Heart of Lies by Jill Marie Landis Read Free Book Online

for taking the Perkins girl. Now Frank Morgan would have a chance to get a confession out of them, and Tom would not only help save the child, but might be able to track down the woman named Anita Russo in the bargain and find Megan Lane.
    They stood in the shadowed doorway of a brick-and-mortar building that was over a hundred years old in a block of others just like it. A slow, steady drizzle began to fall. They ignored it. Nervous energy hummed through Tom as he glanced across the street. He didn’t see the police but he knew they were there.
    Terrance Grande shifted and cleared his throat. He scanned the seemingly deserted street. Tom had no doubt the man might rob him on the spot.
    “So what about this job?” Lawrence asked.
    Tom heard footsteps coming fast behind them. Frank Morgan’s men were good at what they did. This tea party was starting right on time.
    An undercover policeman dressed as a gent stepped out of a nearby alley and started walking toward them. Another stepped out from behind a parked hansom cab.
    Suddenly Terrance was brandishing a gun, his sights centered on the two men coming in close behind Tom. Tom pulled his own gun and pointed it at Terrance.
    “Don’t move,” Tom warned. “We just need you to answer a few questions.”
    That’s when things went downhill. As an undercover policeman dressed as a waiter stepped up behind Lawrence, Terrance fired twice. Tom lunged for Terrance as the policeman went down, but the big man broke free and started pounding down the street.
    Tom turned his gun on Lawrence, but shot by his brother, the second twin wasn’t moving. His gun hand hung limp at his side, his eyes wide and wild as he stared back at Tom. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. A blood stain spread fast and high across the left side of his buckskin shirt.
    Down the street, Terrance was wrestling with three officers. The fourth officer was on the sidewalk holding his thigh. From the way he was cursing, Tom figured the man would live.
    Suddenly Lawrence’s gun clattered on the street. He looked down at his shirt front and covered the blood with his meaty hand just before his legs folded and he sank to the ground.
    “Did you kidnap the Perkins girl?” Tom asked him.
    “What girl?”
    “Did you kidnap Penelope Perkins?”
    “Where’s Terrance? Is he dead?”
    Ignoring Lawrence’s gasp, Tom grabbed his shoulders and tried to force him to focus. “Where is she?”
    Three officers were dragging Terrance closer. One of the policemen was bleeding from a knife wound on his forearm.
    “Don’t you say nothin', Lawrence,” Terrance yelled. “Keep your trap shut, you hear me?”
    Lawrence was battling to stay conscious. Blood continued tobubble from the wound near his heart. Tom doubted the man would make it.
    “Where is she?” Tom leaned close to be heard over Terrance’s shouting. “Where’s the girl?”
    Lawrence grabbed Tom’s shirtfront with his bloody hand. In a voice barely above a whisper he said, “Tell my sister,” he wheezed. “Tell Maddie …”
    “How do I find her? Where is your sister?” “Bayou,” Lawrence whispered. “A cabin … near Clearwater. Ask … asssk around. Ask for Maddie Grande.”

CHAPTER 7
    S omething was wrong. Maddie could feel it as sure as she sensed a storm brewing. The sky matched the color of the spidery gray moss that hung limply from the trees. The air was close and still, so hot and heavy she could almost taste it.
    Worry unraveled her thoughts and kept them jumping like fleas on a wet dog as she scuttled around the dock, pulling up the nets and tossing her crab catch into a bucket.
    She’d spent three days waiting for the twins to return, anxious to get back to Anita’s, collect Penelope, and take her home. Anita had been on her own with the child far too long. In payment, Maddie intended to give the woman her crab catch. She owed Anita much more.
    She lowered the bucket into the pirogue, straightened, and then stared