Lifting the Veil Read Online Free Page A

comfortable bed was calling her name. She set her alarm clock, undressed, and climbed under her
    covers, hoping that sleep would help make her headache go away. She closed her eyes and let
    exhaustion pull her into sleep.

    ****
Sophie woke before her alarm clock even buzzed. Her nervous energy made her stomach roll while
    getting dressed. She grabbed a muffin and headed out the door for her first day at her temp job.
    Meeting new people wasn’t high on her list of good times, but the job and experience would look pretty on her resume. A way to pay the bills. She continued talking herself into not going back home. She stood across the street looking up at the police station; the flags were high on the pole, drifting in the morning breeze. Armed men and women in uniform walked in and out of the building along with pedestrians in plain clothes. An instant sensation of déjà vu overwhelmed her. She’d been here before but never
    stopped long enough to admire the authoritative energy the building represented. The reality of where she was temping hit her like a punch in the stomach. She wasn’t just going to see her brother. She was going to work.
    She glanced both ways for oncoming cars before crossing the street.
    Sophie jogged up the steps in front of the building and paused at the door being held open by a
    man in jeans. A man that looked vaguely familiar. Maybe she’d seen him before while being there to visit but she would have remembered his handsome face and couldn’t recall ever knowing his name.
    Was he a new edition that her brother had hired?
    “I could ticket you for jaywalking.”
    “Excuse me.”
    “You broke the law.” He gestured down to the corner where the crosswalk sign flashed. “I could
    give you a ticket.”
    Sophie tilted her head and let her gaze travel down his jean clad legs and back up over his wrinkled shirt and to the five o’clock stubble on his face. He was tall. If she had to guess six foot. “You don’t look like a cop.”
    The man grinned. His green eyes sparkled with amusement as he winked at her. “Lucky for you, I’m
    not on patrol.”
    Sophie shook off the aggravating man. “You’ll have to excuse me, I’m late.”
    He strolled in behind her. “Oh…what are you late for?” he asked from behind her.
    She glanced over her shoulder. “That’s none of your business.”
    She stepped up to the desk where Brenda, the uniformed officer, was perched with a phone
    pressed to her ear.
    He propped his elbow on the counter. “Are you here to bail your boyfriend out of jail, sweetheart?”
    He wiggled his brows. “You can’t do that here. You have to do that downtown at the jail.”
    She whipped her gaze to meet his. “I’m not your sweetheart and there is no boyfriend in jail.”
    “Love,” Max bellowed from his office. “Get your ass in here and bring Sophie with you.”
    Sophie chuckled. “Love….really?” She grinned. “Well, Love, seems my brother would like to see us.”
    “Masterson’s your brother?” He grimaced and dropped his head forward. “I should have known.”
    The guy cursed beneath his breath and held open the partition for her entry into the expansive room.
    “After you, honey.”
    “I’m not your honey either.”
    The room was filled with desks and partitions. Some officers were on the phones, others were
    sitting in front of their computers, and several she recognized and knew personally were lingering by the coffee pots and water coolers. A few had some unsavory people sitting across from their desks. Two dark-haired men were in handcuffs, with bruises and fresh blood on their faces. Some of the other
    people were there for a different reason. A woman with tangled hair was crying, while bouncing a baby on her lap, as she talked frantically to the officer taking her report.
    The guy she now knew as Love stayed close to her with his hand on her back as he escorted her
    through the open room. Her brother, Max, tossed his arm around Sophie’s