Read Online Shadow Walker by Allyson James - Free Book Online Page A

seeping up through the rocks. Seeking.
    I grabbed the flashlight from Nash. “Time to go.”
    “What’s the hurry?”
    “Lopez said the edge was unstable, and I don’t feel like falling back down there.”
    Nash gave me his annoyed look, but he got to his feet with me and moved from the edge. “You know, neither of us should be alive after a fall like that.”
    “I know.”
    “So, what happened?”
    “Why would I know?”
    “Because you usually do,” he said.
    I handed the flashlight back to Lopez. “Not this time. I have no idea why we didn’t break our necks or splatter all over the rocks.”
    Nash stared at the hole, rubbing the bandage on the back of his head. “I want to know.”
    Lopez shrugged. “God had other plans for you, maybe.”
    Nash, the Unbeliever, frowned at him. “I want to know what plans. Janet.” He hesitated.
    I raised my brows. “You want me to look into it? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
    “This is your specialty, isn’t it? Poking your nose into things that don’t make sense?”
    “Yes, but usually you tell me to stay the hell away and mind my own business.”
    “But something’s going on I should know about,” Nash said. “I want to know why glyphs came to life and tried to grab you, and why someone pretended to be my mother and tried to kill me. I don’t have time for woo-woo crap; you do. I have real criminals to catch.”
    “You can be so flattering, Nash.” I was aware of Lopez, standing next to us, listening hard. “Sure, I’ll do it. I’ll even give you a discount.”
    Nash’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you didn’t charge for your investigations. You’re not licensed.”
    “I was joking. Why should I need a license to look into woo-woo crap, as you put it?”
    Nash shoved his sunglasses back on. “Just do it. Now drive me to my office. I have work to do.”
    The man didn’t have a gracious bone in his body.
     
    I dropped Nash off at the county jail and sheriff’s department and didn’t ask how he’d get home. I suspected that Maya would be back here at dark, prodding him out and into her truck.
    I returned to Magellan, still worried about Mick and hoping that he’d returned. If I’d found the petroglyphs without looking very hard, Mick must have seen something in the sinkhole. I wanted to know why Mick’s eyes had gone white, why he’d snarled at me, and why his tattoo had burned my fingers. Whether or not the skeletal hands were responsible for all that, we needed to fix him.
    I gave Fremont back his keys when I reached the hotel and went into the kitchen in search of food. Mick was there, making himself a sandwich.
    “Hey, baby,” he said when I stopped in surprise. He lifted the bread knife well out of the way, came to me, and kissed the top of my head. “Want pastrami? Or turkey? If your guests are okay with sandwiches, I can be head chef.”
    He went back to slathering mustard onto bread, his muscles working. His eyes were blue and warm, his aura black and fiery as it should be.
    “Mick,” I said cautiously. “Are you all right?”
    “Sure.” He smiled his bad-boy Mick smile. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “What did you find out at the sinkhole last night?”
    “Not much. Dark and quiet.” He chuckled. “Nash’s guard was asleep.”
    “What did you see down there? Any glyphs?”
    “No.”
    “You were pissed off about something.”
    He gave me a puzzled look. “When?” He sliced the turkey sandwich in half, put it on a plate, and handed it to me.
    I didn’t take it. “When you came back last night.”
    Mick set the plate back on the counter. “I didn’t come back here last night. I looked into the hole, didn’t see anything but rocks and dirt, and I left. I got back this morning in time to see you drive off in Fremont’s truck. Fremont told me you went to find Maya. Did you talk to her?”
    I stared at him, openmouthed, until he put down the knife and gave me a look of concern.
    “Mick, you came back in the middle