exposed (Twisted Cedar Mysteries Book 3) by CJ Carmichael Read Free Book Online Page A

same way.”
    He gave Charlotte a hug, pressing his face against the softness of her hair. Unfortunately she had to stay put, but he just couldn’t keep standing guard with her. “I’m going to head to the cabin. I need to get some more clothes for me and a few more tins of food for Borden. At the same time I can check if there’s been any progress with the search.”
    “That would be good.” Charlotte moved away from him and put her arm around Cory, who was staring despondently at her bowl of soggy cereal. “But, you are going to come back here, right?”
    Charlotte rarely asked much of him, and given the current circumstances, it would be churlish of him to deny her. But still he hesitated. He always thought better when he was alone. And he had a hell of a lot of thinking to do right now.
    Besides, offering comfort and support during hard times wasn’t exactly his strong suit.
    “Later tonight,” he finally conceded.
    He could tell Charlotte was disappointed. But all she did was nod.
    * * *
    Getting into his car, Dougal felt both relief and guilt. Charlotte’s big, grey clapboard house had begun to feel like a prison. Hopefully this nightmare would end today and they wouldn’t have to spend another hellish night like that again.
    Though he’d implied to Charlotte he’d be going straight home, Dougal headed for Driftwood Lane and the Buttermilk Café.
    He wasn’t hungry. But the Librarian Cottage didn’t have Wi-Fi or cell phone coverage and he needed both.
    The café was too cutesy by Dougal’s standards—nobody needed to look at a picture of a cute, pink pig when they were eating sausages for breakfast—but the coffee was good and the Wi-Fi was free. He settled into a table in the far corner and pulled out his phone.
    He found no new messages in his Inbox from Librarian Momma.
    But then, he hadn’t expected there to be. It was his move, after all.
    He took a deep breath, steeling himself. Deliberately seeking contact with Ed Lachlan went against every instinct he possessed.
    But Chester’s life was in the balance. He had to do this.
    First he opened the most recent message he’d sent to his father, a month ago, shortly after Joelle and Josephine’s deaths. He’d been prompted by fear for Jamie’s life, certain that the new client she’d gone to meet, Brian Greenway, was really their father, a theory he still believed in.
    On that day he’d said, “You win. I’ll start the book tomorrow.”
    Librarian Momma’s almost instant reply had filled him with revulsion.
    “That’s my boy. I can’t wait to begin.”
    Dougal recoiled from the words again as he re-read them. Having that perverted monster refer to him as “my boy” made the bile rise in his throat. Worse, it brought back all his worst insecurities about himself as a person.
    Was the darkness that lived in Ed Lachlan also inside Dougal? Perhaps lying dormant, waiting for something to trigger it?
    The server came and he ordered coffee, then waited for her to leave before taking a fortifying breath and then hitting reply.
    “Do you have Chester?” he typed.
    He waited a beat, then pressed “Send.”
    The server returned with his coffee, as well as a pitcher of cream. Before he’d taken the first sip, his computer pinged.
    Librarian Momma: “I’ve been waiting for you to start my book.”
    God damnit. The quick answer confirmed he was right. His father had been waiting for him to make the next move.
    “I’ll start today. Just let Chester go.”
    He leaned back in his chair, almost afraid to blink as he stared at the screen. Again, the response took less than a minute.
    “I’m calling the shots now and this is how it’s going to work. Here’s a link to a chat room. Meet me there in thirty minutes. We’ll talk for about an hour, then you go write the first chapter of the book and post it here. I’ll read it and give you my comments. And then we’ll move on to the next chapter. And so on. Until the book is finished.”
    Christ!