Read In a Heartbeat for Free Online

followed but he didn’t leave. A sliver of early morning sunlight illuminated him enough for her to see what he looked like. He had light brown, wavy hair, was probably in his late thirties and wore jeans and a black T-shirt with boots. A scar marred his lower arm, making her wonder if he’d been in an accident. He was big, too, almost six feet, at least two hundred and thirty pounds.
    William had been shorter and a mere one-eighty, but he’d crushed her like a matchstick doll.
    And something about this man seemed familiar. But she couldn’t think where she might have met him. Then it hit her. “I saw you in town, didn’t I?”
    “I think so. At least I recognize your car,” Aiden replied. “But you looked like you were in a hurry so I didn’t introduce myself.”
    She shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Had he been following her?
    “I received some of your mail in my box yesterday.” He indicated a couple of envelopes with a beefy hand, and she froze, wondering if it was a trick to lure her to let him inside.
    “You can just slide them beneath the door.”
    He fidgeted, then stooped and did as she’d requested.
    “Thanks.”
    “And here’s your paper.”
    “Just leave it on the porch.”
    He stuffed wide hands into his jean pockets. “You don’t happen to have any coffee brewed, do you? I forgot to buy some when I went to the store.”
    So he’d been grocery shopping. “No. Listen, I really need to go. I’m late for work.”
    “Oh.” Disappointment laced his voice, and he peered toward the window. Then a smile tilted his mouth. “Well, if you need anything, I’m right down the road. Since we’re neighbors, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
    She doubted it. “All right, thanks.”
    “I put my number on one of the envelopes.” He shrugged, a frown pulling at his lips. “Listen, the newspaper mentioned that a woman had been murdered in Atlanta and another one abducted. You being single, living alone, you ought to be careful. We’re not that far from the city.”
    Lisa froze, her nails digging into the wooden door. How did he know she was single?
    A breeze fluttered the trees, rattling the windowpane, and she shivered, grateful when he finally ducked his head and loped down the porch steps. She slid to the window and watched as he disappeared down the dirt road. But his words rushed back to haunt her.
    A woman had been murdered in Atlanta. Another woman was missing.
    A wave of pure panic overcame her, making her body tremble.
    William White is dead. You’re safe.
    But curiosity won out, and she jerked open the door and grabbed the paper. The headlines startled her into shock: The Grave Digger Returns!
    Her chest in a spasm, Lisa staggered to the couch, sank onto the fabric and dropped her head between her knees to keep from passing out. No, William was dead. Brad had told her so himself.
    It was impossible that he was back.
    Her stomach rolled as she lifted her head and skimmed the article. A copycat. He’d killed one woman so far. But the MO was the same. He’d buried the woman alive. And he’d taken a second victim already. Special Agent Brad Booker was working the case.
    Her sense of peace shattered. She clutched her throat, the suffocating feeling returning.
    Brad Booker’s face materialized in her mind. Handsome, sharp, chiseled features framed a visage that revealed no emotion. He had an almost stoic smile. And cold, whiskey-colored eyes that remained detached most of the time.
    He had dragged her from that dark grave with his bare hands. Had been kind to her during the trial. A Rock of Gibraltar.
    Yet he’d kept his distance since.
    Because he had seen the woman William White had turned her into. Had known what a fool she was for not realizing the truth sooner.
    Humiliation flushed her face as she remembered waking in the ambulance, naked and dirty, then looking into Brad’s anxious eyes and seeing the horror of what had happened to her mirrored