Read COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) for Free Online Page B

overrode the tired part and she picked up the receiver. “Kate Huntington,” she said, giving the name she still used for professional purposes.
                “Kate, if you have a few minutes,” Miller said without identifying himself. “I could really use a sounding board.”
                Kate was struggling to get her tired mind back into therapist mode. When she didn’t respond right away, he said, “Oh, man, I’d forgotten how lonely it gets when you can’t tell anyone what’s going on.”
                Her heart ached for him. She cleared her throat. “I’ll be happy to be your sounding board, Miller. I was just a bit surprised for a second. I hadn’t expected to hear from you again, after all the cloak and dagger stuff on Monday.”
                “I’m on another throwaway cell. Bought it for cash, no way to trace it back to me.”
                “I didn’t mean it that way, although I appreciate your concern for my safety. What do you need to sort out?”
                “I got the confirmation I needed. Thanks for your help with that. But I also got another communication from the party in question, with reassurances that he means me no harm. Indeed, he says he’s trying to keep me from harm. A little hard to believe since I harmed him, but still...”
                Kate waited patiently for him to continue.
                “I’m just not that guy anymore.” She heard anguish in his voice. “I can’t stop thinking about the look of horror on your face when you realized what would happen to–”
                “Don’t let that stop you from protecting yourself and your family. This stuff is so far out of my league, I don’t even know how to react.” She stopped, made herself take a calming breath. “Please don’t let my reactions influence your decisions about what’s best for you.”
                He chuckled. “Spoken like a true therapist.”
                “No! I’m not talking as a therapist here. I have no clue how to advise you.” She softened her tone. “I’m speaking as someone who cares about you, who knows you’re in a terrible bind. I can’t see the way out of that bind any better than you can.”
                Silence on the line for a moment. “Thank you for caring so much, Kate.” Another pause. “I don’t know why but my instincts are telling me to trust... Well, maybe trust is too strong a word. Let’s say I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s practically begging me to meet with him tomorrow.”
                “You haven’t told anyone who you think he is?” Kate realized she’d picked up a pencil from her desk and was jabbing the point repeatedly into the note pad she kept by the phone. She made herself put the pencil down.
                “No, by the time the detective got back to me I’d already gotten this letter and was having second thoughts. He implies that someone else is involved. That he’s trying to protect me from that someone.”
                “So what are you planning to do?”
                “That’s what I need to figure out. The place he wants to meet me, it’s a place where I would normally go. He’s not asking me to break my routine, do something unusual. Which fits with the idea that someone else might be watching me. It’s possible he’s telling the truth, that he isn’t the one who’s been trying to kill me.”
                “Isn’t it dangerous though, to meet him?” Kate picked up the pencil again. “Can’t you take one of your, uh, former friends?”
                “I don’t think I should. I’ve already made them suspicious enough. That’s another thing, another reason why my gut says he may be telling the truth. He didn’t say anything about coming alone.”
                “Maybe he realizes