Read Need You Now (Love in Unknown) for Free Online Page B

“Go pull the chocolate chunk cookies out of the oven and you can take two to work with you. There’s a Coke in the fridge, too.”
    “Breakfast of champions.” Mel hurried to complete her task before grabbing her share for breakfast and pressing a kiss to her brother’s scruffy cheek. “Love you.”
    The sun, just beginning to rise, glided everything a lovely golden orange color, and Mel couldn’t resist walking the few blocks to the office. She loved Texas in springtime. Though it was brief, the entire world looked clean and fresh. In several yards, residents had mowed around large patches where bluebonnets bloomed. The early morning breeze, damp with dew, bore their scent, something akin to ylang-ylang. At this time of morning, there were few people out to disturb the small town peace that hung over her like a cozy blanket. In a short while, kids would spill out of the house rushing to school, harried moms behind them. The old men who frequented Carrs’ cakes would settle into their usual breakfast spots, ready to grumble about the weather or sports or whatever else they felt like complaining about that day. Her mother’s cronies would start bustling around town, running errands and picking up gossip like magpies with shiny new toys. But for now, it was just her and the small town she’d missed.
    Climbing the wooden porch stairs of the practice, Mel sighed and said a little prayer. She’d been saying the same prayer every morning when she got to work. Please let patients come today . A silly little prayer, she knew. She didn’t wish for people to get sick or injured, but a few new patients in for a yearly physical wouldn’t hurt. Some of the parents brought their kids to see her, but business was still slow. She was just grateful that scholarships and grants eliminated most of her student debt and her father’s life insurance money took care of the rest. Otherwise, she’d be up a creek without a paddle right now.
    It was too early for Sandra to be in yet. The oh-so-charming receptionist didn’t like to come in until exactly nine o’clock. Anna had two teenagers to get off to school, so she wouldn’t be in for another hour at least. Doc Booth was out of town for a long weekend with Clara. There were no cars in the drive. So why in the world was the front door ajar?
    The wood around the doorframe looked scarred, as though someone had hacked at it or forced the door open. Instinct told her she should call Gage and wait outside until he got there. She listened to half of it.
    “Gage? I know it’s early, but someone broke into the clinic last night.”
    “Is anything missing?” Gage’s voice was rough with sleep, but alert.
    Mel glanced in. “I don’t know. I have gone inside yet.”
    “Don’t touch anything until I get there.”
    Mel hung up and used her elbow to ease the door open even further. From the doorway, she could see one of the antique tables Clara Booth loved tipped over the flowers it held strewn across the floor. Stepping carefully into the house, she went first to the reception room. Glass shards littered the polished wood floors, broken out of the china hutch that held little medical knick knacks and pictures of Doc Booth with patients. She did her best to avoid the glass as she made her way to the supply closet that lay between Doc Booth’s office and the reception area. It used to be the butler’s pantry.
    Rolls of gauze, packets of cotton swabs, and band-aids covered the long, narrow little room. A few bottles of alcohol and hydrogen peroxide must have been poured out, because puddles of liquid seeped into the supplies on the floor, the astringent odor stinging Mel’s eyes. The locked cabinets where they kept a small supply of prescription painkillers and antibiotics stood open, the locks obviously pounded off by a hammer or something heavy.
    Doc’s office looked like a snowstorm of papers had erupted in it. Forty years of medical documents, thrown around into complete disarray.