Read Online HEARTBREAKER by Julie Garwood - Free Book Online Page B

replaced, but she knew money was a precious commodity at Mercy.
    Laurant stood in the center of the kitchen, watching her brother. He was acting like a nervous twit, pulling all the blinds down to the windowsills. Sunlight filtered into the kitchen through the cracks and tears, filling the room with soft light.
    “What’s the matter with him?” she whispered to Nick.
    “He’ll explain in a minute,” he promised, repeating Tommy’s exact words to her.
    In other words, be patient, she thought.
    Nick pulled a chair out for her and took the seat adjacent to her. Tommy couldn’t seem to get settled. He sat down, then immediately jumped back up to get a notebook and pen from the linoleum counter. He was as jittery as a june bug.
    Then Nick drew her attention when he stood up. His demeanor was just as serious as her brother’s. She watched him loosen his tie and unbutton the top button of his shirt. The man oozed sensuality, she thought to herself. Was there a woman back in Boston waiting for him to come home? She knew he wasn’t married, but he could be involved with someone. Surely he was.
    Then Nick removed his jacket, and Laurant’s fantasies came to a screeching halt.
    As Nick draped the coat over the back of the empty chair next to him he watched the abrupt change in Laurant. Her back was now pressed against the chair as though she were trying to put as much distance between them as possible. He also noticed she was staring at his gun. Just a few seconds ago, she had been open and friendly, bordering on flirtatious. Now she looked guarded and uncomfortable.
    “The gun bother you?”
    She didn’t give him a direct answer. “I thought you were an investigator.”
    “I am.”
    “Then why do you wear a gun?”
    “It goes with the job,” Tommy answered for his friend. He was shuffling through his papers, his head downcast while he tried to get organized.
    Laurant’s patience had run out. “I’ve waited long enough, Tommy. I want to know why you’re acting so strange. I’ve never seen you this nervous.”
    “I have something to tell you,” he began. “It’s kind of difficult to know where to start.” Looking past her, he said the last to Nick, who nodded.
    “I think I know what it is,” she said. “You did get your lab results, didn’t you? And you’re afraid to tell me about them. Did you think I’d make a scene, and that’s why you waited? They weren’t good, were they?”
    He let out a weary sigh. “I got the results last night as a matter of fact. I was going to tell you later . . . after I explained what happened yesterday.”
    “Tell me now,” she said quietly.
    “Doctor Cowan felt real bad that the lab had screwed up the first time and so he made them rush the second blood work. He called from a wedding reception to let me know he finally got the results and everything’s fine. Now will you relax?”
    “So there’s definitely no chemo this time?” Her voice sounded like that of a child, and she had so wanted to be adult about this. If anything happened to her brother, she didn’t know what she would do. It seemed to her that she had only just found him and now this horrible illness was trying to take him away from her. “If everything’s going so well, then why are you so nervous? And you are nervous, Tommy. Don’t tell me you aren’t.”
    “Maybe you ought to just let her listen to the tape,” Nick suggested.
    “I don’t want her to hear it yet. It’ll be too much of a shock.”
    “Then let her read the transcript the police made.”
    Tommy shook his head. “I think it would be better if I just told her what happened first.” He took a deep breath, then plunged in. “Laurant, this man came into the confessional just as I was about to close up.” He paused for a few seconds while he collected his thoughts and then began again. “After I talked to the police, I made some notes, and while I was writing down what he said—”
    Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she