Cold Snap by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online Page B

planted a recording device in Lee’s office. She told me after the fact. I would have stopped her.”
    But Elle wasn’t certain she would have. She wanted Lee as much as Doreen did.
    “I don’t know what happened, but Doreen disappeared. I was frantic, searching for her just like now…” Suddenly, Elle saw the parallel and she clutched her stomach.
    “What happened?” Patrick asked quietly.
    “Someone—one of Lee’s men, I know—dumped her body outside my apartment. She was barely alive. I tried to save her. But—” She drew in a deep breath, forcing herself not to cry. Forcing herself to control the rage that she constantly fought whenever she remembered Doreen dying in her arms.
    “Sorry,” Doreen had said. Elle could barely hear her. “I—I failed.”
    “No, no! Hold on, Doreen, please.”
    Doreen’s petite body was shaking uncontrollably. Elle took off her sweater and put it over the girl as she tried to hold her. Where was the ambulance? How long did it take to get here in the middle of the fucking night?
    “It’s worse,” Doreen whispered.
    “Don’t talk.”
    “It’s worse than I even knew.”
    Doreen didn’t speak again, and by the time the ambulance arrived three minutes later, Elle knew she was dead.
    “Elle?” Patrick’s hand was on her arm.
    She took a deep breath. “Kami knew Doreen. I didn’t know it at first, and one day I said too much. Told Kami that I knew Lee had killed Doreen and that’s why I was so focused on learning everything about him and his connection with Lorenzo. Kami started snooping, she wants to take him down just like I do, but she’s young and reckless. She doesn’t understand she can’t do it alone.”
    “That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” Patrick muttered.
    “I’m not reckless.”
    “Yes you are, but I understand why.” Patrick touched her cheek and turned her to look at him. It was dark, but she didn’t mistake the determined set of his square jaw. She wanted to turn everything over to Patrick, to let him fix this mess, but she’d always cleaned up her own messes.
    “Patrick—”
    “You have to trust me, Elle,” he said. “You’re in a dangerous game with dangerous people who have already proven they will kill to keep their drugs moving. If you don’t trust me, listen to me, you’re going to get hurt—or worse.”
    “You’re a Kincaid, right? Truth, justice, and the American way.”
    She was being sarcastic—it was a defense mechanism—but she couldn’t stop herself.
    But instead of being angry, Patrick smiled. “I like it.”
    He dropped his hand and Elle breathed easier. Who could have imagined she’d still have a crush on Veronica’s boyfriend?
    Ex-boyfriend. Veronica is married with two kids.
    “Drive,” Patrick said, “and tell me more about this teen center.”
    “Christopher Lee donated the land and a public-private partnership built the facility. It’s sixty thousand square feet, with an indoor basketball court, a library, computers, games, a meeting hall, and more. There’s four full-time staff members and several part-time staff and volunteers. They’re good people … but they all have bought into the myth that Christopher Lee is this wonderful and caring philanthropist. It’s a beautiful facility, much needed. During really cold or stormy weather, the city lets us open it as a youth shelter. It’s open from six A.M. until midnight on the weekends, and until ten P.M. during the week.
    “Lee’s garment factory is walking distance, and many of the kids work for him part-time. That’s how Doreen got in, and how she found out that he was dealing. She came to me, and—I went to the police. But they found nothing, because Lee is smart. He probably has one or more of them on his payroll. He became suspicious, and Doreen paid the price. That’s why I can’t just call the police. I don’t know who I can trust inside.”
    “And he knows about you.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    Patrick chuckled in