Blackberry Summer by RaeAnne Thayne Read Free Book Online Page A

early night of it,” she answered.
    She had always been enamored with Jeff Bradford. He hated the guy for that, alone, especially because from the moment Jeff had noticed her, too, Claire had seemed completely smitten.
    Even early on, she had talked about living in one of the town’s historic old brick houses, settling down and raising a family here in Hope’s Crossing.
    Things hadn’t quite worked out as she planned and Riley knew a moment’s sadness for unrealized dreams. If anyone deserved the life she wanted, Claire Tatum Bradford would have topped his personal list. She’d been through hell as a kid and ought to be first in line for a happy ending.
    Was she completely devastated that Bradford had moved on? Riley didn’t want to think so. He had been fourteen when his own mother disintegrated for a while after his old man walked out. He could still remember the nights he would wake up to her sobbing in the living room as they all tried to make sense of James McKnight’s sudden abandonment of his wife and six children.
    Another problem he should have anticipated about moving home. Things he hadn’t thought about in years—and didn’t want to waste another moment ofhis life dwelling on—had a way of pushing themselves to the front of his brain. He quickly turned his attention to Claire’s son.
    “Great show.” He shook Owen’s hand with solemn gravity. “Your speech was my favorite of the whole pageant.”
    The boy flashed a grin at him. “Thanks. I’m super glad it’s over.”
    “Me, too.” A kid with flaming red hair and freckles who had played a highly unlikely FDR in the pageant grinned at him and Riley couldn’t resist smiling back.
    “This is Jordie. We’re driving him home,” Owen announced. “His mom and dad couldn’t come see the play ’cause they’re both pukin’ sick.”
    His sister rolled her eyes. “Do you have to be so disgusting all the time?”
    He shoved his finger in his mouth and made a retching sound until his mother gave him a stern look.
    “Carrie and Don have the flu, poor things. I offered to drive Jordan to and from the pageant for them.”
    That was just like her, always taking care of everybody else. Apparently that hadn’t changed. “Well, be careful driving out there. Looks like the snow’s finally started. I forgot how lovely spring can be in the Rockies.”
    “I have four-wheel drive,” she said.
    “Four-wheel drive won’t do diddly-squat if you hit a patch of black ice,” he said, but before she could answer, his cell phone buzzed with the urgent ringtone from Dispatch.
    “Hang on, Claire. Sorry, I’ve got to take this.”
    She shrugged and finished shepherding the boys into their jackets and gloves while he stepped away to answer.
    “Yeah, Chief.” Tammy, the night dispatcher spoke rapidly, her words a jumble. “I just got a call from Harry Lange out on Silver Strike Road reporting a possible burglary in progress at one of the vacation homes near his place. He says the owners were just in town from California last weekend and told him they wouldn’t be back until June but he’s seeing lights inside that shouldn’t be there. He thinks it’s kids. And get this, Harry also reported they might be driving a dark-colored extended-cab pickup truck, just like our suspect vehicle from the robberies.”
    “Did he get a plate?”
    “No. He said he couldn’t see it from his angle in the dark and didn’t want to move in too close. What should I do? Jess is in the middle of a domestic disturbance over at the Claimjumper Condos and Marty is taking care of a fender bender out on Highland Road. Do you want me to divert one of them or call the sheriff’s department for backup?”
    “I can be there faster than anybody else. Have the sheriff send a couple deputies for backup just in case.”
    “Right, Chief.”
    He was already heading out the door, his adrenaline pumping at a possible break in the case, when he remembered Claire and the kids.
    “Sorry,”