Last Night Read Online Free

bolstered Dana ' s confidence, while it had eroded Vanessa's. " This has to be a Coltrane plot. They ' re going to take Jason away from me. "
    The panicked look in her sister ' s eyes alarmed Dana as much as Vanessa ' s convoluted logic. This was totally out of left field. " How could they take your son away from you?"
    Vanessa stared out at the harbor, where the lights atop the forest of masts swayed rhythmically with the surge of the ocean. " You don ' t know Big Daddy. He has his ways. "
    " The notes were sent to me, not you. I don ' t think this has anything to do with the Coltranes, " Dana said. " It must be a blackmail scheme. Someone must think I have money. Obviously they haven ' t checked to see how little municipal court judges make. "
    " I can ' t get any money to pay off a blackmailer. " Vanessa ' s voice was trembling now. "Big Daddy sees all my bills. "
    "We have to fi nd out who's behind this and…" And what? What would she do when she found the blackmailer?
    " You ' ve got to do something, " Vanessa cried, clutching Dana ' s arm. "Don ' t let them take Jason away from me. He ' s all I have. "
    " Don ' t panic, " Dana said with more confidence than she felt. " I have a friend who can help us. I ' m going to see him right now. "
    Vanessa followed her outside, whispering, " Don ' t call me at home. Wait until you see me on Monday to tell me what's happening. I don ' t trust the Coltranes. "
    Convinced Vanessa was paranoid, Dana walked out to her car. Vanessa had never had a childhood; their parents' death had robbed her of any semblance of a normal youth. Men flocked to her, yet she had never found love.
    Dana had prayed that having a child would help Vanessa, and it had. Vanessa loved Jason, so much so that she was overly protective. Borderline obsessive.
    Was Vanessa ' s paranoia about Big Daddy justified? Even if he had discovered their secret, why would he send notes to Dana, not Vanessa? The whole thing was strange, confusing. Right now she needed an objective, analytical mind to help her, someone clear-headed and intelligent.
    Garth Bradford. The criminal attorney was the best legal mind in the islands—probably in the country—and he was the man she ' d choose to defend her. If it came to that.
    She called him on her car phone. There was a momentary pause at the other end of the line after she identified herself. She knew what he was thinking. They ' d been friendly for years, but not so close that she ever had called him at home on a Friday evening.
    "What ' s on your mind? " As usual, there was a smile in Garth ' s voice.
    " I need to discuss something with you in private. " Suddenly she thought he might be with a woman. " Are you busy? "
    " No, " he responded. "Have you eaten? I ' m fixing dinner. Come over and we ' ll talk. "
    "I ' m starving, " she fibbed, already mentally calculating just how much to tell him.
    She drove along the shore into the exclusive Kahala section of the city, where the homes were nestled at the foot of Diamond Head, fronting a private beach. Just hearing Garth ' s voice had calmed her, and she recalled the first time she'd met him. The DA had assigned her to a murder case where Garth had been defending the man. She had seen him sitting at the counsel table, but didn ' t consider him much of a threat.
    He ' d looked like a sandy-haired jock who ' d be more at home on the football field, if he hadn ' t been confined to a wheelchair. But it wasn ' t his handicap that had totally disarmed her. It was his easygoing smile. How serious could he be?
    Well, she found out. He annihilated her case, only half-trying. She could laugh now, but she ' d been hu miliated then. It had taught her an important lesson: Never underestimate Garth Bradford.
    He was the most honest, ethical man she'd ever met. He accepted his handicap with complete dignity. She ' d never once heard him complain. Come to think of it, Garth never even mentioned it. All she knew about the accident that had left him