Edge of the Heat 3 Read Online Free Page A

head. “I’m not sure. Just their own database I guess.”
    Craig frowned. “You should let me test you. I can send it in to CODIS. It’s a nationwide database and it’s huge. Anyone who has ever been arrested in the last 30 years or so is in it.”
    Emma and Vivian exchanged a look. If criminals came back as their family, did they really want to know about it?
    Emma nodded slightly. “That’s a good idea Viv, I mean you need to know for your tumor right?”
    “Yeah,” Vivian said. “It would be best if I could find an entire family line and my doctor could examine it for illnesses like mine and see what their treatment and prognosis was."
    Vivian rubbed her stomach directly over where she knew the tumor was sitting, slowly winding itself around her intestines. The tumor didn’t scare her. Her doctor had given her a 95% chance of completely eliminating it from her body within the next 5 years, but he’d said her best treatment would be found only by studying her family history. That’s what had led her here to Westwood Harbor, and partly how she had found Emma.
    “Ok Craig, what do you need from me?”
    “Let me ask Hawk. He’s the expert. We can go in tomorrow and get started on it. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
    Vivian startled at Hawk’s name. She looked around, but she still didn’t see him. “Where is he?” she whispered to Craig.
    “Oh he’ll be here. He got some information from Norman and he’s trying to figure out if it’s valid or not.”
    “What? Norman’s talking?”
    “A little bit. Hawk went out to see him yesterday and Norman seems to be willing to give up a little bit at a time in exchange for better accommodations. It sucks, but right now it’s all we can do. Hawk is bent over his computer trying to see if the information is really true, before he gives Norman what he wants.”
    Vivian shivered at the thought of Norman, still out there, still affecting their lives.

Chapter 4

E mma sat on Craig’s lap and watched the fire send sparks into the night air. She snuggled into Craig’s chest and listened contentedly to the crackle of the fire. The party was winding down. Jerry and Jen had already left, and so had two of Craig’s friends. The only people left were Vivian and Dennis, the handsome, dark-skinned FBI agent that Emma had once mistaken for the man in her vision. They were across the fire talking. Emma wasn’t sure what about, but it seemed Dennis was sharing funny stories from when he was on patrol.
    “Too bad Hawk never came,” Emma told Craig. “I think Vivian was looking forward to seeing him.”
    “Yeah, what’s up with that?” Craig asked, running his hand idly through her hair. “She was all jumpy when I mentioned him before.”
    “Well, you know, she likes him, but he doesn’t like her back.”
    “She likes him?” Craig whispered, sitting up and looking interested all of a sudden.
    Emma laughed. “Yeah, what are you blind? You haven’t noticed that she likes him?”
    “Well, no, not really. I mean, when they first met she seemed like she might be interested in him, but I haven’t seen anything lately.”
    “She’s hiding it. She’s embarrassed because he doesn’t like her back.”
    Craig sat silent for a minute and then asked, “Why do you think he doesn’t like her back?”
    “Well he doesn’t does he? He’s always so mean to her.”
    “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Hawk’s kind of complicated, especially around women. I think maybe that means he does like her.”
    Emma laughed. “What, like back in elementary school where the boys pulled your hair if they liked you?”
    “Yeah, in a way I guess. Maybe he’s attracted to her and fighting it or something. He hasn’t had a girlfriend in a long time and he won’t talk about it, but I think something happened to really mess him up that I don’t know about. It could have been before we got close at 18 or when he got out of the Army after 3 years. I signed up for another 2 and got