Christine Flynn - Father and Child Reunion Part 3

As a devastating summer storm hits Grand Springs, Colorado, the next thirty-six hours will change the town and its residents forever….

Investigative reporter Rio Redtree is digging into the mayor’s murder. But the closer he gets to answers, the more signs are pointing to Hal Stuart—the son of the murdered mayor and brother to the woman Rio realizes he has never stopped loving.

The only thing he wants more than to catch Olivia’s killer is to be with Eve and her daughter, Molly. How will Eve trust him if he’s willing to send her own brother to prison? Can Rio risk the family life he’s always wanted to see justice done?

Don’t miss the next book in the continuing story of Grand Springs in The Rancher and the Runaway Bride by Susan Mallery.

Dear Reader,

In the town of Grand Springs, Colorado, a devastating summer storm sets off a string of events that changes the lives of the residents forever….

Welcome to Mills & Boon exciting new digital serial, 36 Hours! In this thirty-six part serial share the stories of the residents of Grand Springs, Colorado, in the wake of a deadly storm.

With the power knocked out and mudslides washing over the roads, the town is plunged into darkness and the residents are forced to face their biggest fears—and find love against all odds.

Each week features a new story written by a variety of bestselling authors like Susan Mallery and Sharon Sala. The stories are published in three segments, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the first segment of every three-part book is free, so you can get caught up in the mystery and drama of Grand Springs. And you can get to know a new set of characters every week. You can read just one, but as the lives and stories of each intertwine in surprising ways, you’ll want to read them all!

Join Mills & Boon E every week as we bring you excitement, mystery, fun and romance in 36 Hours!

Happy reading!

About the Author

Christine Flynn is a regular voice in Mills & Boon Cherish and has written nearly forty books for the line.

Christine Flynn

www.millsandboon.co.uk

The facts are adding up: 1) Olivia was murdered, 2) her son, Hal, has taken her mayoral seal, 3) he’s driving a car he can’t afford, 4) Hal is living in a house above his pay-scale, and 5) based on his bank records, Hal is getting deposits that don’t make sense. Could Hal kill his own mother for money? Investigative reporter Rio Redtree is leaning that way. But if Rio is right, what does this mean to his relationship with Hal’s sister, Eve?

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

The odd deposits to Hal Stuart’s checking accounts had nagged at Rio Redtree like an aching tooth. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Hal should have a business interest in the community. Many of the city council members did. That was how they’d become involved in city government to begin with. But Hal didn’t have an ownership interest in any of the six businesses routinely fortifying his checking accounts. Even after searching records at the Corporation Commission in Denver, Rio hadn’t found a thing with Hal Stuart’s name on it.

He hadn’t come up empty-handed, though. After checking out the two laundromats, the restaurant, both bars and the auto repair shop in question, Rio had reduced them to one common denominator. Every one of them was owned by the same person. A local businessman by the name of Maxwell Brown.

It was late afternoon before Rio caught up with Hal in the employee’s parking lot behind City Hall. He’d been waiting for him, using the time to wade through an inch-thick complaint a citizen had filed against WGGS, a local radio station. He was halfway through it when he saw the sporty silver Mercedes glide over the faded Mayor Stuart that was stenciled across the parking space by the building’s rear door.

Climbing out of his Durango, Rio tucked the back of his white shirt into his slacks, slipped his recorder into his pocket and intercepted Eve’s brother just as the man started to get out.

The expectant look on Hal’s face faltered only slightly when he realized whose shadow had darkened his door. Giving Rio a wholly unexpected smile, he got out, then reached back inside for his suit jacket and briefcase. The briefcase had his initials tooled into the chamois-soft leather. The jacket, Rio noted when Hal slipped it on, had a decidedly custom fit.

“Redtree,” he greeted, sounding like the affable politician the public tended to see. “Sorry I can’t talk right now. I’m in kind of a hurry.”

“I won’t take long.” Rio gave him an easy smile of his own. “I tried to catch you at the Children’s Charity luncheon. I’d heard you’d be there.”

“I had a change of plans.”

“I noticed. By the way, Eve did a nice job with your mother’s speech.”

The practiced congeniality slipped. Giving Rio a level look, he hit the security button on his key ring. The car door locked with a chirp.

“I’m sure Mother would be proud.” Pocketing his keys, he started for the door of the old building. “That’s what this is all about with Eve, you know. Making Mom proud.” Something that sounded suspiciously like envy tainted his tone, stealing the last of his superficial pleasantness. “After the way she let her down, I suppose carrying on in her name is her only means of atonement.”

Hal reached for the door of the building to jerk it open. Rio kept it closed with the flat of his hand.

Blue eyes narrowed on black. “What are you doing?”

“Keeping this between us.” Rio’s features hardened dangerously. “Atonement?” he repeated, too aware of his own role in Eve’s situation to let the dig go. “Care to explain what you’re talking about?”

An explanation was hardly necessary. Both men knew exactly what Hal was referring to, but Rio doubted Hal knew how supportive Olivia had been of Eve during her pregnancy. Or maybe, Rio thought, he did know, and their closeness ate at him, just as it clearly burned him to think that his little sister might be more of a hero to the town just then than he was.

Considering what had prompted Hal’s chameleonlike change, Rio couldn’t help but wonder if he hadn’t always been jealous of his little sister.

“I’m not going to get into this with you,” Hal muttered, looking as if he hadn’t expected Rio to call him on his comment. “My sister lives her life and I live mine. We don’t interfere with each other.”

They didn’t interfere? Or Eve simply didn’t listen to him? Suspecting more of the latter, Rio’s hand slid from the door. “I didn’t come to discuss your sister,” he informed him, forcing calm when what he really wanted to do was get the guy by the throat and make him understand that he didn’t deserve the concern Eve wasted on him. Rio’s boss at the newspaper wouldn’t like that, though. Eve probably wouldn’t, either. “I want to talk to you about a business developer. One of our locals.”

Rio opened the door himself, standing back to let Hal pass. Skepticism slashed the acting mayor’s patrician features, but with the reporter’s focus off of him, his antagonistic attitude vanished. It could also have been the prospect of running into a city employee now that they were inside that kept him in line. In politics, image was everything.

Following him in, Rio breathed in the institutional smells of pine cleaner and floor wax and matched Hal step for step down the wide, green-and-white-tiled hall.