Nobody's Hero by Liz Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

thought about teasing her again just to get her back with him.
    “Do I really look prim and proper?”
    This lady could really miss a point. He couldn’t stop his laugh. “Honey, you look prim and proper and naughty as hell all at the same time. We can sit around talking about how bad I want you or we can get busy trying to figure out who the hell’s after you. I figure we better do the latter first. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about me wanting you.”
    That seemed to do it for her.  
    The smile on her face made him feel like Superman. Her ex had really done a number on her. He’d have to be careful or she’d do a number on him.  
    She followed him to the kitchen and waited while he plugged his broadband card into the laptop and logged on to the Internet. A few clicks later and he had every bit of information he needed on her.
    “Holy crap, Callah. Do you fill in all your personal info every time you get online? I think I’ve got everything here but your social. And I bet I could get that easily enough.”  
    Callah looked over his shoulder and tried not to freak out. Okay. So he’d been online all of five minutes and had her address, phone number, three e-mail accounts and several links to stories about her. He was an investigative reporter. He did this kind of thing all the time.
    “I just fill in the information they ask for.”
    He shook his head and Googled her name. The first ten entries were articles on the plane crash and the news that it might not have been an accident.
    One was about her escape to Burkette.  
    A few were about someone else with the same name. Nothing earth-shattering there. At least that’s what she was thinking until she watched him page through the rest of the results, writing each of the names and locations on his notebook. Seventeen different Callah Crenshaws. All of them her age. Most of them living in towns she’d lived in before. One in London, another in Paris, another in Rome. Strange. She’d never met another Callah, certainly never a Callah Crenshaw. She started to say that, but then, at the bottom of the third page of results, she saw the word.
    Obituary.  
    Riley clicked on the link, and she read the headline about the girl who shared her name. Local girl dies in hit and run accident . The story was six years old. No photo.
    It was a coincidence. It had to be. Right?
    She said the words out loud at the same time Riley picked up his cell and hit redial. His expletive slammed through the room as he clipped the phone shut, but she didn’t look at him. She couldn’t take her eyes from the pages of information on the computer screen.  
    “Listen Callah. I don’t know what’s going on, but we have to believe it has something to do with you. With the letter. With the man at your door. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
    Oh my God. Callah fought the urge to scream at Riley, to tell him she wasn’t an idiot. This wasn’t about Charlie’s B-list movies. This wasn’t about the plane crash. It was about the envelope under Riley’s hand. It was about the birth certificate, the pictures. It was about her.
    And who she wasn’t.
    No more games. No more pretending.
    She closed her eyes and fought the fear that threatened to swallow her, to block everything. Her heart hammered in her chest, her pulse sounded in her ears, cold enveloped her body, and she fought the darkness that suddenly seemed to crowd her mind.
    She’d been here before. Dark, alone, afraid. And not from a nightmare.
    The thought exploded across her mind and she opened her eyes, searching for Riley, for his presence. That’s all she needed. But it wasn’t. His presence couldn’t make the girl on the computer screen come back to life.
    “It’s true, Riley. The note on my birth certificate is true. I don’t know how or why or when. But it’s true. It has to be.”
    He waited for her to go on, as if she had more answers than that one single statement. She bit her lip and closed her eyes