Going Once (Forces of Nature) by Sharon Sala Read Free Book Online

within the contingent of volunteers. You could be putting yourself at risk just by coming back into that environment, especially when he finds out there’s a witness to what he’s done.”
    The hair stood up on the back of her neck. “But I can’t identify him.”
    “That won’t matter. You’re unfinished business,” Tate said.
    She slumped against the pillows, her chin trembling. “Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse.”
    “Do you still want to go back?” Beaudry asked.
    She took a deep breath. “I have nowhere else to go but back.”
    “Then do what you have to do to get yourself signed out,” he said.
    “I’ll go find a nurse,” Cameron said.
    “Ask her if I can please have a pair of scrubs. They threw away the clothes I came here in.”
    “Yes, ma’am. Don’t worry. We’ll get you rigged out,” Cameron said, and headed out the door with Beaudry behind him.
    Nola looked at Tate, refused to acknowledge the plea in his eyes and turned away.
    * * *
    Hershel had taken the morning off to sleep in and was still debating with himself about going to the gymnasium to work. He’d been there until after 3:00 a.m. last night unloading supplies. Being a good guy was tiring.
    Hershel, you need to get up. You’ve done very bad things, and you need to atone.
    He groaned. “Damn it, Louise, you don’t know what you’re talking about, so don’t be telling me what I have to do.”
    Hershel, Hershel, you break my heart. I don’t want you to be like this. This isn’t the sweet man I married.
    “That man died when you did, Louise, so let it be. What I’m doing, I’m doing for you.”
    Don’t blame this on me. You do not kill in my name. I won’t have it.
    Her anger was sharp, and he hated it when Louise was mad at him. His shoulders slumped as he leaned forward and buried his face in his hands.
    “You don’t understand,” he whispered. “You went away and left me, and now you don’t understand.”
    * * *
    Nola was naked beneath the scrubs and very aware of that fact as she sat in the backseat between Tate and the chief. She had a running list going in her head as to what she was going to have to do when she got back. She had enough money in the bank to pick up some stuff at the Dollar Store in town, but where would she go after that? There was a trailer park, one small motel and a woman who took in boarders, but lot of people would have been displaced, so the chance of finding room in any of those places was slim. She knew things would eventually work out, but it was the not knowing that was so unsettling.
    And then there was the killer among them. She’d seen him at work. That cold, calculated shot was something she would never forget. She leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes, and for the first time in years she regretted not leaving Queens Crossing with Tate Benton when he’d asked her.
    * * *
    It had been a long time since Tate had been this close to a woman he wanted, and pretending it didn’t matter was next to impossible. He kept glancing at her when she wasn’t looking. He had never seen her look this defeated. They’d spent their lives planning to raise a family in Queens Crossing. Having him do an about-face at the last minute must have shocked and, more than that, hurt her. He’d begged her to leave with him, but without being willing to offer an explanation. And she had refused to go without one. He’d been so hurt by his father’s rejection, and Nola’s rejection had only added to his pain. The only way he’d been able to function had been to get as far away from his father as he could. He should have trusted Nola then and told her—and he would have, if it had been his secret to tell. At the time, he’d felt he couldn’t betray his mother, but given the way she was now, it was all water under the bridge—which, when he thought about it, was a horrible analogy.
    Cameron was thinking of Laura Doyle as he drove back to Queens Crossing and looking forward to seeing