Bitter Sweets
replied. “We’ll be there within ten minutes.”

    Great, she thought, he could kill me five times in ten minutes.

    Maybe, God would protect her. Maybe He would remember all those mornings she had spent in Sunday school as a child, all the Bible pictures she had colored oh-so-carefully, all the quarters she had placed in the offering plate. Maybe He would send a host of angels to rescue her when the time came.

    But somehow, Lisa Mallock didn’t think so. She had chosen to marry Earl Mallock of her own free will. She had ignored that wiser, inspired voice inside that had warned her about him. Now, she had the sinking feeling that God had decided to let her deal with the consequences of her actions alone. She had no one to blame but herself.

    And she had no one else to protect her. Just she, herself ... and the pistol locked in her nightstand...if she could get to it in time ... if her aim was straight... if she could summon the courage to shoot someone she had once loved more than life itself.

    If.

    Lisa felt the child in her arms go limp, relaxing at last as her breathing slowed and her eyes closed. Christy had drifted off to sleep without an answer to her question: Who would protect her mommy? And Lisa was thankful, because she didn’t have an honest answer, for her precious daughter, cuddled warm and trustingly against her side...or for herself.

    “I can’t believe you would haul me out of bed at four in the morning and not even bring me an apple fritter and some Java.” Usually, Dirk’s voracious appetite was a source of mild amusement for Savannah, but, under the circumstances, she wasn’t in the mood.

    “Don’t hassle me, Coulter,” she said as she slid onto the chair in front of a police station computer and began to type furiously. “Take my word for it, this isn’t the time.”

    “That bad?” Dirk asked, the pout dissolving from his face.

    “Yeah, that bad.”

    “Whatcha looking for?” He leaned over her shoulder to study the blue screen that quickly switched to green. She had accessed the Department of Motor Vehicle files.

    “Your lost sister’s old man?”

    “Yeah, but she isn’t lost anymore. I found her last night.”

    “Good work.”

    “Maybe. Maybe not.”

    Savannah’s pulse pounded in her ears as she punched in the necessary codes to find what she was looking for...what she hoped to high heaven she wouldn’t find.

    Mallock’s name appeared on the screen, along with his basic identification stats.

    Name:
    Mallock, Earl R
    Address : 312 Elm Street, San Carmelita, CA
    Height: 5 ‘ 10”
    Weight: 220 Ibs.
    Hair: Dark brown
    Eyes: Blue

    “That’s the same description Lisa Mallock gave me last night,” Savannah said, trying to feel better.

    Dirk read over her shoulder. “So, what’s the problem?”

    “I’m afraid I might have helped Lisa’s abusive ex-husband find her.” She peered at the screen. “But the guy who hired me looked completely different.”

    “Maybe he’s a friend of the husband’s, trying to help him out.”

    “Could be, or .. .”

    She waited for the photo to appear, her hands and insides shaking .. . and it wasn’t only because she needed a cup of coffee.

    A face materialized before her on the screen. Round, double-chinned. If he had been wearing a white beard and red suit,

    Earl Mallock could have been a department store variety Santa Glaus. Unless you looked into his eyes.

    Savannah had seen that look before, too many times. Flat, emotionless, frightening more for what wasn’t there than what was. No sense of happiness, excitement, sorrow, or pain...all the components that made up most lives. All that was reflected there was a void, a profound emptiness of the soul.

    She shivered.

    “Recognize him?” Dirk said.

    “Well, not really, but...”

    Yes, she did. As much as she didn’t want to, she did recognize him.

    “If you change the hair and eye color,” she muttered, staring at the screen, “if you take off the extra

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