Dawn's Light by Terri Blackstock Read Free Book Online

today.
    “Tough day?” Kay asked.
    “Yeah, really tough.” He pulled out a chair and dropped into it. “So did I hear Deni saying Mark was taking her out tonight?”
    Kay wiggled her eyebrows and shot him a knowing smile. “That's right.”
    Beth didn't know what the big deal was. Mark and Deni were always together. “Why was your day tough? Did you catch any criminals?”
    “A couple. This one guy robbed his next-door neighbor. They'd lived by each other for twenty-five years, and that night he broke into the house while they were sleeping and stole his neighbor's money out of his pants pocket. Got caught, thank goodness.”
    Beth carried the plates to the table. “So … did you find any bodies or anything?”
    Kay turned and shot her a surprised look. “Beth, what a question!”
    Beth shrugged. “I just wondered.”
    Doug pulled his shoes on. “No. Thankfully, I don't think anybody was killed. A few minor injuries, but it looks like most of the robbers weren't from around here. I mean, think about it. They wouldn't want to be recognized. So they go to the surrounding towns as their banks open, rob them, then disappear back where they came from.”
    Beth was baffled. Why would two murders not be reported? Could it be that no one had found the bodies yet? Wasn't anyone looking for the two men?
    “Are there, like, any missing persons reports out?”
    Kay's frown cut deeper. “Why do you ask that, sweetheart?”
    “No reason.”
    Kay came to the table, and stroked Beth's hair. “Honey, go call Jeff and Logan to dinner.”
    Beth looked cautiously out the back window. She saw her brothers at the back of the yard. No way she was going out there. With her luck, the killer would pick that moment to ride by on the street behind them. She opened the door, staying hidden behind it, and yelled for her brothers.
    W HILE THEY WAITED FOR THE KIDS TO COME , K AY TURNED BACK to Doug. “I'm worried about her,” she said in a low voice. “She won't so much as step outside. She wouldn't deliver her papers today, and she never misses that. Since the paper hired her, she's taken her commitment seriously. I asked her to go to the well for water, and she started crying. And this new fascination with murders and kidnappings …”
    “Well, she's been through a lot in the last year. We all have.”
    “But she's sensitive, honey. Maybe she's been more traumatized than we've realized. Maybe she needs to see a counselor.”
    He looked in the direction she had gone. “I was wondering the same thing. But where will we find one? It can't be just anybody.”
    “I can ask around.”
    “I doubt there are many of them working these days. The demand for counselors is probably about as great as the demand for stockbrokers.”
    “People still need help.”
    “Yeah, but who's willing to spend hard-earned money on counseling when they can barely scrape together enough to buy food?”
    “We have some money now. If we can find a counselor, maybe we can afford it.”
    Doug nodded. “We'll have to. But I want whoever it is to be a Christian. I don't want someone who doesn't understand the basic principles of life to be poking around in her psyche.”
    “You read my mind,” she said, bending over to kiss him. She touched his face, her fingers lingering on his stubble. “Do you think she'll be all right?”
    “Of course,” he said. “But let's try to make this happen as soon as possible.”

 

    twelve
    K AY COULDN'T WAIT FOR LIFE TO GO BACK TO NORMAL . The days never seemed to end for her, with so much to do. She longed for conveniences she'd once had: Pop Tarts and granola bars for quick breakfasts, a drive-thru hamburger for lunch, and microwaved meals or frozen food for supper. Paper plates for easy cleanup, and four ladies from a cleaning service who swarmed through the house like a SWAT team once a week to do the deep cleaning.
    Tonight she'd fed her family corn tortillas from the bags of agricultural corn feed she'd gotten with a