Before Nightfall - Kat Martin Page 0,1
child.
Drugs, alcohol, and Ray’s spoiled, abusive behavior finally led to divorce, and not long after, he completely disappeared. Then last month, he had contacted her. Now he was in Dallas.
Julie had been terrified of Raymond during the years they were married. She was even more afraid of him now.
Lissa stepped on the gas.
* * *
COLT WHEELER DROVE his black Mustang up in front of the house on Loganwood Street, a simple gray-brick ranch-style with freshly painted white trim.
Until last month, Colt had been a ranger stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. But injuries from an exploding IED had cost him an eye and left him riding a desk far too long.
He was out now, on his way back to his hometown of Denver, Colorado, to start a new life. But Dallas was along his route, and at least once a year, he stopped by to see the wife of a friend who’d been killed in Iraq.
Liam Douglas had been a ranger in the 75th Regiment, same as Colt. His dying wish was for Colt to look in on Julie and their two kids, make sure his family was okay. Liam had wanted to adopt Julie’s children from her first marriage, but he needed the biological father’s permission, and the ex-husband was nowhere to be found.
According to conversations Colt had had with Julie, Ray Spearman was a real a-hole. Liam would have made a great dad, but unfortunately he was dead, gone three years, leaving Julie and her kids once more alone.
Figuring he probably should have called first instead of just showing up, Colt turned off the engine, cracked a window for ventilation, and climbed out of the Mustang.
His knock on the door went unanswered. He knocked again, and someone lifted the curtain to see who was outside, then the door swung open.
“Colt!” Julie threw her arms around his neck in an unexpected greeting that put him on alert. “Thank God you’re here. Come...come inside. Please.”
Her face was pale and he could see the fear in her eyes. “What’s happened? What’s going on?”
Julie shut the door behind him. She was trembling. “My ex-husband was just here. I haven’t seen him in almost eight years.” She blew out a shaky breath. “Ray called a little while ago. He said he wanted to see his kids and he was coming right over. There was...there was something in his voice.” She shook her head. “Something I remembered from when we were married. I—I didn’t know what to do. Oh God, Colt.”
His jaw felt tight. “He hit you?”
She took a deep breath. “Not this time, but I thought he was going to.”
Colt’s jaw tightened even more. He led her over to the beige tweed sofa in front of the TV and urged her to sit down. “Where are the kids?”
“I was afraid of what he might do, so as soon as they got home from school, I sent them over to the neighbor’s.”
“You tell them their dad was in town?”
“No. They’ve always been curious, but I’ve never told them much about him, just that we met in college, it didn’t work out, and he left.”
He nodded. “You still got that bottle of Jack Daniel’s I brought the last time I was here?”
She pressed her lips together but it didn’t stop them from trembling. “It’s in the kitchen, top shelf in the cabinet over the sink.”
“I’ll be right back.” Colt headed in that direction. He had visited Julie several times since the explosion that had taken his right eye, so the black patch and the scar along his jaw were no longer a shock. Even the kids didn’t notice them anymore.
He poured some of the whiskey into a glass and carried it back into the living room. Julie’s hand trembled as she took a swallow, then another.
“Better?”
She nodded.
“All right, then. Start at the beginning and tell me what’s going on.”
CHAPTER TWO
A CAR SAT in front of the house as Lissa approached. A shiny black Mustang. She slowed to look in the living room windows, saw the silhouette of someone too tall to be Julie. Probably Ray.
She kept driving, parked the Camaro in the alley and went in through the back gate, crossing the freshly mown lawn and quietly approaching the back door.
It was locked, so she found the key Julie hid in a planter on the patio beneath a blooming red geranium and used it to unlock the door. She could hear voices in the living room, one definitely male.
Ray. Lissa had hoped to be with Julie