Safe Hearts (Amish Safe House, Book 3) Read Online Free

while.”
    “ I have nothing but time,”
Kate assured her.
    Kate was surprised when she was taken
to Ryan's office to wait. She assumed she would simply remain in
the waiting area until he got there.
    After assurances that she didn't need
anything while she waited, she was finally left alone to look over
the office space. Kate wasn't sure exactly how long Ryan had been
in town. She knew he had not been here that much longer than she
had, and she had seen janitor's closets bigger than the office they
made him. Still, he managed to give the space a personal touch.
There were a few books on Forensics and cold cases. A book on
boating drew her eye. That was unusual in a place that had no major
lakes or rivers to boat at. Maybe his last location had a
port?
    She eyeballed the files that were
scattered on his desk. She itched to peek through them, wondering
if there was any data on the recent crime rings. Or better yet,
some clues about Jeremiah's case. Would they have assigned it to
Ryan, come to think of it? He did end up spending a lot of time on
cases related to the Amish community.
    No, she wasn't going to go nosing
through Ryan's files just because the new receptionist made it
painfully easy to do so. She closed her eyes and listened to the
sounds of the office. For a moment, she could almost pretend that
she was in her own office. How long had it been? She missed
paperwork and patrols; she even missed the case files. She missed
the late nights on the job followed by an early morning of
paperwork. She'd never complain about needing a vacation
again.
    It wasn't all bad. She had met some
amazing people in her time here. She had learned a lot of things,
and had an appreciation for stuff she had previously taken for
granted.
    “ Still, if this keeps up
much longer, I'll end up hunting down that mole myself.” Kate frowned as she pondered the possibility. It
was risky of course. And there was no guarantee that the danger
would pass, just because the mole was apprehended. But at the same
time, this was dragging out far too long.
    If Kate kept up this charade much
longer, she was sure that something was going to go wrong. There
was a huge difference between amnesia and never having a skill in
the first place. The Amish weren't fools. They took the claim that
her mistakes were due to memory loss without question at first. Yet
surely they would eventually wonder how she could act like she'd
never done any of this stuff a day in her life.
    Kate wondered how she had fooled them
for so long, and felt a pang of guilt. Eventually she was going to
draw unwanted attention. After all, she could demonstrate no memory
of family; no one from her imaginary old community ever called, and
what’s more, it was clear that she was learning everything from
scratch.
    And if the mole was never found? Was
she supposed to stay Kate the clueless Amish? Be swapped from place
to place every few months to keep the lies from adding up? Never be
herself again?
    Kate was beginning to understand why
certain people would break rules in witness protection. She sued to
wonder why some of them talked to people they shouldn't, and wanted
to go back to their old lives, despite the risk. She finally
understood that the loss of an identity one had worked all their
life to build was crushing, even to a workaholic loner like
herself. How much worse would this be if she actually had people
waiting for her back there?
    “ Kate?”
    Kate roused herself from her musings
and opened her eyes. Ryan stood in the doorway with his jacket
slung over one shoulder. As usual, he looked absolutely stunning,
even fresh off the beat. In fact, if she didn't know better, she
would have thought he was preparing for a magazine shoot instead of
a day in the office. And those eyes. If she wasn't careful, then
she could get lost in those eyes.
    “ Hello, Ryan.” Kate rose
quickly to her feet and checked the time on the wall clock. Not
much time had passed at all.
    “ I was told I had