COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) by Kassandra Lamb Read Free Book Online

you’d just ignore such a request.”
                “Maybe.” Miller paused. “You may not hear from me again, but know that you’ve helped tremendously, just as you did years ago.”
                The pencil snapped in two and fell from her fingers. But she managed to keep her voice calm. “No, it’s not the same at all. Then I knew what to advise, how to steer you.”
                “Still, you’ve helped, just by being somebody I could talk to about all this.” Another pause. “Please don’t feel guilty if... if things don’t go the way I hope they do.”
                Kate was very glad he couldn’t see her face. “You’re going to meet with him then?”
                “I think so. I think I need to hear what he has to say. I couldn’t live with myself if I condemned him, and he wasn’t really a threat.” His voice was thick with emotion.
                Kate clutched the phone receiver. “Dear God, be careful!”
                In typical excruciatingly-honest-Miller fashion, he didn’t jump right in and reassure her that he would be. “I’m gonna do my best to take care of myself,” he said after a moment. “But at least if this doesn’t turn out good for me, he’ll probably leave my family alone. And you still can’t tell anybody, Kate, no matter what happens. I don’t want you getting caught up in this and getting hurt.”
                “Miller...” Her throat closed with fear for him. She swallowed hard. “I’ve never told you this, not in so many words, but you are the most remarkable person I’ve ever known. The world would be... a darker place without you.”
                She wasn’t sure but she thought she heard a sob. After a long pause, he cleared his throat. She could see him, in her mind’s eye, pulling himself together, squaring his shoulders, sitting up straight, ready to do what a man has to do.
                Part of her wanted to tell him all that was crap. He should just take his family and run! But it wasn’t her call.
                “Please, please, be careful!”
                “I will be, as careful as I can be.” His way of saying there was no way to do this without putting himself at risk.
                “Miller, I think you’ll know how I mean this. I love you.”
                Another long pause. “I love you too, Kate. Thank you for being there for me, again.”
                This time the silence was different. She held the phone receiver in numb fingers, staring sightlessly across the room, until a recorded voice started squawking in her ear, “If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again...”
    ~~~~~~~
                Three days later she read the obituary in the paper.
     

CHAPTER FOUR
                It took every ounce of Kate’s energy to pretend to be interested in four-year-old Billy’s description, over Sunday dinner, of the friend’s birthday party he’d attended that afternoon. She had been severely depressed ever since she’d read the headline in the morning paper, Sykesville Man Found Dead on Hiking Trail .
                The paper had honored Miller with a longer than normal obituary, detailing his volunteer work in the community and the supposed accident that had taken his life while doing one of the things he loved most, running on the trails of Patapsco State Park.
                Skip kept watching her, worry in his eyes. Twice he’d asked her what was wrong, but she just shook her head.
                By the time the kids’ baths were done, she was so tired she could hardly stand upright. When Skip took over for story time, she trudged downstairs and into the master bathroom to  brush her teeth.
                Skip found her already getting ready for bed. He looped an arm around her waist and dragged her over