Read Online Defender for Hire by Shirlee McCoy - Free Book Online

it has been every evening when you’ve checked in.”
    “I didn’t call last night.”
    “Catherine did. We had a nice conversation about how overprotective you are,” Tessa joked, but she didn’t mind that Darius and his wife had been calling to make sure she was okay. As a matter of fact, it was nice to know that someone cared. She’d be giving that up if she left Pine Bluff. If she changed her name, went into hiding and started completely new, she’d be totally alone. No friends. No one to check in on her.
    “If I were overprotective, I’d have someone staking out your house,” Darius said wryly.
    “No need for that. I’m tucked in snug as a bug in a rug. All the windows and doors locked and bolted.”
    “I’d be happier if you were tucked in with your behemoth of a dog.”
    “He’ll be home tomorrow.” And, hopefully, when he was, she’d finally get a little sleep.
    “Glad to hear it. I’m actually calling because it’s Wednesday-night potluck at church. Catherine and I were hoping you’d come.”
    “You’ve asked me to potluck every Wednesday since I moved to town, Darius. If I come, will you quit?” she asked with a sigh. It had been years since she’d attended church. She’d gone a few times after Daniel’s death, but she’d always left feeling further from God than she’d ever thought she could be.
    “If you come, I won’t have to keep asking,” he pointed out.
    “Fine. I’ll come. Give me the time and the address and—”
    “Seven. We’ll come pick you up.”
    “Afraid I’ll change my mind?”
    “Yes.”
    “I won’t, but I’ll drive myself.” She wanted to make sure she could escape quickly if she felt the need. “There’s a storm blowing in, and I don’t want you to have to drive me back here if it hits before the potluck ends.”
    “It’s only a twenty-minute drive.”
    “Twenty minutes is a long way when there’s ice on the road. Now, how about you give me the address?”
    Darius complied, and Tessa jotted the address on a piece of paper. She actually knew the church—she’d driven to it more than once, gotten as far as the parking lot and turned around.
    “Got it,” she said. “What should I bring?”
    “Nothing. Catherine made her grandmother’s famous BBQ meatballs, and there’s enough for an army. See you there.”
    Tessa glanced at her watch. She had half an hour to kill before she needed to leave, but she didn’t want to sit around waiting. Memories seemed to dwell in her solitude.
    She grabbed her coat and walked outside, the cold wind biting through her coat and seeping into her bones. The meteorologists were calling for another ice storm, and thick clouds shrouded the moon and cast the evening in shades of white and gray.
    In the distance, a coyote howled, the sound eerie and haunting. Other than that, the neighborhood was silent, Tessa’s elderly neighbors tucked in for the evening.
    Maybe she should be, too, but she was relieved to have something to do after five endless days of trying to forget that someone from her past wanted her dead.
    She slid behind the wheel of her car and pulled out onto the empty road, following it to Pine Bluff Christian Church. The small white building stood in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Surrounded on all sides by thick pine forest, it seemed to glow in the darkness.
    Tessa parked in the lot, positioning the car as close to the building as she could get it. Several people strolled toward the church, their laughter carrying on the cold night air.
    Tessa didn’t get out.
    Instead, she leaned her head back, classical music drifting from the radio, the soft sounds of the congregation arriving mixing with it. She’d get out of the car eventually, but right at that moment, it felt good to imagine that there, in the parking lot of God’s house, with dozens of people milling around, she was safe.
    A sharp rap on the glass pulled her from half sleep and she opened her eyes, her heart tripping as she looked