Renegade by Elaine Barbieri

Author:Elaine Barbieri
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781428508910
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
Published: 2010-08-28T16:12:10.122000+00:00

Samantha forced a smile at the tall, white-haired man whose blue eyes scrutinized her so carefully. She knew Sean so well. The only problem was that he knew her well also. Her uncharacteristic behavior in calling him in on the case that he had worked on briefly before being called to another had surprised him. It had bothered him because he knew something had happened, especially since she had been determined to do him one better.

When she did not immediately reply to his question, Sean persisted, “I told you that you were making a mistake with your plan to prove yourself, but you didn’t listen. So what went wrong, Samantha?“

Samantha hesitated again to reply. Sean was clever, astute, intuitive, and relentless. All were qualities she admired in his work, but all were qualities she now saw as a threat to Matt. Uncaring whether it was right or wrong and truly uncertain why she cared at all, Samantha knew she couldn’t make the ultimate betrayal of revealing what she had learned—not yet. She had to protect Matt somehow.

She bluffed, “I’m afraid I got frustrated, Uncle Sean.”

Sean’s brows knit together in a frown. “I think you can forget the ‘uncle’ part temporarily. I don’t want you to make that mistake in front of someone.”

“All right, Unc—I mean, Sean.”

“Now that that’s taken care of, you can answer my question, young lady.”

“I think you should stop calling me ‘young lady,’ too. That could be just as damaging.”

“All right.” Undeterred, he said, “I’m waiting for you to explain yourself.”

Samantha responded, “Like I said, I got frustrated. I wasn’t getting anywhere. I tried everything to get close enough to Matt Strait so he’d talk to me confidentially, but he resisted. It’s that fiancée of his. He pretends to be so loyal to her.”

“I got to admit that puzzled me, too, especially in view of the reputation of his alter ego.”

Samantha barely managed to maintain her surprise at Sean’s unwitting reference to Matt’s other self.

Apparently unaware of Samantha’s struggle, Sean shook his head. “The alibis that Strait provided were solid. There was no way I could shake the statements of the different people who claimed he was with them each time the robberies occurred.”

“I was determined to discover something that you had overlooked in the brief time you spent on this case. When I couldn’t, I figured I’d ask for your help.”

Sean regarded her more closely. “That doesn’t sound like you, Samantha. You don’t give up.”

“I didn’t give up. I asked you to come.”

Sean eyed her silently.

Samantha asked, “Are you angry with me, Unc…I mean, Sean?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“I’m wondering what you think I’ll be able to do that I didn’t do before.”

Suddenly remembering a man who had passed through town earlier in the month, Samantha said, “A fella named Josh Harden showed up at the Trail’s End a while back. From what I heard, he comes every year, but this time he mentioned that he didn’t like the new people living in a cabin north of here. He said they ran him off, contrary to the common hospitality in the area.

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.