Read Online You Don't Know Me by Susan May Warren - Free Book Online Page B

stay hidden. Unless Blake had contacted his cohorts from so long ago.
    “Look into Blake; see if he’s made contact with any of Garcia’s old gang.”
    “If this was Garcia, then he’s on the move, and he could be heading her way.”
    “Alert the airlines—”
    “I did that when we discovered he had jumped parole.”
    “Which means he’s traveling by car. How long does it take to get from Fairbanks to Minnesota?”
    “I don’t know, maybe a few days? Hang on; I’ll MapQuest it.”
    Outside the door, he could hear Miriam’s voice. “What’s going on, Helen? Was he holding your hand?”
    Helen answered with a sibilant shh . But Frank moved toward the door anyway.
    “I just invited him over for pie!”
    “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
    “I’m not dead—I’m divorced.”
    “Exactly. Something you should think about before you jump into another relationship—”
    He stepped away from the door, stared at the pictures on the wall above the bed, one of Helen and her grandchildren. She was crouching between them on the steps he’d just repaired, arms over their shoulders, grinning into the camera.
    “It’s sixty-seven hours, give or take a few.”
    “So maybe three days?”
    “He’s gotta avoid the main roads, and if he’s traveling alone, he’ll need sleep. There’s a storm moving in from the north that will slow him down . . . Still, I think you’ve got five days max, boss.”
    Five days.
    Five days to tell Annalise to pack up her life. To give her a new identity, find her a new place to live, create a new life for her. With or without her family. He stared at himself in the mirror, hearing the voices of the past.
    He had to move her if he wanted to keep her alive.
    And he very much wanted to keep Annalise alive.
    “Find him, Boyd,” he said and clicked off.
    He looked again at the picture, hating this job and people like Garcia. Hating that in five days he’d take everything away from Annalise.
    From Helen.
    Unless . . .
    Unless he could convince Helen to trust him. To put her life in his hands. To let him build her a new identity along with Annalise and her family.
    “What, are you going to invite him to the dance tonight?”
    He paused, listening, suddenly wondering about the answer.
    “I—”
    And then, not caring because he’d found a way to fix this, he opened the door and pasted on a smile. “Actually, I’m inviting her to the dance.” He met Helen’s eyes. “Will you go with me?”
    It almost felt like a real date when she smiled at him, eyes shining, and said yes.

How Nathan had landed in the doghouse, he didn’t know. But he’d done something to make his wife betray him.
    Okay, betray didn’t seem fair. But he hadn’t the faintest idea how to respond when she’d turned to him this morning and said, “Are you sure you need me at today’s luncheon? You’re running for mayor, not me.”
    What was that supposed to mean? They were a team, and frankly, there wasn’t a person in Deep Haven who didn’t like Annalise Decker. He knew she’d been campaigning for him at every PTA meeting, every soccer match. Through every volunteer hour at the Goodwill, at the hospitality committee meetings at church, on the theater board, and at the blood drive.
    Her words had burrowed into him all morning, especiallyduring the hour on the breakfast show today with Isadora Presley, local talk show host turned political interviewer.
    Annalise was his secret weapon, and he needed her more than ever if he hoped to beat Seb Brewster.
    Until today at 9 a.m., Nathan Decker had believed he’d be the next mayor of Deep Haven. Then Jerry—tricky Jerry Mulligan—just had to show up, right there on the radio show, and endorse Seb Brewster’s late-entry run for mayor.
    Nathan should have guessed. The man had been threatening a run since he returned to Deep Haven over a year ago.
    Which meant that Nathan needed every vote he could get. He glanced at the calla lilies on the seat beside him.