A Stolen Season: An Alex McKnight Novel by Steve Hamilton

Author:Steve Hamilton [Hamilton, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
ISBN: 9780312355012
Amazon: 0312355017
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2007-08-28T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

I woke up before she did. It was a Sunday morning, another day of cold mist hanging in the air. But today everything felt different. I stood there over the bed and watched her sleeping. “Don’t go away,” I said softly. Then I headed to Vinnie’s house.

His truck was still where I had left it. I didn’t imagine he had even noticed the cut battery cables yet. I slipped in through the open front door and found him asleep on his couch. His feet were propped up on the table. His face was every shade of red, purple, green, and blue. I knew he’d be looking worse for a few days before he started to look better, but this was one beaten-up face. He seemed to be sleeping all right, though. His breathing was even. So I left him there and promised myself I’d be back later to check on him.

I had one more thing to do before going back to Natalie. I had a reservation for one of the cabins, and as far as I knew, the family was still coming up from downstate. I had called them and left a message, giving them a chance to cancel, but they never did. What they’d do up here if they were still coming, I couldn’t imagine. Who knows, maybe they wouldn’t mind wet, chilly air that feels twenty degrees colder than it really is. Maybe just being away from home was enough to make them happy. If they were still coming, I was going to try to make them comfortable.

I threw some firewood in the truck bed and drove down to the fifth cabin. It was the nicest place left after my father’s masterpiece was burned to the ground. I loaded up the wood stove and started it. I stacked the rest of the wood inside to keep it out of the wet air. By the time I was done, the place was already feeling cozy.

I wrote the family a note, told them to make themselves at home, told them I’d be down in the first cabin if they needed me. I didn’t know exactly when they’d get here, but I assumed it wouldn’t be for a while, unless they were already on their way and were driving most of the night.

When I got back to my cabin, I opened the door and smelled coffee. Natalie had a pot going, and was sitting on my bed looking at her cell phone. She was wearing my sweatshirt again. This time it didn’t look like she was wearing anything else underneath it.

“You’re right,” she said when I came in. “Your cell phone reception sucks here.”

“We make up for it in other ways. Like the perfect summer weather.”

“Yeah, what’s with that, anyway? I can’t believe I have to go back to Canada to get warm.”

“I’ve heard some of the old-timers talk about it. Every twenty years or so, it’s like summer just forgets to come.”

“I need to use your phone,” she said. “This thing just isn’t going to work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.