Read You Can Run... for Free Online Page B

together a couple of times a year. Al’s one fine hunter. When I was a kid, they’d let me tag along sometimes.”
    Diana had known Al Meeks for years. Penny, Willow, and she often dined at his casual restaurant that served the best barbecued ribs in town. She frowned at Tyler’sdescription of him, however. “Al is a fine hunter?” Diana asked, her mistrust of Tyler rising again. “How could he be? Al’s been blind in his right eye for over thirty years.”
    Tyler paused. He gave her a sidelong look that told her he knew she was trying to trip him up, poke a hole in his story. Then he said casually, “You don’t need good eyesight in both eyes if you use a scope on a rifle, Diana. I guess you don’t do much hunting.”
    “No, as a matter of fact I don’t,” she answered. “I think unless you’re in need of food, hunting is just an excuse for killing.”
    “It’s a sport,” Tyler parried.
    “The sport of killing.”
    Tyler turned his eyes away from the road and looked at her. “Think you’ve got things all figured out, don’t you? Even me.”
    She stared grimly ahead. “Not quite yet,” Diana returned slowly. “But I will. You can be sure of that, Mr. Raines.”
2
    “Uncle Simon? I’m home!”
    A voice boomed from a room on their left. “Well, at last, thank God! I’ve been going crazy here this week without you
and
Penny. Which reminds me, she hasn’t called this evening to tell me about Willow’s condition and she promised—”
    Simon Van Etton strode into the foyer and jerked to a halt, looking in surprise at the three bedraggled people standing in front of him. Clarice and Tyler both hovered at least two feet behind Diana, as if they expected a beating from the elaborate cane Simon carried mostly for show. His thick silver hair gleamed under the light of the chandelier, and he raised a white eyebrow. “Good lord, what’s happened?”
    Without thought, Diana rushed to Simon and flung her arms around him, burying her face in the satin of his smokingjacket. For a moment, he seemed astonished and stood stiffly, then he encircled her waist with his arms. He touched his cheek to the top of her head and murmured into her thick hair, “Diana?”
    “It’s Penny, Simon.” Diana suddenly felt as if her hold on Simon was the only thing keeping her on her feet. Her words poured forth in a torrent. “I’d just pulled up in front of Penny’s house earlier when it . . . it
exploded
!”
    Simon Van Etton held Diana out from him and stared at her, for once speechless. His dark green eyes looked at her first with hesitation, then doubt, then alarm. He opened his mouth once and closed it. When he opened it the second time, he asked with an eerie softness, “The house exploded?” Diana nodded. “You’re certain it
exploded?
”
    “
Yes
, Simon. For God’s sake, I wasn’t dreaming!”
    “No, no of course you weren’t.” He hugged her again. “Penny? Willow?”
    “I saw Penny.” Diana leaned back and looked at him. “She wasn’t conscious. She’s so badly burned I don’t think she’s going to live.”
    The color washed from Simon’s face. “Penny is burned?”
    “Oh, yes.” Diana wavered. “Her face—”
    “Don’t describe it,” Simon ordered. “I do not want to hear it.”
He can’t bear to hear it
, Diana thought. “What about Willow?”
    Diana had begun to shake. “They can’t even find her!”
    Simon tightened his grip on Diana as Tyler said, “We think the child might be hiding in the woods behind the house, sir.”
    Simon looked at him. “Who are you?” Simon swallowed. “Forgive my lack of manners. If I know you, young man, I’m sorry that I’m too astounded by this news to remember your name.”
    “You don’t know me, sir. My name is Tyler Raines.” He put his arm around Mrs. Hanson’s shoulder and pushed the woman gently forward. “And this is Mrs. Clarice Hanson. She lives beside Penny.”
    Diana saw Simon try to smile reassuringly at the woman whose