Mariah Stewart - Dead End

“Bastard. I still can’t get over him getting involved in something like this. I can’t reconcile the Joe Sullivan I knew all these years with the man who participated in any way in prostituting young girls…” Evan shook his head. “And for the worst of reasons.”

“It’s not the first time a man sold his soul for money, and it won’t be the last.” She put her arms around him. “Just be grateful you were able to put a stop to it.”

“This was just the tip of the iceberg, Annie. You know that.”

“But at least that tip was cut off,” she told him.

He appeared to be about to say something when his phone rang.

“Crosby,” he answered, listened for a few minutes, then said, “Give me fifteen minutes.”

He snapped the phone shut and turned to Annie. “That was Malone. They found two bodies in a boarded-up house down on Longwood. A couple of transients, it looks like, and I-”

“Go. I’ll be here when you get back.”

“Annie, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Go.”

“I guess I should run upstairs and get cleaned up, get out of these dusty clothes.” He looked around the yard, at the half-dug bed and the plants sitting here and there. “I hate to leave you with this mess.”

“Don’t give it another thought. I’ll finish up out here.”

“Are you sure? I’ll probably be gone for at least the rest of the afternoon.”

“It’s okay. Go on and do what you do.” She kissed him and turned him in the direction of the house. “I’ll be here when you get home…”

She watched him take the steps two at a time, knowing that his mind was already on the crime scene and what he would find there. It was what he did, and who he was.

Annie wouldn’t have had him any other way.

MARIAH STEWART is the bestselling author of numerous novels and several novellas. She is a RITA finalist for romantic suspense and is the recipient of the Award of Excellence for contemporary romance, a RIO (Reviewers International Organization) Award honoring excellence in women’s fiction, and a Reviewers’ Choice Award from Romantic Times magazine. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she is a three-time recipient of the Golden Leaf Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Jersey Romance Writers, and has been inducted into their Hall of Fame. Stewart is a member of the Valley Forge Romance Writers, the New Jersey Romance Writers, Novelists, Inc., the Romance Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and two rambunctious golden retrievers amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania.