Devoted Defender Read Free

all that matters?”
    Could he get through to her? “Well, if you’re in some kind of trouble, please let me help you. It’s what I do for a living.”
    “You didn’t mention that you were the chief of police. What were you doing on patrol?”
    “It’s a small town. We all play various roles here. We don’t have a big enough police force to pick and choose assignments. So I do what has to be done.” He paused. “But you’re still avoiding my question. Is there something wrong?”
    “Don’t worry about me. I promise I’m not going to cause this town any trouble.”
    He didn’t know if he was so sure about that. “If you change your mind and want to talk, just let me know.” He needed this woman to open up to him.
    “Thank you. I should get back to work.” She turned and walked back toward the kitchen.
    She said everything was fine, but his gut told him otherwise. What was Annie hiding? Or even worse, who was she hiding from?

Chapter Two
    After a full day of working at Pa’s Diner, Annie’s body was aching from exhaustion. But her first day on the job had actually been fun. She thought it was going to be difficult to cook diner food, but it was actually freeing to be able to mix things up and also provide tried and true favorites.
    She’d gotten a kick out of the responses from the customers. Almost every single one of them was full of compliments. It felt good and had taken her mind off of her problems as she focused on fixing food for so many people. Well, as much as anything would. She still had to figure out what to do. What happened last night weighed heavily on her.
    The words of the shooter were still so fresh in her mind, but she also didn’t think she could just sit back and hope that things would work themselves out. No, she knew better than that.
    It didn’t help that she felt like the chief of police didn’t buy her story as to why she was in town. She didn’t like explaining herself to anyone—and especially not a police officer who might start digging into her past.
    She walked down the sidewalk of the town square, noticing a small coffee shop, a bookstore, and a craft shop on her right. On the left side of the street she saw a bakery and a hardware store.
    The tranquility of Maxwell was a stark contrast to the battle raging in her mind. Even though she was tired, she was still determined to move forward. Doc’s youngest son, Phil, lived right outside Atlanta in another fancy suburb. She and Phil had gotten along well from the start, as he was responsible for conducting her first interview with the family. Perhaps she should reach out to him. He wasn’t directly involved in any of the family businesses, so if there was something illegal going on, he probably didn’t know anything about it and deserved to hear what really happened to his father. Also, she had to warn him because now that she thought about it, he and the rest of his family could be in danger, too. She had no idea how widespread the threat could be. She felt some level of responsibility to act.
    She hurried back to the Maxwell Inn, but didn’t even go to her room. Instead she opted to get into her car and make the drive to see Phil. Looking down at her watch, she thought it would probably take her forty-five minutes to get there.
    When she reached the large three-story brick house in the luxurious suburb it struck her how different this area was from Maxwell. She’d grown up with so little and never felt like she belonged in a fancy high-income neighborhood like this.
    She pulled up into Phil’s driveway. He was still a bachelor. And if she was honest with herself, she felt like Phil may have been a bit interested in her. But at the end of the day, he would never want to date the staff, and that was perfectly fine with her. She wasn’t looking for a relationship. She just wanted the safety and security that being on her own afforded her. There was no place in her life for a man. Men had only provided her mother