Dangerous Reunion (Love Inspired Suspense) Read Online Free Page B

come back here. I knew how you felt about me, and I don’t blame you for that. But I’ve had something happen in my life that has nearly driven me over the edge. I’ve been going to counseling, but nothing has helped.”
    The fact that Brock had even used the word counseling, much less been involved in it, shocked Kate. “You’ve been to counseling? You used to say that counseling was for the weak. That people who were in control of their lives didn’t need some high-paid shrink to sit and have a pity party with them.”
    He nodded. “Yeah, that’s what the old Brock said, but things changed. A few months ago something happened, and my life collapsed around me.”
    Kate frowned and leaned forward. “What?”
    Brock bit his lip and thought for a moment before he spoke. “When I joined the police force in Nashville, I heard about a ten-year-old murder case. A local man named Robert Sterling was accused of killing his business partner. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. His attorneys had appealed the case for years, but they hadn’t been able to get a new trial.”
    “Did you know the man?”
    Brock shook his head. “No, but I’d read about the case, and I knew he was on death row. Anyway, late one afternoon I was alone in the office when my phone rang. It was a man who said that he’d wrestled with his conscience for years and that he could prove Robert Sterling was innocent. He said he was facing some serious surgery and that he didn’t want to die without telling what he knew.”
    “Did you believe him?”
    “I didn’t know. I told him we were interested in what he had to say. Since he was so sick, I told him my partner and I would come see him the next day. He agreed. I took his name and phone number and told him I’d call him the next morning to arrange a time. I also told him we would check out anything he told us. He said it was crucial that we get on this right away because Sterling’s execution date was only a few weeks away.”
    Kate exhaled. “It sounds like he was sure the man was innocent.”
    Brock nodded. “I thought so, too. I hung up and was getting ready to leave for the day when the phone rang again. It was a friend of my father’s in Los Angeles. He was calling to tell me that Dad had been in a serious car accident and wasn’t expected to live. He was asking to see me before he died.”
    Kate’s eyes grew wide. “Your father? I didn’t think you had any contact with him.”
    “I hadn’t in years, not since he deserted my mother and me when I was ten years old. I knew if my father was calling for me, I had to see him and ask him why he never got in touch with me when I was growing up.” Brock’s eyes filled with tears, and his lips quivered. “Do you understand how important that was to me?”
    “Yes, Brock. I understand.”
    He took a deep breath. “I scribbled a note to my partner and asked him to follow up on the Robert Sterling matter the next morning. Then I left it on his desk and rushed home. Within hours I was on a plane to Los Angeles.” He hesitated for a moment. “The good news is that my father didn’t die. I ended up staying with him for six weeks, and they were some of the happiest of my life. We bonded for the first time, and all of a sudden I had the father I’d always wanted.”
    Kate smiled. “I’m glad, Brock. I remember how you always wanted to know him.”
    His face clouded. “But there’s more. The bad news is that when I returned home, I discovered my partner had never found the note I left for him. He didn’t read it, he didn’t contact the witness and Robert Sterling was executed.”
    Kate gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth. She stared at Brock and lowered her hand. “How horrible.”
    “It is, but there’s more. When I failed to call the witness, he tried to reach me. Whoever he talked to at the station evidently didn’t know I’d left town. They put him through to my voice mail to leave a message.”
    “And no one