Tempting the Devil by Patricia; Potter Read Free Book Online Page B

car.”
    â€œI’ll be fine,” she said, dismissing his offer. “I walk alone all the time.”
    â€œHer father taught her self-defense,” Bill chimed in. “You don’t want to fool with her.”
    Michael grinned. “I’ll remember that. Anyway I’m ready to go as well. Two beers are my limit when I’m driving.”
    She didn’t know how to say no. In fact, she didn’t want to say no. She needed the company right now. Her emotions were still veering widely between the adrenaline of the story and the tragedy behind it.
    He followed her out of the pub, his hand lightly touching her back as he opened the door. A courtesy, nothing more, but the human contact made her feel better.
    She felt awkward with her leg, as she always did when she met someone, but he measured his pace to hers and seemed comfortable. “Are you from Atlanta?” he asked.
    â€œNo. My dad was military. Wasn’t really from anywhere but army bases both here and overseas. What about you?”
    â€œBorn here. Went to school here. Then the University of Georgia.”
    Small talk. What new acquaintances did. But right now it warmed the cold parts of her.
    She was sorry when they reached her car. She unlocked it, and he held the door open for her. “I would like to call you sometime,” he said.
    It was so old-fashioned. Everything about him was polite and correct. Yet oddly comforting right now.
    â€œI would like that,” she said.
    She hated being so awkward in getting into the car with the brace, but he didn’t seem to notice.
    â€œGood night,” he said and closed the door.
    She started the car and drove off. In the rearview mirror she saw him standing there. Then she directed all her attention to the road ahead.
    Robin arrived at the school nearly an hour early. She cursed her compulsion never to be late, but despite her assurance to Sandy she hadn’t been exactly sure where it was.
    She understood immediately why Sandy had selected the school as a meeting place. The beginning of the school year was still a month away, and the parking lot was empty. The weathered brick building had no ball fields to attract kids, and it was surrounded on one side by trees and on the other by a fenced and locked playground.
    She drove around to the back and parked near some trees for shade. Then she left the car and studied the old building. It served the east side of the county, an area still rural in nature, where small farms were just beginning to be squeezed by new subdivisions spreading out from Atlanta.
    There was something lonely about the empty old building. For a moment she thought she heard the spirits of generations of children who’d passed through its doors. She wondered when it was built, and how much longer it would last.
    Or perhaps the loneliness reflected her own mood, even the small but growing seed of uneasiness she felt. She trusted Sandy but probably she should have told someone where she was going. The police officers might well have known their own killer or killers, and this spot was as isolated at the moment as the clearing in the woods.
    She shivered. She no longer felt that safe in a county she had considered quaint, especially as far as many of the establishment went. The laid-back sheriff, the “good ole boy” commission chairman, the wily and lecherous justice of the peace could all have marched off the pages of a southern novel.
    But now she was seeing something not nearly as benign as she had thought. She thought about calling Wade at the paper and telling him about the meeting with Sandy, but it might well come to nothing. Still, she should have told someone. She stared at her purse with the cell phone in it. Then turned her eyes away. Wade might well order her to leave.
    Then she dismissed the discomfort as pure nonsense. Sandy was completely safe. It would still be daylight at seven. There was no reason to get spooked. Sandy’s