Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (interesting books to read for teens TXT) 📕

“Is he alive?”

“He was when I left him,” said Luis. “Wyatt’s on foot in the woods and the rest of the team is coming.” Luis looked at the corpse on the floor. “We should go. The fire’s spreading downstairs. The safest way is through the window.”

It was an eight-foot drop. Luis held Julia by the wrists, lowering her as far as he could before letting go. She landed on her feet. A jolt of pain shot through her middle, and for a moment, she saw only a flash of white.

Luis dropped to the ground with a curse. Standing, he hobbled to her side. “You okay?”

“Sure,” she said. Then, after a moment, the discomfort lessened. “Yeah, I’m better.”

“Let’s go and check on Peter,” said Luis.

They rounded the side of the house. Wyatt stood at the door to the SUV and provided first aid. Dust rose at the end of the driveway and she knew that the rest of the RMJ crew had arrived.

“How is he?” Luis asked Wyatt.

“He’ll survive, especially if we get him airlifted to the hospital in Cheyenne.”

The SUV pulled to a stop in front of the burning house. An ambulance was right behind. Paramedics rushed to Peter. One of them used a satellite phone and called for a medevac and a firetruck. Julia thought that they should just let the house burn.

Marcus jumped out of the driver’s seat at the same moment that Liam exited from the passenger side.

“Did you find him? Robert Carpenter?”

Julia pointed toward the inferno. “Whatever is left of Robert is burning up in that house right now.”

“That’s not entirely true,” said Luis. He held up a cell phone. “Peter gave this to me after I dragged him from the house. The record feature was on. Looks like there’s hours of a recording.”

“Let’s hope that Peter got a confession out of Robert,” said Wyatt. “It’d help tie up the case nicely.”

Luis’s phone rang. He stared at the screen. Flexing his jaw, he tucked it back into his pocket and stalked to his SUV.

Julia followed.

“You okay?” she asked. “Who was on the phone?”

“That call was from my sister.”

“Why didn’t you answer?”

He shrugged. “What if I’m not good enough?”

Julia reached for his hand, slipping her fingers between his. “You’re a better person than anyone could want.”

“You say that...”

“I know it.” Julia knew she couldn’t heal Luis’s wound with a few words. Still, that wouldn’t stop her from trying. “You’re an easy person to love, Luis, trust me.

He pulled her closer and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Love, is it?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I think from the beginning, maybe.”

“Maybe for me, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” And then he asked, “But what does that mean for us? For you? You caught the killer. You can leave Pleasant Pines now and let Travis Cooper become sheriff.”

“Deputy Cooper was hurt bad. It’ll take him a while to heal—trust me, I know the drill. Besides, I owe Peter Knowles an interview. After that, I was thinking about sticking around a while, if that’s okay with you.”

“Of course. But really, you have to have a plan. You always do.”

“We’ll start with you taking me home,” she said. “And see where we go from there.”

* * *

Julia stood in the lobby of the bank on Halloween. It was filled with children in costume—along with their parents, many of whom wore costumes, as well. She had come over after work and still wore her uniform.

The line of tellers’ windows was decorated with cardboard cutouts of smiling witches and vampires. Orange and black garland ran the length of the counter. Tissue paper bats and ghosts hung from the ceiling. In the background, the Monster Mash played.

Despite it all, she smiled.

And she knew why.

For the past week, Julia had been staying in Luis’s apartment. In all that time, she hadn’t had a single nightmare. In the mornings, she woke refreshed, whole and calm. It was as if sleeping in Luis’s arms had the power to stop the nightly terrors.

Or maybe she just dropped into a stupor after the fabulous sex they’d had each night.

Either way, Julia wasn’t about to complain.

A plastic jack-o’-lantern filled with candy dangled from her hand. Luis stood at Julia’s side. He wore a flannel shirt and jeans. Reaching into the open top of the pumpkin, he withdrew a small candy bar.

“Nice turnout,” he said. After removing the wrapper, he shoved the chocolate into his mouth and chewed.

Julia nodded. “It is.”

It seemed as though all of Pleasant Pines had gotten involved in the festivities. Every business on Main Street was handing out treats. Sarge and Sally had turned the diner into a kid-friendly haunted house. Peter Knowles, still hospitalized in Cheyenne, had organized the newspaper staff to turn the newsroom into a theater. They were showing Halloween cartoons until 8:00 p.m. After that, there was a horror movie double-feature.

A little girl, with cat ears, tail and a purple tutu approached Julia. She held open a canvas sack.

“What do you say, Sophie?” her father prompted. It was Liam Alexander, one of the team members from RMJ. With him was Holly Jacobs, child psychologist, author and survivor of a Darcy Owens attack.

“Trick or treat,” said Sophie.

Julia bent forward, lowering the bucket to the child’s eye level. “See anything in there that you like?”

Sophie nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“Go ahead, you can pick your favorite. In fact, take two.”

“Two?” Sophie echoed, her eyes wide.

Julia winked and let Sophie look through the candy.

“How are you doing?” Holly asked of Julia.

Lifting one shoulder, she let it drop. “You know how it goes. Some days are good. Some days are bad. At least I’m having more good days now.”

“Trust me, I know how hard it is to get over everything that happened.” Holly stroked Sophie’s head as the child plunked two lollipops in her bag. “For everyone.”

“I guess we have a lot in common—surviving what we have.” Julia paused. “It’s a sisterhood of sorts.”

“You’re right, it is,” said Holly. And then, “We should get coffee sometime. It might be nice to talk