Read Online American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory by Kathryn Le Veque - Free Book Online Page A

thought about that a moment
and, shrugging off her curiosity, began to peel off the newspaper that covered
the big window next to the kitchen door.
    “How did you sleep?” she asked.
    He shrugged. “Great, I think,” he
replied. “It’s, like, nine o’clock in the morning. You never sleep this
late.”
    Elliot pulled off the last of the
newspaper and shoved it into the same trash bag that contained last night’s
barbeque bones.  Then she moved to the boxes to hunt around for the coffee pot.
    “I’m exhausted,” she said.
“Yesterday was a pretty crazy day.”
    “Heck yes, it was,” Alec agreed.
“The sheriff was parked in the driveway all night.”
    She looked at him.  “All night ?”
she repeated. “How do you know?”
    Alec had a mouthful of granola.
“Because his car is in the same spot it was in last night when I went to bed,”
he said. “It hasn’t moved. He hasn’t been in it, either.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean that I could see his
flashlight moving around the yard,” Alec pointed to the window. “His deputies
were here most of the night, too.  All of them were wandering around all
night.”
    Elliot looked at him as if he was
crazy. “Are you kidding me?” she set down the coffee she had just found in the
box. “They didn’t have to do that.”
    Alec shrugged. “Nash said they
would.”
    She threw up her hands. “I know
he did, but I didn’t know he meant that he would be here all night.”
    “I think he feels kind of bad
about what happened. Maybe he feels guilty.”
    Elliot shook her head,
exasperated. “I don’t know why he would. It’s not his fault that some crazy
person threw a fire bomb through my front window.” She began to grow agitated.
“I need to feed those guys breakfast but I don’t have a damn stove.  Is there
any place around here to get them some breakfast?”
    Alec shrugged again, peeling off
the newspaper from the window near the sink so he could see outside. “I don’t
know,” he said. “I think there’s a McDonald’s near the highway.”
    Elliot made a face. “Not that
place,” she picked up the coffee again and stuck her arm into the box, pulling
forth the percolator. “Well, maybe I’ll just make them all coffee right now and
then take them out to breakfast. I feel so bad about them spending all night
wandering around my backyard.”
    As Alec shoved down half of a box
of granola, Elliot made coffee in her expensive percolator.  Coffee came out
smooth and delicious, and as it brewed, she went upstairs and braved a very
short, very cold shower in the roomy copper shower enclosure.
     The water came out in sporadic
bursts through the mineral-encrusted showerhead and Elliot squealed more than
once when cold water suddenly shot into her face. But she washed her hair,
soaped her body, and even managed to shave without cutting herself. All in all,
it had been a horrific experience in primitive bathing but she was very glad to
be clean. Her first shower in her new home, a big milestone as silly as it
seemed.
    Dressing in yoga pants and a
tank-style camisole that clung to her like a second skin, she put her socks
back on and proceeded to put on her makeup. The blue eyes got bigger, the
cheeks pinker, and the lips became a soft, luscious rose. When she was finished
with the war paint, she took a moment to stare at herself in the mirror,
wondering if she looked any different now that she was starting her life all
over again.
    At forty-one years old, people
always mistook her for someone ten years younger. She never had looked her age.
After yesterday, however, she felt every year of those forty-one. She was still
exhausted, struggling to overcome it because she knew she had a heck of a lot
to do and she wouldn’t back down. She couldn’t.
    Elliot pulled out her little
butane-powered blow dryer and began to dry her long hair. It was cut in long
layers and she ran a brush through it as she dried it. Since the house only had
two outlets, she