Mann 01 - Where Angels Rest by Kate Brady Read Free Book Online Page A

are, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
    “Son of a bitch,” the younger man said. Erin noticed that he saved and shut down his document before closing his laptop, as if more inconvenienced than frightenedby the appearance of John Huggins with a shotgun. The two guests moved behind Huggins like lazy dogs being nudged from their evening naps.
    “Now, Wilson,” Huggins said, once they were safely behind him, “pick up that phone in the foyer and call nine-one-one. Tell Sheriff Mann there’s an intruder on my premises.”
    “Have you lost your mind?” the man asked.
    “You might also tell him that this particular intruder is in violation of a restraining order.”
    Erin thought the older man picked up the phone, but couldn’t strip her eyes from John Huggins long enough to be sure. Her body had gone to stone, her mouth so dry she couldn’t swallow. She was going to heave the near-nothing in her stomach if she stood in the same room with him any longer. Eleven years. More than a third of Justin’s life had been spent in prison because of the man now aiming a gun at her, calmly issuing directives to his guests.
    She groped for the name he’d used. “Mr. McCormick?” she said. The man at the phone looked at her, startled. “Did Jack Calloway ever tell you that his real name is John Huggins? Did you know that he was accused of killing a young wo—”
    “Wilson McCormick has been coming to Hilltop since we opened and is one of my wife’s most loyal patrons,” Huggins interrupted. “He’s not likely to be bothered by your ranting and raving.”
    “Listen to me,” Erin grated out. She looked at the McCormicks behind him. “You have to understand.”
    “All they need to understand,” Huggins said, “is that you are a poor, misguided woman who believes her brother’s lies instead of the facts. I’ve told you before, Dr. Sims, I didn’t murder Lauren McAllister. And I will not let youruin my reputation or hurt my wife again by spouting your lies.”
    Erin gritted her teeth. The
bastard,
standing there, pointing a shotgun at her and somehow making himself appear the victim. “So what are you going to do, shoot me right here in front of God and everyone?” She glanced at the younger McCormick, who’d gone wide-eyed, then the elder, who had the phone pressed to his ear and occasionally said something into it. She had to make them listen. Somehow—
    “Jack.” The front door swung wide. The newcomer stopped short when he saw the stand-off. He was forty-something, and looked like he’d just stepped out of the casual section of
Gentleman’s Quarterly.
He glanced around, keeping one eye on the gun. “What’s going on?”
    “I’ll tell you,” Erin jumped in, but they spoke right over her.
    “This is the woman I told you about, Dorian,” Huggins said.
    “His real name is John Huggins—”
    “She’s the reason Margaret and I changed names and—”
    “He killed a girl and let my brother go to prison for it.” Fury carried Erin forward. As if in some sort of out-of-body experience, she realized she was walking toward him, right toward the shotgun. She didn’t care; he wouldn’t shoot her. That wasn’t his style and there were too many witnesses. But they weren’t listening to her. No one believed her.
    Listen to me, Mom. You have to believe me.
    “I want her arrested, Dorian,” Huggins said.
    “It’s you who should be arres—” A hand clamped over her mouth, cutting off her breath. Panic struck and sheflailed, then realized it was the younger McCormick who had grabbed her from behind.
    “Stop it, lady,” he ground against her ear. “He’s got a gun.”
    She writhed, trying to yank free, and everything dragged into slow motion. Sirens whined outside the door. Boots stomped in, voices shouting over one another. A handful of strangers appeared on the stairwell and the man from
GQ
kept talking and wagging a finger and Huggins’s wife came in from the back, still strikingly beautiful