Deceptions by Cynthia Eden Read Free Book Online Page A

what’s happening by going home—back to your past? I say you’ll find the truth right here in town. And I’ll help you.”
    Her brows rose. “How?”
    â€œBy taking you on a little bit of B and E.”
    â€œBreaking and entering?” Her fingers tightened on him. “That’s not exactly law-abiding.”
    No, it wasn’t. “Since we’ll be breaking into a dead man’s home, I don’t think he’s going to press charges.”
    Her breath whispered out. “You think we’ll find something we can use at Steve’s place?”
    He nodded. “So what do you say? You going to stick to your word and not run away from me?”
    â€œI just want you safe.”
    â€œI will be.” And you will be. No matter what he had to do, she would be safe.
    * * *
    I T WASN ’ T HER first B and E. Not really. Long ago, she’d broken into a cabin with her boyfriend. Their car had broken down on a lonely Colorado road. The snow had rolled in, and they’d needed some shelter for the night.
    She hadn’t known they’d find death out there. She hadn’t realized only one of them would ever walk out of that cabin.
    â€œYou ready?” Mac asked her.
    Elizabeth forced herself to nod. This wasn’t some abandoned cabin. This was a house in Austin. They were in the middle of a neighborhood. Totally safe.
    Right?
    He did something to the lock. She saw the flash of a pick—the guy had come prepared—and there was a faint click. Then Mac was heading inside the house, turning on lights and quickly shutting the door behind them.
    It was eerie being in a dead man’s home. Everything just looked...frozen. There was a coffee mug near the sink. A folded newspaper was on the kitchen table. A shirt was thrown over the back of the couch.
    â€œYou didn’t know he was in town?” Mac asked her.
    She shook her head. “That’s weird, right? That he was here...that I was here...” A coincidence? Or something more?
    â€œI did some checking on him,” Mac said as he began to open desk drawers. She noticed that he’d put on gloves. “Apparently, he’d written a few books in the past few years.”
    She stood in front of Steve’s bookshelf. Elizabeth scanned the titles. “ A Knife in the Dark. Murder in the Suburbs. ” Elizabeth glanced back at him. “S.R. Yeldon... I know these titles. They’re all true-crime books.”
    Mac moved to a new drawer. “Right. The guy made his living by taking cold cases and solving them.” He exhaled on a long sigh. “Something I admire. Wish I could have met him.”
    Her heart beat a bit faster. “He must have been working on a story about Nate.” That was the only thing that made sense.
    â€œThe cops confiscated his computer, so we won’t have access to that.” He headed into the bedroom and she quickly followed. “But I’m betting he kept some kind of notes. Some backup... something. ”
    He opened the closet door. She crept closer to him. He was really confident on this whole break-in thing. “What happens if the cops find us here?”
    â€œWe’ll get arrested.”
    Her eyes widened. “You’re the one who made me confess all to that detective! And now you—”
    He laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ve got an in at the PD I can always use. I was just messing with you.”
    That wasn’t reassuring. She didn’t think he’d just been messing with her, either.
    â€œWhat do we have...here?” He reached up and pulled down a brown bag from the top of the closet.
    Her brows climbed. “You have a suitcase. That’s exactly what you have—”
    He opened it. Notebooks and photos spilled out.
    â€œOkay, I’m impressed.” She knelt on the floor next to the photos. “How did you know that anything was in there?”
    â€œBecause all of the other bags