Lawman Read Online Free

he said, taking her elbow. “Jane, I don’t know when I’ll be back. I’ve got my keys. Lock up and go to bed.”
    â€œYes, sir. Grace, I’ll keep her in my prayers. You, too.”
    â€œThank you, Miss Jane,” she said in her soft voice. She had a faint south Texas drawl, but it was smooth and sweet to the ear.
    Garon bypassed the Bucar, unlocked the black Jaguar and put her inside. She felt uncomfortable, not only because she was in her nightclothes, but because she wasn’t accustomed to being alone with men.
    He didn’t say anything. He drove to her grandmother’s house, pulled up in the driveway and cut the engine. Grace was up the steps like a flash, with Garon on her heels.
    The old lady, Mrs. Jessie Collier, was sitting up on her bed in a thick blue gown that looked as if it had been handed down from the 1920s. She was a big woman, with white hair coiled on her head and watery green eyes. She was gasping for breath.
    â€œGrace, for God’s sake,” she panted, “go find my bathrobe!”
    â€œYes, ma’am.” Grace went to the closet and started rummaging.
    â€œStupid girl, never can do anything right.” She looked at Garon angrily. “Who are you?”
    â€œYour next door neighbor,” he replied. “The ambulance is on the way.”
    â€œAn ambulance!” She glared at Grace, who’d returned with a thick white chenille robe. “I told you…we’d go in the…car! Ambulances cost money!”
    Grace grimaced. “The car won’t start, Granny.”
    â€œYou broke it, did you?” she raged. “You stupid…” She groaned and held her chest.
    Grace looked anguished. “Granny, please don’t get upset,” she pleaded. “You’ll make it worse!”
    â€œIt would suit you if I died, wouldn’t it, young miss?” she chided. “You’d have this whole house to yourself and no old lady to wait on.”
    â€œDon’t talk like that,” the younger woman said softly. “You know I love you.”
    â€œHmmmf,” came the snorted reply. “Well, I don’t love you,” she returned. “You cost me my daughter, held me up to public disgrace, made me ashamed to go to town…!”
    â€œGranny,” Grace ground out, her face contorting with pain.
    â€œWish I could die,” the old woman raged, panting.
    â€œAnd be rid of you!”
    The ambulance came tearing up the dirt road, its sirens blazing, its lights flashing. Grace gave a sigh of relief. She hadn’t wanted their neighbor to hear any of this. It was none of his business. She was too embarrassed even to look at him.
    â€œI’ll go and bring them up here,” she said, anxious to escape.
    â€œFool girl, ruined my life,” the old woman grumbled.
    Garon felt a ripple of pure disgust as he watched the elderly woman clutching her chest. The girl was doing all she could for her grandmother, who seemed about as loving as a python. Maybe it was her illness that made her so nasty. The woman in his life had died expressing apologies to the nurses for having to lift her onto bedpans. That kind, loving, sweet woman had been an angel even in her final hours. What a contrast.
    The paramedics came up the steps behind Grace, carrying a gurney. With a nod to Garon, they went to work on old Mrs. Collier.
    â€œIs it a heart attack?” Grace asked worriedly. “Will she be all right?”
    One of the paramedics glanced at her. “Are you her daughter?”
    â€œGranddaughter.”
    â€œHas she had spells like this before?”
    â€œYes. Dr. Coltrain gives her nitroglycerin tablets, but she won’t use them. He gives her blood pressure medicine, but she won’t take that, either.”
    â€œMedicine costs money!” the old lady snarled at them. “All I have is my social security. Couldn’t feed a mouse on what she makes, working part-time at that