Lawman Read Online Free Page B

he averted his gaze back to Coltrain.
    â€œMaybe it was just a little attack,” she persisted.
    â€œThere will be a bigger one, and soon,” he replied grimly. “She won’t take her medicine, she won’t give up salty potato chips and brine-soaked pickles—even if you stop buying them for her, she’ll have them delivered. Face it, Grace, she’s not trying to help herself. You can’t force her to live if she doesn’t want to!”
    â€œBut I want her to!” she sobbed.
    Coltrain drew a long breath, his gaze drawn to Garon, who hadn’t said a word. He frowned. “Aren’t you Cash’s brother?”
    Garon nodded.
    â€œThe FBI agent?”
    He nodded again.
    â€œI couldn’t get the car to start and the phone didn’t work,” Grace told Coltrain before he could interrogate Garon any further. The redheaded doctor was abrupt and antagonistic to people he didn’t know.
    And Mr. Grier here looked like a man who wouldn’t take much prodding before he exploded. “I had to ask him for help,” she concluded.
    â€œI see.” Coltrain was still staring at Garon.
    â€œI could stay with Granny tonight,” she offered.
    â€œNo, you couldn’t,” Coltrain said shortly. “Go home and get some sleep. You’ll need it if she gets to come home.”
    Her face fell tragically. “What do you mean, ‘if’?”
    â€œWhen,” he corrected irritably. “I meant, when.”
    â€œYou’ll have them call me, if I’m needed?” she persisted.
    â€œYes, I’ll have them call you. Go to the office and do the paperwork,” he ordered. She hesitated for a minute, glancing at Garon. “He’ll wait,” Coltrain assured her. “Git!”
    She went.
    Coltrain stared at the taller man through dark-circled eyes. “How well do you know the family?”
    â€œWe’ve spoken once until tonight,” he replied.
    â€œThey live next door to me.”
    â€œI know where they live. What do you know about Grace?”
    Garon’s dark eyes began to take on a glitter. “Nothing. And that’s all I want to know. I did her a favor tonight, but I am not in the mood to take on dependents. Especially spinsters who look like juvenile bag ladies.”
    Coltrain was indignant. “That attitude won’t get you far in Jacobsville. Grace is special.”
    â€œIf you say so.” Garon didn’t blink.
    Coltrain drew in a long breath and cursed under it. He stared after Grace. “She’ll go to pieces if the old lady dies. And she’s going to,” he added coldly. “Along with the other tests I ordered, I had them run an echocardiogram. Half her heart muscle’s dead already, and she’ll finish off the rest of it the minute I let her out—if she even lives that long. Grace thinks I sedated her. I didn’t. She’s in a coma. I didn’t have the heart to tell her. That’s why I can’t let her see Mrs. Collier—she’s in ICU. I don’t think she’ll come out of it. And Grace has nobody.”
    Garon frowned. “Everybody has relatives.”
    Coltrain glanced at him. “Her mother and father divorced when Grace was ten. Mrs. Collier had to take Grace,” he added without explanation, “and never let the girl forget what a favor she did her. Her mother was living out of town when she died of a drug overdose, when Grace was twelve,” he said. “Her father had been killed in a light plane crash two years before that. There are no uncles or aunts, nobody except a distant cousin in Victoria who’s elderly and disabled.”
    â€œWhy does she need anyone? She’s a grown woman.”
    Coltrain looked as if he was biting his tongue. “Grace is an innocent. She’s younger than she seems,” he said enigmatically. He sighed. “Well, if you can drive her home, I’ll be grateful. Maybe