Presumption of Guilt Read Online Free Page A

at least like to keep the brothers together—”
    â€œWe’d be delighted to have them!” the woman said, then put her hand on the receiver and shouted, “Honey, they’re bringing some children tonight.” She came back to Nick. “Please, bring all three of them. What ages are they?”
    Nick couldn’t believe his ears. “The baby girl is probably three months, and then I have two brothers, six and eight. The baby’s an abuse case, and the boys’ parents are in police custody.”
    â€œOh, the poor little things. Please, bring them right over. We’ll have their beds all ready when you get here. I’ll tell Vernon to get the crib out of the attic. We’ll get it all dusted.”
    Nick mouthed “thank you” to the ceiling as he hung up the phone. He hurried to Sheila’s door. “I found someone to take all three, Sheila. Grace and Vernon Miller. She’s even excited about it.”
    Sheila didn’t look impressed. “I wasn’t planning to give them a trial by fire. I was going to ease them in. But I guess it can’t be helped. Remind her not to get emotionally involved with them, Nick. They’re new at this.”
    â€œI will,” he said. But in his heart, he hoped they’d get a little involved. These kids were going to need someone who cared about them.

CHAPTER FIVE
    B eth ignored her puppy as he whimpered and scratched at the attic door. Instead, she stared down at the answering machine. Why was it turned off? She had left it on; she was sure of it. Maybe the power had flickered, and the machine hadn’t come back on.
    Maybe. But that didn’t explain the person who had answered the phone when she’d called.
    Maybe the cellular phone company had mixed the signals. She’d heard of it happening. The fact that she was being followed at the time had made it all seem suspicious, but that didn’t mean that the two events had anything to do with each other. She was probably being paranoid.
    She started to turn the machine back on, but the yelping puppy distracted her. She scooped him up and stroked his head. “What’s the matter, boy? You want to play?” He wiggled in her hands and reached up to lick her face. “We’ll go down and play in a minute,” she said, walking to the window near the apex of her roof. She peered out into the night, looking for headlights, any sign that Bill Brandon was out there, waiting, watching, ready to pounce.
    No, of course he wasn’t out there. She’d chosen this house very carefully. No one could just accidentally find it, and no one would be able to look her up, either. Her address was a post office box. It wasn’t listed in the phone book, and it wasn’t even in her files at school or the paper. Since she rented, there was no public record of where she lived. The only way to find her house would be to follow her here.
    But a nagging voice in the back of her mind reminded her:
    Bill Brandon has ways of finding out anything he wants. Everyone who knows him discovers that.
    Shivering, she carried the puppy back down the stairs, set him down, and went back to the phone to try Nick’s office. Just as she picked up the phone, she heard a car on the gravel outside. She froze. Keeping her eyes on the door, she dropped the phone back in its cradle, pulled open a drawer in the end table, and grabbed the pistol she kept there. The doorbell rang, and the puppy erupted into a round of high-pitched barks.
    He’s here , she thought, holding the pistol aimed at the door.
    Her heart flipped into a triple-time cadence, and adrenaline pulsed through her.
    The bell rang again, and a knock followed. “Beth? It’s me, Nick!”
    Nick. Not Bill.
    She let out a huge breath of relief and lowered the gun. Feeling dizzy from the sheer terror that had gripped her, she headed for the door and opened it. “Nick, you scared me. I didn’t know