His Dark Embrace by Amanda Ashley Read Free Book Online

visitors?”
    “Sure, lots of people. A lot of the folks in town didn’t care for the new doctor, so even after Granda retired, some of his old patients came to him with their complaints.”
    “Was there anybody who acted suspicious?”
    “Suspicious? I don’t think so.” She frowned. “You know, now that you mention it, there was this one guy. I remember seeing him several times when I came home on vacation last year. I don’t think he was a patient, but I don’t think he was a friend, either.”
    “What was his name?”
    “I don’t know. I never heard it.” She took a drink of her orange juice, her brow furrowed. “I never saw his face, either. He always wore a long gray cloak with a hood, kind of like monks wear.”
    A muscle throbbed in Thorne’s jaw. “Like a monk, you say. Was he tall?”
    “Yes, very.” She leaned forward, her eyes alight with interest. “Do you know him?”
    “No.” It couldn’t be Desmarais. The man had died years ago. Or so everyone thought.
    Sky leaned forward, her arms folded on the table. “Then how do you know he was tall?”
    “I didn’t. It was just a question.”
    “Hmm. Why don’t I believe you?”
    He offered her his most winning smile. “I don’t know.”
    With a little huff of annoyance, Sky rose and began to clear the table. Drat the man! He knew something, all right, but what? And how was she going to find out?
    After Sky finished cleaning up the kitchen, Thorne followed her down to the basement. He paused in front of the door to the lab. “We haven’t looked in there.”
    “I don’t think Granda kept any of his notes in the lab. He always recorded them in one of his journals and then locked them in one of the file cabinets.”
    “Have you been inside the room since he passed away?”
    “No.” As a little girl, Sky had never liked going into the lab because her grandfather had sometimes done experiments on animals, and even though he had claimed he never hurt any of them, she couldn’t stand to think about the cute little black-and-white mice and rats or guinea pigs getting shots, or worse.
    “Couldn’t hurt to have a look around,” Thorne remarked.
    “I guess not.” Sky unlocked the door and switched on the overhead light. And blinked in astonishment at the utter disarray that met her eyes. Tables lay on their sides, broken vials, tubes, and beakers were strewn around the floor. The large glass-fronted cabinet that had held a number of jars and bottles had been ransacked. Broken glass crunched beneath her feet as she moved farther into the room. The door on the right side of the cabinet was open, the contents scattered. Someone had picked the locks on the three drawers on the left side and rummaged through them before tossing the drawers and their contents aside.
    Thorne took a deep breath, his nostrils filling with a familiar scent. So, Desmarais wasn’t dead after all.
    Sky looked up at him, her expression troubled. “I don’t know who could have done this. Or when,” she added, and then frowned. The “when” was obvious. It had to have been last night, while she was at the fair with Thorne. She knew a moment of relief that it had happened while she was away. Anyone desperate enough to break into the house might also be desperate enough to silence whoever got in their way.
    Thorne glanced around. Sky might not know who had done this, but he did. Eyes narrowed, he perused the room, only then noticing the edge of an old spiral notebook sticking out from underneath one of the overturned drawers.
    Moving quickly across the room, he pulled the notebook free. Someone had drawn the outline of a large red heart surrounded by a dozen little hearts on the cover. His name and Skylynn’s were written inside the large heart.
    Skylynn felt a rush of heat flood her cheeks when she saw her old high school notebook in his hand. What on earth was that doing in the lab?
    Thorne glanced at her over his shoulder, one brow raised. “Yours?”
    She nodded.