Dangerous Passage (Southern Crimes Book #1): A Novel by Lisa Harris Read Free Book Online

crime.”
    “It’s hard when so many of the pieces are out of your control.”
    “My family seems to think my determination to find the truth about Michael’s death has become more of a vice than a help. That it’s dragging out the grieving process for all of us, when instead it’s time we accept what has happened and simply let him go.”
    “Something you’re not ready to do.”
    “No.”
    Jackson searched for something to say. “My grandfather would quote Lincoln right about now. ‘It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.’”
    Avery’s smile surfaced again. “I like your grandfather already. Tell me about him.”
    “He’s a Civil War buff who actually remembers stories his grandfather told him about fighting in the war,” he began, willing to let her guide the conversation. “He’s quirky, smart, and managed to raise me since I was twelve.”
    “Your parents? Were they a part of the picture?”
    Jackson paused. They’d talked briefly about their past over their first two dates, but he had enjoyed their slow pace of getting to know each other. Because while many of the scars from his childhood had—for the most part—healed, even time hadn’t completely erased the sting of his mother’s abandonment. “My mother decided early on that a family was too much responsibility, and she’d rather be out partying. Eventually she left us for good. My father loved my sister and me, but couldn’t handle being a single parent. He worked as a commercial fisherman, which meant lots of time at sea, so I can’t really blame him. It was the only thing he knew how to do. He eventually sent my sister and me off to Texas to live with our grandparents. Right after I started college, while my grandmother was still alive, my grandfather’s job transferred to Atlanta.”
    “Do you ever get to see your father?”
    “He came to visit every Christmas, and eventually we became close after college. He died in a fishing accident about five years ago.”
    “I’m sorry. I’d like to meet your grandfather someday.”
    “I’d like you to meet him. He was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which, as you know, is the reason I moved here to Atlanta.”
    She caught his gaze, her eyes full of question. “You’d want to know the truth, wouldn’t you?”
    Jackson only had to consider her question for a brief moment. “Yes. I’d say that your brother deserves more than an obituary in the newspaper. Your family deserves—you deserve—to know the truth.”
    “That’s what I want to give him. I’m just looking for closure.For proof he was innocent like I know he was. And for answers for my family and for me.” She shook her head and grinned. “How did we get so serious?”
    “It’s been one of those days that reminds you just how vulnerable each of us really are.” He reached out and grasped her fingers. “Are you still hungry?”
    “Yes, though a part of me is content just to sit and talk.”
    “Me too.” He loved the blush that crept up her checks, the way she ducked her head as if in doing so she could hide her most intimate thoughts. The way she bit the edge of her lip when she finally looked back up at him.
    He could get used to coming home to her every night. He loved his grandfather, but being with Avery beat listening to nightly tales of Abraham Lincoln and William Sherman by a long shot.
    From the first time they met, he was drawn to her fiery spirit—and now her vulnerable side. He’d never met anyone so focused. She knew how to throw herself completely into an investigation while somehow still managing to not let the day-to-day tragedies of the job harden her.
    He laced their fingers together and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. He was close enough that he could breathe in the sweet scent of her perfume. Close enough to kiss her. He tried to read her expression as he reached out to brush her hair from her face.
    A moment before he leaned forward to