Deadly Harvest by Heather Graham Read Free Book Online Page A

Going home. He hadn’t expected ever to see her again, to have to fight his response to her again.
    Now, he was following her. Was that the difference, creating this distance that crouched between them?
    The drive to the plantation seemed to be taking forever.
    She turned to him. “Joe Brentwood was almost my father-in-law,” she said suddenly, as if she’d made a decision and was going to follow through, no matter what. “I was engaged to his son, Jonathan, who was killed three years ago in a helicopter crash overseas. He was military. Joe and I are still very good friends, so don’t go thinking he’s some weirdo or isn’t everything in the world a good cop should be. He isn’t a wiccan, but he couldn’t care less what religion others choose to practice, as long as they’re law-abiding. He respects his fellow human beings, again, unless they break the law.”
    He was startled by her sudden attack, because though the words had been evenly spoken, it had clearly been an attack nonetheless.
    â€œSorry,” he said again, feeling defensive.
    â€œHe respects his fellow human beings—so long as they’re not private investigators?” he found himself asking.
    She sighed in aggravation, and he decided maybe silence was better than conversation after all.
    At last they reached the Flynn plantation. As he stared up at the big white house, he felt a surge of pleasure and pride. Life was ironic. Aidan had been the one who wanted to sell the place rather than get involved in the heavy responsibility of restoring it. But it was Aidan who lived in it now, with Kendall. They had turned the derelict manor into a masterpiece of beauty.
    The house stood proudly now, a fresh coat of paint gracing her fine lines. They had preserved history, and, in the community theater, they had created something new and wonderful, as well.
    As they drew closer, he noticed a poster over by the barn, announcing a Thanksgiving show featuring area schoolchildren. He had seen Kendall at work; she managed to involve every child. His elder brother, Aidan, had been known as the skeptical hard-ass of their trio. He’d lost his first wife to a car accident, and it had been as if anything optimistic in him had died as well. Kendall had changed all that. She was energy and faith in motion, and he was grateful for her.
    He just wished she’d told him more about Rowenna.
    As he parked in the graceful, curving front drive and they got out of the car, Kendall came out the front door, smiling. “Hey!” She gave Rowenna a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then did the same with him. “Thanks for picking up Rowenna,” she said. “Aidan is out in the barn office. He wants a couple of horses now, did he tell you that?” She smiled, shaking her head. “I guess it won’t be hard to add a small stable, since we’re using the old barn for the theater. Rowenna, come on in. We’re just about ready for dinner. Jambalaya for your last New Orleans meal for a while.”
    â€œSounds wonderful,” Jeremy said, opting not to mention that he’d had jambalaya for lunch and hoping that Rowenna would also keep that quiet. “I’ll go find Aidan and tell him it’s time to eat.”
    He headed for the barn, wondering what the two women would be talking about and marveling again at the changes Aidan and Kendall had wrought in little more than a year. The old stables were sparkling clean, with a stage in the back and fold-up chairs stacked to one side, and, like the house itself, it was sparkling with new paint. The office was in the old tack room, and it, too, was entirely refitted with a mahogany desk, chairs, a small sofa and a phone, computer, printer and fax.
    â€œHey,” Aidan said, looking up at his arrival. “I did like you asked and pulled everything I can find on what else happened in Salem that day.”
    â€œAnd?”
    Aidan shook his head.