard about it. I take it he didn’t come to tell you good-bye? Or leave my gun with you?”
    “What gun?”
    “He borrowed my revolver.” And Matt planned to get it back when he found Reece. It wasn’t the gun that upset Matt, though. It was the way Reece had just disappeared without a word.
    “After all I did for that boy,” his grandmother muttered.
    At nearly thirty, Reece was hardly a boy, but Matt said nothing. She needed to vent. “He ’ll probably call you once he gets settled.”
    Matt used to be jealous of the relationship Reece had with Trudy, but he’d accepted it long ago. There was no use crying over something he couldn’t change. If she wanted to love a foster kid more than her own grandson, he ’d let her.
    THE SOFTLY GLOWING candles on the table scented the room with cinnamon. Hannah paced the living room, pausing occasionally to listen for Reece’s footsteps on the staircase. She willed herself not to cry. The special dinner was ruined. The pasta sat in a milky, soggy mess in the bottom of the pan, and