DEADLY VENDETTA by Rustand Roxanne

Author:Rustand, Roxanne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian romantic suspense
Publisher: Roxanne Rustand LLC
Published: 2023-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

EVERY DAY FOR A WEEK after he’d seen the black Mustang, Zach had found reasons to head for town. There’d been no further sign of the car, but Katie had certainly enjoyed her series of lunches at the Pink Petticoat.

Today he’d taken her back to Miller’s after lunch, just for a change of pace, and had purchased another new outfit and a pair of pink shoes. Surveillance in Fossil Hill was proving to be an expensive affair, yet it warmed his heart to do anything for Katie that might make her happy.

All the way home from town, Katie held that little shopping bag as if she’d been given the greatest treasure on earth. Zach concentrated on the road ahead and tried to picture the car he’d seen last Wednesday. A dead ringer, he was sure, for one he’d seen in his neighborhood the day of the bombing.

If he could remember that much, maybe his brain was finally starting to clear. Perhaps he’d remember a stranger loitering near the building, waiting to view the results of his handiwork. Or someone on the other side of the street...

Or perhaps he hadn’t really seen the Mustang the day of the bombing, and he was confusing memories from other days. Other totally ordinary days.

At home, he stopped at the mailbox to collect the mail, which included just an electricity bill, then cruised slowly up the narrow lane to the house. Everything looked the same, with the windows and doors closed securely.

The geese came rushing at the yard fence in a great, flapping display, honking madly at the intruder in their territory. The peacock, far less demonstrative, gave a single ear-piercing shriek.

“Quite an alarm system, right?”

Clearly not understanding, Katie frowned. “Bad birds.”

The geese had chased her once, and after that Zach had confined them permanently to the backyard, where they still raised a ruckus at the sight of anything new. “They can’t get at you, honey.”

“They hurt my ears!”

“That’s because they’ve got a job to do. They let us know if we have visitors, just like a doorbell.”

She was talking more, becoming a shade less withdrawn with each passing week, but he’d checked into an Internet site on language development and found that she seemed to be below the baseline for two-to-three-year-olds. Not surprising, if her mom had been inattentive or had left her in poor child-care situations.

So now he chattered to her. Named objects and asked questions. Told her silly stories and jokes, read nursery rhymes and fairy tales and even magazines aloud. As she responded—picking up new words, and beginning to initiate more conversations, he couldn’t have been more proud of her if she’d just won the Nobel Prize.

What had he done with his time before she came into his life?

It would be so hard to give her back to her troubled mother. Even with social services involvement, what kind of life would she have?

After letting the pup outside for a few minutes, he brought Katie and the puppy into the living room where he could keep a close eye on them.

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