Obsession Falls by Christina Dodd Read Free Book Online Page A

to check upstairs again.”
    “Sure. You do that.” The first guy walked into the bathroom, didn’t shut the door, took a pee that echoed along the tile floor and back to the place where Taylor trembled.
    Would he notice the evidence of her recent shower?
    He flushed, walked out into the bedroom, and stood there.
    Was he looking for her?
    He sighed, and the bed creaked.
    She couldn’t believe it. He was sitting on the bed?
    The mattress creaked again.
    Was he getting up? Leaving?
    No. No footsteps.
    That guy was lying on the Renners’ bed! What a creep. He was in someone else’s house, and he made himself at home in the owners’ bedroom!
    She hated this guy.
    He sighed. A moment of silence, then, “Hey, Brian. It’s Logan. I’m out at the Renners’ place. No sign of a break-in, but for sure a broken window and probably some wire damage by rodents … Yeah, happens when you live in the middle of a prairie. Listen, when do you think you can send someone out?… Sounds good. I’ll let Gary know. He’s searching the attic.” Chuckling. “Yeah, he’s still got that rookie enthusiasm.” Logan clicked off.
    Two minutes later, Taylor heard a faint snore. She really, really hated this guy. She was crammed under the desk in a bathrobe, getting chilled. Her foot kept cramping. And the ignorant jackass snored on the bed as if he owned the place. If she was in charge of security, he would be kicking shit down the street.
    Five minutes. Ten minutes. Her wrist hurt. She tightened the Ace bandage. She stretched out her leg to ease the cramp, then tucked it back in. Fifteen minutes. She tried to arrange the bathrobe to cover more of her legs and closed her eyes. Twenty …
    From the door, Gary said, “What the hell?”
    She jumped so hard she bumped her head on the desktop.
    Thank God Logan jumped, too. “You son of a bitch! You scared me to death.”
    “Quick draw on the gun. Now put it away.” Gary sounded breathless.
    “Sorry, but you shouldn’t have scared me. Ever since that woman tried to murder that kid and then she disappeared, I’ve been nervous.” The bed creaked.
    I did not try to murder that kid.
    “You didn’t look nervous to me.” Legs walked past. “You looked asleep.”
    “Tough night last night.” Logan yawned. “My three-year-old is having nightmares, and when he does that, no one sleeps. One of the women at day care was talking about Taylor Summers in front of the kids. Can you believe how stupid that is? Now half the kids in town are scared to death about the Taylor boogeyman, who steals children and shuts them in the trunk, and the other half are egging them on with stories about how she’s going to get them.”
    “She’s dead,” Gary said.
    A pause. “Sheriff doesn’t think so.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    You’re kidding.
    Logan lowered his voice. “You can’t tell anybody this. It’s top-secret stuff. I was sworn to secrecy.”
    “You know I won’t.”
    You lying assholes. But she strained to listen.
    “Sheriff didn’t get called to the car explosion until after the scene was cleaned up. His deputy, Otis Sincoe, and I went to high school together, and Otis said Sheriff thinks that rich guy tampered with the evidence. Apparently, the rich guy has a thing about talking to her himself and getting the whole story.”
    Would Kennedy McManus listen? Or would he blindly take revenge?
    Logan finished, “He hired trackers, you know.”
    “So that Taylor Summers bitch is still alive?” Gary sounded eager, incredulous, hopeful.
    “No. I don’t know. Maybe. The rich guy pulled the trackers, so they must figure she’s dead.”
    “Rough out there in the mountains at night.”
    “Yep.” More yawning, some walking back and forth in front of the bed—Taylor figured Logan was straightening the comforter—while Logan said, “My mother and her mother were friends when the Summers were married, and after the big kidnapping/escape/explosion, Mom called to offer her condolences. Mrs.