Alone in the Dark Read Free

feeling numbed then shaken as he'd watched the blood pool beneath his
    father's body. His father had already been dead when he hit the wooden floor, a startled,
    angry expression forever frozen on his face.

    A trial followed and he'd been found not guilty due to extenuating circumstances.
    Everyone knew the kind of man Owen Coltrane had been: mean sober and meaner drank.
    But despite the stares and whispers that never stopped—they'd followed him wherever he
    went—Brady had remained in town, working at whatever jobs he could find to try to earn a
    living. He'd had to provide for his sister and bereaved mother.

    His mother, who had never stopped blaming him for what had happened, died less than two
    years after his father of what the local doctor had unscientifically called "a broken
    heart." To Brady's everlasting bewilderment and anger, his mother had pined away after
    his father and although Owen had abused her throughout their entire marriage, she'd
    been unable to find a way to live without him.

    Which led Brady to the final conclusion that he just couldn't begin to understand
    relationships at all. He certainly had no role models to fall back on. His father had been a
    cruel, vindictive man, devoid of love. His mother had been a weak puppet who hadn't loved
    her children enough to protect them from her husband's wrath. Though he had begged his
    mother to leave his father and start a new life for herself and for them, she'd always
    turned a deaf ear on his pleas.

    Less than a month after their mother's funeral, Brady's sister Laura married a marine
    and left town. At nineteen, with no responsibility left, he'd been free to do whatever he
    wanted.

    And what he'd wanted was to get as far the hell away from memories of his childhood as
    he could.

    He'd packed up and left Georgia right after Laura's wedding, taking only a few
    possessions and the burden of his past with him.

    He'd knocked around a bit, moving clear across the country. Settling down, he'd decided
    to go to college at night to earn a degree in criminology, a subject that had always
    interested him. It took him less than three and a half years. When he put his mind to
    something, he didn't let anything get in his way.

    Eventually he came toAuroraand joined the local police force. He did well with the work,
    but not with his partners. An affinity for animals had led him to apply for the K-9 squad
    when an opening became available. He'd always felt that animals were truer than people,
    being unable to engage in deceptions.

    And now he and King had a bond he had never felt with another living creature. He'd lay
    down his life for the dog without a second thought.

    Patience looked at Brady for a moment, wondering what was going on inside his head.

    In a way, the patrolman reminded her a great deal of Patrick before his wife, Maggi, had
    come into his life. When they were growing up, Patrick had always borne the brunt of their
    father's displeasure, partially, Patience thought, because Patrick looked a great deal like
    their uncle Andrew, whose career had been so much more dynamic than their father's.
    Before he'd retired, Andrew Cavanaugh, the son of a beat cop, had advanced his way up to
    police chief ofAurora. And Uncle Brian, her father's younger brother, was the current
    chief of detectives.

    Her father had always felt as if he were struggling beneath the shadows of both of his
    brothers. He'd never come into his own and had harbored a great deal of resentment
    toward both of them. The only place he could freely take out his anger was at home, on his
    family.

    Had Brady gone through something like that?

    For a fleeting moment, without knowing any of the circumstances, or even if she was right,
    Patience felt a kinship with him.

    Maybe it was something in his eyes. A startling shade of blue, in unguarded moments they
    seemed incredibly sad to her.

    "You know," she began, putting down her stethoscope, "in addition to being an incredible talker, I