Read Online 01 Only Fear by Anne Marie Becker - Free Book Online
Authors: Anne Marie Becker
Tags: The Mindhunters
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immediately, tossing the sponge in the bucket with a small splash. “Right. Sorry. I promise I’m usually very good about that, and I did change the code this morning. I just got mad and forgot.”
“And stirring your emotions to the point of distraction will be exactly what Owen is counting on.”
She whirled on him and before he could stop himself, Ethan took a surprised step back. “Right now he’s not the one pissing me off. I told you I forgot, but I promise you I would have remembered as soon as the door shut. I assure you, I don’t want to go through anything like I did before ever again.”
He stared, intrigued by the pulse pounding at her slender throat. She spun away and waited, her fingers poised on the keypad of the alarm. She cast a pointed look over her shoulder at him, as if to say, “Are you leaving or not?”
“Becca will be here to escort you to the station tonight. In the meantime, don’t go anywhere.” He left, pausing on the other side of the closed door until he heard a series of beeps, followed by a blast of music as Maggie apparently resumed her attack on the vandalized walls.
Good. Let her take her anger out on something other than him. She didn’t like feeling like a prisoner? Too bad. It was his job to keep her alive.
When the living room was restored and her anger had faded with the onset of fatigue, Maggie double-checked the alarm and the locks on the doors and windows for the tenth time. Satisfied that she was safe for the moment, she sank into an armchair with a glass of pinot and rested her head against the cushion. And tried not to look at the wall where Owen had left his gruesome message. Though the letters were gone, they were still a vivid image in her mind.
The phone rang. Sighing, she dragged herself up again. She didn’t have to look at caller ID to know who was calling. It was only a matter of time before Julia and Nancy Levine joined forces in the crusade to save Maggie from herself. It was a familiar, and tired, cause. “Hello, Julia. I guess Mom called you.”
“Well, she can’t very well talk to you , now can she?” Only because she knew her younger sibling so well did Maggie hear the concern beneath the irritation. Still, she winced. Direct hit.
“There’s nothing to tell.” She hoped. Why worry them when they had no leads on Owen yet? “Someone broke in, wrote a strange message on my wall, and that’s it.”
“ That’s it? Are you that jaded?”
That was putting it mildly. “Maybe.”
“We just want you to be safe,” Julia said, her voice softer now. “And happy.”
“I am safe. Working on happy.” Not really, but Julia didn’t need to know that. “Safe” was taking up too much energy, anyway. After what she’d been through in the past year, Maggie would settle for normal and boring, if not happy.
“You need someone,” Julia continued. “If not us, then someone else. Someone to talk to.”
Maggie thought about Damian Manchester, perhaps the only person she knew who would understand her fear of monsters—because yes, they did walk the earth. And then there was Noah Crandall, who seemed a competent detective and had been so understanding after her brother’s murder.
But it was Ethan Townsend’s face, with its hard lines and strong jaw softened by his warm green eyes and lopsided smile, that hovered in her mind. “I do have people I can talk to. They’ll help me. They’ll find this person.”
“Come stay with me.”
She squeezed her eyes shut against a wave of emotion. “That’s sweet, but I have to be close to work. It’s the one stable thing I have right now.”
And it might be a way to find Owen. The idea had nested in her mind after Ethan had left that afternoon, and it had grown in strength as she’d scrubbed letter after bloody letter from her walls.
Her walls. Her home. She wouldn’t let Owen scare her away.
“I’m sorry, sis, but I have to get ready for work.”
An exasperated sigh filled her ear.
“And stirring your emotions to the point of distraction will be exactly what Owen is counting on.”
She whirled on him and before he could stop himself, Ethan took a surprised step back. “Right now he’s not the one pissing me off. I told you I forgot, but I promise you I would have remembered as soon as the door shut. I assure you, I don’t want to go through anything like I did before ever again.”
He stared, intrigued by the pulse pounding at her slender throat. She spun away and waited, her fingers poised on the keypad of the alarm. She cast a pointed look over her shoulder at him, as if to say, “Are you leaving or not?”
“Becca will be here to escort you to the station tonight. In the meantime, don’t go anywhere.” He left, pausing on the other side of the closed door until he heard a series of beeps, followed by a blast of music as Maggie apparently resumed her attack on the vandalized walls.
Good. Let her take her anger out on something other than him. She didn’t like feeling like a prisoner? Too bad. It was his job to keep her alive.
When the living room was restored and her anger had faded with the onset of fatigue, Maggie double-checked the alarm and the locks on the doors and windows for the tenth time. Satisfied that she was safe for the moment, she sank into an armchair with a glass of pinot and rested her head against the cushion. And tried not to look at the wall where Owen had left his gruesome message. Though the letters were gone, they were still a vivid image in her mind.
The phone rang. Sighing, she dragged herself up again. She didn’t have to look at caller ID to know who was calling. It was only a matter of time before Julia and Nancy Levine joined forces in the crusade to save Maggie from herself. It was a familiar, and tired, cause. “Hello, Julia. I guess Mom called you.”
“Well, she can’t very well talk to you , now can she?” Only because she knew her younger sibling so well did Maggie hear the concern beneath the irritation. Still, she winced. Direct hit.
“There’s nothing to tell.” She hoped. Why worry them when they had no leads on Owen yet? “Someone broke in, wrote a strange message on my wall, and that’s it.”
“ That’s it? Are you that jaded?”
That was putting it mildly. “Maybe.”
“We just want you to be safe,” Julia said, her voice softer now. “And happy.”
“I am safe. Working on happy.” Not really, but Julia didn’t need to know that. “Safe” was taking up too much energy, anyway. After what she’d been through in the past year, Maggie would settle for normal and boring, if not happy.
“You need someone,” Julia continued. “If not us, then someone else. Someone to talk to.”
Maggie thought about Damian Manchester, perhaps the only person she knew who would understand her fear of monsters—because yes, they did walk the earth. And then there was Noah Crandall, who seemed a competent detective and had been so understanding after her brother’s murder.
But it was Ethan Townsend’s face, with its hard lines and strong jaw softened by his warm green eyes and lopsided smile, that hovered in her mind. “I do have people I can talk to. They’ll help me. They’ll find this person.”
“Come stay with me.”
She squeezed her eyes shut against a wave of emotion. “That’s sweet, but I have to be close to work. It’s the one stable thing I have right now.”
And it might be a way to find Owen. The idea had nested in her mind after Ethan had left that afternoon, and it had grown in strength as she’d scrubbed letter after bloody letter from her walls.
Her walls. Her home. She wouldn’t let Owen scare her away.
“I’m sorry, sis, but I have to get ready for work.”
An exasperated sigh filled her ear.
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