Read Online The Broken (The Apostles) by Shelley Coriell - Free Book Online Page A

the open. The moment they turned onto the highway, she popped on her sunglasses and ducked lower in the seat, a clear reminder that she was a victim and that her sexual come-on last night was designed only to get a rise out of him because, right now in her mind, he was one of the bad guys.
    “You’ve spent some time in hell?” Smokey asked as Hayden cranked the engine and air conditioner.
    “Some.”
    Smokey turned to Kate, who was climbing into the backseat. “Did you know about this, Kate? You know G-man here was going to leave me in a furnace?”
    “He told me he was going to bring you someplace safe.”
    Early this morning he’d talked with Smokey Joe’s caseworker and an advocate at the veterans hospital, and both agreed with Katrina that Smokey did not do well in group situations. After exhausting a number of alternatives, Hayden made arrangements with Maeve, his mother-in-law, to house Smokey Joe as a guest for the next few days. Smokey would be safe and out of the way, and, frankly, after the accident, Maeve could use the company. Hardly a conventional move, but Parker’s team was known for its unconventional approaches.
    He’d explained to Kate that Maeve was a close family friend who lived in the desert outside of Tucson and had cared years for her husband, who suffered from Alzheimer’s. “She knows how to handle people with special needs,” he’d assured Kate. “And there’s plenty of open space and not many people. He’ll be safe.” Kate reluctantly agreed only when the caseworker told her that the only other option right now was a group home.
    With Smokey Joe sulking in the front seat and Kate stone-faced and staring out the window in the backseat, he guided the SUV away from the airport and into the foothills of the Catalina Mountains. They followed the road through scrappy desert and heat waves to a sun-baked adobe house with a hummingbird garden out front.
    When his mother-in-law opened the door, she hugged Hayden and smiled at Kate and Smokey Joe. “I’m glad you’re here, Mr. Bernard,” Maeve said. “Please come in.”
    Smokey didn’t budge, and Katrina grabbed his elbow and dragged him into the entryway.
    Maeve led them to a sunroom. “Can I get you some coffee, Mr. Bernard? Or how about a lemon muffin or fresh strawberries?”
    Smokey crossed his arms over his chest and scowled like a two-year-old. Kate, who took a seat in a wicker chair near a large potted palm, looked like she wanted to give him a swat.
    Maeve poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Hayden. “How was your flight, Kate? I’d ask Hayden, but I’m sure he spent the whole time working.”
    “Uh…fine,” she said, sinking further into the shade of the palm. Hayden knew being out in public today would be difficult for loner Kate, but Maeve was good with difficult situations and people. Hayden studied his mother-in-law, noting she looked tired this morning, her face thin and waxen behind her carefully applied makeup. Unlike Kate, his mother-in-law wasn’t good at being alone.
    As for him, he hadn’t been alone for days, thanks to the voices booming through his head.
    Found another footprint. Some kind of orthotic.
    Got us a witness…woman in a pink dress.
    Here you go. The name and address of the man who attacked me. Now get the hell out of my life.
    Katrina’s voice, the last, echoed the loudest, probably because it went nicely with the vision of her that refused to leave his head, the one of her stretched across that bed. He straightened his tie and reminded himself she was the key to stopping the Butcher. That’s why he kept thinking about her. His quasi-obsession was quite logical.
    “And why do they call you Smokey?” Maeve was asking when he turned his attention back to the group seated in the sunroom.
    “Smoked a lot of weed. Got any?” The wiry tuffs of the old soldier’s eyebrows narrowed, and Hayden swallowed a laugh.
    “Smokey!” Kate said through pinched lips.
    “No, I’m afraid I