Wicked Tempest: A Kate Waters Mystery (Kate Waters Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

doctors talking and passed by a room he thought was Julie’s. Three physicians stood around a man with no shirt on, his back to the door. Wells paused long enough to notice strange marks covering most of the man’s back.
    “Lichtenberg’s Flowers,” one of the doctors said. “See the offshoot lines from the center here.” He pointed at the middle of a red patch the size of a small fist. Branches that resembled dark pink scars spanned out from the center like tree limbs. “That’s where the lightning passed through.” One of the doctors turned to look at Wells. Wells smiled and quickly turned away, moving on. He found Julie’s room two doors down and took another deep breath to soothe his anxiety before knocking gently. The door cracked open. A nurse popped her head out.
    “I’m Julie’s father,” Wells said.
    “They’re in the middle of testing. It will be just a minute. You can have a seat down at the end of the hall in the waiting room.” The nurse pointed to a glass-enclosed room.
    Wells walked into the waiting room, equipped with sofas, end tables, soda dispenser, and a television in the upper corner of the room. He fed a dollar into the slot of the soda machine and tapped on the 7-Up button. It clanked and tumbled a can to the bottom tray. He snapped the top and took a sip when a woman came around the corner. Sparks zipped through his chest at the sight of her, cropped, blonde hair, thin frame, and blue eyes—Shelia. She noticed him immediately too, pausing just before she entered the doorway. Her eyes softened when she came into the room. Wells could tell she had been crying.
    She walked over to him. “Thank you for coming, Orwin.”
    Shelia had always called him by his first name, so much more formal than his middle name, Jay. She used to say that she liked the way Orwin rolled from her tongue.
    “You shaved off your mustache.”
    Wells rubbed the new stubble that had formed at his upper lip and jaw line. “Change is good, right?” Change had been the key topic in their divorce, with Wells not wanting it and Shelia needing it.
    Shelia smiled and nodded. “You look nice.”
    Wells crossed his arms. “So, how’s she doing?”
    “She’s doing okay.” Shelia bit her lip. It seemed she wanted to say more, but maybe didn’t know how or was afraid to.
    Wells set his soda on the end table. “They’re performing a vaginal swab on her, aren’t they?”
    Shelia broke into tears. He reached out his hand and Shelia quickly took it, burying herself in his arms. As Wells held her, a thousand memories crashed into him, as if they had happened yesterday. He let go of her, needing space from the surge of old feelings. Shelia wiped at her eyes.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be.” Wells let out a hard sigh. “Julie is strong, and she has two parents who love her. She will get through this. She will be all right.”
    “I know,” Shelia replied. “It’s just…underneath all the hurt, there’s all this anger. I mean, I’m having some dark thoughts about the person who did this to her. I’ve never felt like this before.”
    That is what I deal with every day, he wanted to tell her. All the unsolved murders that had kept him working late and pushed her away because she didn’t understand…couldn’t understand what he was going through. Since the divorce, he had chosen to avoid that path, one he had already taken and failed at. “You’re not alone,” he replied instead.
    Shelia straightened her posture. “Julie won’t comment on who the boy was.”
    That didn’t surprise him. Most girls didn’t, out of fear.
    “Maybe you can talk her into it,” Shelia said.
    “Maybe. Julie is a grown woman now. I haven’t had much influence over her for a while now.” Or any other woman.
    “You have more than you think. I know Julie admires you, Orwin. She’s just afraid, and you’re her dad; she doesn’t want you to be involved.”
    A sense of powerlessness beat at Wells. Julie didn’t want him to