Read Online SHATTERED by Alice Sharpe - Free Book Online Page A

out here. I can feel it in my bones.”
    “I don’t think so,” Nate said. “Look.” He shone the light and she followed its beam up to the treetops. “It’s the power line,” he added. “The sound we heard was the wood breaking. The branch got too heavy, but this may be good news. The utility company may send out a crew to fix it.”
    “How can they help us?” she asked, her voice full of despair.
    “I’m not sure,” he told her. “On the other hand, anyone not shooting us is better than no one. Come on, let’s go back inside. We need to find a better light source than flashlights.”
    “There are lanterns in the barn,” she said.
    “Great.”
    The barn was darker than the outside. The horse must have been spooked by the crashing noise not far from his stall or the sound of Sarah shouting or both, because they could hear him snorting and kicking his stall walls.
    “The lanterns are in that cabinet over there,” Sarah said. “I’m going to go check on Skipjack.”
    Nate assumed she either knew where the lanterns were because they’d been there during her childhood or because she’d run across them when she’d searched the place hours before. He found two that seemed to have all their parts and fuel, as well. He lit one of them and it emitted a warm, yellow glow.
    “I opened the door to the outside pasture,” Sarah said when she finally returned.
    She looked hauntingly beautiful in the light from the lantern and it was all he could do not to pull her into his arms. What in the world was happening to him and why did it have to happen now and with this woman?
    “Why did you do that?” He handed her a lantern.
    “Just in case. I don’t want him stuck in here if, well...”
    “I’d like to reassure you that we’re going to be fine, but without knowing what’s really going on, that seems like a naive statement. And you don’t strike me as a naive woman, Sarah Donovan.”
    “No, I’m not,” she said, her gaze flitting away under his scrutiny.
    “How are you connected to the people you think are behind this?” When she didn’t respond, he added, “You know, maybe you could try accepting a little help.”
    “The price is too high,” she said.
    “There is no price.”
    “There’s always a price. Besides, you’re a lawman.”
    He bit back a disclaimer. “I’m also a man stuck inside an incredibly volatile situation,” he reminded her. “And believe it or not, I do know how to think outside the box.” He lit the other lantern and lifted it with his good arm. The jarring motion of stripping the gun away from her followed by everything else had set his shoulder aching anew.
    “Let me think,” she said softly, turning away from him.
    “Just think fast,” he warned her. “Sooner or later, someone will return to finish what he started.”
    “I know.”
    As they made their way toward the barn door, the light illuminated the green sedan. This time, Nate noticed the faded sticker on the rear bumper: Life Is a Casino, it said. He shook his head. “It’s kind of hard to associate what I know of you with fuzzy pink dice and gambling slogans.”
    He was aware of the deep breath she drew. “It’s not my car.”
    “Right. I keep forgetting that,” he said, increasingly frustrated with her.
    “It belongs to my mother,” she added. “Her first name is Diana. Sarah was her mother’s name. It’s who I’m named after.”
    “Why couldn’t you just tell me you had your mother’s car?” Nate asked. “What’s the big secret about that, or did you take it without asking?”
    “Trust me, she knows I have it. I lied about it because you’re a cop and Mom is mixed up in some pretty dicey stuff.”
    “And you’re trying to help her?”
    Sarah nodded.
    “That’s why you came here. To look for something for her?”
    “Yes,” she said and, quickening her pace, preceded him out of the barn.
    “Were you followed?” he called, but she didn’t respond.
    He caught up with her halfway