Blindsided Read online

Page 29


  “This is Detective Aaron Barkley of the Palm Royal Police Department. I’m sorry to tell you that I have some bad news. Are you alone, Miss Brighton? Would you prefer to call someone to stay with you, and I’ll call you back?”

  “No. I already know something is wrong since you said you had bad news, so you might as well go ahead and tell me. I’ll be all right. Please, just tell me whatever it is you’re calling to tell me.” Lucy sucked in her breath and waited.

  “Your parents were killed two hours ago in a head-on collision. They died on impact. It’s taken us this long to find you, or I would have called you sooner. A kind neighbor helped us.”

  Lucy’s first wild, crazy thought was, Now I can get rid of this house. “How did it happen? You said they were killed. Who killed them?”

  “A sixteen-year-old boy drunk out of his mind. He died in the accident, too. Your parents have been taken to the county morgue to await your arrival. Are you all right, Miss Brighton? I never like to deliver news like this over the phone, but you are out of state. I had no other choice, and I’m sorry, ma’am, for your loss.”

  “I’m okay, Detective. I understand about the phone and all. Thank you for calling me. I’ll make arrangements to leave on the first available flight I can get for tomorrow.”

  The connection broken, Lucy stared into the flames as she fumbled around for the cigarette she’d forgotten to light up. She held the lighter to the tip of the cigarette with a rock-steady hand. She coughed, she sputtered, she swigged some beer, then took another puff and repeated the process until she felt like she had coughed out her lungs. How do people smoke these things?

  Her parents were dead. D-e-a-d! She wondered if she was supposed to cry. Probably. She squeezed her eyes shut, but no tears nipped at her eyelids. Maybe it hadn’t sunk in yet. Maybe she needed to think about her parents, then she would cry. She should feel sad. She didn’t. She didn’t feel anything. Just sort of numb. Now, if she had a dog, a cat, or a parrot, this would be the time to hug them, and they’d understand what she was going through. She didn’t believe it for one damn minute. Animals, and probably, birds, too, only reacted to their owners’ emotions. And at that moment in time she didn’t have any emotions.

  Would the world miss Dr. Fritz Brighton, renowned heart surgeon who, before his retirement, had traveled the world operating on people who had money blowing out their ears? Would the world miss Dr. Helena Brighton, shrink to those same wealthy people, who couldn’t wait to fatten up her bank account so that they could hear her words of wisdom that would make them mentally whole again?

  The answer was, Who cared? All she was interested in was why she didn’t care. Why she didn’t feel anything. Lucy finished her beer and trotted off to the kitchen for another one. She flopped back on her chair and watched the fire in front of her. What did the only remaining relative do when called in a situation like this? It wasn’t that she was stupid. She had just never had death enter her life. She had no grandparents, no aunts, no uncles, no cousins. That meant she was all alone in the world. With her parents gone, so was the last and only buffer between her and her own mortality.

  Photo by M2IFOTO ©2006

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Fern Michaels is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of the Sisterhood and Godmothers series, The Blossom Sisters, Tuesday’s Child, Southern Comfort, Betrayal, Return to Sender, and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over seventy million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown, and is a passionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret.

  Visit her website at fernmichaels.com.

  Gotcha!

  REVENGE IS NEVER OUTDATED

  Sometimes, justice is a long time coming. That’s the case with Julie Wyatt, whose story strikes close to home for the original founder of the Sisterhood, Myra Rutledge, and her best friend—and fellow Sister—Annie. Julie is convinced her greedy daughter-in-law Darlene had something to do with the mysterious circumstances surrounding her son Larry’s death. She desperately wants to get a confession out of Darlene—and to ensure the safety of Larry’s daughter, Olivia. As Myra, Annie, and their cohorts dig deeper into Darlene’s shady dealings, events unfurl in a way that no one could have predicted, bringing to light the true meaning of loyalty and courage—and the kind of friendship that can create miracles . . .

  Classified

  A LIFE FILLED WITH RICHES

  The riches that mean most to Teresa “Toots” Loudenberry are the loving friends and family she’s accumulated over the course of a life well lived. And now that her daughter, Abby, has married her beau Chris and settled down near Toots in Charleston, life is even more satisfying than the delicious pralines sold at Toots’s bakery, The Sweetest Thing.

  Abby isn’t the only one enjoying a little romance. Toots’s friendship with Dr. Phil Becker has grown unexpectedly close . . . and that brings both joy and complications. As a distraction, Toots throws herself into helping Abby and Chris open an animal rescue shelter on their plantation. But life takes a serious turn when two young children disappear after visiting The Sweetest Thing. Toots immediately enlists Ida, Sophie, and Mavis to help in the search. But as Sophie’s psychic abilities draw them closer to the culprits, they realize the stakes are much higher than they ever could have imagined . . .

  What You Wish For

  EVERYTHING SHE LOST

  If her abusive husband hadn’t tried to kill her and her beloved dog Lucie, Helen Ward might never have left her million-dollar home and run far away. Now Helen’s changed her identity and moved across the country, hopeful that she can be safe, happy, maybe even loved. And when she meets college professor Sam Tolliver, she begins to believe fairytales do come true.

  GAVE HER EVERYTHING

  SHE EVER WANTED

  But even with love blossoming and her new online business venture taking off, Helen knows that the past is catching up with her . . . and her fear is growing. Wanting to flee, desperate to get away for good, she’ll soon face the biggest decision of her life, a decision that will determine her future and her very identity.

  ZEBRA BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2013 by MRK Productions

  Fern Michaels is a registered trademark of First Draft, Inc.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-1-4201-3011-9

  eISBN-13: 978-1-4201-3012-6

  eISBN-10: 1-4201-3012-9

  First Zebra Books Electronic Edition: January 2014

 

 

 


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