Read Waters Run Deep for Free Online

plucking, but this one didn’t seem the type to dally with the boss.
    Yet after ten years in law enforcement, nothing truly surprised him.
    The nanny motioned Nate through the back door and onto the bricked patio as if she were the hostess of Beau Soleil. As if she were the one in charge. He bristled. This was his damned house. Okay, not his, per se, but his family’s. Something about this woman both soothed and rankled.
    “Look, I need to call for backup. Do you know if Keene has talked to Blaine Gentry about the situation?”
    She shook her head and averted her gaze. “I don’t know who Blaine Gentry is.”
    “The sheriff.”
    “Oh,” she said, her eyes searching the property behind the house. “What’s out there?”
    She pointed to the horizon toward where the land sloped off toward the Bayou Tete. She also ignored his question.
    “The bayou.” He combed his hand through his hair, wicking the sweat from his forehead. “So is the sheriff aware of this threat situation? He’s hasn’t mentioned it to our department. And is there anything you can tell me about Spencer that might help me? A special toy? Activity? Perhaps he did something naughty and doesn’t want to be discovered?”
    Annie’s eyes glazed into thoughtfulness, and he could almost see the cogwheels in her mind turning. A furrow crinkled her forehead. She blinked once. Then twice. “You know, I think I know where he might have gone.”
    “Where?”
    “To see the alligators.”

    “Alligators? We don’t…” His voice trailed off as she turned, breaking into a jog as her feet hit the thick grass of the lawn. He snapped his mouth closed. “Hey, where are you going?”
    “He wanted to see a real alligator. I told him we’d find one later, but he’s not good at waiting,” she called back.
    Nate jogged after her. “Surely he wouldn’t wander off with no one seeing him? To the bayou? By himself?”
    “You don’t know children well, do you?”
    He didn’t answer. No, he didn’t know children at all. Why would he? But he didn’t think a child could make it down the stairs, through the kitchen and across the wide lawn without making noise or at least one person seeing him. It didn’t seem plausible.
    The distance to the bayou was a good piece. Thanks to numerous hurricanes, fallen oaks lay uprooted, their grotesque limbs stretching toward a cloudless sky, blocking their progress to the river. Finally they reached the edge of the property. “To your left.”
    She veered, spying the worn path leading down the embankment toward the river. Her footing was steady, though the path was steep. All the while her eyes methodically searched the silted bank below.
    “Spencer!” she shouted, quickening her steps.
    Nate pounded behind her, slipping often on the eroded bank, before catching his footing. He skidded to the bottom and saw the boy, standing near the water, kicking at an old tire that had lodged in some reeds. Nate held up at the bottom of the path, but Annie made a beeline for the boy.
    Spencer turned his head and grinned. “Look what I found, Annie. A tire. We can make a swing like Tony made in the book.”
    Annie scooped him up and gave him a tight squeeze.
    “Ow! Stop it, Annie.” Spencer squirmed, kicking his legs.
    “I ought to paddle your behind, Spencer Keene,” Annie said, setting the boy on the bank away from the river. “You’ve nearly given your mother a heart attack.”
    He wrinkled his nose. “What’s a heart attack? And I don’t want to get a paddle. Why would I get a paddle?”
    The nanny sighed and sent her pretty eyes heavenward, mouthing something. Was she counting? Then she dropped to her knees and cupped Spencer’s chin.
    “Hey, who’s he?” the boy asked, trying to rip his face from Annie’s hand. He pointed a chubby finger toward Nate.
    “That’s not important now. I want your eyes to meet mine. Now.” Her voice was firm. Very firm.
    Spencer stopped struggling, his gaze moving to Annie’s, the