High Noon by Debra Webb

Author:Debra Webb
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-06-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Beaumont Independent Bank, 10:00 a.m.

The small waiting area outside the bank president’s office was nothing more than a hallway, a narrow one at that. On the other side of the glass wall in front of her was the bank’s VP guiding a client through a mountain of paperwork. Laney wondered if that client, too, would be sitting here a few years from now wondering what would happen next.

Behind Laney was the president’s office. She noted a client in his office when she’d taken her seat. Obviously that appointment was running long. The delay gave her a few minutes more to bolster her courage.

She understood that times were hard, but why make it even more difficult for a working woman to keep her head above water? Whatever happened to teamwork?

Speaking of which, Joel Hayden had happily agreed to take Buddy across the street for ice cream at the Dairy Dip. How had she gotten so lucky to have a man like him show up in her life at this pivotal moment?

No, luck had nothing to do with it. Evidently it was fate. And fate had taken its sweet time pulling this particular rug from under her feet.

How could she be twenty-six years old and not know who she was in the literal sense? Maybe her adopted parents had intended to tell her when she was older. Or maybe they’d never intended to tell her at all.

The idea that she was the daughter of convicted murderers lowered her already-sinking self-esteem down into the vicinity of her boots. The only saving grace that she could see was that she had two sisters. Buddy had aunts.

It was all a little overwhelming. Who was she kidding? It was a lot overwhelming. Not only could she and Buddy possibly be in danger, but once the media got wind of what was going on there would be fallout, too. Buddy started school this fall. Would the other kids make fun of him for being the grandson of Texas’s most notorious killers?

Would business at the High Noon dwindle away? Or maybe it would pick up. Patrons might hurry in to see the freak show. Kind of like passing an accident and stopping to stare.

Most troubling of all was her concern for Buddy’s safety.

Either Clare Barker or Tony Weeden, maybe both, had come into their home last night. Laney shivered at the memory of that stick-figure drawing. Had the same person drawn the one left in Buddy’s room and the ones on the motel wall? What kind of sick person did that? And what the hell was the idea behind marking them out?

She wasn’t sure she could deal with the answer to that question right now.

As soon as the hardware store opened this morning, Hayden had changed the locks on the doors at the house. He’d ensured the locks on all the windows worked and he’d called a reputable security-monitoring company. Unfortunately they couldn’t get her on their schedule until next week.

Meanwhile, Hayden was the protection. Warmth spread through her at the thought of having him near.

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