Always Look Twice by Geralyn Dawson

Author:Geralyn Dawson [Dawson, Geralyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, General
ISBN: 9781440629730
Google: yvDDygIRJ2oC
Amazon: 0451224884
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2008-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

A giant wave of guilt rolled over Annabelle as she entered the ICU cubicle where her father lay sleeping, hooked up to tubes and electrodes and machines that hummed and beeped. On the left side of his head a bandage covered a shaved section of his salt-and-pepper hair. One arm was folded across his chest, a line taped into place on the back of a hand whose skin appeared black-and-blue and paper thin.

‘‘Oh, Daddy,’’ she murmured.

His eyes opened, blinked. He looked around, found his wife, and smiled wearily. ‘‘Lynnie.’’

Lynn Monroe stepped next to the bed and gently took his hand, then motioned to Annabelle. ‘‘Look who’s here, honey.’’

Annabelle blinked away her tears. ‘‘Hi, Daddy.’’

Light brightened his blue eyes. ‘‘Little Bit. You came.’’

‘‘Of course I came. How are you feeling?’’

‘‘Not too bad, considering.’’ He thumbed the motor control on his bed and raised his upper body into a seated position. Then, his voice stronger than before, he cleared his throat and added, ‘‘I knew I could get you home if I blew myself up.’’

She closed her eyes and shuddered as she imagined the scene. ‘‘Oh, Daddy, I’m so sorry this happened. It tears me apart to know . . . well . . .’’ She swallowed hard. ‘‘You are in that bed because of my job. If I had known then what I know now, I would have gone to beauty school like you wanted.’’

‘‘Oh, stop it. You would have been a disaster at cutting hair. Now, what I would like is an explanation. Your mother was skimpy with details. Someone is going around killing people you worked with?’’

Annabelle brought her parents up-to-date with a short, succinct report that provided the information they needed and deserved while leaving out details that would cause them extra worry. She ended by saying, ‘‘We are going to find the people responsible and make them pay. And in the meantime, we’ll keep everybody safe. I promise, Daddy. You have my solemn word. I brought team members with me and we’re hiring extra security for everyone in the family until whoever did this is caught.’’

‘‘Even Aunt Polly?’’

A smile flickered on Annabelle’s lips. ‘‘Even Aunt Polly.’’

‘‘You better pick out your toughest man to guard her.’’

Annabelle had a quick mental vision of Mark attempting to tell Aunt Polly what to do. She would shake her finger in his face and stomp her cane to punctuate her comments. Then she would do what she wanted to do anyway. ‘‘Or the man with the most patience.’’

Frank Monroe nodded. ‘‘You do have a point. You say you brought people with you?’’

‘‘Yes.’’

‘‘Who is in charge? I want to meet him.’’

Annabelle glanced at her mother, then said, ‘‘Visitors are limited to family, aren’t they? Maybe once you are out of ICU.’’

‘‘Tonight, Annabelle,’’ Frank Monroe instructed. ‘‘Now.’’

She hadn’t expected to have to introduce Mark to her father and she wasn’t prepared for it. She attempted to put him off by saying, ‘‘I don’t know that either Mark or Tag is any more in charge than I am, Daddy.

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