Deadly Ties Read Free Page B

She’d just left the meeting at the city jail with her boss, the prosecutor from the D.A.’s office and the Gibbonses. Mr. Gibbons had taken exception to a remark Taylor had made and before anyone could stop him, he’d decked her clean out of her chair. The man had hard fists, but then, were there soft ones? Maybe he had scrambled something in her brains after all.
    The prosecutor had all but danced with glee at the new charge against Mr. Gibbons. Glad she could be of assistance.
    Carefully, she moved her jaw out and in, back and forth. It felt like her eye was about to pop out of its socket.
    Taylor held the baggie of crushed ice to her face as she waited on the light to turn green.
    She checked her watch--five o’clock. Great. Ryan was probably wondering where in the world she was. She’d dropped him off to play at the neighbors when the call came in about Amy earlier this morning. What a weekend.
    She pulled the visor down. The little lighted mirror reflected off her cheek.
    Good God, it was going to look really bad tomorrow. Her cheek was already bruising.
    Wonderful. This was just what she needed.
    On a sigh, she flipped the visor back up and moved along with the rest of the traffic as they crawled through the D.C. streets.
    She was ready to go home, where things were normal, and figure out where she and Ryan were going, or if they still had time to go somewhere for the weekend. She needed to make today up to him because today was supposed to be their day. Instead he’d been playing at the neighbors’, Mr. and Mrs. Webster, who had three boys. She’d been gone since almost noon, though she’d called and checked in with Mrs. Webster before the meeting in the police station.
    Ryan was fine. The boys had spent the afternoon up in the tree fort.
    Taylor shook her head. At least Ryan was making some friends.
    What to do to make up today to him?
    Maybe they would head up Montgomery County and see some of the sites. She’d heard the countryside was scattered with bed and breakfast stops. They could stay at one tonight and catch some of the tourist traps tomorrow. Having moved here under a month ago from Texas, both she and her son were still finding their way around, in more ways than one.
    Her cheek throbbed and she gently touched it. Some ibuprofen would be great right about now. Then again, it seemed she and Ryan had always had to find a new path in some hostile situation. Maybe one day things would go smoothly for them.

    12
     

CHAPTER TWO
    That day was not today. Taylor took a deep breath and tried to see through the rain blanketing down from the night sky.
    Ryan, headphones stretched across his light brown hair, hummed some classical piece from the back seat of her older Mercedes, one of the few things she got out of the settlement with Charles Shepard.
    She slowed down again and flicked her lights as an oncoming car barreled towards her.
    Taylor hated to drive in weather like this. She wanted to pull over, but there wasn’t really a shoulder. She’d taken a wrong damn turn at some point.
    “Are we getting close? I don’t see any lights, Taylor,” Ryan commented from the back seat. She sighed. “No, neither do I. I need to turn around somewhere.” Though she had no idea where. “We could just spend the night at that last little town in a motel. It’s okay. We don’t have to stay in some historical bed and breakfast.”
    Taylor’s head hurt, the ibuprofen doing little to take the throb out of the left side of her face. Finally the rain lessened and she saw the road sign. She grabbed the map and tried to find it while slowly maneuvering the narrow winding road.
    Hell.
    She tossed the map aside. “I think I’ll just go a little further up this road, whatever this road is, and find a spot to turn around.”
    “Okay.” He started humming again. Ryan was always humming. He was gifted in music, thank goodness. She discovered his talent by accident, but he’d become more than proficient in playing the