True Nature Read Online Free

to the mob. Maybe you should at least try to time your visits so he doesn’t catch you in the act.”
    “He was supposed to be gone until almost midnight.”
    She backed out of her parking spot. “Maybe it’s time to go out with women who aren’t married.”
    “Where’s the challenge?” He patted her thigh. “Even you like a good challenge. Why else did you take on Lizzie Howerton’s case?”
    Zoe conceded the point.
    “While we’re back on that subject. Did you know Lizzie’s mother left all her money to her daughter? Her husband, who is Lizzie’s father, didn’t get a dime, and he’s contesting the will.”
    “Damn,” Zoe muttered. “That’s why her name seemed familiar. It’s been in the papers. I knew this case was going to be trouble.”
    “Yeah.” Hunter laughed. “Looks like you’ve got your own troubles and should just leave mine to me.”
    ****
    Hunter loved eating at Pizza 46, which oddly enough was just off Highway 46 in a strip mall. It was always hopping on Friday nights. Zoe and Hunter ordered at the counter and watched for the next table to empty. But it turned out they didn’t need the table. Zoe’s cell phone rang. Her expression turned grim as she said, “We’ll be right there.”
    The odor of hot pizza filled Zoe’s car as they headed toward West Paterson. Kinley Russo was a pro-bono client who was seeking to divorce an abusive husband. Zoe and Hunter took two or three cases a year like this to help them feel more charitable and less cynical.
    Even though Kinley had an order of protection and had called the police many times, Eric kept popping up, leaving his young wife frightened and disillusioned about ever being rid of him. Of course, sharing two children with him meant he’d never truly be out of the picture.
    Zoe pulled into Kinley’s driveway and Hunter noted that all the outdoor lights were on. He shed his coat and yanked his sweater over his head. “Leave the car unlocked, so I can get back into my clothes. I’m going to have a look around and give ‘ole Eric a big scare if he’s still here.”
    Zoe headed for the front door with her gun drawn. Hunter kicked off his shoes and scrambled to the shadows of the boxwoods that separated Kinley’s house from her neighbor. He shucked his pants and shivered in the cold wind. Almost immediately, his bones began to shift. In his familiar black panther form, he prowled the perimeter of the yard, sniffing for signs of Kinley’s husband, but found nothing.
    Shifting back to human, he ducked behind the boxwoods when lights from a passing car spanned the driveway. He retrieved his pants from the bushes along with the rest of his clothes and the pizza from the car. He tapped on the front door to the house. Zoe met him, still carrying her gun.
    “He’s not out here,” Hunter murmured as he slipped inside.
    “Not in the house, either.”
    “I told you he was gone,” a voice called from behind Zoe. Hunter followed Zoe into the living room to the left of the foyer.
    Kinley sat in the center of the sofa, her pretty face smeared with tears, her hands twisting a tissue in her lap. Hunter set the pizza box on the coffee table and spied the bruises on Kinley’s neck. Eric was usually more careful to hide the telltale marks of his anger. The bastard was escalating, losing his control.
    “Where are the kids?” Hunter asked. “Are they all right?”
    “They’re at my sister’s,” Kinley replied. “What the hell was Eric doing here? Didn’t you get the locks changed?” Hunter took the chair opposite the sofa.
    “Yeah,” she said wearily, tears sliding down her cheeks. “But I gave an extra key to my neighbor Wanda in case the kids got locked out. Eric went to see her and cried about how I was treating him, and she gave him the key.”
    Hunter exchanged a look with Zoe. They had heard about Wanda, who didn’t believe in divorce and kept trying to convince Kinley to stay with Eric. “Why in the world did you give Wanda a