Read Online Don't Say a Word by Beverly Barton - Free Book Online

like Edward. Dreamy.” Zoe clasped her hands together and seemed to go into some kind of rapture.
    â€œAnd Edward is?”
    â€œDad, don’t you know anything?” Zoe shook her head, shocked and disbelieving and displaying it with the drama that only a fifteen-year-old girl could sustain. “ Twilight ? Bella? True love?”
    â€œOh yeah, that’s the vampire thing you’re always watching on video? What is it? Some kind of werewolves or bears in the woods, right?”
    â€œDad, Dad, you’re so old sometimes. Twilight is absolutely sublime.”
    J.D. decided to ignore the old part. At least she was paying attention in English class. He’d never heard her use the word sublime in a sentence before. But he’d watch that movie, if he could stomach it, just to gain her approval. Maybe Audrey would watch it with him. She liked romantic stuff.
    On the other hand, he didn’t like Zoe noticing older men or calling them hot, or even knowing they were hot. He hesitated, then decided to let that pass, too. He didn’t want Julia to walk into a big dad-daughter tiff. “I got hold of Julia about an hour ago. And she’s not mad at all. She’s already been assigned a case. She said she’ll probably be out here around six thirty or seven.”
    Frowning, Zoe went back to her iPod and called up whatever pop band she was listening to at the moment. Used to be some idiotic group called Black Eyed Peas, of all things. Now it was probably that boy with the weird hairdo that she liked—the Biebs, or whatever his name was. He made Zoe and her friends swoon, according to Zoe. But Zoe was not sneaking out with boys, or sassing him much—yet another thing he could thank Audrey for. Speaking of Audrey, he hoped it went well tonight at her dinner. She and her dad had had a rocky relationship for many years, which had caused her so much anguish, but this private dinner was a step in the right direction. How anybody could push away a woman as sweet as Audrey, J.D. couldn’t imagine.
    Tired from sitting around for hours waiting to be called to the stand, he jerked off his tie and unhooked his hip holster. Hell, it was worse twiddling his thumbs all day than working on a case. He placed his weapon in the gun safe in his bedroom closet, and then relaxed in his worn leather recliner in front of the television set. About an hour later, a knock at the door pulled Zoe up from her loud-music morass. She ran to the door with J.D. right behind her.
    â€œAunt Julia! It’s so cool you’re staying with us! I made pizza! All by myself!”
    His sister embraced her niece and smiled at J.D. over Zoe’s shoulder. Jasper was jumping around barking, and Zoe dropped down on her knees and gave the dog a big hug. His tail was beating the floor like crazy. Next thing J.D. knew, Zoe was going to want a bloodhound, too.
    â€œI’m glad to finally be here,” Julia was saying to Zoe. “Wow, you look awesome in that outfit.”
    J.D. examined his daughter’s outfit, not really having noticed what she had on. Purple capris and a loose pink top that had some red sequins and stuff all over it. He guessed it was all right—at least she didn’t wear those too-short tops and shorter-than-short denim skirts anymore. Fact is, now that she was dressing a little more conservatively, he thought Zoe always looked pretty. Even first thing out of bed in the morning when she was so grouchy. She was a gorgeous girl. Same went for Julia. In fact, they looked a lot alike. His daughter seemed to take more after Julia than she did her father. He watched Julia hold his daughter back by the shoulders and admire the lopsided red, sequined heart on the front of her shirt. “I love your top, Zoe. Where’d you get it?”
    â€œThere’s this little store in the mall that has the most awesome stuff like this. Me and my friends love to hang out there. It’s the coolest