Don't Tell Anyone Read Free

having his back ache at the end of the day. He was ready to move on, but he knew he couldn’t just up and leave. He needed a plan, and he needed money.
    He’d had the plan for almost a month, ever since Bricehad reluctantly agreed to let Shane pilot the hot-air balloon that Colby Construction was sponsoring in the town’s annual balloon festival.
    Now Shane had the money to carry out his plan.
    Brice had never found out about the first forged check, for seven hundred dollars, that Shane had printed and cashed. He would never know about this one, either. Even if the bookkeeper discovered the fictitious Bradburn account, it would take awhile before anyone suspected Shane.
    Brice and Ruthann didn’t even know that Shane could use the computer. Shane had learned how in prison, as part of a training program that was supposed to prepare him to get a job. But he had kept that skill to himself. When Ruthann talked about all the information she found on the Internet, Shane pretended ignorance, as if using a computer was completely beyond his ability.
    He had spent the stolen seven hundred dollars to buy an old clunker car, which he registered under the name William Bradburn. The car was already parked at Shane’s getaway spot, the remote meadow on the other side of Desolation Hill, where Shane planned to land the Colby Construction hot-air balloon and set it afire to make it look as if he had crashed.
    Ruthann would be devastated to think Shane had died in the crash; Brice would probably be relieved to be rid of him.
    Shane was positive he would not get caught. He wouldnot be charged with theft, and he would never, ever, return to prison. The eighteen months he had spent behind bars were the worst months of his life. He did not intend to repeat them.
    Friday night, Shane would be out of this town. He had better things to do with his life than accept favors from his brother-in-law.
    Shane knew that as long as all the Colby Construction projects moved forward as scheduled, there was little chance that the missing funds would be noticed. Brice’s business was booming, which meant that large amounts of money flowed into the account, and large amounts were paid out for supplies and labor.
    Colby Construction had an office building nearly completed, and Shane knew the company would break ground next week on a big apartment complex. That alone would put so much money into the account that a mere fifteen thousand would never be missed.
    The only thing that could mess up Shane’s plan would be if Brice’s next job got delayed, so that the big money did not arrive as expected. If that happened, a shortage in the account might be discovered.
    Nothing was going to delay the apartment complex. No neighbors would complain about a building that was erected right next to a freeway on-ramp. The apartment would not cause an environmental problem, and the impact on traffic would not matter in that location.
    The building permit was expected on Thursday, andBrice was ready to start construction. Shane had arranged to have the field cleared on Friday, to make sure the project was under way before he left. By Friday night, Shane would be gone.
    Shane slipped outside, locked the office door behind him, and headed for his truck. The night air was warm; summer was almost here. Perfect weather to build an apartment complex, Shane thought. Nothing, not even rainy weather, would hold up Brice’s big project–and nothing would keep Shane from using his cash to get out of this crummy town.
    Shane knew exactly where he would go: New Mexico. There was a hot-air balloon festival in Albuquerque every year, and Shane planned to fly his own balloon in the next one.
    Before he was sent to prison, Shane had gotten a license to be a hot-air balloon pilot. He had taken the required ten hours of instruction, passed a written and a verbal test, and then passed the flight exam. The license had cost him nearly fifteen hundred dollars, but