Alone in the Dark by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella [Ferrarella, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Love Stories, Police, Man-Woman Relationships, Women Veterinarians
ISBN: 9780373273973
Google: k4lcNQAACAAJ
Amazon: 0373273975
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2004-10-31T20:00:00+00:00

Walter Payne's address was in his pocket and Brady lost no time in driving over to the man's house. King rode shotgun, alert and taking in this new neighborhood.

"No drug bust here, boy," Brady told the dog. "Just a possible vermin bust."

Walter Payne lived in the oldest part of Aurora. The fifty-plus-year-old neighborhood was comprised of a combination of houses that were either sagging with age and neglect, or beaming with brand-new and relatively brand-new renovations. The Willows, where Payne lived, was a development in transition.

Brady wondered where Payne fit in. He got his answer when he stopped in front of the man's house. Except for a new paint job that, by the looks of it had been done some time in the last few years, the house was sadly in need of major repair. Its entire demeanor appeared dark and forlorn.

Much the way Walter Payne looked when he answered the door after Brady had rung the bell twice. The moment Payne saw the uniform, he straightened, apprehension all but permeating from his every pore. He swallowed audibly before asking, "Yes?"

Brady wasted no time with preliminaries. The man knew why he was here, otherwise he wouldn't look like a frightened rabbit staring at an oncoming eighteen-wheeler. "You come near her again and you're going to be arrested."

There was no need to clarify who he was talking about. They both knew. Payne's broad nostrils flared. It was his only outward sign of bravado. "I only went there because she's Mitzi's doctor."

"Not anymore," Brady informed Payne tersely. As a rule, he was a man of few words. The angrier he became, the fewer the words. "Find another one. Look under V for Vet." His eyes narrowed as he stared down the man. "And vermin."

Payne took a step back into the dark shelter of his home. It seemed as if light refused to cross the threshold or find its way through the windowpanes. "But she—"

"You've had your warning, Payne. Now the choice is yours. And just in case you make the wrong one, remember, a lot of things can happen to someone in the back seat of a squad car before they get to the precinct."

With that, Brady turned away.

Brady heard the door close quickly behind him. The sound of chains being set in place and locks being flipped followed.

A grim smile curved his mouth. He'd done a little background research into Walter Payne. The man was a perfect example of someone who lived a life of quiet frustration. Unless he missed his guess, Payne was the type to pine away after a woman. Violence was a step he wouldn't be willing to take easily. Nothing in his very nondescript life pointed to it. There wasn't so much as a parking ticket with his name on it.

Payne lived modestly and definitely not out of his means. He owned and ran a small, relatively successful computer business. Brady could see how the man could yearn after someone like Patience, but he was reasonably sure that a veiled threat was all that was necessary to get Walter Payne back on track again.

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