C.J. Urban - Julie Townsend 01 - Hidden Intent by C.J. Urban Page A

into the kitchen. “Don’t you two worry about us,” she called over her shoulder. “We’ll have a grand time.”
    Julie caught Sam’s eye and blew him a kiss. “I’ll be back by this evening, Sammy.”
    Sam reached out his hand and caught Julie’s kiss, smiled, and ran to follow Gloria. Julie watched him go, tears welling in her eyes. They’d blown kisses at each other for years, but when their parents died he’d stopped. This was the first time he’d caught her kiss since. She wanted to run and hug him, but he was already off with Gloria in the kitchen.
    She followed Skye back out to his truck, trying to pull her emotions together.
    “You okay?” Skye asked her.
    “I’m great,” she answered, smiling and wiping away her tears.
    Skye nodded. He didn’t want to pry, but even he could see that something significant had occurred between Julie and Sam.
    He pulled his truck out of the driveway and headed out to McAndrew’s Hospital. Julie didn’t know what to expect when they got there, and she hoped she wasn’t making a mistake by going to visit Jacob Leigh. All she knew for sure was that she was going to see a man convicted of the heinous murder of her cousin Tara – and she had a hunch that he was innocent.
     
     
     
    Chapter 12
     
     
    Skye reached the main highway, cruising at a comfortable speed. “So, we’ve got about a two hour drive ahead of us. You wanna grab some coffee?”
    “You read my mind,” Julie said.
    They drove for about ten minutes before arriving at a tiny gas station on the side of the highway that had only two pumps and a small, dingy convenience store.
    “Despite how it looks, this place has amazing coffee,” Skye said.
    “Better than mine?”
    “Doesn’t hold a candle to yours, but it’s better than most.” Skye got out of his truck and walked into the store. Within a couple of minutes he was back, holding two large coffees in his hands. He handed one to Julie and then pulled himself into the truck.
    “Thanks,” Julie said brightly.
    “No problem.”
    They left the station and veered back onto the road. Julie rolled her window down, letting the warm wind blow across her face. She closed her eyes momentarily, imagining how exciting it would be if this were actually a case that needed to be solved.
    “So, what’s the reason we’re doing this?” Sky asked, breaking Julie’s daydream. “You promised you’d explain.”
    “Right,” Julie said, opening her eyes and pulling a hand through her wind-blown hair. “My uncle has left my cousin’s room exactly as it was when she died,” she began. “I was looking around, and came across some of her diaries. I found some odd entries about a boy who used to watch her outside her window sometimes. It scared her.”
    “That would be spooky,” Skye remarked. “And yes. Odd. Odd behavior. Go on.”
    “I think she knew who her murderer was. I think it was actually that boy, not Jacob Leigh.”
    Skye digested this a moment. “What exactly did she say?”
    “She wrote about a boy who looked through her windows at night, and how she wished he would go away. I also found a drawing of another boy that she mentioned she did like, named Lucas. But the picture had the eyes cut out. I found another hidden drawing, one of Tara and a different boy. It said, ‘together forever’ but also, in Tara’s writing was the word, ‘never’.”
    Skye whistled.
    “The other wei rd thing is some of the pages in her diary are missing.”
    “Missing?”
    Julie nodded. “Ripped out. I asked my uncle about it, and he doesn’t know where the missing pages are.”
    “Huh. That’s a mystery right there.”
    Julie felt uneasy just thinking about it. She was doubly glad that Skye was coming with her to visit Jacob.
    Skye thought about it some more, then said, “But none of this proves it wasn’t Jacob Leigh who killed her.”
    “I know. But Jacob was older when they arrested him. If what you say about him is true, then he had no real