Read Online Dangerous Games by Marie Ferrarella - Free Book Online

Rayne in her tracks halfway across the foyer on her way to the stairs. Looking around, she saw him sitting in the living room, watching some program that obviously wasn’t holding his attention. He had the sound on mute.
    Rayne crossed to him and sat on the edge of the sofa arm. She glanced at the set. It was an old Clint Eastwood movie, one of the Dirty Harry ones, although she wasn’t sure which one. Her father could have easily supplied the dialogue to all of them. Though he didn’t always hold with “Harry’s” methods, her father loved those movies.
    “No, I’m home for the night.”
    Tossing the remote aside, he began to rise, only to have her push him back into his seat. “Did you eat?”
    “All fed and diapered, Dad.”
    He snorted. “I’m not babying you. Adults have to eat, too.”
    “And if I’m hungry,” she recited in a singsong voice, “I can fix myself something. I don’t need you to wait on me.”
    “Never a waiter, more like a maître d’,” he corrected. Then the humor faded from his face as he looked at her closely. “Anything I can help with?”
    She could see his parenting radar going on full-blast. How did he do that? “What?” she asked warily.
    “You’ve got that little groove between your eyes.” He lightly ran the tip of his finger over it, as if to smooth it out. The groove only became deeper as she frowned at him. “The same one your mother used to get when she was busy trying to resolve something.”
    “I’m not trying to resolve anything.”
    Which only made Andrew smile. “She used to deny it, too.”
    Rayne sighed. There was no arguing with him when he was like this. Even so, she didn’t want to get into a discussion about Cole Garrison, his brother Eric, or any of it, not tonight. Besides, she was fairly certain she knew what her father would have to say about her investigating on her own. He might have done it in his time, but it wasn’t something he wanted any of his kids risking. The man clearly had a superhero complex. And maybe, just maybe, it had rubbed off a little on her. She wasn’t just her mother’s daughter, she was his, as well.
    Rising, Rayne decided that maybe she needed a little time alone with the elliptical trainer in her room. “I’ll let you know if I need a sounding board.”
    “Make sure you do,” Andrew called after her as she went up the stairs.
    Shaking his head, he sat back on the sofa and picked up his remote again. A block of commercials had been launched on the cable network and he began to surf around to see of there was anything worthwhile watching for the next three minutes or so.
    He glanced at his watch. It was only seven-thirty, more than four hours earlier than the earliest time she normally came home after an evening out. Whatever she wrestled with had to be big.
    He wondered if it had anything to do with what they’d talked about at the breakfast table. He supposed if she wanted him to know, she’d tell him.
    But it was the waiting that drove him crazy.
    With a sigh, he shut off the TV and got up. He wanted to reread the technician’s findings with his wife’s wallet again. Maybe there was something he’d missed earlier.

Chapter 5
    S he ran down a dark street that had no beginning, no end. She just knew she had to keep running and that eventually, she’d be safe. But not yet.
    Not yet.
    And then the ringing began. At first it sounded like a faraway church bell, declaring the hour. But as it continued, its timbre changed.
    The ringing came closer, more persistent.
    Layers of sleep pulled away until she became aware that the ringing came from beside her head.
    Opening her eyes, Rayne saw the long, dark street melting away. The ringing didn’t.
    It was her phone.
    With a shiver that chased away the last of her dream, Rayne groped around on the nightstand for the cell phone she’d left there.
    “Hello?” The word felt as if she’d gurgled it up. Rayne paused to clear the fog from her throat if not her brain and